Hashi-Maine 2025, a show of student-created block prints exchanged between Maine and Aomori Japan, is now on view at the Greely Center for the Arts, connected to Greely High School, in Cumberland Center, Maine. An opening reception was held on Thursday, September 18th, 2025 and the show will be open to the public until Wednesday October 22nd, 2025. For questions and open hours, please contact the Greely Center for the Arts.
We hope that you will take the opportunity to view the student work and spread the word about this fantastic partnership between Maine and Aomori!
On July 29th, 20205, the Portland Sea Dogs baseball team partnered with Friends of Aomori for a fantastic night of fundraising, celebration, and baseball.
Friends of Aomori board members at the SeaDogs Japan Night, 2025. From left to right: Lynda McCann-Olson, President; Don Hudson, Treasurer; Jeff Badger, board member.
Japan Night was also an opportunity to celebrate the long history between Maine and Japan through the sport of baseball that was introduced to Japan by Gorham, Maine native Horace Wilson in the late nineteenth century. There are many sources that dive into this history, and we encourage you to research them!
As a fundraiser for Friends of Aomori, the Sea Dogs auctioned off Masataka Yoshida’s game-worn Scooby Doo jersey from his rehab appearance with the Sea Dogs on July 6th. (SeaDogs, July 17, 2025). The auction was a great success and raised over $1,000 for Friends and we are very thankful for this donation, the support from game attendees, and for this fantastic collaboration with the Sea Dogs.
Photo of the flier promoting the auction of Masataka Yoshida’s Scooby-Doo baseball jersey.
Below is a photo of the donation presentation at the final Sea Dogs home game of the season, to Friends of Aomori from the auction of Masataka Yoshida’s (Red Sox dedicated hitter) July 6th, game-worn Scooby-Doo shirt. Pictured, from left to right: Reo Miyake, from the Portland restaurant Aomori (opening this holiday season in East Bayside); Vera King, Bath-Tsugau Sister City Exchange; Lynda McCann-Olson, President, Friends of Aomori; and Chris Cameron, Sea Dogs Vice-President of Communications & Fan Engagement.
Presentation of the donation check on the Sea Dogs field.
Below is a group of enthusiastic supporters of Japan’s love for baseball and Sea Dogs’ generosity towards Friends of Aomori.
Friends of Aomori President, Lynda McCann-Olson (center, in yellow), with a group of enthusiastic supporters and Slugger, the Sea Dog’s mascot!
We look forward to another Japan Night at the Sea Dogs in the 2026 season, and we hope to see you there!
Instructors: Lynda McCann-Olson (President of Friends of Aomori and former art educator) and a guest teaching artist.
Ever wish you could travel to Japan? This summer, you can! Join experienced travelers and teaching artists for a virtual tour while making art and learning about Japanese culture. During this week-long art studio session, you will enjoy working with various materials while learning about Japanese design and aesthetics. Did you know a teacher from Maine introduced baseball to Japan? You will also learn about Maine’s many connections to Japan. Activities may include : sumi brush painting, gyotaku, ceramics, wabi-sabi collage, printmaking, temple building, and origami. Printmaking will be an important part of our exploration. You will have the chance to create a print for the Hashi Exchange. The 2025 exhibition of prints created by students in Aomori and Maine will be at the Greely Center for the Arts at the start of the school year.
Grades: 2nd-5th (Fall 2025) … or permission from the instructor
Dates: Monday, July 28- Friday, August 1st, 9am-3pm
Fee: $325, includes materials, Mable I. Wilson School, Tuttle Rd., Art Room.
As we are reaching a new, more controlled phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board of Friends of Aomori are returning to programming and outreach! All programming, fundraising, and events to benefit Friends had been on hold while the United States was in the midst of the pandemic, but we are excited to begin reaching out to the community once more. We will be updating our website and Facebook page with upcoming events we are planning, so please stay tuned!
Maine – Aomori Printmaking Society (MAPS) Call for Submissions
Calling all Maine Printmakers!
The Maine-Aomori Printmaking Society (MAPS) has an Open Call for prints for this years exchange. We welcome submissions from any artist currently residing in Maine, including artists already included in the MAPS collection. The form will close on July 2nd, and artists will be notified of their acceptance status by July 9th! Three submission per-artist are accepted.
Join the Friends of Aomori President, and Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) Art Instructor, Jeff Badger on Wed, December 2, 2020 from 12:15 PM – 1:00 PM EST to hear about the overlapping projects between SMCC, the State of Maine, and Aomori, Japan.
From the Event Brite posting:
“Jeff Badger, Fine Arts Department Co-Chair and Global Studies Center Coordinator, will give a presentation about MAPS (Maine-Aomori Printmaking Society), an ongoing cultural exchange project with Aomori, Maine’s sister state in Japan. MAPS is a multi-tiered exchange project developed to share prints, exhibitions, and artist residencies between Maine and Aomori on an ongoing basis. This project has led to over twenty-five exhibitions, publications, and multiple delegation visits since it began in 2015.
Jeff will discuss the fascinating history of the relationship between Maine and Aomori which began with a shipwreck in 1889, and show images of the delegation visits, exhibitions, and woodblock prints by artists from Maine and Japan. He will discuss how his passion for cultural exchange informs his teaching and led to the founding the Global Studies Center at SMCC.”
Friends of Aomori is thrilled to announce that the 5th Collection of the Maine Aomori Printmaking Society (MAPS) is on display at the Monson Arts Gallery in Monson, Maine from now until January 15th, 2021. Just over one year ago these prints were shown in Aomori, which feels like a world away!
Monson Arts is a new artists residency and gallery located in Northern Maine at the edge of the Maine North Woods and nearby the Appalachian Trail. This is the first collaboration between Friends of Aomori and Monson Arts, and certainly not the last! While we cannot gather at the gallery together due to the on going COVID-19 pandemic, the gallery is open for visitors by appointment or, if you live in the area, you can walk by and see if it is open by chance.
2020 has brought challenging times for all of us, and Friends of Aomori is no exception. Plans for workshops, exhibitions, exchange programs, and future delegation visits have been postponed or cancelled, and even with continued warm communications from our friends in Japan we feel more disconnected than usual from our work in supporting the Sister State relationship. Despite these challenges, the bonds between Maine and Aomori remain strong, and in time will be strengthened by our common experiences.
As we look toward the future, it is important to recognize the current moment in our own country. As a community of volunteers who study, teach, write about, advocate for, and create experiences that bring together diverse communities, Friends of Aomori is committed to learning from our shared humanity.
We believe that Black Lives Matter, and we condemn and reject systemic racism and discrimination.
For our friends in Japan, we recommend that you reach out to the Black Lives Matter movement happening in your part of the world, such as Black Lives Matter Kansai which has rallies, marches, and educational materials. They can also be found on Twitter.
Due to the coming snowstorm here in Maine, the Friends of Aomori party scheduled for tomorrow night (Dec. 05, 2019) at Oxbow has been cancelled. We hope to reschedule and celebrate with you soon!
At the party, we had planned to announce some big news: Friends of Aomori has been awarded a grant from the Rines/Thompson fund of the Maine Community Foundation to expand the Maine-Aomori Printmaking Society programs for 2020! This is an excellent ending to a great year, and we are appreciative of the support.
If you would like to support Friends, please consider a tax-deductible donation through our Paypal account, or purchase a print of “Fujisaki Apples” by our President Jeff Badger. Inspired by his recent trip to Aomori, Jeff Badger created this linocut with images of the famous apples of Fujisaki and Mt. Iwaki. The prints are for sale on his website, and a portion of each sale will be donated to Friends of Aomori.
Thank you for your ongoing support and keep an eye out for the rescheduling of our Winter Event!
Join the Volunteers of Friends of Aomori for a Social Event to celebrate the coming of Winter and the end of a successful year!
Meet the volunteers who give their time to supporting our Sister-State Relationship with Aomori, hear about the recent Delegation visit to Aomori, learn more about MAPS, and see how you too can become involved. Light refreshments will be provided.
SPECIAL OPENING RECEPTION THIS FIRST FRIDAY ART WALK: 10/04/2019
Viewing by Appointment Only 10/05-10/31 (Please contact Leslie Anderson: 207-615-8915)
Friends of Aomori is happy to collaborate with the Lofts Gallery for this exhibit! See this retrospective sampling of MAPS, looking at prints from both Maine and Aomori Artists who participated in the MAPS exchange between 2015-2018. Many of the artists from Maine will be in attendance for this special reception, so don’t miss this opportunity to meet some of these talented local MAPS artists!
Friends of Aomori 
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