2016 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 5 Fellows for 2016 are featured below.
Meet the 2016 Fellows
Literary Arts Fellow
Susan Conley
Susan Conley grew up in midcoast Maine and lives in Portland. She is the author of a memoir and a novel, as well as articles for publications ranging from The New York Times to The Paris Review.
Her 2011 work The Foremost Good Fortune traces her family’s years in Beijing. The book was an O, The Oprah Magazine top-ten selection and won the Maine Literary Award for Memoir.
Susan also co-founded The Telling Room, a Portland nonprofit grounded in the belief that giving young people opportunities to write their stories can change lives and communities.
Fine Craft Fellow
Cara Romano
Cara Romano grew up on Gouldsboro Point in Hancock County, making things from scraps found in her stepfather’s wood and sheet-metal shop and her mother’s sewing room.
After attending her first craft show at age 12, she knew she wanted to become a jeweler. A graduate of the University of Maine, Cara completed a three-year internship with master metalsmith Curtis K. LaFollette in Cherryfield.
She owns a shop presenting a curated collection of American craft and shares a studio in Ellsworth, where she creates one-of-a-kind and limited-production work.
Belvedere Craft Fellow
Morris David Dorenfeld
Morris David Dorenfeld spent his formative years studying painting at the Art Institute of Chicago. He moved to Maine in an effort to live more simply and in balance with nature.
He began weaving with Shirley Russell Barlow in Martinsville and later worked on a vertical tapestry loom from Finland.
His Hunter Stripe and Hunter Variations series are built around design, balance, proportion, composition, and color. Morris described color as visual music and the central force in his work.
Visual Arts Fellow
Pamela Moulton
Pamela Moulton traces her Maine family history to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s grandfather and returned to her Franco-American roots after living abroad for 23 years, primarily in France.
Based in Portland, Pamela privileges play and remains committed to handmade processes. The stitch forms an important part of her artistic language.
Her large-scale projects are tactile and labor-intensive. She recruits volunteers to help construct the work and values the community created through collective making.
Media Arts Fellow
Peter Logue
Peter Logue grew up in Southwest Harbor and sees his work as closely connected to the sense of place and community that comes with island life.
A graduate of the University of Connecticut, Peter’s first love is writing. Although his early films were primarily documentaries, he aspired to write and direct narrative feature films.
His documentary shorts include Frank & Ada, about two older Mainers renewing a high-school romance, and Outrunning Parkinson’s, about a former elite runner who found that racing helped alleviate symptoms.
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.