2015 Maine Artist Fellows
The Maine Arts Commission’s Fellowships reward artistic excellence, advance the careers of Maine artists, and promote public awareness of the strength and distinction of Maine’s creative sector. Awards are made solely on the basis of artistic excellence. Due to the competitiveness of the Individual Artist Fellowship program and to avoid conflicts of interest, all jurors selected for the program reside outside Maine. The 7 Fellows for 2015 are featured below.
Meet the 2015 Fellows
Functional Craft Arts Fellow
Christine J. Dentremont
Christine J. Dentremont of Swans Island studied industrial design in New York and moved to Swans Island in 2000.
The Fellowship supported the launch of her professional studio, expanded marketing, and the cultivation of new customers.
Christine described her work as blurring the boundaries among art, craft, and design by integrating artistic form into functional, usable, one-of-a-kind objects.
Performing Arts Fellow
Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers
Based in Bar Harbor, Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers is a family business that creates handmade puppets and produces humorous, fast-moving shows for audiences of all ages.
The group planned to use the Fellowship to build triceratops, tyrannosaurus rex, and exploding volcanoes for a new dinosaur production. The project also included original music, 12 dances, and more than 20 handmade puppets.
Visual Arts Fellow
Wade Kavanaugh
Wade Kavanaugh of Albany Township earned a B.A. in Economics from Bowdoin College.
He completed a residency at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and received grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Media Arts Fellow
David Meiklejohn
David Meiklejohn of Portland is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, and installation artist who directed and authored films and created music videos.
During much of his Fellowship year, David planned to work on a short-film adaptation about young boys struggling to understand the purpose of prisons.
Contemporary Craft Fellow
Jonathan Mess
Jonathan Mess of Jefferson creates experimental abstract work using reclaimed ceramic materials.
He earned a BFA from the University of Montana in Missoula and an MFA in Ceramics from the State University of New York at New Paltz.
His work is held in private collections and has been exhibited nationally.
Literary Arts Fellow
Glenn Morazzini
Glenn Morazzini of Cumberland received awards including the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award, Paumanok Poetry Prize, and Martin Dibner Poetry Fellowship. His writing appeared in a range of journals.
Glenn described the Fellowship as a handshake between the artist and Maine residents whose public contributions made the award possible. His part of that exchange was to finish his book of poems.
Traditional Arts Fellow
Brian Theriault
Brian Theriault of Fort Kent continued a Native American snowshoe-making tradition extending back centuries.
Brian made one-of-a-kind snowshoes for more than 40 years. His father, Edmond Theriault, taught him how to make and repair snowshoes when Brian was young.
Known for strength, durability, and flexibility, Theriault snowshoes are handcrafted using local brown ash and cattle hide.
Maine Artist Fellows by Year
View current and past Maine Artist Fellows by calendar year. New Fellows begin their fellowship term at the start of each calendar year.