About the event

Join us for a guided nature exploration led by guide Dan Gardoqui, founder of Lead with Nature. Taking place at Surf Point in York, ME, this monthly event offers a unique opportunity to explore the diverse habitats on Surf Point's 46 acres of coastal land, from tidal pools to salt marshes. 

This event will take place outside, so plan to wear comfortable walking shoes and dress for the weather. The terrain will include rocky beaches, dirt roads, and grass. Feel free to bring binoculars for birdwatching. This is not an opportunity to visit the Surf Point house. There are no public restrooms. Parking is available on-site.

This event is free and open to the public and current Surf Point resident artists and art workers. Space is limited; registration is required. Donations are welcome. 

Address and directions will be provided to registrants the day before the walk. If you need to cancel your reservation for any reason, please send a message to kenny@surfpoint.me.

Surf Point Community Days bring people together experience Surf Point's land and facility, learn something new, and raise awareness and funds for our residency program, land stewardship, public programs, and legacy programs. 

Featuring special programs:

11:00 am - 2:00 pm
Foraged Feast by Rachel Alexandrou
Inspired by Surf Point’s coastal and forested landscape, Rachel will use foraged ingredients to create a unique menu of hors d'oeuvres. The feast promotes land stewardship and encourages a strong relationships with local flora through food.

Art installation by Phaan Howng
in the Wild Knoll Foundation Garden, curated by Carly Glovinski '21. Baltimore-based artist Phaan Howng creates work that imagines vibrant, post-apocalyptic landscapes where plants (re)take center stage. Her work explores the complex entanglements between nature and human industry.

Anthotype Workshop with Mary Kocol
The Anthotype (Greek word meaning Flower Print) is a fun & eco-friendly process from the Victorian era. Related to the better-known cyanotype process, same inventor, but like a bouquet of flowers, it's ephemeral! The process appeals to kids, adults, gardeners, plant enthusiasts, and artists: printmakers, alternative-photo people, artists who work with inks, watercolors, and color in general. Because anthotypes require a long exposure in the sun (days to weeks!) Participants will leave with a how-to-anthotype handout, for further exploration. They will also learn a simple eco-printing method - a Japanese technique called Tataki-zomé, which can be completed on-site.

11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Panel discussion with New Art Dealers Alliance Gallerists in Residence
Featuring residents Lauren Marinaro of Marinaro Gallery (New York, NY), Alex Nazari of Gattopardo, and Nicoletta Pollara of Night Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), Surf Point Executive Director Yael Reinharz, and NADA Executive Director Heather Hubbs. Learn about gallery programs and experiences at Surf Point.

12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Coppa Magica Gelato
Gelato will be available for purchase from the delicious local Coppa Magica gelato truck!

Community Days are open and free to the public; please register for address and directions. For those who are able, we invite you to make a contribution to support our public programs

In his illustrated talk, art critic and author Carl Little will revisit the life and art of Beverly Hallam (1923-2013). Little will highlight Hallam, the innovator, who explored cutting-edge techniques, from acrylic to computer graphics. He will also share personal reminiscences related to his book, Beverly Hallam: An Odyssey in Art, and thoughts on Hallam’s legacy as an advocate for artists. 

Carl Little's book will be available for sale and signing after his presentation. 

All are invited to an exhibition of Beverly Hallam's work on the Upper Level of York Public Library before this program begins at 2:00 PM. The library is open from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Those attending the program may then stay for the talk by Carl Little. 

This program is co-sponsored by Surf Point and York Public Library. 

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
This event is part of a Surf Point partnership with the York Public Library exploring the exhibition Beverly Hallam: Chasing Light open from May 13 through August 27, 2025 at the York Public Library.   This exhibition celebrates the visionary work of Beverly Hallam (1923–2013), a vital member of Ogunquit’s art community and a pioneering contemporary realist. Known for her innovative mastery across media, Hallam seamlessly integrated photography into her paintings and prints, shaping her luminous compositions. From coastal scenes to floral still lifes to digital abstractions, this exhibition explores Hallam’s lifelong use of photography in her pursuit to capture and express the elusive nature of light.

Curated by Kristina Durocher, Beverly Hallam: Chasing Light presents more than 30 prints, paintings and photographs drawn from the visual archives of Surf Point, York, Maine. 

ABOUT CARL LITTLE
Born in New York City, Little holds degrees from Dartmouth, Columbia and Middlebury. He is the author of a number of art books, including The Watercolors of John Singer Sargent and Edward Hopper’s New England, as well as monographs on Dahlov Ipcar, Eric Hopkins, William Irvine, Irene Olivieri, Beverly Hallam, John Moore, and other artists. Little writes for a range of publications, including Art New England, Hyperallergic, Maine Arts Journal, and Ornament. His second collection of poems, Blanket of the Night, came out in 2024. In 2021 the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation honored Little with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his art writing.

ABOUT SURF POINT
Founded by philanthropist Mary-Leigh Smart (1917-2017) and artist Beverly Hallam (1923-2013) and launched in 2019, Surf Point is a nonprofit organization on the coast of York, Maine that supports diverse visual artists and art workers through a residency program; stewards 46 acres of coastal and forested land; hosts public programs; and promotes our history legacy.

ABOUT BEVERLY HALLAM
Beverly Linney Hallam was born in 1923 in Lynn, Massachusetts. She was educated at the Massachusetts College of Art and then taught at Lasell Junior College, where she was chair of the Art Department until 1949. In 1953 she received her M.F.A. at Syracuse University where she wrote her thesis on the use of polyvinyl acetate—the medium that would become known as “acrylic” and which Hallam would pioneer through her painting practice. From 1949 to 1962 Hallam was professor at the Massachusetts College of Art, where she taught painting, drawing and design, and photography. She was particularly well known as a printmaker, and for her large-scale airbrush paintings of flowers.

BEVERLY HALLAM AND SURF POINT, YORK MAINE 
In the late 1980s, arts patron Mary-Leigh Call Smart and artist Beverly Hallam envisioned a residency for artists and arts professionals in their home upon their passing. Mary-Leigh Smart (1917-2017) was a passionate supporter and collector of Maine-based institutions and artists. Co-founder of the Barn Gallery with her late husband J. Scott Smart, she was also affiliated with the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Farnsworth Museum, Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Portland Museum of Art, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, University of New England, University of New Hampshire and Wellesley College.

Her friend Beverly Hallam (1923-2013) taught at Mass College of Art and moved to Maine in 1963 to work full time as an artist. An early experimenter with acrylics, she produced a wide range of works in many media including painting, photography, and graphic arts. Her key papers and notebooks are housed within the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art. A film was made about her work as part of the Maine Masters film series and Beverly Hallam: An Odyssey in Art by Carl Little illustrates her life and work.

With architects Carter + Woodruff, Mary-Leigh and Beverly designed their dream home known as “Surf Point,” and lived there from 1971 until their deaths. The building is set within nearly 50 acres of coast and woods protected by a conservation easement stewarded by the York Land Trust.

Inspired by artist communities in Ogunquit, ME and MacDowell, NH, arts patron Smart and artist Hallam provided in their wills that Surf Point be a retreat for artists. In 1973, they invited writer May Sarton to live and work in another dwelling on the property. In the 24 years Sarton remained there until she died in 1997, Sarton wrote some of her most important books and cultivated a stunning garden.

Did you know Mary-Leigh Smart and/or Beverly Hallam? May Sarton? 

To continue building on the legacy of Surf Point founders Mary-Leigh Call Smart and Beverly Hallam, we are collecting stories from this community. If you had a relationship with the Surf Point founders or were impacted by their presence in the seacoast community in even a small way, we want to learn more. Please share memories here, or be in touch with Executive Director Yael Reinharz by emailing yael@surfpoint.me.

Press

Join us to celebrate the opening of Beverly Hallam: Chasing Light, the first posthumous solo exhibition by Surf Point co-founder Beverly Hallam, opening Tuesday May 13, 2025 from 5-7pm at the York Public Library in York Village, Maine. There will be refreshments, live music, and remarks by the curator, Surf Point, and the York Public Library. Please note that registration is optional.

About the exhibition

Presented by Surf Point and the York Public Library and curated by Kristina Durocher, Chasing Light presents over 30 prints, paintings and photographs drawn from Surf Point’s collection. Beverly Hallam: Chasing Light celebrates the visionary work of Beverly Hallam (1923–2013), a vital member of Ogunquit’s art community and a pioneering contemporary realist. Known for her innovative mastery across media, Hallam seamlessly integrated photography into her paintings and prints, shaping luminous compositions. From coastal scenes to floral still lifes to digital abstractions, this exhibition explores Hallam’s lifelong use of photography in her pursuit to capture and express the elusive nature of light.

Save the date for Community Day #10!

The day’s events will highlight Surf Point’s historic legacy and site with three alumni-led programs:

11:15 am - 12 pm: Art historian, independent curator and scholar Olga Herrera ‘22 will speak about her years-long work mining the Surf Point archives and what she has learned about Surf Point founders Beverly Hallam and Mary-Leigh Call Smart. 

12 pm - 12:30 pm: Lunch! Grab freshly made soup and bread from chef Lumine of Soupernatural - vegan and gluten-free options available, cash and Venmo accepted. Or bring your own picnic and explore the grounds.

12:30 pm - 2 pm: Artist iliana emilia García ‘22 will lead an all-ages monoprint workshop in the Beverly Hallam Studio. 

11 am - 2 pm: Carly Glovinski '21 will offer a plant sale of freshly divided perennials grown with love at Wild Knoll Foundation Garden.

Community Days are open and free to the public; please register for address and directions. For those who are able, we invite you to make a contribution to support our public programs.

About

iliana emilia García ‘22
Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 1970, García received her AAS from Altos de Chavon/The School of Design in the Dominican Republic in 1989, and her BFA in Communication Design from Parsons The New School of Design in 1991. She is currently finishing her MA in Biography & Memoir at the Graduate Center in NY. Garcia works in big format drawings on canvas and paper, and escalating installations depicting her most iconic symbols: the chair and the written word. Her work has been written about in numerous art publications and exhibited at the Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, DC; BRIC, Brooklyn, NY; Exit Art, NY; The Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; El Museo del Barrio, NY; and other venues. Her work is part of the Smithsonian Museum of American Art collection, El Museo del Barrio’s collection, and several private collections. She is a founding member of the Dominican York Proyecto Grafica (DYPG), a printmaking collective. Visit iliana’s website here.

Carly Glovinski ‘21
Carly Glovinski received her BFA from Boston University in 2003 and is represented by Morgan Lehman Gallery in New York. She has been awarded residencies at the Studios at MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA, Teton ArtLab, Jackson, Wyoming, and the Vermont Studio Center, and has received grants from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, and the Blanche Colman Trust. She has had solo exhibitions at Colby Museum of Art, Maine; Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York; Indianapolis Contemporary; and Carroll and Sons, Boston. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including at the deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Boston Center for the Arts, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. Her work has been published or reviewed in major publications such as New American Paintings, ArtMaze Magazine, Hyperallergic, Vice, and Maake Magazine. Carly currently lives and works in New Hampshire.

Olga Herrera ‘22
Olga U. Herrera is an art historian, independent curator, and scholar. She is currently Managing Director of the Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Initiative at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research focuses on the intersections of globalization, networks of cultural production, and circulation of modern and contemporary art of the Americas. She is the author of American Interventions and Modern Art in South America (University Press of Florida, 2017) winner of the 2018 SECAC Award for Excellence in Scholarly Research and Publication; Toward the Preservation of a Heritage: Latin American and Latino Art in the Midwestern United States (University of Notre Dame, 2008); and editor of the books Scherezade García: From This Side of the Atlantic (AMA, 2019), and iliana emilia García: The Reason/The Object/The Word (AMA, 2019). Her essays and interviews have appeared in publications of the International Center of the Art of the Americas, Archives of American Art Journal, MIT ARTMargins, Diálogo, Public Art Dialogue, Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas, and others. Herrera holds a Ph.D. in Latin American modern and contemporary art history and theories of globalization from George Mason University. She is the founder of Artista, a Latinx and Latin American women artist digital platform.

Soupernatural
Chef Lumine is on a quest to create delicious, hearty soups made from super natural ingredients.  As she developed a following of soup groupies, her customers began telling stories of the nearly magical properties her soup possessed- ‘comforting’, ‘healing’, and ‘tastes like love’.  Their extravagant claims inspired a whimsical, fairytale-themed collection of recipes that have become the heart of Soupernatural Food On The Fly. 

Join us for Community Day #09

We are thrilled to invite you to our summer Community Day, featuring a temporary installation of sculptures by artist Tory Fair; a presentation reflecting on writer May Sarton and her beloved pets with Maine Women Writers Collection archivist Jefferson Navicky; tours of our live-work oceanfront residency building, and more.

The goal of our Community Day series is to raise awareness and funds for the work we do to 1) support diverse visual artists and art workers through our residency program; 2) steward our 46 acres of coastal and forested land; 3) host programs open to the public; and 4) promote and share research on our historic legacy.

We hope you can fit us into your summer plans! Read the full program of events below.

Schedule of Events

11am - 2pm
Self-guided tours of Wild Knoll Foundation Garden
A public art project by residency alum Carly Glovinski ‘21, inspired by writer May Sarton, and a short walk from the Surf Point building. The garden will serve as a stage for artist Tory Fair’s kinetic, life-sized sculptures of sunflowers in this one-day-only installation. Flower arrangements from the garden will be made throughout the day and available for a suggested donation of $15.

11am - 12pm
Tours of the building
Check out Surf Point’s artist studios and living spaces. Meticulously planned by Surf Point co-founders Mary-Leigh Smart and Beverly Hallam in the late 1960s (and constructed in the early 1970s), the house features panoramic views of the ocean and is home to our year-round residency program for artists and arts workers.

12pm - 1:30pm
Coppa Magica Truck
Summery treats including gelato will be available from the Coppa Magica truck!

12:30pm - 12:40pm
Remarks by Surf Point Executive Director Yael Reinharz

12:40pm - 1pm 
Introduction by Carly Glovinski ‘21 and Artist Talk with Tory Fair
Tory Fair will talk about her installation in Wild Knoll Foundation Garden and share about her process. Tory writes, “My sculptures are direct casts of sunflowers and are made from dirt and silicone. They serve as both memories and as messengers. The mixture of dirt and silicone provides an aggregate that is in mutiny with its form as a flower. […] I view the sculptures as living memories of each flower I am able to harvest in various growing seasons.” 

1pm - 1:20pm
“May Sarton and Her Menagerie” with Jefferson Navicky
Renowned poet and author May Sarton published over fifty books of poetry, fiction, journals, and memoirs. At the invitation of Surf Point co-founders, she spent her last decades living at Surf Point’s Wild Knoll. Sarton cared deeply for animals, and they were often her companions in both life and her writing. In this brief talk, MWWC Archivist Jefferson Navicky will share a few anecdotes about Sarton’s pets, as well as a selection of her writing about the animals she so dearly loved. We will also point out one of her beloved pets’ gravestones on the property.

Other highlights:

• Local summery treats available to those who come!

• All are welcome, including dogs on leash (outdoors only)

• Support Surf Point by buying merch and alumni editions, with new items released on August 3!

• Walk the trails on our 46-acre property

• Explore tidal pools and oceanfront

• Visit Buoy Gallery, Corey Daniels Gallery, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art (OMAA) and make a day of it!

Community Day is free and open to the public. Registration is required. Address and directions to our site in York, Maine will be sent to registered attendees several days before the event. Surf Point is able to host these programs thanks to small-dollar donations from the public.

About our collaborators

Tory Fair lives and works in the Boston area. Recent solo exhibitions and projects include presentations at A.D. Gallery in NY, ICA at MECA, Portland, ME; AreaCode Art Fair, Boston; Drive-By Projects, Watertown; and gallery VERY, Boston. Fair’s work has been included in several group exhibitions, including Paper Town, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA; You are Here, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA; The Intuitionists, The Drawing Center, NY; and Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City. Her work has been reviewed in publications including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Sculpture Magazine, and Boston Art Review, among others. She was a recent artist in residence at RAIR, (Recycled Artist In Residency, Philadelphia, PA), a featured artist in VoCA Talks (Voices in Contemporary Art), and has been the recipient of prestigious awards from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, LEF Foundation, and the Mass Cultural Council. She received her B.A. from Harvard University, Cambridge, MA and M.F.A. from the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA. Fair is Professor of Sculpture at Brandeis University, Waltham, MA.

Carly Glovinski ‘21 makes work that explores the make-do, resourceful attitudes associated with domestic craft and a reverence for nature and the great outdoors. The elements of time and place are embedded in her work, measured by tides and seasonal flower blooms, and marked by labor and repetitive process. She received her BFA from Boston University and is represented by Morgan Lehman Gallery in New York. She has been awarded residencies at Surf Point Foundation in 2021, and the Canterbury Shaker Village in 2020, and grants from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, and the Blanche Colman Trust. Her work has been in major publications such as New American Paintings, ArtMaze Magazine, Hyperallergic, and Vice, and is held in collections including Colby Museum of Art, Fidelity Investments, and the Cleveland Clinic.

Jefferson Navicky is the Archivist for the Maine Women Writers Collection at the University of New England. He has given talks about MWWC authors Ruth Moore, Elizabeth Coatsworth, Kate Barnes, and about the diaries of everyday Maine women. He is also a poet, and has published four books, including Antique Densities: Modern Parables & Other Experiments in Short Prose, which won the Maine Literary Award for Poetry.

The Maine Women Writers Collection was founded in 1959 by Grace Dow and Dorothy Healy to preserve and make available the writings of Maine women who had achieved literary recognition. Today, we honor the terms of our name by carrying this spirit forward into its 21st-century form. Our holdings concern the Dawnland or traditional territory of Wabanaki people, the state of Maine, and the northern New England region. We collect the work of those who identify as female, femme, transfeminine, gender expansive, or nonbinary. And we hold both published work and unpublished material, such as letters, photographs, diaries, memorabilia, artwork, and other forms of creative work, by authors who may be world renowned, locally known, or anonymous.

February 28th, 5:30 pm
Indigo Arts Alliance, 60 Cove St, Portland, ME, and on live stream!

RSVP HERE: For In-Person Ticket or Virtual Zoom Link

Join us for the first event co-presented by Indigo Arts Alliance and Surf Point

On the heels of recent travels throughout a combined 11 countries in Africa, speakers will discuss the importance of the Art of the African Diaspora, also referred to as the Black Diaspora, whose global impact on culture and society around the world can no longer be denied. You are invited to listen in as our three scholars share observations about both traditional and contemporary art in Africa - art, food, music, and business innovation, which are creating a cultural tsunami on the continent and abroad. 

About the speakers

Kemi Ilesanmi | Cultural Strategist, IAA Circle of Advisors, Surf Point February 2024 Resident

Marcia Minter |  IAA Co-Founder, IAA Chief Officer of Strategic Growth and Innovation, Surf Point AiR Alum 2021

Daniel Minter | IAA Co-Founder, IAA Artist Director, Visual Artist

ACTUVATION: Sonic Meditation with JOJO ABOT
Friday, December 1, 2023, 4-6pm
At Surf Point

Offering pieces from her opera “A GOD OF HER OWN MAKING” as well as recently channeled meditations, interdisciplinary artist JOJO ABOT ‘23 invites us into a sonically immersive journey that serves as a portal to personal expansion, presence, reflection, connection, mindfulness, gratitude, expansion, oneness, love and so much more. As JOJO ABOT explains: “A collective meditation is only as powerful as we call and allow it to be, knowing that we are the light, the hope, and salvation we hope to see. Join us…”

Tea will be provided, feel free to bring your favorite mug. Please wear something comfortable and be prepared to sit on the floor or in a chair. Bring your own blankets or yoga mat. A few blankets or chairs will be available for those who need them. No prior experience of meditation is required. This is an immersive sonic experience. This is not an opportunity to visit the entire Surf Point facility. This event will take place in the Beverly Hallam studio. Parking and bathrooms are available on-site. Kids are welcome but this is a seated performance.

This event is free and open to the public. Space is limited, so registration is required. Donations are welcome. Address and directions will be provided to registrants on Thursday, November 30.

About JOJO ABOT

JOJO ABOT is an interdisciplinary healer exploring evolving themes of spirituality, identity and community through music, film, fine art, fashion, photography and various other expressions. Committed to a philosophy of "Message Over Medium", the artist aims to provoke larger conversations and actions towards collective elevation, healing and harmony. An Ewe woman born in Ghana and currently based in LA, JOJO ABOT offers intimate invitations into the practice of true freedom, love and re-membering through sacred ceremonies of togetherness, reflection and transformation engaging the self as the starting point to unity, universal connection and ascension. Serving as a bridge between the physically and metaphysically, her offerings invite us into a spiritual dance that allows for a coming together of ancestry, traditions and global cultures.

Visit JOJO ABOT’s website here.

About Surf Point

Surf Point is a nonprofit organization that supports visual artists and art professionals with a year-round, nomination-based residency program on the coast of York, Maine.

Saturday, November 18, 2023

Schedule of events:

11:30am - 12:30pm - Wild Knoll Foundation Garden Visit at Surf Point featuring artist talk by Carly Glovinski ‘21.

1:00pm - 2:30pm - Nightingale Vocal Ensemble Performance at the York Public Library

The Nightingale Vocal Ensemble will perform the Maine premiere of Andrew List's vocal quartet, clarinet, and piano cycle titled "Journey of Seasons" for its 2023-24 concert season here at York Public Library. The Massachusetts premiere will be held on November 16 at the Berklee College of Music. Featuring poetry by Queer, Belgian-American writer, May Sarton, "Journey of Seasons" uses the image of a garden as a metaphor for the self amidst life's seasons. In tandem with the performance, we will invite a modern poetry scholar to present on Sarton and her impact on 20th century American literature.

May Sarton lived the last twenty-two years of her life in York, Maine at her "house by the sea" she called Wild Knoll. Although she increasingly experienced multiple challenges during this time, her writing continued strong which resulted in several volumes of poetry and journals as well. Her last volume of poems "Coming Into Eighty" was published in 1994. May Sarton died in York, Maine, in July of 1995 at the age of 83. Read more about Wild Knoll HERE. 

THOSE WHO REGISTER FOR THIS PROGRAM WILL RECEIVE A SPECIAL INVITATION TO VISIT THE Wild Knoll Foundation Garden  BEFORE THE CONCERT, ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 11:30AM TO 12:30PM. This gorgeous site alongside the ocean is typically open to the public by appointment. This is an optional activity available to program registrants only, but not a required part of the program.

Read more about the event here.

Explore the grounds of Surf Point Foundation— Maine’s most coveted oceanfront artist residency program—with Executive Director, Yael Reinharz.

5pm - 7pm at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art (OMAA), 543 Shore Rd, Ogunquit, ME 03907

Join Samantha Butler, Program Manager of Surf Point Foundation, and Erin Johnson, Chair of the Department of Film and Video at the Maryland Institute College of Art, for a discussion on artist Beverly Hallam and arts patron Mary-Leigh Call Smart, and for a screening of Johnson’s film inspired by them called “To be Sound is to be Solid.” 

This talk and screening are free with admission to OMAA and free for OMAA members. Click here to join as a member.

Erin Johnson, Chair of the Department of Film and Video at the Maryland Institute College of Art 

Erin Johnson (b. 1985, US) is a visual artist and filmmaker based in New York who was recently named one of
the 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine. Her short films and immersive installations explore notions of collectivity, dissent, and queer identity. In her shape-shifting videos, constellations of artists, biologists, and film extras address the imbrication of science and nationalism. Johnson received an MFA and Certificate in New Media from UC Berkeley in 2013, attended Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in 2019, and recently completed residencies at Pioneer Works (Brooklyn, NY), Jan van Eyck Academie (Maastricht, NL), Lower Manhattan Community Council (LMCC), Hidrante (San Juan, PR), Lighthouse Works (Fishers Island, NY) and Surf Point (Maine). Her work has recently been exhibited or screened at Sanatorium (Istanbul), REDCAT (LA), MOCA Toronto (Toronto), Munchmuseet (Oslo), Times Square Arts (New York), deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum (Boston), and Billytown (The Hague). She is represented by Galleria Eugenia Delfini (Rome) and is Chair of the Department of Film and Video at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

Samantha Butler, Program Manager of Surf Point Foundation

Samantha is an arts organizer and multidisciplinary artist based out of Biddeford, Maine. Samantha has a rich history of developing engaging, artist-centric programming, especially supporting emerging artists; she co-founded New System Exhibitions and has worked with Maine arts institutions including SPACE, Running with Scissors, and the Portland Museum of Art. Prior to her current role at Surf Point Foundation, Samantha was the manager of TEMPOart where she led the organization through its annual public art commission. Read about Samantha’s practice supporting creative communities in Maine Magazine. Samantha’s studio work spans various media in the visual and performing arts. She values collaborative and improvisational methods of making and has worked as a set designer and art director for theatrical and commercial video productions. Samantha holds a B.A. Cum Laude from Connecticut College where she studied the representation of gender and sexuality, American Studies, and Studio Art.

In partnership with the York Land Trust, we are offering a guided meditation led by artist-in-residence Naoko Wowsugi.

Wowsugi calls for a collective healing experience through gong baths. In this gong baths meditation, participants are invited to soak up the benefits of the healing vibrations of sound by lying down and getting comfortable with yoga mats, blankets, and/or pillows. This is your ceremony, you don’t need to do anything except allow yourself to spend this time.

This program will be held outside on a patio at the Surf Point Foundation property, so please dress accordingly. Bring a yoga mat or picnic blanket to rest on, and a bottle of water to stay hydrated. 

https://www.yorklandtrust.org/event/guided-meditation-at-surf-point/

Originally conceived as an early April show, as both an antidote to the cruelest month’s lingering gloom, and a reminder that spring, with its florid proliferation of life, was on the horizon, Floriography feels even more timely in its new slot as our first post-lockdown exhibition.

Its message more immediate, urgent, and life-affirming… This exhibition presents a conversation between the work of four talented and stylistically diverse female artists, each in dialogue with her subject matter, with her media and the act of mark-making, and with floral painting as historical genre.

The exhibition also includes a selection of works on paper from the estate of Maine Master and nationally known pioneering postwar female artist, Beverly Hallam. These works span from 1961 to 2007, and media include pastel, acrylic, ink, oil monotype and charcoal.  They beautifully display the artist’s verve and virtuosity as well as her enduring fascination for floral still lifes.

BEVERLY LINNEY HALLAM

November 22, 1923 - February 21, 2013

Beverly Hallam was born in Lynn, Mass. on Nov. 22, 1923, the daughter of Alice Linney Murphy and Edwin Francis Hallam. She graduated from Lynn English High School. During her early years, she studied clarinet and saxophone. In 1945, Hallam received a B.S. Ed. from the Massachusetts College of Art and in that year she received a position at Lasell Junior College (Auburndale, MA) where she was Chairman of the Art Department until 1949. Following coursework at Cranbrook Academy in 1948, she received her M.F.A. from Syracuse University in 1953.

From 1949-1962, Hallam was professor at the Massachusetts College of Art where she taught Painting, Drawing and Design. There, she taught the first courses in Photography and Theater Arts, and led students to experiment with avant-garde effects in set painting, costume design, lighting, projection, and taped electronic music. She supervised the Saturday Morning High School Art Classes.

An avid photographer, Ms. Hallam travelled to Europe and compiled many illustrated lectures on art subjects which she gave throughout the country. From the early 1950s, Hallam was one of the earliest artist-adopters in the U.S. of Polyvinyl Acetate—or Acrylic—now ubiquitously recognized as a fine art medium. Known for her large airbrushed flower canvases and for experimental printmaking, Hallam had 45 solo exhibitions in museums and galleries and participated in 280 group shows. Her work is in the permanent collections of many museums and corporations and in private collections in the U.S., Canada, France, Belgium, and Switzerland—including those of the Harvard Art Museums, Farnsworth Art Museum, Ogunquit Museum of American Art and National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Although she taught full time, Hallam never gave up painting. Over the course of a practice that spanned 56 years, she experimented with media and approaches, ever open to new ideas and technical approaches to making. In 1963, Hallam resigned from teaching to live and work full time in Maine, first in Ogunquit and then in York. 

Hallam had gallery affiliations in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Florida, and Maine. Her exhibition history included retrospectives at the Addison Gallery of American Art (1971) and at the Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland (1998). In that same year, Midtown Galleries in New York mounted a large traveling exhibition focused on Hallam’s innovative use of airbrush, and Carl Little’s monograph Beverly Hallam: An Odyssey in Art was published. In 1990, the Evansville Museum of Arts and Science compiled an exhibition in Indiana that toured to five other states. Her work was recognized with several awards, including "Distinguished Alumni Award, Massachusetts College of Art" and "Maine College of Art Award for Achievement as a Visual Artist." The Union of Maine Visual Artists, as part of the Maine Masters Project featured her brilliant career on film in Beverly Hallam: Artist as Innovator in 2011, directed by Richard Kane.

Hallam maintained an active studio at Surf Point until her death on February 21, 2013. Her papers are held in the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Her legacy includes the conception, with friend and patron Mary-Leigh Smart, of Surf Point Foundation, whose mission is to be an inclusive residency program in their former home on the York coast.

https://www.covestreetarts.com/exhibitions-1/current-exhibition-floriography