News and Events – Page 7

Staffing Announcement: Jessica Muise Hired as Interim Executive Director of TEMPOart

We are thrilled to announce the appointment of Jessica Muise as the Interim Executive Director of TEMPOart, effective August 28, 2023. Muise brings a wealth of experience and a deep passion for the arts, making her a perfect fit to lead our organization forward. TEMPOart is a nonprofit organization dedicated to championing and commissioning public art in Portland, ME. Our mission is to enliven public spaces, connect communities, and spark meaningful conversations through art.

We believe in the power of temporary art to encourage deeper thinking and provoke discussions on timely issues. With a commitment to making art free, open, and inclusive, TEMPOart collaborates with educational and cultural institutions to offer inspiring learning opportunities for people of all backgrounds.

Jessica Muise is a dynamic leader with a diverse background in the arts, administration, and community development. Her journey to TEMPOart is filled with a range of experiences that have uniquely prepared her for this exciting new role. Muise has spent a significant portion of her career in the vibrant arts community of New England, specializing in understanding the creative economy and its role in community-building. Her previous roles include:

Working at the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) in Boston, where she focused on the creative economy.
Serving as the Membership and Outreach Director at Artisan’s Asylum, a large-scale community space in Somerville.
Managing visual arts at the Umbrella Arts Center in Concord.
Holding the position of treasurer for CraftMass, a nonprofit organization that supports creative communities.
Volunteering at Boston University’s BUild Lab, which focuses on arts and social impact.

Furthermore, she holds a Bachelor’s degree in dance in education as transformative pedagogy from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Her personal work centers on creating dance in public spaces, emphasizing inclusivity and community engagement. Muise also participated in the Executive Program in Arts & Culture Strategy at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice.

Muise’s decision to join TEMPOart was motivated by our mission of transformation through the arts and our role in Biddeford’s vibrant artistic community. She is enthusiastic about helping others experience personal and community transformation through art and believes in the arts as a powerful tool for community development.

Muise’s appointment as Interim Executive Director marks an exciting chapter in TEMPOart’s journey. She joins us during a time of transition, where we’ll be listening to artists, board members, and the community to shape our future strategic plans. As we navigate the post-pandemic landscape, her experience and skills will play a crucial role in ensuring the arts remain a central and secure part of our community’s identity.

We welcome Muise’s energy, enthusiasm, and visionary leadership to TEMPOart and look forward to her contributions as we continue to champion public art in Portland. Please join us in extending a warm welcome to Jessica as she takes on her new role. Photo by suger.

The magic of Carousel Cosmos captured by Buoy Media

TEMPOart’s commitment to bringing art to the public sphere has been further solidified by Carousel Cosmos by Chris Miller, commissioned in 2023. The installation has quickly become a focal point for the community, creating a space where people can gather, appreciate art, and connect with each other. It has redefined the way public spaces are used, highlighting the importance of art in enhancing our daily lives.

Thanks to Buoy Media, we have captured some of the magic of Carousel Cosmos to share with you through the interwebs, enjoy!

Carousel Cosmos making headlines

Carousel Cosmos by Chris Miller, a TEMPOart commission, has been turning heads in Portland. With captivating and imaginative elements, this remarkable installation has captured the attention of both the media and the community. Let’s take a closer look at the headlines it has been making in 2023.

This summer, Carousel Cosmos took center stage, and its enchanting, lifelike creatures are leaving an indelible mark on the Western Promenade. The Bangor Daily News aptly described the installation highlighting the awe and wonder it has brought to the city. The article “Prehistoric creatures have popped up on Portland’s Western Promenade” delves into the magical transformation of this public space, where animals from another era seem to have come to life.

Before Carousel Cosmos animals roamed the Western Promenade again, it was anticipated as a source of of joy and creativity. The Portland Press Herald introduced this exciting project full of ‘friendly monsters” and noted each animal bench’s “support of their own“, highlighting the art’s friendly, approachable, and curious nature.

Carousel Cosmos has not only brought vibrant art to the heart of Portland but has also encouraged meaningful discussions about art’s role in our lives. As it continues to make headlines, this new work by Chris Miller stands as a testament to the enduring impact of public art on our city’s culture and identity. If you haven’t experienced Carousel Cosmos yet, be sure to visit the Western Promenade and let your imagination run wild amidst these intergalactic creatures.

Scene from the Community Opening for *Carousel Cosmos*, June 2023

Learn more about Carousel Cosmos

Carousel Cosmos Community Opening

You are invited to our 2023 Community Opening!

Join TEMPOart and artist Chris Miller on Thursday, June 15 at the installation site on the Western Promenade to celebrate the opening of Carousel Cosmos. There will be music by The Maine Squeeze Accordion Ensemble and fun for the whole family!

This celebration is free and open to the public.

This event is weather dependent. The rain date is
THURSDAY, JUNE 22 from 5:30-6:30pm.

Here’s a sneak peek of the animals in Chris’s workshop!

You’re Invited to Catalyst 2023

This exciting event will include a sneak peek of this year’s installation, Carousel Cosmos, by Chris Miller! We’ll also enjoy a performance of Watermelon Ice by our 2022 artist Pamela Moulton and Jes Ellis! We’ll be joined by TEMPO artists past and present, as we bring the TEMPOart community together for the first time in four years.Tickets include light bites and drinks.

BUY TICKETS

2023 Host Committee Meg and Rob Adams
Rachael and Justin Alfond
Noni and Charlton Ames
Kate and Aaron Anker, Running with Scissors
Christine Beneman
Braden Buehler
Richard Bilodeau and Scott Choquette
Barbara and Bill Burgess
Kate and Tom Chappell
John and Linda Coleman
Vera Correll
Sarah Daignault
Anna Dibble
David and Jil Eaton
Taffy Fields
Laura Freid
Alison Gibbs and Loren Kessel
Anna Ginn
Kent Gordon
Betsy Griffin and Dustin McLellan
Cyrus Hagge and Jessica Tomlinson
Rachael Harkness
Bruce Hazard
Alison Hildreth
Kate Howe
Angus King III and Cricket King
Gregg Lipton and Sara Crisp
DeCourcy McIntosh
Margaret Morfit
Ah-Kau and Sally Ng
Dawn Ng
Malcolm and Susan Rogers
Frank and Susan Ruch
Jenny Scheu and John Ryan
Jim and Lynn Shaffer
Alice and Dick Spencer
Aaron Stephan and Lauren Fensterstock
David and Ann Swardlick
Caroline Teschke
Kristin and Warren Valdmanis
Stuart and Karen Watson
Rosie Williams
Kathryn Yates
Caron ZandIt’s not too late to join the host committee!
Tickets are available on our website!

Support TEMPOart this year

Since I founded TEMPOart in 2015, I have been constantly amazed by the support of our local community. We are grateful to the many donors who have already contributed this year to further our mission to champion public art in Portland. Your generosity allows us to support local artists and offer robust, free programming for people of all ages to accompany our installations.

Public art presents a platform for people to gather. To start a conversation. To encourage deeper thinking. To enliven a public place with community engagement.

If you have not already made a gift this year, I invite you to donate today in any amount that is meaningful to you and your family. With your help, TEMPOart will be able to continue grow and create more ambitious, impactful public art for years to come.

Thank you for believing in TEMPOart and for your support.

Sincerely,

Alice Spencer, Founder and Chair TEMPOart
TEMPOart is a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization. We are funded primarily by private donations. No goods or services were exchanged for this charitable contribution.

DONATE TO TEMPOart

Late Summer Night’s Dream

Date: Friday, September 9, 2022
Time: 6pm – 7pm
Rain date: Sunday, September 11, 2022

Location: This event is located in Payson Park, Portland, Maine. Click here to view the exact location in Google Maps. Parking is available in the adjacent lot.

About the event

TEMPOart invites you to join us for our final event of the 2022 season – Late Summer Night’s Dream, a celebration where poetry and music will come to life beneath Pamela Moulton’s illuminated pink sculptures in Payson Park, entitled “Beneath the Forest, Beneath the Sea”. From 6p – 7p on Friday, September 9, six poets and a musician will perform pieces inspired by the sculptures.

Poetry by Megan Grumbling, Zina Mohamed, Jefferson Navicky, Betsy Sholl, Martin Steingesser, and Maya Williams. Featuring music by Carl Dimow.

This event is FREE and OPEN to the public.

This event is part “Every Tree Tells a Story,” TEMPOart’s summer series of events in companion with Pamela Moulton’s installation, Beneath the Forest, Beneath the Sea in Payson Park. Curated by Pamela Moulton, each event explores the artwork’s themes of sustainability and community.

Poetry featured in Late Summer Night’s Dream

Late-Summer-Nights-Dream Download

About Pamela Moulton

Pamela Moulton’s installations are large-scale, playful, hands-on, exploratory and mysterious…Moulton is a multi-disciplinary artist, whose newest human-scale immersive environments are built entirely from salvaged commercial nets and ropes. Her interactive spaces may be crawled through, climbed upon and occupied, allowing the public to explore its environmental consciousness in a direct, material way. These lost materials – haunt our oceans. They are durable, outdoor materials designed for human handling, connected historically and commercially to Portland’s development. Moulton uses them to pull her visitors into spaces which are evocative, sensory, and contemplative. World-building and collaboration are the bases of Moulton’s practice.

www.pamelamoulton.art

Pink Picnic

Dates: Saturday, August 20, 2022
Time: 4pm – 6pm
Rain date: Sunday, August 21, 2022

Location: This event is located in Payson Park, Portland, Maine. Click here to view the exact location in Google Maps. Parking is available in the adjacent lot.

About the event

Pink Picnic is a community picnic focusing on everything pink. Adorn your most whimsical pink outfit, or try on one of the costumes created by artist. Join the Pink procession, play with the interactive pink installations, and be ready for spontaneous pink pop-up performances that will delight your senses! Gather your favorite pink foods, and celebrate at the site of Beneath the Forest, Beneath the Sea for a feast to remember.

This event is FREE and OPEN to the public.

This event is part “Every Tree Tells a Story,” TEMPOart’s summer series of events in companion with Pamela Moulton’s installation, Beneath the Forest, Beneath the Sea in Payson Park. Curated by Pamela Moulton, each event explores the artwork’s themes of sustainability and community.

About Pamela Moulton

Pamela Moulton’s installations are large-scale, playful, hands-on, exploratory and mysterious…Moulton is a multi-disciplinary artist, whose newest human-scale immersive environments are built entirely from salvaged commercial nets and ropes. Her interactive spaces may be crawled through, climbed upon and occupied, allowing the public to explore its environmental consciousness in a direct, material way. These lost materials – haunt our oceans. They are durable, outdoor materials designed for human handling, connected historically and commercially to Portland’s development. Moulton uses them to pull her visitors into spaces which are evocative, sensory, and contemplative. World-building and collaboration are the bases of Moulton’s practice.

www.pamelamoulton.art

Think Pink: Art-making Event

Dates: Sunday, July 24, 2022
Time: 1pm – 3pm
Rain date: Friday, July 29, 2022

About the event
Let’s make art together! Join artists Pamela Moulton and Margaret (Peg) Maxwell to create works of art using abandoned fishing gear, known in the industry as ghost gear. Surrounded by Pamela’s whimsical installation Beneath the Forest, Beneath the Sea, come create a pink net and rope collage, a wearable accessory, a rope bracelet, a colorful drawing, and even try your hand at musical paper making: Roots to Paper. Seeds to Trees. Come hug the sculptures and make art! All ages welcome!
Moulton.

This event is FREE and OPEN to the public.

Location: This event is located in Payson Park, Portland, Maine. Click here to view the exact location in Google Maps. Parking is available in the adjacent lot.

This event is part “Every Tree Tells a Story,” TEMPOart’s summer series of events in companion with Pamela Moulton’s installation, Beneath the Forest, Beneath the Sea in Payson Park. Curated by Pamela Moulton, each event explores the artwork’s themes of sustainability and community.

About Pamela Moulton

Pamela Moulton’s installations are large-scale, playful, hands-on, exploratory and mysterious…Moulton is a multi-disciplinary artist, whose newest human-scale immersive environments are built entirely from salvaged commercial nets and ropes. Her interactive spaces may be crawled through, climbed upon and occupied, allowing the public to explore its environmental consciousness in a direct, material way. These lost materials – haunt our oceans. They are durable, outdoor materials designed for human handling, connected historically and commercially to Portland’s development. Moulton uses them to pull her visitors into spaces which are evocative, sensory, and contemplative. World-building and collaboration are the bases of Moulton’s practice.

www.pamelamoulton.art

“YOU ARE GOING TO BE HEALED” with Imaginary Island

Dates: Friday, June 24, 2022 + Saturday, June 25, 2022

Time: 8pm – 9pm

Location: Payson Park at the site of Pamela Moulton’s Beneath the Forest, Beneath the Sea

Rain date: 6/26/22

About the event

As a mental health counselor and a craniosacral therapist, respectively, Kristen Stake and Hannah Wasielewski have felt tremendous pressure, during these times, to HEAL their clients–on demand!–while also going through their own challenges with Covid, climate change, white supremacy, and the threat of nuclear war. This juxtaposition of helping while hurting, has led them to ask themselves: How can we leverage these unrealistic expectations to catapult ourselves into a realm where true connection and healing are possible?

Equipped with fake Tarot cards, intake forms, and fluorescent wigs, the two therapist-dancers will guide the audience through an interactive experience in Payson Park using sacred and mundane objects to perform the problem of community, to cast spells, abolish bad energies, and invoke ancestors for karmic healing. This performance is part of a lifelong choreography project centered around healing, grieving, and improvisation.

This project has received generous support from the New England Foundation for the Arts, the Maine Arts Commission, Casco Bay Movers, and Hewnoaks Artist Residency.

General info

The performance duration is 60 minutes and will have optional participatory elements. There will be some chairs on site, but you may want to bring a picnic blanket and an extra layer of clothing.

Performance material is not suitable for children.

This event is part of TEMPOart’s summer event series, Every Tree Tells a Story, curated by Pamela Moulton.

This event is FREE and OPEN to the public.

About the Company

Imaginary Island is an experimental dance company started by Kristen Stake and Hannah Wasielewski located in Portland, Maine. Imaginary Island is a nod to Ram Island Dance (a modern company active from 1968-2001). Located somewhere in the Casco Bay, Imaginary Island is home to the dance that can’t be erased because it exists in our collective imagination. Their work is influenced by the trials and tribulations of Contact Improvisation, the “fake healing” scores taught by Keith Hennessy, the effervescent spirit of (d)ancestor Kathleen Hermesdorf, and the experiential community gatherings of Anna Halprin. Through this project, they embark on a lifelong dance process centered around healing, grieving, and improvisation.

www.imaginaryisland.art

About the Artists

Hannah Wasielewski

Hannah Wasielewski (she/her) is a dancer, performer, educator, and biodynamic craniosacral therapist based in Portland, Maine. She has been engaged in choreographic practice as a soloist and in collaboration since 2012, working throughout North America and abroad in Europe. Her current collaboration, (ii) Imaginary Island, with Kristen Stake, is a lifelong dance process centered around healing, grieving, and improvisation. Previously based in the Bay Area, she works with her sister, Amy, and has performed with Sara Shelton Mann, FAKE Company/Kathleen Hermesdorf, Kinetech Arts/Daiane Lopes da Silva, and Sara Kraft/ KraftyWorks.

Kristen Stake

Kristen Stake is a dance artist in Portland, Maine. Rooted in DIY values, her work explores ritual, memory, and emotional-relational dynamics. She has danced with Melinda Buckwalter, Vanessa Anspaugh, Terre Unite Parker, Katarina Eriksson, and Michael Figueroa. From 2016-2020, she was the director of the Living Room Dance Collective. She has held many jobs in the “helping” fields and currently works as a mental health counselor.

Aretha Aoki and Meredith Glisson provided invaluable dramaturgical support.