Welcome to the Maine Jewish Museum, located in Portland’s East End neighborhood. The museum is housed within the restored Etz Chaim Synagogue, a turn-of-the-century house of worship. The museum has been the venue for contemporary art exhibitions for the past eight years. These exhibitions, which change every six weeks, feature established, Jewish-connected, and Maine-connected artists.
Exhibiting Maine’s Jewish artists links our Jewish artists to Maine’s rich artistic history and highlights their place in Maine’s exciting contemporary art scene which includes but is not at all limited to the following: Winslow Homer, the Monhegan Island and Ogunquit artist colonies, Colby College Museum of Art, Haystack Mountain on Deer Isle, Maine Media Workshops in Rockport, Skowhegan School of Painting, and the Portland Museum of Art. We are thrilled to display the artists chosen by Curator Nancy Davidson and Photography Curator Nanci Kahn and share it with you!
The museum also houses Jack Montgomery’s photo exhibit of Holocaust survivors who settled in Maine as well as a permanent exhibition of Maine Jewish History.
Current exhibits run from May 3 – June 27
Masks optional. Please maintain 6ft distance.
Missy Asen
Spiegel Gallery
Missy Asen is a native Mainer, growing up in Cape Elizabeth. Since she picked up her first crayon, she has found joy in her craft. Missy graduated with a BFA from Ohio Wesleyan University. She maintains studios in Falmouth and Sarasota, Florida.
Missy has exhibited her work at Cygnet Gallery, Thos. Moser Gallery, The Clown Gallery in Stonington, Terrazzo Studio and Gallery, Art and Soul in Kennebunkport, Jameson Gallery, and the Island Gallery at Diamond Cove. She has also exhibited in many galleries in Florida. Her work is included in numerous corporate and private collections.
Maine Jewish Museum
267 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101
Sunday through Friday 11am-4pm Closed: Saturdays
Nancy Davidson, Curator in Residence – Nanci Kahn, Photography Curator –
Masks Required
Smith Galtney
Jody Sataloff History and Art Pavillion
Dream Sequence considers the way pictures speak to each other and tell infinite stories through association and suggestion. Galtney’s images are rooted in narratively direct traditions such as autobiography and documentary, but through variation and juxtaposition – random and otherwise – the pictures become cryptic, dreamlike fragments. Whatever story they tell is ultimately up to the viewer.
Smith Galtney is a Maine-based photographer and writer. His photography has been shown at the University of Southern Maine, SPEEDWELL projects, Cove Street Arts, the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, and Engine. A former entertainment journalist, his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and GQ, among other publications.
Maine Jewish Museum
267 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101
Sunday through Friday 11am-4pm Closed: Saturdays
Nancy Davidson, Curator in Residence – Nanci Kahn, Photography Curator –
Masks Required
Image: Detail from An Ambulance Can Only Go So Fast, It’s Easy to Get Buried in the Past, 20” x 30”
Marcia Annenberg
Fineberg Family Community Room
As a painter, installation artist, curator and climate activist, M. Annenberg investigates the black holes of American journalism. Has the two minute sound bite failed the American people?
As we bear witness to the slippage of journalism in our time, the problem of the omission of news, especially the sparse reporting of climate studies, is less well understood as a strategy, that prevents civic engagement. In this talk, I will trace the decline of news coverage in the American mainstream press from the 1990’s to the present. Are our oceans acidifying? Are the glaciers melting? Will we breach 1.5 degrees of warming this decade? Is there a climate emergency? If so, why don’t we all know it, beyond a reasonable doubt.
M. Annenberg is a Conceptual artist. Her paintings, sculptures, installations and videos focus on under- reported stories in American media, concentrating on scientific studies and global warming.
View a video of News/Not News: A Conversation With M. Annenberg
Maine Jewish Museum
267 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101
Sunday through Friday 11am-4pm Closed: Saturdays
Nancy Davidson, Curator in Residence – Nanci Kahn, Photography Curator –
Masks Required
