If you’re impressed by the way your favorite co-worker fills out a spreadsheet, wait until you see what they can do with a canvas and a paintbrush.
That was a common feeling for visitors to the University of Southern Maine Employee Art Exhibition at Glickman Family Library in Portland. The artists and their admirers came together at the opening reception September 12.
“I went to art school, but I don’t really show my art to anybody,” said Kelsey Riordan. “I do it to keep myself sane. It’s more about the process than the end piece.”
Riordan is the Operation and Communications Coordinator at the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education. Two of her works are on display. The first is a decorative ceramic plate that depicts a solar eclipse. The second is a quilted cyanotype made from a cloth napkin that once belonged to her grandmother.
“She taught me to sew,” Riordan said. “I always enjoy using past fabrics and combining them, so it feels like she’s a part of the project also.”
Riordan was hesitant to let strangers see the artistic side of herself that she previously only revealed to a select few. She preferred to share her art one-one-one as gifts for family and close friends. Some of them returned the favor by gifting her with a congratulatory bouquet of flowers that she carried around the reception.
Art gave Nancy Flagg an emotional outlet during a difficult time in her life. Flagg is an administrative specialist in the Leadership and Organizational Studies Department. Her painting, rendered in shades of blue and gold, shows a mermaid busily tidying up the ocean floor. The whimsy of the scene is offset by an air of melancholy.
“I was feeling like I’d been cut off at the knees,” Flagg said. “I thought, ‘What are you gonna do? Grow a tail?’ So, I did a series of mermaids.”
The series consists of about a dozen paintings. Flagg submitted her favorite for the exhibition. She was all smiles as she shared the story of making it with a steady stream of appreciative viewers.
Down the hall and around the corner from Flagg’s mermaid hung a painting of sunset over Higgins Beach in Scarborough. Its creation was an act of joy for Greg Daly. The beach is one of his favorite places to walk. Daly was so happy with the way the painting turned out that he gave it to his wife at Christmas. She gave him permission to loan it out for the exhibition.
Daly is the creative services manager in the Office of Marketing and Brand Management. He studied art in college on a painting scholarship. His subsequent job in advertising didn’t allow much spare time to paint, but he got back into the habit after a career move into higher education. His basement studio is ready whenever inspiration strikes.
“I don’t beat myself up about it,” Daly said. “I think, like anything, some things need to go into hibernation for a while, and then they come back out again. I just let that flow happen. If I really wanted to paint, then I would.”
The wide range of art and artists on display are exactly what Paul Fuller was hoping to see. He is a digital projects associate in Libraries and Learning and a member of the organizing committee for the exhibition.
The committee was formed with the goal of developing a slate of activities at USM’s libraries. Members modeled the exhibition after a similar event staged by the Maine Humanities Council to showcase art by state employees.
Fuller worried that only a handful of people would answer the call for submissions. He was happy to be proven wrong. The final tally totaled 40 pieces by 24 artists across 18 departments. The paintings filled the walls on the fifth floor, while bulkier items went into the display case on the seventh floor.
“I learned that people really want this kind of thing,” Fuller said. “It’s been very affirming and feel-goodening that so many people have been excited to be a part of it.”
Artists were given three options – hobbyist, intermediate, and professional – and asked to pick the one that best described their own skill level. A jury drawn mostly from the USM’s Art Department honored an exemplary piece from each category.
The intermediate honoree was Jill Piekut Roy, a Special Collections librarian. Her entry was a handcrafted book titled “Me and Mary and Maine.” She tells the story of an 18th-century ancestor, Mary Bloom, who faced several personal tragedies. In addition to their familial bonds, Piekut Roy felt connected to Bloom by their mutual experience of living in Maine.
“Layering my own small struggles, joys, and freedoms with what is known of her life illuminates what we share across centuries,” Piekut Roy said.
The book is bound in accordion style, meaning that outer edges of the pages are connected to each other. As a result, the story literally unfolds for the reader. Piekut Roy wrote the text and illustrations by hand. She learned the technique at a book arts class by using her education credits as a USM employee.
Fuller hopes to make the exhibition an annual tradition. This year’s exhibition will run to the end of the fall semester in December. New and repeat visitors are welcome to explore the collection at Glickman Library during regular business hours. The talent on display might be especially revelatory to fellow USM employees. It was for Fuller.
“I’m absolutely blown away,” he said. “It’s wild.”