Arts in the Capitol
Arts in the Capitol program header showing artwork on display in the Maine Capitol Complex

Arts in the Capitol

The Arts in the Capitol program features work throughout the Capitol Complex and offers Maine artists an additional venue for their work. It is designed to expand the audience for Maine artists and artists working in Maine on Maine-based themes.

All exhibitions are free and open to the public. Exhibitions are self-guided and may be viewed during the building hours where the exhibition is on display.

Explore Arts in the Capitol

Current Exhibitions ↓

See the exhibitions currently on view throughout the Maine Capitol Complex.

Exhibition Archive ⇒

Explore past Arts in the Capitol exhibitions and participating artists.

Maine Excellence in Arts Education ⇒

This annual exhibition celebrates exemplary work by Maine high school student artists and highlights outstanding arts education across the state.

Maine Veterans Art Exhibition ⇒

This annual exhibition honors the creativity, experiences, and artistic voices of Maine Veterans.

2026 Veterans Art Exhibition Call for Art ⇒

Building Hours

Maine Arts Commission Office

Monday through Friday
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Capitol and Burton M. Cross Buildings

Monday through Friday
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

 

Arts in the Capitol Guidelines

For more information about Arts in the Capitol, contact Danielle Moriarty, Program Director, at vog.eniam@ytrairom.elleinad.

Current Exhibition

Karen Adrienne

State House Gallery, 1st Floor | September 8 to December 22, 2026

Karen Adrienne’s printworks begin with close observation. Drawings and photographs gathered on daily walks and travels become records of particular moments: patterns, forms, textures, and rhythms encountered in the natural world. Back in the studio, these observations are distilled and reassembled through the layered process of monotype printmaking.

Repetition is central to Adrienne’s work. Multiple flats of color, recurring marks, and repeated shapes build upon one another, echoing the cycles and patterns found throughout nature. Yet the process is never entirely predictable. As layers pass through the press, pressure and material introduce variation and chance, creating a continual exchange between careful planning and discovery.

Within this balance, Adrienne explores both the beauty and fragility of the environments she observes. Her prints move between the recognizable and the abstract, inviting viewers to notice relationships among color, shape, repetition, and change. Personal experience and environmental concern coexist within the work, reflecting a landscape that is at once familiar, complex, and continually evolving.

Adrienne has lived and worked in Maine for nearly four decades. She is Professor Emerita at the University of Maine at Augusta, where she taught Printmaking, Drawing, and Bookmaking from 1987 to 2017. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and shaped by artist residencies from Maine and Nova Scotia to Newfoundland and Labrador, Germany, and Spain. She is the owner and Artistic Director of Artdogs Studios and Circling the Square Fine Art Press in Gardiner, Maine.

Through a practice grounded in observation, repetition, and experimentation, Adrienne asks us to look more closely at the natural world, not simply as scenery, but as a dynamic system of patterns, relationships, and constant transformation.

Visit the exhibition: The exhibition is free and open to the public Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., at the Maine State House in Augusta.

To learn more about Karen Adrienne and her work, visit karenadrienne.com.

 

 

Current Exhibition
Governor’s Gallery, 2nd Floor | July 2026 through January 2027

The landscapes of Maine have long inspired artists, but Sam Chappell offers a distinctly contemporary interpretation. Through vibrant acrylic paintings filled with bold color, expressive brushwork, and shifting light, Chappell invites viewers to experience the landscape as something alive and energetic.

Raised in New England and now based in Portland, Chappell draws inspiration from the places she returns to again and again: the rocky coast, wooded trails, quiet rivers, and open skies that define Maine. Beginning each painting with a vivid red underpainting, she builds layers of loose, impressionistic marks that allow color and movement to emerge organically. The result is a body of work that balances observation with memory, transforming recognizable places into deeply personal reflections.

For Chappell, these paintings are “love letters to my favorite places, records of where I’ve been, and places I dream of going.” Yet they are equally an invitation for viewers to bring their own experiences to the work. Whether recalling a familiar hike, a walk along the coast, or the feeling of light changing at day’s end, her paintings encourage us to consider the landscapes that have shaped our own lives.

The works presented in this exhibition celebrate Maine’s enduring ability to inspire wonder, reflection, and connection. They remind us that landscapes are more than scenery. They become part of our stories, carrying memories of where we have been while inviting us toward places still waiting to be discovered.

Visit the exhibition: The exhibition is free and open to the public Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., at the Maine State House in Augusta.

 

 

Light to My Path, artwork by Lulu from the Art from the Inside exhibition

Image: Light to My Path by Lulu

Current Exhibition

Art from the Inside

Burton M. Cross Building | June 2 to October 30, 2026

The Maine Arts Commission is pleased to partner with the Maine Department of Corrections and the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition to present, for the first time at the State Capitol Complex, an exhibition featuring artwork created from inside the walls of Maine’s correctional facilities.

This collaboration is part of the Maine Arts Commission’s commitment to support creativity in all areas of the state through its Arts and Health initiatives. The Commission recognizes the healing power of the arts, and some residents in Maine’s correctional facilities are finding their way to hope and a form of mental freedom through creativity. As one resident states, “Art makes me feel calm and at peace.”

This exhibition displays images from the outside world that exist in residents’ memories, including loved ones, nature, spiritual paths, and literal and figurative barriers to autonomy. The work reflects a commitment to, and even a need for, personal expression, a birthright for all people that too often gets lost.

The Maine Arts Commission is grateful to all the staff and volunteers who make these arts programs possible. Maine Commissioner of Corrections Randall Liberty hopes that viewers “recognize that our residents have value, can substantially contribute and that they are not forgotten.”

As Joseph Jackson, Executive Director of the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, says, “Art, music, poetry, and film have the transformative power to promote empathy and change lives.” This happens every day in classrooms, community centers, libraries, city parks, hospitals, and veterans’ centers. And it happens in correctional facilities.

Visit the exhibition: The exhibition is free and open to the public Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., at the Burton M. Cross Building in Augusta.

 

 

Open Call for Maine Veteran Artists

Veterans Art Exhibition Call for Art 2026

The Maine Arts Commission invites Maine veteran artists to submit artwork for the 2026 Veterans Art Exhibition. Selected work will be on display in the Burton M. Cross Building in Augusta as part of the Art in the Capitol program.

Artists at all experience levels are encouraged to apply, including veterans who are new to artmaking or who have not previously exhibited their work.

Submission Deadline: September 25, 2026

Exhibition Dates: November 2, 2026 through February 26, 2027

Location: Burton M. Cross Building, 111 Sewall Street, Augusta

Apply Through Submittable