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.”

To attend, please RSVP via this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/light-on-the-point-virtual-luncheon-maines-connections-with-aomori-japan-tickets-129504438261

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.

For more information about the show, see this article by the Piscataquis Observer and this feature by Asia Matters for America

Click here to lean more about Monson Arts.

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The MAPS 2020 collection features work by:

Lydia Badger, Stephen Burt, Susan Groce, David Harmon, Mary Hart, Emiko Kamada, Hitoshi Kikuchi, Osamu Kitamura, Michiko Kusakabe, Tadashi Saito, Hiroshi Takehana, Kiyohiro Toriyabe, Raegan Russell, Allison Derby Hildreth, Pilar Nadal, Noriyuki Ota, Lisa Pixley, Deloris A. White, David Wolfe, Tamiko Yamaya, and Tuya Yasuta.

MAPS is made possible by the generous support of the Rines-Thomspon fund of the Maine Community Foundation and Ocean House Gallery and Frame.

ブラック・ライヴズ・マター

Black Lives Matter

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.

 

Until we can connect again, we wish you all good health and safe keeping.

In Solidarity,

The Friends of Aomori Board

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!

 

Monday

December 02, 2019

5:30pm – 7:00pm

Oxbow Blending & Bottling

49 Washington Ave, Portland, ME 04101

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.

We hope to see you there!

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!

MAPS prints to be exhibited are:
JAPAN

Reiko Kudo: “Portland Head Light Reminiscences”

SeizoYagihashi: Portland Museum of Art “7”

Emiko Seki: “Rasse-Ra!Rasse-Ra!” (Nebuta Dancers Shout)

Mitsuo Osaka: “Mt. Hakkoda in Blazing Tinted Leaves”

Yoshihiko Oyama: “Serene Autumn”

MAINE

Adriane Herman: “Nurture”

Carter Shappy: “Untitled” [2015]

Clint Fulkerson: “Untitled” [2013]

Colleen Kinsella: “Octopus I.Leviathan”

Barbara Putnam: “Ice Bloom”

We hope to see you there on First Friday, October 4th, 2019!

Join us this Thursday July 25th at the Arundel Farm Gallery for a FREE lecture on creating Japanese-Inspired Gardens here in Maine!

To reserve a spot, please see our Facebook Event Page, or contact the Gallery here

Berwick Academy, partnering with Friends of Aomori, is pleased to host Hashi / 橋, the second annual Maine-Aomori student print exchange exhibit at Berwick Academy’s Jackson Library Gallery in South Berwick, Maine from March 27-April 12, 2019. Hashi means “bridge” in Japanese.

This exhibit will feature over 70 prints made by students in Aomori, Japan. Raegan Russell, Visual Art Chair and art teacher at Berwick traveled to Aomori as a teacher delegate in November, 2018 and that trip sparked this exhibition.

We hope to see you there!

The second annual Children’s Print Exchange between the students of Maine and Aomori had its official opening at the Munakata Shiko Memorial Museum in Aomori this past weekend!  Shared below are the newspaper feature and it’s annotated translation.

We hope to see you at the upcoming reception here in Maine at Berwick Academy (see this post for the show details)!

Thank you to our partner Ono-san at the Munakata Museum for this annotated translation of the Newspaper Article shown above: