Skowhegan at 70! Exhibition Opens at Common Street Arts August 3

“A Place to Grow” features never-before-seen works of art, historical artifacts representing a visual history of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture

Waterville, Maine — Waterville Creates!, a non-profit supporting and growing the arts in greater Waterville, welcomes the history of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture to Waterville as Common Street Arts gallery prepares to open its first official exhibition, A Place to Grow: From Agriculture to Visual Culture, a history of the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, curated by Daphne Cummings, Elizabeth Mooney and Sarah Workneh.

In conjunction with the Taste of Waterville, the exhibition takes visitors through the history of this world-renown school that has made an enormous impact on the visual arts, and in particular, Post-War American Art.  2016 marks the 70th anniversary of the school – over 4000 artists have worked on the historic farm landscape that once housed chickens and livestock in the same buildings that have been converted and preserved over time.

School founders envisioned a remote destination free of both the influence of the art world and the demands of everyday life. They sought to bring together serious young artists and established working artists from all over the world and believed the experience of living and working together in a site solely devoted to those who were present on the secluded campus would allow for a different kind of exchange between student artists and working artists.

Combining ephemera, furniture, and artifacts from the Red Farm homestead alongside the history of the founding ideals behind the school, with archival photographs and letters, A Place to Grow is a visual history of the transition from working farm to the school. 

To learn more about the exhibition visit: www.CommonStreetArts.org

About the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Skowhegan is an intensive nine-week summer residency program for emerging visual artists established in 1946, which seeks each year to bring together a diverse group of individuals with a demonstrated commitment to artmaking and inquiry for a concentrated period of artistic creation, interaction and growth. Located on a historic 350-acre farm in rural Maine, the place serves as a critical component of the program and serves as a backdrop for the most stimulating and rigorous environment possible.

About Waterville Creates! Waterville Creates! is a non-profit on a mission to promote, support, and grow greater Waterville’s arts and cultural scene. Collaborating with regional arts and culture institutions and their supporters, together we are strengthening our community as a vibrant creative center, increasing access to creative opportunities.