Portals Into Our Future

“Artwork can be a portal, a kind of rethinking and reseeing of the world as we live it.” —Todd Solondz 

“What makes for great art is the courage to speak and write and paint what you know about.” —Audrey Flack

The arts enrich our lives, helping us to ask questions, imagine new possibilities, collaborate and create community. Artists whose work attunes us to the very ways in which we see and interact with the world around us aid in seeing new perspectives. Artists who are sensorially engaged with the environment, provide a window for us to be attentive to all that surrounds them. From the intricate woven pattern of a blanket, to societal dynamics, to the play of light on tree leaves, artists investigate familial relationships, cultural identity, sexism, class, political systems and the consequences of power.

Portals Into our Future invites us to lean into our senses—to marvel, meditate, float, dream, revel, reflect, and commune—to meander from one artist’s universe to another—as they make visible the possibilities that live in the in-between spaces. The sovereignty of each particular voice, centering their individual creative power and striving to know themselves in the context of the world around them, is the heartbeat of why a community arts center like Waterfall Arts exists. It’s the reason why supporting art and art-making are imperative in all times, and especially the difficult ones. If viewers allow themselves the opportunity to be present and attuned with the art, moved by the art, disrupted by the art, and changed by the art, they can see in themselves something that might not already exist. Built on a foundation of compassion, we hope these portals—these other intimate worlds that artists make—can bypass preconceived ideas and open spaces for empathy and transformation where other types of encounters may fail.

Pondering the questions: What does the next 25 years of art in the state of Maine look like? How does a cultural center like Waterfall Arts adapt, invite in, and tell the stories of artists who have historically been underrepresented? Curators Ashley Page and Amy Tingle cast a wide net into the broad Maine arts community to craft our 25th anniversary summer exhibition. The selected artists in this exhibition represent Waterfall Arts’ past, present and future, painting a picture of the organization’s impact over time. Having opened its doors in 2000 in Montville, ME, Waterfall Arts was a phenomenon of right time, place and people, which launched the dynamic center into 25 years of exhibitions, artist studios, workshops, public events, artisan markets and more. Using the Printmaking, Photography, Glass, and Ceramic studios that Waterfall Arts currently houses as inspiration, Page and Tingle considered the growing and changing creative community of Maine, and center the experiences of youth based artists, LGBQTIA+, BIPOC artists who often occupy the frontlines of our communities. By platforming these voices, “25 Artists in 2025” critically considers what we constitute as Maine and reshape our understanding of the land and its ever changing people.