Portland Press Herald: Society Notebook: Portland Museum of Art’s Summer Party is straight-up good time

Museum supporters mingled in the sculpture garden, enjoying refreshments and each other.

August 18, 2024
By Amy Paradysz

Originally posted in the Portland Press Herald. Read it here.

The Portland Museum of Art’s annual Contemporaries and Director’s Circle Summer Party is exactly what it sets out to be – a good time. There’s no program, no auction, no appeal for donations. Just drinks and tacos in a sculpture garden with a deejay and comfortable chairs.

Three hundred art lovers mingled in the David E. Shaw and Family Sculpture Park in the Joan B. Burns Garden on the High Street side of the museum, enjoying refreshments from Bird & Co. and The Black Tie Co. and tunes by deejay Jams Frrever. Sponsors included M&T Bank, MaineHealth, the Katherine Woodman Fund, Allagash Brewing Co., Devenish Wines, Lake George Distilling Co. and Leafsong Florals Design, among others.

“I love this party because it’s literally about getting people together to have a good time,” said Director Mark Bessire. “It’s a thank-you for our members.” The event was free for Contemporaries (who contribute $300 per year) and Director’s Circle members (philanthropists who donate $1,500 or more per year) and $75 per person for museum members ($60 per year).

“I’m relatively new to Portland, and this is a way to meet people while supporting the museum,” said Will Simons, who was with Kara Doucette and their new friends Brett Willard and Mercedes Lake.

Bright colors and patterns inspired by modern art were common fashion choices for the party. Taking the whimsy level up a notch, Jess Lauren Lipton used epoxy to affix larger-than-life googley eyeballs to her dress and on her date’s bowtie. “It’s summer – it needs to be fun,” she said. “And a little matchy-matchy.”

Although the museum wasn’t open during the event, members were talking about the latest opening, “Jeremy Frey: Woven,” which features more than 50 Wabanaki baskets spanning his career of more than two decades.

“I’m a longtime fan,” said Stephanie Brown, a Contemporaries member from Cumberland Foreside. “He’s so precise. It’s really impressive.”

The exhibit runs through Sept. 15.

Amy Paradysz is a freelance writer and photographer based in Scarborough. She can be reached at amyparadysz@gmail.com.