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‘Watch This Space’ at the Sarah Orne Jewett House Museum

Sarah Orne Jewett House
5 Portland Street
South Berwick, ME 03908 United States

Historic New England invites you to the opening reception of the exhibition Watch This Space: Expressions of Queer Ecology by Maine College of Art & Design Alumni, Friday, June 3, 6:00-8:00 p.m., at Historic New England’s Sarah Orne Jewett House Museum in South Berwick, Maine.

Both the reception and the exhibition are free admission and open to the public.

The exhibition, on view Friday-Sunday, June 3- October 30, is a collaboration between Historic New England and Maine College of Art & Design and features the work of six Maine College of Art & Design alumni, including Kyle Hardy, Lindsay Mercer, olivier, Mai Snow, Benjamin Spalding, and Shel Stefan.

“This is the one of the best collaborations we could ask for. The museum has been progressive with the exhibition theme, rigorous in their curatorial selection, and generous in providing direct support to participating artists,” said Jessica Tomlinson, Maine College of Art & Design Director of Artists at Work. “This is exactly the opportunity we want for alumni, to be valued as transformational change agents addressing the critical issues of our time.”

The exhibition addresses themes of queer ecology. “In Watch This Space, we are looking at the human-nature relationship through a different lens. Can we shift our thinking from being above and apart from nature to being part of it?” said Marilyn Keith Daly, Historic New England South Berwick Site Manager.

“Queer ecology provides a space to step out of problematic systems of taxonomy and narratives of hierarchy,” said Benjamin Spalding, exhibition artist and Maine College of Art & Design Visiting Professor of Sculpture and Foundations. “Like drag and the fluidity of social roles, embedding queerness alongside questions of biology and ecology open up new possibilities for reflection and relation. It’s not a dynamic of viewer and specimen – or any binary mode of awareness – it is a celebration of an existence with generous connections beyond our limited human capacity. In a vivid moment, it allows us to wonder ‘can nature love us back?’

The jury for Watch This Space included queer ecology writer Catriona Sandilands, queer ecology artist Eli Brown, Maine College of Art & Design faculty Greta Bank and Chris Malcom, and both MECA&D and Historic New England staff.

 Watch This Space is made possible in part by a donation to Sarah Orne Jewett House

Museum from The Fabulous Find Resale Boutique in Kittery, Maine.

Registration is recommended. Please call 207-384-2454 or email [email protected] for more information. www.HistoricNewEngland.org

Historic New England’s Sarah Orne Jewett House Museum will be open for tours Friday-Sunday, June 3-October 30. Nearby Historic New England site Hamilton House will open Saturday, June 4, and be open Friday-Sunday through October 17. Historic New England’s Sayward-Wheeler House in York, Maine will be open first and third Saturdays of each month, June 3-October 16.

Sarah Orne Jewett House Museum is located at 5 Portland St., South Berwick.

Historic New England is the largest and most comprehensive independent preservation organization in the U.S., and welcomes the public to thirty-eight exceptional museums and landscapes, including several coastal farms. The organization operates a major collections and archives center in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and has the world’s largest collection of New England artifacts, comprising more than 123,000 decorative arts and objects, and 1.5 million archival documents including photographs, architectural drawings, manuscripts, and ephemera. Engaging education programs for youth, adults, and preservation professionals, and award-winning exhibitions and publications are offered in person and virtually.