Commission Member Bios
John Rohman, Bangor
Chair
John Rohman is CEO and President of WBRC Architects - Engineers in Bangor. He received a BS in civil engineering from the University of Maine at Orono in 1968 and a BS in business administration from Husson College in 1976. In 1973, he joined what is now WBRC Architects-Engineers. In 1988, John returned to school at the Boston Architectural Center for studies in interior design.
For many years, John has had strong interests and involvement in the arts and has served as chair of the Board of Directors of the Maine Crafts Association, on the Board of Directors of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and the University of Maine Museum of Art Advisory Committee. John is a Trustee of Husson College and serves on the University of Maine Alumni Association Board of Directors. He is now active as the chair of the Maine Arts Commission as appointed by Governor John Baldacci. In 2004 John was elected to serve on the Board of the Maine Chamber of Commerce. John is currently the president of the National Assembly of States Arts Agencies, the national organization that serves all state arts commissions, and is also on the Board of Directors for the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA).
After serving as President of the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce, John entered the political arena and started his first City Council term in 1997, and he served as Mayor of the City of Bangor in 2001. Both the arts and downtown/waterfront development were a focus during his tenure. The selection of Bangor as the three-year site of the National Folk Festival was a very active item for both John and his wife Lyndy and that continues for the American Folk Festival. John served as chair of the festival in its first two years. After the success of the Blaine House Conference on Maine's Creative Economy, Governor Baldacci established the Creative Economy Council and appointed John as the chair. Lyndy and John live in a wonderful historic home on Broadway where both the interior and the gardens keep them active in their spare time. John's children both live in the west, Erik in Colorado and Amy in Montana.
Owen Smith, Bangor
Vice-Chair
Dr. Owen F. Smith is an Art Historian, Curator, Artist, Writer and Teacher whose interest lies in the exploration of the cultural gap between art and life. He is currently Professor of Art History and Digital Art and the current Director of the New Media Department at the University of Maine. Owen received his BA in Art History, MA in Museology, and PhD in Art History, from the University of Washington in Seattle. Owen has authored some 40 books, book chapters and articles, key among these being his book, Fluxus, a History of an Attitude. Currently he is editing several publications, including Events and Event Structures, which will be published by the Danish Academy of Art in conjunction with an conference he is co-organizing there in 2007. Owen is an active artist, preferring digital art and new media forms. His work has been exhibited nationally, as well as internationally in over 70 exhibitions. In the state of Maine, Owen has exhibited his work at the Carnegie Art Museum at the University of Maine, the University of Southern Maine in Portland and most recently at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport.
Richard Abramson, Arundel
Richard is Superintendent of Schools for Union 42/Maranacook Community School District 10. In this position, he oversees the administration of schools in the Readfield area. Throughout his professional life he has also worked as an instructor and education consultant in Maine and elsewhere in the country. In 2001, he was the Maine Department of Education's Distinguished Educator. Richard also serves as Chair of the Maine Alliance for Arts Education, as well as Chair of the Arts in Education Committee of the Maine Arts Commission.
Howard A. Bates, Jr. (aka Skip Bates), Camden
Skip Bates is the board president of Midcoast Magnet, a creative economy networking organization in Knox and Waldo Counties. In that capacity he worked as founding organizer of the Juice Conference, a statewide gathering of creative economy leaders. Skip works at Bangor Savings Bank as a commercial loan officer. He also serves on the boards of the Small Enterprise Growth Fund and the Camden Conference. He and his wife, Kate, live in Camden, where they are avid kayakers and runners.
Mark H.C. Bessire, Portland
Prior to his post as director of Portland Museum of Art, Bessire was the director of the Bates College Museum of Art in Lewiston, Maine. At Bates, he initiated a Collections Project Series, created cross-disciplinary exhibitions, exhibited Chinese art in support of Bates’s Asian Studies program, strengthened the Friends of the Museum, lectured in the Humanities, and chaired the Committee on Public Art. Previously, he was director of the Institute of Contemporary Art at the Maine College of Art.
Bessire holds an M.B.A. from Columbia University, an M.A. in art history from Hunter College and a B.A. from New York University. He was a Helena Rubinstein Fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art and a Fulbright Fellow in Tanzania. He has published widely, organized traveling exhibitions, and is active in local, community, and national public art programs. His publication Stairway to Heaven: From Chinese Streets to Monuments and Skyscrapers will be published this year by University Press of New England. Bessire is also a founding board member of the non-profit Africa Schoolhouse, which builds schools in rural Africa.
David Moses Bridges, Perry
David was awarded the Maine Arts Commission’s Tradition Arts Fellowship in 2006. He is a Passamaquoddy tribal member from the reserve at Sipayik. Upon the passing of his great grandfather, Sylvester Gabriel, the last of the old time bark canoe and basket makers, David was left with his great grandfather’s canoe making tools, the desire to build a canoe of birch bark and without a mentor. Serendipity stepped in when he met Steve Cayard, a self-taught birch bark canoe maker. Together they documented and repaired a Passamaquoddy canoe for The Smithsonian Institution; and documented and did condition reports on the 120 scale birch bark canoes models made by Edwin Tappen Adney for the Mariners Museum of Newport News, VA. From 1997-1999 David worked as an assistant instructor at the Wooden Boat School in Brooklin, ME. Since that time, David has been working to bring back the art of canoe building to the native nations by providing programs in native communities that are free of charge and open to all. David has produced an 18’ 2” Porpoise Hunting Canoe (2003), an 18’ 6” St. John River canoe (2004) and an 18’ 2” Passamaquoddy Ocean Canoe (2005). In 1997 he began teaching basket making programs with the Abbe Museum, The MIBA, The Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Malecite Nations and various schools throughout Maine. David intends to continue these studies in the traditional basket forms and design motifs, to catalog and photograph the extensive collections here in Maine for eventual publication, and perhaps more importantly, to ensure that this unique art form never comes as close to dying out again.
Jon Calame, Portland
Jon Calame is a partner with Minerva Partners, a non-profit consultancy group focused on quality in the built environment. He specialized in post-conflict urban rehabilitaiton. His book entitled Divided Cities: Belfast, Beirut, Jerusalem, Mostar & Nicosia, will be published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in early 2009.
Sharon Corwin, Waterville
Sharon Corwin is an art historian and museum professional. She currently serves as the Carolyn Muzzy Director and Chief Curator at the Colby College Museum of Art, where she has worked since 2003. At the Colby Museum, Sharon established the yearly exhibition program, Currents, which showcases work by emerging artists who have ties to the state of Maine. She also oversees the museum’s exhibitions, acquisitions, and public programs. Sharon received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and has published numerous articles and books on modern and contemporary American art.
Alan Crichton, Belfast
Alan Crichton is a sculptor, draftsman and writer living in Liberty, Maine. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Goddard College and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, he has taught at Colby College, the MFA program at Vermont College and the Farnsworth Museum and has exhibited throughout Maine and New England for over twenty-five years. He is the co-founder of Waterfall Arts, a center in Montville and Belfast, which for nine years has brought together artists from Maine and around the world to celebrate creativity and promote sustainability through education, artists’ residencies, exhibits and events.
Hugh T. French, Eastport
Hugh is the director and co-founder of the Tides Institute and Museum of Art in Eastport. The institute is an innovative cultural center that combines a mixture of cultural resources (museum, research, art production facilities and workshops) with regional renewal. Located on the Maine/New Brunswick border, the center focuses on the region's broader Canadian-American relationships, working as much in Canada as in the United States. Prior to his work in Eastport, Hugh was involved for 19 years with the establishment of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, departing in 2001 as associate director. He holds a MA in history from the University of New Brunswick.
Shannon Haines, Waterville
Shannon Haines has served as the executive director of Waterville Main Street since March of 2003, and has overseen a number of community projects and events, including the Waterville Intown Arts Fest, the design and implementation of the Downtown Waterville Lebanese Heritage Mural, the creation of a downtown Waterville farmers market, the development of a Façade Improvement Grant Program, customer service training for downtown businesses, and many others. Haines is the director of the Maine International Film Festival, which is held annually in Waterville and features approximately 100 films and 50 visiting filmmakers over the course of 10 days. She is also a founding member of the Waterville Arts Council Steering Committee plus a number of other local boards.
Haines, holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies, and Japanese from Middlebury College. In 2008, she was named to Maine Biz’s “Next List” of top 10 individuals shaping the Maine economy and was presented with the Ken Curtis Leadership Award from the Maine Development Foundation.
Mary P. Harding, York Harbor
Mary Harding is a 1975 graduate of Brown University, and has always been passionate about art. After graduation, she was an exhibit designer for Strawberry Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH and for the Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum in Rochester, NY. She served as director of the Barn Gallery in Ogunquit, ME for four years. Since 1990, she has been an independent art consultant specializing in regional contemporary art. Beginning in 1996, Harding has worked as curator for the contemporary art exhibits for the George Marshall Store Gallery, a property of the Museums of Old York.
Andrew G. Harris, Auburn
Andrew Harris, British born and now a full time resident of Auburn, Maine, is the current executive director of L/A Arts for the cities of Lewiston and Auburn. Harris trained as an actor/educator in London and attended the University of London, and The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He taught educational drama & theatre from primary to college level, as well as adult education. Harris held the position of advisory teacher for drama, as well as serving on the National Examination Board, and National Curriculum Council for the Arts in the U.K.
Andrew’s recent professional theatre work includes appearing on stage at The Public Theatre in Lewiston and Portland Stage Company. He also appeared on screen for The History Channel. Andrew’s recent directorial responsibilities include artistic director for the Maine Performing Arts Festival and educator outreach director with Figures of Speech. He currently serves as an affiliate artist at Portland Stage Theatre Co. working directly with students on production related workshops.
Victoria Mares Hershey,
Portland
Victoria is the director of development for Portland West, Inc. and holds a BA in Political Science with a minor in Sociology from Michigan State University. She also holds a certificate in electronic journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Victoria is a writer and freelance journalist who, for the last 5 years, wrote a weekly column for the Portland Press Herald. Victoria has received a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Community Service Award for her work in Maine. She is a board member of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, and also a member of the Steering Committee of the University of Southern Maine’s Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine. The center provides documentation, study, and promotion of diversity, human rights, and civil rights in Maine; in addition, the center collects, houses, and preserves primary and secondary research materials on the experiences of diverse groups in Maine. Victoria’s experiences prior to Maine include print and television media and being a news anchor. She also wrote, directed and produced in New York City.Victoria is also a visual artist and musician.
Timothy W. Kane, Scarborough
Tim Kane is vice president for advancement & college relations at Maine College of Art (MECA). He received his B.A. from Bates College, and his M.A. from Columbia University. Kane joined MECA in 1997, and is a member of the college’s senior management team.
Kane’s responsibilities within the team include, fund raising, alumni relations, board development, marketing and public relations. He has served as a board member of the Portland Arts and Cultural Association. Prior to MECA, he worked in development at Bates College and Franklin Pierce Law Center. Currently, Kane is co-owner of Spelt Right Baking Company, an all-natural spelt baker in Yarmouth, ME. He has traveled extensively in South America where he conducted field research for his graduate studies in anthropology.
Felicia Knight, Scarborough
Felicia is a 20-year veteran of Maine broadcasting and spent 10 years in public service in Washington, DC. Felicia began her career at WABI radio in Bangor, Maine. From there, she moved to WABI-TV where she served as anchor and Managing Editor of Channel 5 News. In 1988, she moved to WGME-TV in Portland where she anchored the station’s number one rated First News at 5:30 and Noon Report. She also served as Channel 13’s political reporter, analyst, and debate moderator. In addition to her anchoring and political coverage, she carved out a niche arts reportage. Over the course of her broadcasting career, she won numerous state and national awards for writing, anchoring, producing, and reporting.
In 1998, she left broadcasting to become Director of Communications for United States Senator Susan Collins in Washington, DC. In 2003, she became Communications Director for the National Endowment for the Arts under Chairman Dana Gioia. The NEA is an independent agency in the federal government and the nation’s largest annual funder of the arts. After five years of directing that agency’s media strategy, Felicia returned home to Maine.
Linda Nelson, Stonington
Linda is a founder and the Executive Director of Opera House Arts, Stonington, and holds a BA in American Studies from Bowdoin College. Linda is also an Executive Consultant, specializing in strategic planning, operations, and technology implementation for firms nationwide. A graduate of Leadership Maine, Linda has extensive media experience, having worked both as Chief Information Officer at Village Voice Media, and as News & Web Editor for the Island Ad-Vantages on Deer Isle, Maine. Her freelance writing has been published in a variety of national periodicals. Linda uses her knowledge to develop community-building and leadership programs, public education improvements and small business growth in her local community.
Aimee Petrin, Freeport
Aimée Petrin is the Executive Director of PCA Great Performances, a non-profit performing arts organization in Portland, ME. Petrin regularly serves on state, regional and national grant panels, forums and task forces/planning committees. She serves as a board member for Association of Performing Arts Presenters and is a member of the Bates Dance Festival Advisory Board. She is the former Board Chair for Arts Presenters of Northern New England, past Northeast representative of the National Performance Network, and an international delegate for NEFA attending curatorial exchanges in Mexico. Petrin previously served for nine years as Programming Manager of the Flynn Center in Burlington, Vermont. At the Flynn her work with AXIS Dance Company helped garner the first Innovation in the Arts Access awards from MetLife and the Arts Presenters. At the Flynn, she initiated longstanding partnerships with educational institutions and community organizations, designed and implemented artists’ residencies, and produced site-specific performances with artists such as Meredith Monk, Eiko & Koma, and Doug Varone.
Jennifer Oxman Ryan, Portland
For the past three years, Jennifer Oxman Ryan has been working on research projects at Harvard University’s, Project Zero. While her prior work focused on arts education, she currently is engaged in a project examining youth trust and trustworthiness. She also works as an arts education consultant, with current work based in Maine with the Maine Alliance for Arts Education.
Prior to joining the staff at Harvard, Ms. Ryan was a teaching fellow, in the Arts in Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Previous experience includes, directing the education programs at L/A Arts in Lewiston, museum educator for students and teachers at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York, and advocacy for arts education policy and practice at local and state levels.
Ms. Ryan has led professional development workshops for teachers, has taught museum-based k-12 visual literacy programs, was active on the Maine Arts Commission Education Committee for six years, has served on a Kennedy Center taskforce, which resulted in The Arts Beyond the School Day: Extending the Power (2001), and has received the 2007 Outstanding Advocate for Arts Education award from the Maine Alliance for Arts Education.
Research interests include arts education, professional development and teacher training in the arts, student engagement, and community/school partnerships. She earned a BA in art history from Mount Holyoke College and an Ed.M in Arts in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Tracy S. Michaud Stutzman, Dover-Foxcroft
Tracy is a native of rural Maine. In 2002 she earned her Ph.D. in Anthropology/Archaeology from the University of Pittsburgh. She returned to Maine to work in community development. Since returning she co-authored a live music and slide show curriculum that teaches local history to students, and an award-winning middle school curriculum, “Teaching Sense of Place Through the Arts”.
With the support of local economic development corporations, Tracy founded and ran the Maine Highlands Guild which recently merged with the Maine Crafts Association, a non-profit organization that promotes Maine craft artists. As executive director of the guild she received state and national recognition as the winner of the 2003 National Social Venture Competition sponsored by Columbia University, Hass Business School at Berkeley, and the Goldman Sachs Foundation. Tracy sat on Maine’s Governor’s Council for the Creative Economy and the Governors Council on Quality of Place. She is a leader in the Realize!Maine Youth Initiative.
In 2005 she was chosen for Maine Biz magazine’s “NEXT” list and in 2007 won the Governors Award for CDBG Administrator of the Year. As executive director of the Maine Crafts Association, Tracy just oversaw the development of a Maine Craft Center and an Associates Degree in Traditional and Contemporary Craft in the Maine’s Community College system. Tracy is an adjunct professor of Anthropology at the University of Southern Maine and represents Maine as the STAR for the National Center for Civic Education. She is involved in her community on the board of directors of the Center Theatre in Dover-Foxcroft, East Sangerville Grange, and a member of the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council. Tracy performs regularly with the Slightly Off-Center Players theatre group and the Doughty Hill Band.
