Charles Altschul is the Director of the Design and Book Arts Program at Maine Media Workshops and College. From 2006 – 2011, he served as it's first President following it's transition to non-profit status. He Received a B.A. and M.F.A. from Yale where he also held a faculty appointment as Senior Lecturer. In 1991, he moved to Camden, Maine to become Director of Education at the Eastman Kodak Center for Creative Imaging. When Kodak sold the business in 1993, Altschul worked with several art schools, including the Cooper Union in New York, to help them integrate digital technologies into their curricula. In 1997, he created the nation’s first BFA program in Multimedia at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He was Chair of the 1996 American Center for Design conference, "Design for the Internet," and has judged international new media competitions for “Communication Arts” magazine and the Art Directors’ Club Annual. He is a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences and has been a judge for the Webby Awards since 2000. Altschul’s work as an artist stems from contemporary as well as historical perspectives. His photographs have been exhibited widely and published in numerous publications. He has designed and published handcrafted books, most notably an illustrated folio signed by Nobel prizewinning author Samuel Beckett.
The Midcoast of Maine is also home to many other accomplish book artists who serve as Resident Faculty to the school.