MEG ADAMS, Board Member

Meg Adams spent years working in the field of planning and Landscape Architecture both in San Francisco and Boston. She has had a lifelong love of the outdoors, of public open spaces and of art. A graduate of Bowdoin College, with a BA in Asian Studies, Meg also holds an MLA from U.C. Berkeley, where she taught drawing and graphics in the architecture department. She has served on several non-profits in Boston including chairing the education committee at The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Since relocating to Portland in 2020, Meg has become involved in several local non-profits and is excited to join TEMPOart.

DAVID EATON, Treasurer

David Eaton has over 38 years of experience in commercial real estate financing, providing successful lending solutions for various clients, including healthcare, multi-family and senior housing companies nationwide. He has originated or underwritten over $250,000,000 of real estate loans in the state of Maine and New England. David has specialized in FHA and Fannie Mae eligible properties as a HUD approved underwriter of Multi-Family and Healthcare Facility Loans. He now brings this experience to residential mortgage origination, with an understanding of and commitment to service needs of customers undertaking important and complex financial transactions. Born and raised in Needham, Massachusetts, David has been a Portland resident since 1977, and recently served for 5 years on the Portland Planning Board.  David holds a Master’s Degree in Real Estate Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an undergraduate degree in Urban Studies from Yale University. 

ALISON GIBBS, Board Member

Alison Gibbs worked for many years in the fields of journalism and corporate communications before pivoting to nonprofit arts work in Maine. She served for three years as Marketing Director at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art and four years as Gallery and Communication Manager at L/A Arts, the arts agency of Lewiston and Auburn. She currently serves as Art Curator at the Maine Jewish Museum and, in addition to the TEMPOart Board, serves on the Portland Public Art Committee.

DECOURCY MCINTOSH, Board Member

DeCourcy McIntosh was for seventeen years, 1984-2001, director of the Frick Art & Historical Center (now “The Frick Pittsburgh”) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he managed the restoration of Henry Clay Frick’s late Victorian mansion, Clayton, and organized numerous exhibitions of Old Master and 19^th-century art for the Frick Art Museum. Of particular note was the groundbreaking loan exhibition, “Collecting in the Gilded Age: Art Patronage in Pittsburgh, 1890-1910,” which drew upon private archival sources to elaborate the development of several important American art collections.  From 1979 to 1984, Mr. McIntosh was vice president for development of the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts, the governing body of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. His formal career in arts management and historic preservation began in 1974 with appointment to the directorship of the Historic Savannah Foundation in Savannah, Georgia, and continued in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he managed the conversion of the Old Federal Courts Building into a center of visual and performing arts. After 2001, Mr. McIntosh privately undertook extensive research into the art market in 19^th-century America, concentrating on New York’s then-oldest commercial art gallery, M. Knoedler & Co., founded 1848, and its parent, the French fine-art publishing form, Goupil et cie., and published scholarly articles in the U.S. and abroad on the global influence of those firms. He was awarded fellowships at the Getty Research Institute and the Clark Art Institute and lectured on the relationship between prints and paintings in the 19^th-century marketplace. In 2012, he negotiated the sale of the Knoedler archive, the largest of its kind in the United States, to the Getty Foundation. Since 2021, Mr. McIntosh has lived in Portland, Maine.

RENEE NICHOLAS, Board Member

Renee Nicholas is the VP of Advocacy and Strategic Collaborations and oversees the development of Stand Up To Cancer’s relationships with leading cancer research and advocacy organizations. She leads SU2C’s efforts to increase diverse participation in cancer clinical trials to ensure that new treatments development will be effective for all cancer patients. Central to this effort, Renee works closely with SU2C’s Health Equity Committee, advocacy, and industry collaborators to develop groundbreaking research, education and cancer screening programs. As a cancer survivor and former leader at the LIVESTRONG Foundation, Renee brings a comprehensive and intimate understanding of the cancer patient experience, and a unique ability to translate complex healthcare concepts into approachable and effective implementation strategies.

SANDY SHAPIRO-HURT, Board Member

Being lucky enough to have parents who saw the incredible value of a childhood spent in Camden, on the Maine coast, she spent her summers racing sailboats and teaching sailing on Penobscot Bay and her winters skiing in the Camden Hills.

After graduating from Emerson College in Boston, Sandy went on to have a career she adored in the feature film industry. Sandy worked in set dressing departments for NYC-based films and worked as a location manager and location scout for Maine-based films. It was a thrilling collaboration to work with directors, producers, and writers to come to understand their vision and then explore the state to find the perfect location for every scene. Balancing the needs of property owners, and film crews required stellar communication, mediation, contract negotiations, organization, resourcefulness, and the ability to stay cool in very stressful situations. Now she brings a truly dynamic blend of experience to the world of Maine Real Estate for Sotheby’s. 

She lives in Cape Elizabeth with her husband, daughter, and their spoiled adopted pup from Alabama. Sandy’s passion for conservation and compassion for helping where it’s needed have her busy volunteering at a variety of wonderful local non-profit organizations (her favorites are Chickadeeds, The Boys & Girls Club, and various land trust projects). You will often catch sight of her at the dog park in Fort Williams, in the waves at Scarborough Beach, or cross-country skiing through Robinson Woods.

ALICE SPENCER, Founder and President

Alice Spencer is a painter and printmaker. Her work has been shown throughout New England and abroad. She has served on the boards of the Maine College of Art, Greater Portland Landmarks, and the Waynflete School as well as serving on as on the advisory boards of SPACE Gallery and Safe Space Radio. A founder of the Peregrine Press, a printmaking cooperative in Portland, she has taught printmaking at the Haystack School of Crafts, MECA’s Continuing Studies Program and in Tanzania and Mongolia. She served for 15 years on the City of Portland Public Art Committee, 12 years as its chair, as well as chaired the committee that wrote the city’s guidelines for temporary public art. In 2009 Spencer received the statewide Art Honors award for Leadership in the Arts and an honorary doctorate, both from the Maine College of Art. Spencer is the founder of TEMPOart.

DICK SPENCER, Board Member

Dick Spencer is an attorney with Drummond Woodsum and MacMahon in Portland specializing in land conservation, municipal law and public finance.

Dick had been active in Portland’s non-profit sector. He is a co-founder of Portland Trails and Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, and as a long-term board member of the Maine Charitable Mechanics Association (Mechanics Hall). He also served in the Maine legislature as the House Chair of the Judiciary Committee.

SHARON TOWNSHEND, Secretary

Sharon Townshend is a sculptor who works in clay. In 1987, with three other artists, she formed Artventure, Inc., and bought a building in South Portland which now houses the studios of 9 clay artists, under the name Sawyer Street Studios. Sharon earned a BFA in painting at Syracuse University, and a MAT at Wesleyan University. She has taught at UNE, USM, Bates College, and UNH., in addition to conducting many Artist-in-Residence workshops in Maine schools. She worked for ten years at the Maine Arts Commission, overseeing the Artists-in-Residence program, and as Director of the Maine Alliance for Arts Education, to advocate for inclusion of the arts in our public schools.  She is currently on the Board of Trustees of Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, an international artists residency community, having been Vice-President, President, Secretary, then Co-President over her 27 years of service.  Sharon has completed 12 public art projects; ceramic relief murals in Maine public schools. The most recent project was the donor recognition wall at the Auburn Public Library.  She has also served on a Percent for Art Selection Committee at Southern Maine Community College.  Her work has been shown widely and can be seen June LaCombe Sculpture, Corey Daniels Gallery, (Wells, ME), Turtle Gallery (Deer Isle), and New Era Gallery (Vinalhaven). For the past 35 years, Sharon has owned a house in Portland and after years of traveling the state, looks forward to focusing on the local Portland arts scene.

JESSICA MUISE, Interim Executive Director

Jessica Muise is a non-profit professional with over 15 years of experience in the arts and cultural sector. She has a diverse background as a multidisciplinary artist, educator, advocate, and advisor. Jessica has previously held positions at organizations such as Engine, New England Foundation for the Arts, The Umbrella Arts Center, Artisan’s Asylum, and National Choreography Month. She is passionate about using the arts and arts education as tools for social change and has served as an advisor to several organizations and artist-led coalitions. She is the owner and principal consultant for Muise Consulting LLC, and currently works with clients across the country. She joined TEMPOart as Interim Executive Director in the summer of 2023. Photo by Christina Wnek.