Arts in the Capitol

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.

This exhibition celebrates five decades of posters from the Common Ground Country Fair, organized by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), in honor of the Fair’s 50th annual gathering.

Since 1977, the Common Ground Country Fair has been more than an annual event. It has been a gathering place for a movement rooted in organic agriculture, food justice, environmental stewardship, and the belief that communities can shape healthier futures together. Created year after year, the Fair’s posters have become some of the most visible and enduring expressions of that movement. Seen together, they offer a visual and cultural history of Maine’s organic movement and the shared values that have guided it.

The exhibition highlights the artists, farmers, activists, craftspeople, and community members whose work helped shape the visual identity of the Fair. Across 50 years, the posters trace moments of urgency and hope, resistance and celebration, continuity and change, while remaining grounded in cooperation, care, and a deep relationship to the land.

This exhibition is presented by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, Ancorum Credit Union, Maine Arts Commission, Waterville Creates, Maine Office of Tourism, and the Maine Semiquincentennial Commission.

For more information, visit MOFGA.org.

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.

Image: Light to My Path by Lulu

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.