Wednesday, September 8, 2021 5:00 – 6:00 P.M. (rain date September 9)
Deering Oaks Park at the site of the Sculpture of PINECONE
You’re Cordially Invited
Join TEMPOart on Wednesday, September 8 at 5:00 P.M. for dedication ceremony in honor of PINECONE. The ceremony will be at the installation site in Deering Oaks Park (near Deering Avenue side of the Park) PINECONE, by artist Patric Plourde, is constructed of 146 recycled steel shovels and has been gifted to the Portland Public Art Committee by TEMPOart in honor of Alice Spencer. Over 25 years ago, Alice Spencer was appointed to the first Portland Public Art Committee. Since then she has tirelessly championed public art in Portland – making an impact and delighting us all! Alice founded TEMPOart Portland in 2014 and through the organization she helped make Portland a city rich in public art. The installation of this eight foot long, permanent sculpture of a PINECONE in Deering Oaks Park will be a forever reminder to all who happen upon it about Alice’s hard work.
Brief remarks from members of TEMPOart, Friends of Deering Oaks Park, Portland Public Art Committee, and Alice Spencer. Statement from artist Patrick Plourde by June LaCombe.
Light refreshments and musical performance by Con Fullum – Pihcintu.
This event is FREE and OPEN to the public. Reservations are required.
“Gloaming” with Riley Watts and Heather Lyon
Date: August 20
Time: 7-9pm
Location: All Gathering Stones events will be held at Fish Point on the Eastern Promenade, Portland, Maine. See location on Google Maps.
About the Event
Gloaming refers to the transitional time between day at night – the liminal space between the light of wakefulness and the dark of a sleeping world. You’ll be invited to participate in a short meditation followed by a performance in a distinct atmosphere energized by the performers and their connection. Each stone will be activated as a choreographic “station” that will guide you toward empathetic healing after an intense year of isolation.
About the Artists
Heather Lyon is a performance, video and installation artist born and working in Blue Hill, Maine. Combining her interest in the meanings of materials (ranging from rebar to sequins to milk to ash) and the question of the human body, she investigates relationships and the ways in which we negotiate longing, loss, desire, and vulnerability. She holds a BFA (2002) and MFA (2004) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has recently been exhibited and performed at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, Maine, TEDx Dirigo, Portland, Maine,
The Danforth Gallery, University of Maine Augusta, Cynthia Winings Gallery, Blue Hill, Maine, Space Gallery,
Portland, Maine, Zaratan, Lisbon, Portugal, “The Picnic Pavilion” a parallel project to the 58th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy, The State Silk Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia and at Artisterium 10, Tbilisi, Georgia, for which she received an Emergency Artist Grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York.
Riley Watts is a dance artist based in Portland, Maine. He studied dance at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts and The Juilliard School, where graduated in 2007 as a Princess Grace Award winner. He has danced professionally with Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Bern Ballet, Netherlands Dance Theater 2, and The Forsythe Company, and now freelances from his home state of Maine. He has appeared in numerous works of choreographer William Forsythe both on stage and in museums since 2010, including video work Alignigung with Rubberlegz, A Quiet Evening of Dance and Sylvie Guillem’s Life in Progress farewell tour. In Forsythe’s DUO2015, Riley and Brigel Gjoka were named Contemporary Dancers of the Year by the Positano Prize, Italy 2015. He has toured the world extensively to perform in venues such as the Sydney Opera House, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and National Theater of Taiwan, and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, among many others. His choreography has been performed at Bates Dance Festival, SPACE, Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, and the Bangor Arts Exchange.
As a dance artist, Riley’s own work centers around states of consciousness through the body in motion and the psychology of dance. His art practice begins with dance but spans various media and modes of making, including improvisation, video art, sculpture, music, and live installations. Riley has been an artist-in-residence at SPACE Gallery, Bates Dance Festival, Hewnoaks Artist Colony, and the Ellis Beauregard Foundation, and since 2010 has been invited throughout the USA, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and the UK to teach improvisation and embodied dance thinking.
Photo by Luis Rodrigues
“Fairy Sighting” with Amelia Garretson-Persans
Date: August 29
Time: 7:00PM – 9:00PM
Location: All Gathering Stones events will be held at Fish Point on the Eastern Promenade, Portland, Maine. See location on Google Maps.
About the Event
Fairy Sighting is an opportunity for visitors to experience something magical in their peripheral vision. Using light, shadow and performance, Fairy Sighting plays with the relationship between magic and theater and our desire to be taken in by mystery. One night only, looped live performance in and around the stones. Choreography collaboration from Dana Dotson.
About the Artist
Amelia Garretson-Persans is an interdisciplinary artist, community collaborator, and mother based in Maine. She received her BFA in Studio Art from Concordia University in Montreal and her MFA from the Maine College of Art in Portland, ME. She has shown work in Maine, New York, Tennessee, Quebec and elsewhere. Her residencies include the Digital Narratives residency at the Banff Centre in Alberta and the Stephen Pace House in Stonington. She lives in South Portland with her partner and frequent collaborator, Ian P. Hundt, and two children, Paul and Lily.
“Of Transmuted Dreams” Augmented Reality with Pam Chevez
Date: August 1
Time: 12-1pm
Location: All Gathering Stones events will be held at Fish Point on the Eastern Promenade, Portland, Maine. See location on Google Maps.
About the Event
Are you augmented reality (AR) curious? Now’s your chance to experience AR in a most meaningful and informative way. You’ll have an opportunity to interact with digital sculptures and micro stories to learn about the many immigrants who are transforming Portland’s community and beautifully weaving their colorful roots and stories within Maine’s culture. This event puts the AR in ART!
About the Artist
Pam Chévez is a multidisciplinary designer born and raised in Mexico City where she got her BFA in Graphic Design. Shortly after graduating, her curiosity and passion for audiovisual experiences got her into Motion Graphics and 3D modeling. While in Mexico City, she worked for a variety of studios where she got the chance to be involved in broadcasting, explainer videos, and video-mapping projects for clients like Nickelodeon, Sam’s Club, Kinder, The National Institute of Archeology in Mexico, and more.
Moving to Portland, Maine gave her the opportunity to go back to branding, illustration, and web design. Today, she is collaborating as a freelance designer with different businesses and studios in Portland, NYC, and Atlanta. She is also now developing her AR and VR skills as she wants to create a more interactive scene for the community in Portland.
Pam has a call for adventure and will take any opportunity that gets her out exploring the world, whether it’s chasing waves to surf, kayaking in the open ocean, or hiking and camping in remote places. She stands for diversity and wants to be a Maine Guide to make the outdoors more accessible for hispanic immigrants.
“Land. Rock. Water. Sky” with Love Lab Studio
Date: July 23, 24, 25
Time: 3-6pm
Location: All Gathering Stones events will be held at Fish Point on the Eastern Promenade, Portland, Maine. See location on Google Maps.
About the Event
As a sacred moment of rest, reflection, and time to ponder, heal and just look and/or make art, the Love Lab Studio teaching team will support us to create. This project will allow participants to either make art at easels, look through viewfinders at the ocean horizon, or just join artists and observe with us as children and community come together and look at the land, the rock sculptures, the water, and the sky.
About the Artist
Team is led by artist Christina Bechstein. Christina is an artist who has vast experience with community based art and public art projects and pedagogy. She has done projects in Boston, Detroit, Maine and has won numerous awards for her service learning, community based public art, and pedagogy projects. She is also trained in social sculpture, and part of a large group of international artists working with a team who is part of Document/Kassel, Germany 2021. Love Lab Studio, a children’s art studio in Portland Maine, practices experimental pedagogy that merges children’s art making with playful social sculpture pedagogy and practice all aimed at co-creating a better world for all. Her team members come from a diverse set of backgrounds with shared values and care for one another and the natural world.
“Gathering People & Being Like Stones” with Gil Corral
Date and Time: June 20, 2021 / 2–4PM
Location: All Gathering Stones events will be held at Fish Point on the Eastern Promenade, Portland, Maine. See location on Google Maps.
About the Event
Come together around Gathering Stones and hold space as a group in silence. Bear witness our individual and collective experience of this past year and to where and what we are now – in this moment. In this lightly guided meditation, words will be used sparingly, like rain drops falling into a pond. Let your worries and cares from this past year flow into the sea.
About the Artist
Gil Corral is a Mexican-American Artist, Educator and Mindfulness Meditation Facilitator. Born and raised in the Southwest United States, he received his BFA from the University of New Mexico and Mindfulness Meditation Guide Certification from the Engaged Mindfulness Institute. He now lives with his wife and daughter (and dog and rabbit) in southern Maine.
He is the director and co-founder of the HogFarm Studios established in Biddeford, Maine circa 2006 – and is an active member in his community, working in support of the arts and as an educator/mentor of At-Risk population. Currently Gil offers one on one and group mindfulness meditation guidance in his studio, online and in community meeting venues. After spending many years deepening his personal practice and witness to the transformative properties of mindful meditation, he is inspired to offer meditation guidance and be of service in the cause of reducing suffering for anyone interested in exploring their path. Gil predominantly paints on non-traditional and traditional canvas, as well as black velvet canvas, working to elevate and change common perceptions of Velvet Art.
Collective Resilience – Summer 2021 Events
Event Title and Artist: Fairy Sighting with Amelia Garretson-Persans
Date: August 29
Time: 7:00PM – 9:00PM
Location: All Gathering Stones events will be held at Fish Point on the Eastern Promenade, Portland, Maine. See location on Google Maps.
About the Event
Fairy Sighting is an opportunity for visitors to experience something magical in their peripheral vision. Using light, shadow and performance, Fairy Sighting plays with the relationship between magic and theater and our desire to be taken in by mystery. One night only, looped live performance in and around the stones. Choreography collaboration from Dana Dotson.
About the Artist
Amelia Garretson-Persans is an interdisciplinary artist, community collaborator, and mother based in Maine. She received her BFA in Studio Art from Concordia University in Montreal and her MFA from the Maine College of Art in Portland, ME. She has shown work in Maine, New York, Tennessee, Quebec and elsewhere. Her residencies include the Digital Narratives residency at the Banff Centre in Alberta and the Stephen Pace House in Stonington. She lives in South Portland with her partner and frequent collaborator, Ian P. Hundt, and two children, Paul and Lily.
Event Title and Artist: Gloaming with Riley Watts and Heather Lyon
Location: All Gathering Stones events will be held at Fish Point on the Eastern Promenade, Portland, Maine. See location on Google Maps.
About the Event
Gloaming refers to the transitional time between day at night – the liminal space between the light of wakefulness and the dark of a sleeping world. You’ll be invited to participate in a short meditation followed by a performance in a distinct atmosphere energized by the performers and their connection. Each stone will be activated as a choreographic “station” that will guide you toward empathetic healing after an intense year of isolation.
About the Artists
Heather Lyon is a performance, video and installation artist born and working in Blue Hill, Maine. Combining her interest in the meanings of materials (ranging from rebar to sequins to milk to ash) and the question of the human body, she investigates relationships and the ways in which we negotiate longing, loss, desire, and vulnerability. She holds a BFA (2002) and MFA (2004) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has recently been exhibited and performed at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, Maine, TEDx Dirigo, Portland, Maine,
The Danforth Gallery, University of Maine Augusta, Cynthia Winings Gallery, Blue Hill, Maine, Space Gallery,
Portland, Maine, Zaratan, Lisbon, Portugal, “The Picnic Pavilion” a parallel project to the 58th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy, The State Silk Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia and at Artisterium 10, Tbilisi, Georgia, for which she received an Emergency Artist Grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York.
Riley Watts is a dance artist based in Portland, Maine. He studied dance at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts and The Juilliard School, where graduated in 2007 as a Princess Grace Award winner. He has danced professionally with Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Bern Ballet, Netherlands Dance Theater 2, and The Forsythe Company, and now freelances from his home state of Maine. He has appeared in numerous works of choreographer William Forsythe both on stage and in museums since 2010, including video work Alignigung with Rubberlegz, A Quiet Evening of Dance and Sylvie Guillem’s Life in Progress farewell tour. In Forsythe’s DUO2015, Riley and Brigel Gjoka were named Contemporary Dancers of the Year by the Positano Prize, Italy 2015. He has toured the world extensively to perform in venues such as the Sydney Opera House, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and National Theater of Taiwan, and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, among many others. His choreography has been performed at Bates Dance Festival, SPACE, Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, and the Bangor Arts Exchange.
As a dance artist, Riley’s own work centers around states of consciousness through the body in motion and the psychology of dance. His art practice begins with dance but spans various media and modes of making, including improvisation, video art, sculpture, music, and live installations. Riley has been an artist-in-residence at SPACE Gallery, Bates Dance Festival, Hewnoaks Artist Colony, and the Ellis Beauregard Foundation, and since 2010 has been invited throughout the USA, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and the UK to teach improvisation and embodied dance thinking.
Photo by Luis Rodrigues
Looking back on 2019 and Exciting News
This past summer TEMPOart commissioned four monumental sculptures by Daniel Minter called Mother’s Garden. These sculptures, which are located near Kennedy Park in East Bayside, evoke the food and spirituality of the African Diaspora. In conjunction with this project, and in partnership with World To Table, TEMPOart sponsored four dinners for recently arrived immigrants and longtime Mainers. Our goal for the year, to help bring Portland’s diverse communities more closely together through art and food, was a great success.
In addition to the dinners, we sponsored four youth art and writing programs, including those offered by the Telling Room and Mayo Street Arts. We also hosted summer interns from the Portland Museum of Art.
Each year new TEMPOart projects enliven Portland’s public spaces. They serve as catalysts for addressing important issues and ideas that can help make our city a richer and more interconnected community.
For the coming year our theme is Resilience in Place, a concept that will enable us to explore and respond to challenges posed by imminent changes in our natural and social environments. From a field of 14 artists we are pleased to announce that Jesse Salisbury has been invited to create an installation for TEMPOart 2020. The sculpture will be located at Fish Point along the Eastern Trail, an easy walk from both Fort Allen Park and Commercial Street.
This concept rendering shows what the 2020 TEMPOart project by Jesse Salisbury will look like.
We have another exciting announcement. After 6 years of reliance on an all-volunteer board, TEMPOart has hired its first full time executive director. We are happy to welcome Tony Adams who will start work in December. Tony brings many years of experience in non-profit arts management as well as a deep commitment to multiculturalism. We hope you will have a chance to meet him in the near future.
TEMPOart continues to grow and to provide unique ways to encourage community connectionsand conversations. Our challenge in the coming year is to support both our ambitious 2020 project and our new professional staff.
