TANGLE: A new public work for the Portland Campus

The University of Southern Maine is thrilled to announce the acquisition of TANGLE, a sculpture by artists Pamela Moulton and Roy Fox. Funded by the Maine Percent for Art Program, TANGLE takes the whimsical form of a fantastical five-legged creature constructed of steel, rope, and net salvaged from the Gulf of Maine.

Moulton and Fox’s material choices speak to the history of netfishing in Maine. Practiced over 12,000 years ago by the Wabanaki people, then in the early 1600s by early European settlers, it continues today in our commercial fishing industry and water-adjacent communities. Unfortunately, discarded rope and net, known in the fishing industry as “ghost gear,” endangers marine life and is nearly impossible to recycle. The artists salvage these ropes and nets, allowing the material to take on new forms in TANGLE. The sculpture sees knotted and twisted channels reminiscent of mycelial structures intertwining to reveal a mythical creature in their wake. Moulton and Fox fashion these weighty environmental concerns into something joyous: a celebration of our intertwined ecological destinies and a reimagining of what is possible through artistic salvage and reuse.

TANGLE is installed on our Portland campus, behind the McGoldrick Center. More details, including a ribbon cutting ceremony date to follow.

Pamela Moulton is a Maine-based artist with a strong sense of community. Her multi-disciplinary, large-scale installations — built entirely from salvaged commercial nets and ropes — are highly interactive, playful, exploratory, and thought-provoking. Her work aims to target climate issues specific to coastal communities. She holds a BA from The University of Vermont and an MFA from Ecole Superieure d’Art-Aix, France. Moulton’s work has been shown at Chapelle d’Aniane, France; National Gallery of Art, Tirana, Albania; Katonah Museum, NY; Portland Museum of Art; and Ogunquit Museum, ME. She has received fellowships and grants from the Maine Arts Commission, Tempoarts, Kindling Fund, NEFA, and Conseil Regional in France. 

Roy Fox studied art at the San Francisco Art Institute and received his BA in multi-media art from Marlboro College, Vermont. He has worked professionally as an artist and designer in Los Angeles and Maine. Projects have included partnering with the Guggenheim, Whitney, and Metropolitan museums in New York, among others.

Together, Pamela and Roy bring a rich, synergistic blend of vision and experience to their collaborations.