Family & Friends Weekend
is November 7-8, 2025
Please RSVP by October 31, 2025 at 12:00 PM
If you have a disability and need accommodations, please contact disabilityservices@meca.edu and in the subject line write Family & Friends Fall Fest.
Schedule
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7
5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
ICA Reception and First Friday Art Walk
Porteous Building: ICA
Downtown Portland
Start your First Friday Art Walk in the Porteous Building with a hot cup of coffee, tea, cocoa, apple cider, and fall festive treats.
Take time to explore the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at Maine College of Art & Design. You will find students selling their art along Congress Street. The Portland Museum of Art is free on First Fridays. Portland’s First Friday Art Walk is a free, self-guided tour of art galleries, art studios, museums, and alternative art venues on the first Friday of every month from 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM.
otherwise
Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design
Porteous Building
Storytelling has long been a way for people to make sense of the world and find a sense of agency in the face of significant adversity. In otherwise, exhibiting artists utilize elements of fiction in their work, transforming real-life issues into something otherworldly and innovative. Some artists in the exhibition draw inspiration from specific sources such as science fiction, oral traditions, and mythologies, while others craft intricate narratives inspired by real-world histories. Collectively, the artists in otherwise explore the potential of fictional storytelling to reimagine and reclaim historical and contemporary oppressions, paving the way for bold new futures.
“The title ‘otherwise’ carries an intentional ambiguity,” states Assistant Curator Cynthia Nathan, MFA ’25. “In language, it is a pivot—a turn from one idea toward another, an opening to possibility. Casual yet subversive, otherwise invites us to imagine the world differently.”
Exhibiting Artists include: Felipe Baeza, David Bayus, Pap Souleye Fall, Alex Jackson, Ayana V. Jackson, Cassandra Klos, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, Mauricio Muñoz and Andrew Roberts, Tourmaline, Samantha Yun Wall, and Alisha B. Wormsley.
otherwise is the first of Getaway!, a multi-year series of exhibitions that explores the power and pitfalls of escapism as a reaction to the question, “What do we do in response to our current crises?” These group and solo exhibitions will explore various topics within the broader theme of escapism, examining the complex impulses that drive us to move away from challenging circumstances and the destinations and activities we pursue when we do. Through diverse research and artistic practices, this series aims to provide a space for imagination, enabling us to equip our communities, both within and beyond the College, with new tools to create the worlds they envision.
Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention
Portland Museum of Art (PMA)
Downtown Portland–Congress Street and High Street
The Portland Museum of Art presents Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention. Grace Hartigan (1922–2008) rapidly rose to national acclaim during the 1950s with her daring canvases that blended abstraction with elements of figuration. By Hartigan’s side were poets Daisy Aldan, Barbara Guest, James Merrill, Frank O’Hara, and James Schuyler. Their bold lyricism and critical support deeply inspired Hartigan, playing a crucial role in her success. She recalled that the rebellious spirit of these poets, many of whom were queer, fueled her independent artistic vision. This exhibition brings together over 40 of her works created between 1952 and 1968, revealing the profound influence of mid-20th-century American poetry on this seminal artist. For more details and updates on exhibition events, visit www.portlandmuseum.org/grace-hartigan. The PMA is free on the First Friday of each month.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Welcome Center and Check-In
Porteous Building: Lobby
Start your Family and Friends Day in the Porteous Building by checking-in, picking-up your schedule and MECA&D swag, and exploring the BFA Exhibition. Enjoy a hot cup of coffee, tea, apple cider, and fall festive treats.
Have questions about the day? Need recommendations about things to do in the area or where to take your student to lunch? Need to deck yourself out in MECA&D branded gear? MECA&D branded gear will be available on the second floor of the Porteous Building.
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Photo Booth
Porteous Building: Lobby
Photography students have designed a background for Family and Friends Weekend 2025. Get a family photo to start your day or make a button to represent the day on campus.
10:00 AM - 10:15 AM
President’s Welcome
Porteous Building: Cafe
Join us for a welcome and learn about current and future initiatives from MECA&D President Laura Freid. Meet other family members and friends!
10:30 AM - 12:00PM
Interactive Sessions
Porteous Building
Join Maine College of Art & Design faculty artists in an interactive, hands-on session. These sessions provide a small glimpse into the life of a MECA&D student’s day and time to be with family and friends.
Comics Poetry: Make a Haiku Comic
Sarah Shaw, Assistant Professor of Illustration
Porteous Building: 509
In this workshop, participants will write a Haiku poem, draw accompanying imagery, and learn how to combine it all into a one-page mini-comic. This is limited to 25 individuals.
Bringing Animation to Life with Sound
Steve Drown, Assistant Professor of Music
Porteous Building: Recording Studio, lower level
We will start with a short student animation project with no sound and add the appropriate elements to make it a complete production. This will include dialogue, sound effects and music. We'll create some of it during the workshop. This is limited to 12 individuals.
Letterpress With Love: Printed Cards
Evelyn Wong, Assistant Adjunct Professor
Porteous Building: 406
Learn about how letterpress printing works and print a greeting card that you can send home or gift to loved ones! This is limited to 25 individuals.
Who Nose Thumbs
Joshua Reiman, Associate Professor & Gary Ambrose Chair of Sculpture
Porteous Building: 508
We will do body castings of either your nose or your thumbs after a short lecture on life casting and prosthetics in art. This is limited to 12 individuals.
Paint a Plate
Patrick Coughlin, Associate Professor & Program Chair of Ceramics
Porteous Building: 502
Enjoy a peaceful morning of painting your very own plate in our ceramic studio! Note: Plates will not be ready to take the same day, your MECA&D student will pick up the plates after they’ve been fired. This is limited to 20 individuals.
Let's Laser
Bennett Morris, Faculty & Alumni and Digital Fabrication Studio Coordinator
Porteous Building: 407 & Lab 305
Learn the basics of laser cutting acrylic plastic and take home a unique object of your own design. This is limited to 10 individuals.
Character Design: The Basics
Devin Harrington, Adjunct Professor & 2D Art Generalist
Porteous Building: 277
Turn your own experiences into bold, original characters through the essentials of character design. This is limited to 20 individuals.
Take Your Student To Lunch
12:15 PM -
Downtown Portland and the Old Port
Adventure Around the Arts District & Portland
Downtown Portland and the Old Port
The Space Gallery at 538 Congress Street has a variety of artist studios. Visit: https://space538.org/space-studios/
Creative Portland offers a great resource to locate artist studios. Visit: https://www.creativeportland.com/arts-and-culture-list.