In the Bedroom (2001)
Hard Tellin’… is less an attempt to define Maine, or Maine in the movies, than an opportunity to celebrate four great films that accomplish something most art should aspire to: they capture the ineffable in a place and its people at a particular moment in time. They get at something unique and a bit hard to define about us. They feel, for lack of a better word, honest.
“The best thing we can do is empower young people so they can make change. Art brings people together, and artists are really good about envisioning the future but also really good at seeing the moment in a way that we don’t see for a few years.” —Mark Bessire, Judy and Leonard Lauder Director
Read MoreThis three-part discussion series for K-12 educators will explore the images and diverse social issues documented by Walker Evans and how they relate to contemporary challenges. Educators will be paired with representatives from community organizations to form new connections and conversations around several topics ranging from social change, immigration, and trauma and resilience.
Read MoreThe museum is hosting three exhibitions that directly reflect their subjects: Clifford Ross: Sightlines, Walker Evans American Photographs and Richard Estes: Urban Landscapes,… But the brilliance of all this work is that it allows the viewer room for interpretation. There is no mistaking what these images are. What they mean is the mystery and reward of experiencing art in person.
Read MoreThrough the lens of the extraordinary work of Clifford Ross, the Portland Museum of Art and Gulf of Maine Research Institute will co-host an immersive, thought-provoking slate of public events throughout the Fall. We hope you'll dive below the surface with us!
Read MoreThe first-ever major exhibition of David Driskell’s remarkable painting career explores seven decades of his artistic practice. Driskell's subjects, including the natural world and imagery of the African diaspora, result in a rich and vibrant story of art that is intrinsically tied to Maine and uniquely American.
Read MoreA reprise of the 1938 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art that helped elevate Evans from documentarian to artist, “American Photographs” comes with a pedigree; but even without it, the show would be an uncommon draw. It could just as easily have been called “People Love Walker Evans, So Here Are Some Walker Evans Pictures,” and it would be just as true.
Read MoreDavid Driskell: Icons of Nature and History offers a major overview of David Driskell’s wide-ranging painting practice—and now you can take a deeper dive into his groundbreaking work as a mentor and curator with the extraordinary documentary Black Art: In the Absence of Light. Presented by PMA Films and Indigo Arts Alliance, experience this free screening at USM’s Hannaford Hall in Portland on September 8 and join us the following evening on September 9 for a free virtual conversation with the film’s director Sam Pollard.
Read MoreWith the breadth of reference that enters smoothly and easily into his work, Driskell proves himself to be a one-of-a-kind artist — a scholar painter full of love and verve. Surely that is deserving of a museum’s attention. We ought to own up to the fact that it is long overdue.' This exhibition goes a long way toward making up for lost time.
Read MoreDiscover more about our recent acquisition to the PMA collection, "This Could All Be Yours," 2020 by Derrick Adams.
Read More[David Driskell’s] art is quite challenging to categorize due to its diversity, but what remains constant in his work is the artist’s commitment to a symbolic form that elevates the spirit and the mind above that existing in the physical world.
Read MoreLearn more about our recent acquisition to the PMA collection, "Study Near Warwick, New York," 1873 by David Johnson.
Read MoreThis 1863 picture by Winslow Homer, thought to be his earliest completed effort in oil paints, marks a turning point in modern warfare. For all its plain-spoken simplicity, it is one of the most morally anguished, ominously charged paintings I know.
Read MoreWe love hearing from our colleagues about their favorite artworks in the PMA Collection. Here, Greg Norstrom shares why he loves Patrick Jacobs' "Fly Agaric Mushroom Cluster with Branch and Lichen."
Read MoreThat is perhaps one of the most striking things about the narrative of this show: it’s organized in a way that visitors can see how the pivotal moments in Driskell’s career were taking place at the same time as he was also having a significant impact on the next generation of artists.
Read MoreThe events of 2020 profoundly impacted artists in different ways. From personal hardships due to the Covid-19 pandemic, concerns around the election and political instability, and solidarity with coalescing movement against systemic racism, featured works in Untitled, 2020 record how artists working in Maine were coping with, and responding to, this pivotal moment in our history.
Read More"He gave so much time to engaging with people here. He established deep roots and connections. But he’s also an artist who brought Maine to a wider national and international conversation.” —PMA Chief Curator Shalini Le Gall in Down East Magazine
Read MoreIt’s a show you can return to often to discover new layers of this great artist’s soul. That is what makes Driskell such an original. No matter what genres or references his staggering mind and open heart are effortlessly synthesizing at any moment, the personalness of his work makes him feel intimately near and utterly one-of-a-kind.
Read More2018’s Painter and Poet: The Art of Ashley Bryan was the first major art museum exhibition in Maine for the award-winning 95-year-old artist and Little Cranberry Island resident, a pioneer of African and African American representation in the children's book medium, who has published more than 50 titles since his first collection of poems in 1967.
Read MoreCould anyone produce a body of work to rival a transformative agenda that changed the course of racial politics in American culture? Probably not. But can we see Driskell’s own art through those priorities, and understand that he walked as well as he talked? Yes, we can.
Read More“My way back into painting was to think about queer politics through figuration. At the time, it was the only way I could imagine communicating ideas that felt urgent.” -Carrie Moyer
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