A Rumor at The Boothbay Region Art Foundation

May 19, 2007

Under the direction of native born, June Rose, The Boothbay Art Foundation serves our community as an open representation of the artistic expression on the Boothbay Peninsula.Any artist can join and have their art displayed in the group shows at the Art Foundation. The existence of such venues is as vital to furthering artistic development as is any art scholarship. The un-curated show is an undirected reflection of the art of a community and is a channel through which an artist's work can be presented to the community.

I recently heard a rumor that there is a proposal under consideration by the current board of directors of The Boothbay Region Art Foundation. The proposal is to create juried shows at the Foundation. My reaction to that rumor, is informed, in part, by Andersen Studio's own encounters with the board members of The Boothbay Art Foundation, who, have already presented stipulations, that limit the art that our, private enterprise, Andersen Studio, can exhibit[1]. Most notably, last fall, when, in no uncertain terms, the notorious board members, made Andersen Studio Artists and Artisans, feel most unwelcome at The Art In The Waterfront exhibition, held on labor day in the waterfront park in Boothbay Harbor.

We were welcomed into the Waterfront show by the Boothbay Region Art, foundation director, June Rose, who welcomed us, in part, because she believed that the inclusion of our work would increase the revenue generated for the Art Foundation by the Waterfront show. June was late arriving that day and so was not present during our encounter with the infamous board members

.We arrived early and there were plenty of spots available. Most of the artists were painters and used high folding screens to display their work. A board member indicated that we should set up our work in a back corner, where it was obvious that our work would be obscured, as though in a closet, by the many walls, of the many screens being placed in front of the location in which the board member attempted to place (obscure) us.

Seeing no point in displaying our work under such conditions, and having arrived, timely, in order to get a good spot, we set up on the front of the platform. The height of our display was shorter than any of the others and would not obscure from view any of the other displays. As we were setting up, the president and board member of the Boothbay Region Art Foundation, attempted, repeatedly, to place a display of his two-dimensional photographic reproductions against our display, in such a way that our display would be obscured from view, by his own display of photographs, which, like are own work, is a form of artwork, based in a reproductive technique. When, we, at last. had set up our display of original ceramic sculpture and functional forms, a third board member came up and asked us to move it “because we want to see art and not crafts” At that point we accommodated the board members by leaving the show.

Andersen Studio is a private enterprise. The Boothbay Region Art Foundation is a non-profit organization. Weston Andersenis a founder of both Andersen Studio and The Boothbay Region Art Foundation, but stopped participating in the Boothbay Region Art Foundation, early on because of attitudes politicized by some other artists, that Andersen ceramics is a craft and not an art. Throughout Andersen Studio's history, we have received recognition as artists from many different sources, but above all by the Boothbay Region community, who independently decided that Andersen’s work is worth collecting.There are many collections of Andersen work that started, as early as the 1950’s, when Andersen started. During all those years, Andersen has been part of The Boothbay Region Community. We receive many letters from our collectors expressing their appreciation for our work, often identified as “art”.

The board members of our local non-profit foundations tend to be new arrivals to the Boothbay Region Community.Those who have lived in The Boothbay Region, for several decades, or those of you who may have read Colin Woodard’s Book, The Lobster Coast, (dedicated to his grandfather, Weston Andersen, to whom Colin owes his considered good fortune of being a native born Mainer), understand that Maine is an unusual place because of Maine’s high propensity of citizens with deep historical roots to this land. Colin Woodard writes about the disconnect between “the two Maines”, the Maine of the deeply rooted community, and the Maine of fluctuating transients ,new arrivals, and long term summer residents.

Often new arrivals have time on their hands and perhaps more money,and perhaps because they are looking for a way to connect to the community, become the mainstay of the board members of our local non-profit foundations. This also happens at the state level, where one finds shows of “Maine Art” filtered through the views of out-of -state academics or out-of -state art world professionals, who have been brought in to select which work best represents the state of Maine.

I haven’t, at this point, taken the time to study the laws that govern non-profits, although, as I continue to write on this subject, that is likely to happen, especially, as I am aware that if the current board members of The Boothbay Region Art Foundation, succeeds in their goal of usurping the Art Foundation for their own purposes, that there will be a new void that will create a new need for a new foundation to serve as a reflection of The Boothbay Region Community of artists. I do not need to read the laws, however, to understand that non-profits can generate operating capital through fund-raisers, and can reduce operating costs through the use of volunteers. I do not know if the laws say anything to the effect that non-profits are required to serve the larger community, but it is, at least, a popular concept that non-profits should serve such a role. When one looks a bit closer, it is unavoidable, that non-profits are beholden to large donors, and that there exists the danger that the non-profits, in practice serve the purposes of the largest donors, rather than the community at large. Andersen Studio is a part of the larger community of the Boothbay Region that, as members of the free enterprise community, must generate operating capital through the sales of work, or services, and pay their employees.Throughout it’s history, Andersen Studio has given many times to the cause of many fundraisers for non-profit organizations, including The Boothbay Region Art Foundation, which, in recent years benefited from the sale of Andersen work, which was the highest priced work that The Boothbay Region Art foundation had ever sold. That year June Rose featured a long story about Weston Andersen, in her early spring newsletter. Perhaps the board members were all out of town at that time, since they subsequently behaved as though they never read it. .If non-profit organizations do not support the ability of free enterprise to generate income, there will be less to give to sustain the existence of non-profit institutions. Last fall, at the Art On the Waterfront exhibition, Andersen Studiowas involved in an activity to generate funds, in accordance to the rules governing private enterprise, when we were prohibited from doing so by the current board members of The Boothbay Region Art Foundation. Andersen Studio is art,and this opinion has long been supported by the Boothbay Region Community. Andersen Studio would never have survived it’s early days, were it not for the support and recognition of the Boothbay Region community

And. now, I, Mackenzie Andersen, author of this blog, offer these suggestions to the community at large:

• Dispose of several of the current board directors of The Boothbay Region Art Foundation.






• TheBoothbay Register should publicize the meetings of non-profit organizations, whereby board of directors are chosen with a coverage comparable to the coverage given to non-profit fund-raisers.






• Board Members and would-be board members should publish their ideas about the direction in which the Foundation should grow, just as in any political campaign.







• Artists and collectors alike should participate in the July decision-making meeting at The Boothbay Region Art Foundation!







• It should be under consideration, that the by-laws of non-profit foundations, in this community, should include that every board must have on it a specific ratio of native Mainers to new arrivals!







• It should be under consideration whether one has to be a paid member of the foundation in order to have a voice in the selection of board members. Currently that would include only artists and not collectors who would also be affected by current proposals of the current board members. Also some artists may not currently be participating members, precisely because of the policies perpetuated by the current board members (such as myself, who would join, if I knew that there were viable alternatives running to replace current board members).





BOOTHBAY ART FOUNDATION WEBSITE SUGGESTIONS









• Post the ORIGINAL Mission statement of the Boothbay Region Art Foundation on the website.








• Post June Rose's name and position on The Boothbay Art Foundation website, along with an email address which is received directly by June and only June. Preferably also include a web page about June Rose.








• Post the names of the board members and president, preferably with resumes and a descriptions about how they perceive the purpose and future of The Boothbay Region Art Foundation.








• Institute a mailing list on the website that can be categorized according to artists, collectors, or general public. This would make it possible o contact artists privately about purchasing publicity on The Boothbay Art Foundation website, rather than having such an advertisement posted in the central location on the website as it currently is. Such a news letter could also be served to alert the general public as to when important decision making meetings are scheduled to occur.

My next installment will include suggestions about a more acceptable way to create juried shows, if that is what one desires. And more about why crafts are an art of the people, especially an art of the people of this state, which only recently emerged from a hundred–year depression ( read about it in The Lobster Coast, by Colin Woodard.

NOTE OF INTEREST. I recently came across a handwritten journal of an early Maine Crafts Association, dated 1948. Any one with an interest in this journal, please contact mackenzie@andersenstudio.com.

[1]The Boothbay Region Art Foundation board of directors is opposed to showing vases, having defined vases as “craft" and not “art”. I find it ironic that If I create a painting on a hand-casted form of original design by Andersen Studio, it is categorized as “craft and therefore not art” but if I were to purchase tiles produced by a commercial manufacturer, and, using such tiles, create a work of art as a two-dimensional wall hanging, it is more likely to get through the rules imposed on artists, by the board members. I am not sure, even of that, maybe I would have to work in a completely different medium to be accepted by the current board of "jurors",at the Boothbay Region Art Foundation. However that would violate my own philosophy of life, which is based in the traditions of the Hermetic Cabala, and has everything to do with my chosen media.

.