Please join us in holding space to celebrate, mourn, grieve, and honor life events we collectively experienced alone during a pandemic by sharing a cake baked by artist Heather Flor Cron.

Cron invites us to reflect on what and who we’ve missed during the last three years and be witnesses to what we’ve suffered and achieved. In sharing a cake together, Cron offers us a moment to pause the rush to make up time and acknowledge this journey.

Cron’s work in Can’t Take My Eyes Off You addresses themes of loss, celebration, and community and is on view through December 23, 2022.

We are proud to host a screening of “Bar Stories from Queer Maine,” by Betsy Carson and Wendy Chapkis.

The 15-minute documentary short offers a collection of insightful and entertaining reflections on the role of rapidly disappearing queer bars in the lives of LGBTQ+ people in southern and central Maine. Shot on locations in Portland, the narrators share their experiences of building community and connection in gay bars. 

“Bar Stories from Queer Maine” has been selected for screening in a dozen film festivals in the US, Europe, and India. 

A Q & A with the filmmakers will follow the screening.

About the filmmakers

Betsy Carson has been making self-funded movies since 1995.  She has co-produced short and long format films and a 53 episode comedy web series. Betsy’s TV work includes Delicious TV’s Vegan Mashup and Totally Vegetarian.  

Wendy Chapkis teaches sociology and women & gender studies at the University of Southern Maine. She is the author of several books and numerous articles, and directs the Querying the Past: Maine LGBTQ Oral History Project. 

PLEASE NOTE: To keep our community as safe as possible, we ask that visitors wear masks when attending events. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

The gallery is wheelchair accessible.

Join us on Friday, November 4th at 5pm for an Instagram Live conversation with Michelle Beaulieu-Morgan, one of the artists featured in Can’t Take My Eyes Off You curated by Faythe Levine.

ABOUT MICHELLE’S WORK

Growing up in rural Maine pre-internet meant finding "deviance" where I could. I was a flamboyant kid who was into art and books and music, but with no lens through which to understand my queerness. Some of the songs represented here are cringey at best, and offensive at worst. But they all helped me develop my desires, aesthetics, and politics in an otherwise oppressive and conservative place and time. I identified with and was fascinated by the glimpses of queerness they offered me, even if I recognize how compromised that vision was in hindsight.  

Join us in the gallery at 4pm on Friday, October 28th to witness Gabriel Chalfin-Piney’s God Is Glove.

This performance is part of our CAN’T TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU performance series.

PLEASE NOTE: To keep our community as safe as possible, visitors are asked to wear a mask during events. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

“I believe that processing grief physically is central to being able to access Queer love and joy. God is Glove takes the form of a public grieving and feeding ritual, where beeswax candle forms, bells, crab shells, water chestnuts, and sculptural Seder table objects are paired with food, mirroring some rituals of the Passover seder. Nourishment by candlelight is foregrounded during the evening as performer and audience take turns feeding themselves and wielding objects in observance of public grief and celebration. I see all of my performances as chances to join through food: Some folks cook the meal, some have the menu, and all of the dishes are shared.”

— Gabriel Chalfin-Piney