March 26 – April 22, 2022

22 Foster Street, Westbrook, Maine

A 3x3 grid of images of different rooms. Each room has a desk, chair, and lamp. Each room is color coordinated to a particular color.

Amy Stacey Curtis: The Color of Memory

Amy Stacey Curtis is a well-known installation artist in Maine. Coming off of her 9 solo biennials, Amy’s work encompasses sculpture, video, photography, and much more to create immersive, participatory installations in large spaces. Her work is often intensely personal, drawing from her private archives and personal experiences.

Learn more about Amy’s artistic practice and her engagement with USM through her recorded lecture, available here.

Curtis created an expansive installation in Westbrook for her engagement with USM called The Color of Memory. In this vast, immersive, participatory artwork, the artist built nine “houses.” Each house was a different color, with the items inside and out all adhering to the same monochromatic scheme, including chairs, lamps, desks, photographs, and a blank book with a pen. Participants were invited to write in the book and record the memory that the house’s color evoked for them. The installation opened on March 26 and ran through April 22, 2022.

The artist invited all who were interested in The Color of Memory to work with her to contribute their unique visions to the project, including but not limited to: submitting color-specific photography, building and creating objects, and painting objects for the expansive installation. Previous art experience was not necessary to participate in this project; only an interest in working alongside the artist. The project fostered students’ sense of agency and ownership in the resulting creation wherein they utilized skills learned at USM in service of a larger project with a significant element of civic engagement and empathetic capacity-building.  USM community members were welcome to contribute in modes not outlined in this proposal to shape the exhibition in new and exciting ways. The majority of student engagement occurred in the Spring of 2022. 

Watch Amy Stacey Curtis’s talk on her artist residency above.

Exhibition gallery

All images: Amy Stacey Curtis, memoir II, (detail), 2022. 9 houses with desks, chairs, lamps, miscellaneous, 9 books, pens, acrylic, audience; dimensions variable. Part of Amy Stacey Curtis: The Color Of Memory, 2022. University of Southern Maine Artist-In-Residence exhibit, former Westbrook High School, Maine.