2017 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 2017 are featured below.
Meet the 2017 Fellows
Literary Arts Fellow
Elisabeth Tova Bailey
When a wild Maine forest snail took up residence on Elisabeth Tova Bailey’s nightstand, she became intrigued. Bedridden with an autoimmune illness, she was drawn into the snail’s miniature world and its evening explorations.
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating recounts a year of observation and documents the snail’s daily life in detail. The story reached international audiences and found a place in natural history, medical humanities, and other fields.
Bailey observed that every creature, when examined closely, leads a fascinating and full life.
Media Arts Fellow
Susan Bickford
Susan Bickford has practiced and exhibited in many media. At her home in midcoast Maine, she finds inspiration through interaction with nature and often kayaks coastal waterways in search of deeper connections to the natural world.
In 2015, Susan initiated the ongoing (stillness) project, an artist retreat inviting visual, performance, and media artists to participate in collaborative and improvisational explorations of nature.
Her work includes projected video, animation, and sound for interactive installations and theatre.
Visual Arts Fellow
Amy Stacy Curtis
In 1998, visual artist Amy Stacy Curtis began an 18-year commitment to interactive installation art consisting of nine solo biennial exhibitions from 2000 to 2016.
Her installations included 81 large-scale interactive works inside nine abandoned mill spaces in eight Maine towns. Each exhibition sought to re-energize and draw attention to an important historic site.
Curtis created work that audiences could touch, manipulate, and transform, leaving each installation unfinished and static without public participation.
Performing Arts Fellow
Sara Juli
Sara Juli explores personal struggles through performance. By sharing her work, she hopes audiences can understand aspects of her experience and connect them to their own lives.
Her autobiographical solo performances combine movement, text, song, voice, gesture, and audience participation, acknowledging the gravity of personal burdens while also finding room to laugh.
Her solo work has been presented at performance venues across the United States and internationally. After moving to Portland, she became part of Maine’s dance community and continued developing her practice.
Fine Craft Fellow
Michaela Stone
Michaela Stone’s work in fine furniture craft combines high design with an interest in pushing the medium’s traditional functionality toward performance.
She attended workshops at Penland, Haystack, and the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship and worked with Maine master furniture maker Brian Reid.
Growing up near Maine’s forests and ocean created an enduring affinity for the life sciences. Nature remains a consistent source of inspiration as she balances conceptual exploration with technical skill.
Belvedere Craft Fellow
Shanna Wheelock
Maine native and potter Shanna Wheelock feels a connection to abandoned spaces she discovered as a child.
Her art draws from an affinity for ancient objects and the machine-like repetition found in factories. Her work at the time of the Fellowship focused on the deterioration of the local sardine industry.
Shanna’s work is held in Maine collections including the University of Maine at Machias and the Tides Institute and Museum of Art. She owns Cobscook Pottery and Fiber Art in Lubec.
Traditional Arts Fellow
Edmond Theriault
Master snowshoe maker Edmond Theriault made snowshoes for more than 45 years. He began making them to help provide for his wife and 11 children, seeking out community knowledge and learning the craft locally.
Edmond remembered a time when almost every family in Fort Kent had snowshoes because many roads were not open during winter.
Continuing a Native tradition, he made hundreds of snowshoes and helped preserve an important cultural practice in northern Maine.