The Art 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 or artists working in Maine on Maine-based themes.
All Art in the Capitol exhibits 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.
Building hours:
| Maine Arts Commission Office: | Capitol and Burton M. Cross Buildings: |
| 8:30am - 4:30pm, Mon - Fri | 8:00am - 5:00pm, Mon - Fri |
For more information about Art in the Capitol, contact Danielle Moriarty, Program Director at vog.eniam@ytrairom.elleinad
Women of Integrity is an expansive and deeply personal portrait series that honors the lives and labor of women working across Maine’s institutional and community settings. The collection pairs gestural figure studies and portraits with oral interviews recorded by each subject, raising the central question: “How do we acknowledge women’s seen, unseen, and often undercompensated labor in the workplace, communities, and families?”
Libby’s drawings seek to make that labor visible—amplifying the voices, contributions, and creative resilience of women who strengthen Maine’s communities every day.
“Drawing is where I feel most myself, and I have worked at its practice for over forty years,” Libby says. “It is cheap, accessible, and portable, instantly available as a way to absorb and really see what is around us.” In recent years, Libby has shifted to drawing with her non-dominant left hand to relieve arthritic pain and embrace a freer, more expressive style. “I now prefer its unexpected freshness; the slightly crude and less controlled marks seem stronger and more clearly the work of a human hand.”
Based in Maine, Maggie Libby is known for blending artistic practice with social history and community storytelling. Her work invites viewers to engage more deeply with questions of presence, power, and cultural memory.
An artist talk and public reception for Women of Integrity will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, June 13, 2025, at the State House Gallery. The Art in the Capitol program is an initiative of the Maine Arts Commission that brings the work of Maine artists into public view throughout the Capitol Complex. All exhibitions are free and open to the public during normal State House business hours.
Our Town: A Community Self Portrait, is a community driven documentary project designed by Meetinghouse Arts in Freeport and funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the Horizon Foundation and the Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust. “Our Town” is the NEA’s creative placemaking grants program, supporting projects that integrate arts, culture, and design into local efforts that strengthen communities over the long term. The NEA Our Town program in Freeport, Maine focused on a photography and exhibition project documenting the town's people, places, and traditions. The project, in partnership with Meetinghouse Arts and the Town of Freeport, aimed to explore what is meaningful about life in Freeport through photos, creative writing workshops, and community conversations. Throughout the summer of 2024, the goal was to strengthen the community through a system-wide initiative integrating the arts. Freeport residents, businesses, and organizations were invited to capture and describe the town’s essence through photography and words. The collective commentary and snapshot of this time was the basis for exhibits held in the fall of 2024 at the Meetinghouse Arts Gallery, 40 Main St. Freeport as well as at project partners, the Freeport Community Library, the Freeport Town Office, the Freeport Historical Society, and Freeport Community Services.
This project asks you to show the things you can't live without or can't live with; things that bring joy or sadness; things that changed you, or you would like to change, or simply, have changed. There's no right Freeport, other than the one you portray. Residents of Freeport contributed more than 1400 images and writings of which 300 have been selected for this exhibition.
Partners with Meetinghouse Arts on Our Town: A Community Self Portrait include: The Town of Freeport, Freeport Historical Society, Freeport Economic Development Corporation, the Freeport Chamber of Commerce, Freeport Community Services, Freeport Community Library, Visit Freeport, Freeport Conservation Trust, Tri-Town Equity and Inclusion Coalition, RSU #5, and the Desert of Maine Center for Arts & Ecology.
