News
Experience A Printmaking Renaissance!
For over 20 years Brenton Hamilton has instructed an array of 19th C. processes in Maine Media’s workshops and college programs. Brenton discusses “alternative processes”:
“Any experience at Maine Media Workshops might have you studying the latest technology. But, a great secret is our commitment to traditional photographic processes. Not only do we have extensive silver-based darkrooms but also we have outfitted our labs with the tools and space to investigate the eccentric and beautiful historic processes that are experiencing such a Renaissance in photography right now.
Currently in Advanced Alternative Processes, our Professional Certificate students are studying tri-color gum bichromate, wet plate collodion and even the esoteric process of early French pioneer, Hyppolyete Bayard.
Studying 19th Century processes provides a direct link to the medium’s rich history as well as experiencing photograph making in usual ways. Our tools are artist brushes, French and Italian watercolor papers, rare earth metals and emulsions crafted from recipes that are made visible via sunlight! Here, you can experience printmaking techniques that include platinum, kallitype, gum bichromate, collodion, cyanotype, albumen and salted paper printmaking — among others.
You may study these processes in our long term Certificate Program, our intensive summer workshops and our Young Artist program. Study with Jill Enfield, a collodion specialist, and other experts in the field.”
Brenton is a contributing writer and president of Obscura, a non-profit devoted to youth education. His work is represented at TILT Gallery in Phoenix, Arizona and Susan Maasch Fine Art Portland, Maine and held in permanent collections at the Farnsworth Museum of Art, Portland Museum of Art and many significant private collections nationally.
Congratulations, Brenton, for being one of only 27 artists featured in Art Maine 2012!
Looking Back, Moving Forward – PC Students Prepare for Graduation
Seems like just yesterday that new Professional Certificate (PC) college students arrived on campus. With graduation just three weeks away, several PC students took a breather and reflected:
“My Professional Development class is helping me figure out how to work professionally once I graduate. The PC program expanded my professional, personal and creative horizons. Without the Alt Pro class I could have gone my whole life without learning Alternative Processes and that I have a creative passion for them,” Allie Duda.
“Among the first things you learn are workflow and organization. That’s super helpful when trying to be creative because the less you have to think about when working on your craft the better!” Matt Cosby.
“Having really good teachers, a warm, friendly environment and time to focus on just photography in a beautiful place like Maine allowed me to learn a lot about the field, art, and technical aspects of photography, which allows me to expand my career possibilities,” Tracey N. Freeman.
“I have a solid foundation now in making work and creating portfolios, the history of photography, digital capture, editing, printing, alternative processes and darkroom basics. The PC program is a student-centric program that shortens learning curves, grows skills and enables creativity. It is one of the greatest gifts a creative person can give her/himself,” Leslie Inman.
Give yourself the greatest gift that a creative person can receive -- apply to the Maine Media College's Professional Certificate program today! Need financial help? Check out our website for a variety of financial aid opportunities and scholarships.
What are Photographic Artists Doing Today?
Denise Froehlich, curator and director of exhibitions and education at Maine Museum of Photographic Arts, set out to answer this question in the new exhibition, Light, Motion, Sound: An Exhibition of Photographic Arts. Collaborating with Ron Crusan, director of the Ogunquit Museum of American Art (OMAA), the two created an exhibition featuring 15 artists whose work runs the gamut from flat to phone art from large-scale photographs to mixed media.
Denise explains, “We sought to create an exhibition that explores the variety of ways the photographic arts are being made in Maine in 2012.”
Among the variety, you will find works from John Paul Caponigro, Maggie Foskett, Barbara Goodbody, Jonathan Laurence, Elke Morris and Mat Thorne, each of whom is an alumni, Board Member or faculty at Maine Media Workshops + College (MMW+C).
Like the PC students who believe the best gift a creative person can give oneself is a gift to MMW+C, Board member Barbara Goodbody gave herself a workshop for her 50th birthday. Barbara recalls, “My first exhibited photograph hung in a small gallery in Maine between two National Geographic photographers. My photograph was bought with theirs for the Portland Museum of Art collection! I have come full circle and am honored to be part of the Light, Motion, Sound exhibition.”
Other gifts to give yourself? Maine. the magazine to read about Susan Grisanti’s chance encounter with Brenton Hamilton, Maine Home + Design to view more works from the OMAA exhibition, and life-changing experiences on the beautiful Maine coast at MMW+C!
Maine Public Broadcast Network Showcases Maine Media Filmmakers
Thursday, April 26 at 10pm and again Saturday, April 28 at 11am, the Maine Public TV Affiliate, MPBN, will air Maine Frame as part of the Maine Community Film Series. This show was hatched by Maine Media Workshops + College’s Dean and Director of Education, Elizabeth Greenberg and Post Production Manager and Instructor, Chris Lehmann.
A committee of Maine film professionals and instructors reviewed more than 120 submitted short films and documentaries; only seven made the cut. The winning films were chosen based mainly on: 1) The production values of the film’s professional quality and 2) that Maine and the people of Maine were the focus of the show with a wide cross section of Maine residents represented.
Maine Frame’s Producer and Director, Chris Lehmann, says, "We have a chosen a rich, diverse and deeply moving collection of stories which represent the resilient, independent and truly unique people who not only call Maine home, but who also play integral roles in contributing, defining and shaping their own Maine communities. And, of course, what really brought these people to life were the dedicated, hard-working and talented filmmakers who found these amazing characters and told their stories."
Tune in to vicariously join a former Vietnam Vet turned physician turned zoo owner, a defiant group of Maine fishermen, an avid collector of Oz memorabilia and other Mainers with fascinating stories. Enjoy the music provided by “Late Bloomers,” two Maine musicians who specialize in Maine stories, sea-shanties, bluegrass and original tunes!
Sharpen your filmmaking skills with one of MMW's many options! Choose from one, two, or four week programs -- even better -- spend the entire summer in our filmmaker's residency program or join our Professional Certificate or MFA college programs!
Check out our New Website!
We’ve been working hard behind the scenes for months building a new Maine Media website and it just launched at the beginning of April -- please check it out at www.mainemedia.edu.
The new site has been redesigned for a cleaner look, easier navigation and a more intuitive interface. It has a a new, easy-to-use sort feature making workshops easier to find. Enhanced listings with thumbnail images will make browsing the site visually more interesting. We are especially pleased that the workshops and faculty bios are linked and that there is more student work showcased on the site - with more to come!
One tester remarked, “Using the new website is a joy. The big images, videos and simple presentation makes it easy to get whereever you are going and find what you are looking for with just a few clicks.”
We hope you will take the time to explore the new site, Like it on your Facebook page, share it with friends and give us your suggestions for furture content opportunities.
Come explore the new site and discover the workshop that will be the perfect experience for you.
Learn, Listen, Explore and Experience Maine Media Workshops + College like never before at the new www.mainemedia.edu.
Watch MMW's President, Meg Weston, on MPBN's Maine Watch
Next Thursday, April 12 at 8:00 pm, Maine Watch with Jennifer Rooks will air an interview with Meg Weston, the new president of Maine Media Workshops + College. Maine Watch is Maine’s only televised, statewide, public affairs program. The weekly program features issues of the day, and highlights people, nonprofits or other institutions that might be of interest to Maine people.
The interview with Meg Weston will be aired on Thursday at 8:00, and then rebroadcast Friday evening, April 13 at 9:00 pm, Sunday afternoon April 15 at 5:00 pm, with an audio version on Maine Public Radio at 12:30 pm on Friday afternoon, April 13.
In the interview, Meg conveys her enthusiasm for the future growth of Maine Media, the breadth and depth of our offerings, and the fact that many Maine people have not yet heard of this gem in Rockport Maine while our programs draw people from all over their world to immerse themselves in creative exploration and growth.
The segment is expected to be about 10 minutes of the show, including an introductory clip about the workshops and a promo for the upcoming Maine Frame show on April 23 showcasing Maine Media short films. Maine Public Broadcasting System is very enthusiastic about growing the nascent partnership with Maine Media with opportunities to broadcast content in shows like Maine Frame and cross-promotional opportunities. Jennifer Rooks grew up in Camden and is knowledgeable about the Workshops, its history and its impact on the region.
Alumni Find Success on Spain’s A-6 Highway
Award-winning husband and wife team, Tania Vasallo and Ben Mittleman, are busy these days showcasing their latest photography book project along Spain’s A-6 highway.
Ben explains, “Tania and I spent the summer of 2006 at Maine Media Workshops where we gained the necessary skills, tools and knowledge to open doors for us. When summer finished, we moved to Spain and traveled the A-6 highway several times a month to visit clients and family. Zooming six-hours to our destination, we began to observe in the periphery that we were missing beautiful landscapes, towns and possibilities.
Purposefully slowing down, we looked closely at what was otherwise a blur in the rearview mirror. The camera paved our way into previously unseen worlds along this path; in two years, we produced approximately 15,000 photographs. It was our MMW professor who taught us the art of being present to the daily gifts we tend to blindly disregard.
The launch of our book and its opening took place December 2011 at the Kreisler Gallery in Madrid. Our next show opened at “La Navilla” in Marbella, Spain on March 16th. Upcoming shows will continue to travel along the A-6 route.”
View more of Tania and Ben’s work at SkyBat Studio. View their book at: http://www.graficasaga.com/en/catalogo/fotos-a6/P_128_A6_54_09279
Follow in Ben and Tania’s footsteps by joining the Summer Photo Residency class this summer; success is surely just down the highway for you too!
Stellar Student Merits Solo Show
Charlotte Hedley, Professional Certificate graduate, brought grace, intelligence and an exceptional work ethic to 
Maine Media College in 2010 and “Lottie” has remained a beloved colleague ever since. Spending her childhood in muddy boots on her family’s dairy farm in Wairarapa, New Zealand, Lottie left to practice law in London, England and later came to Maine to merge her broad base of knowledge and experience behind the camera’s lens.
Maine Farmland Trust (MFT), a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving Maine’s farms, promotes Maine’s agriculture partly through the Maine Farmland Trust Gallery, a venue designed to capture the vibrancy of Maine’s farm life and celebrate Maine’s agriculture. April 4, the MFT Gallery will host the opening reception for Lottie’s body of work, Rural Harvest, done on the Gerritsen family farm, Wood Prairie Farm, in Bridgewater, Maine.
Lottie explains her solo show, “Rural Harvest is about stewardship and the vulnerability of family farming. It is the beginning of what will be an ongoing series looking at the institution of the family farm: the vulnerability of the family farm, the next generation of farmers, the disappearance of the multi-generational farms, and the new initiatives to keep family farming alive.”
Maine Farmland Trust Gallery is located at 97 Main Street in Belfast, Maine. Meet Lottie there at her opening reception on Wednesday, April 4 from 4:30 – 7pm.
Join Bridget Besaw, renowned photographer also associated with the MFT, Gary Braasch, and Bill Megalos for their conservation workshops at Maine Media Workshops this summer.