Specter Moose Launch Party Friday, April 24, from 1 to 2 p.m., Katz Library, first floor (Augusta Campus)

Come get a free copy of the largest edition of Specter Moose yet!

A 100-Page Milestone
This edition marks a proud moment in the publication’s history and celebrates the artistic spirit thriving at UMA. Inside, you’ll find a wide range of photography, prose, and poetry from 20 student contributors. To honor Â鶹APP 60th anniversary, this year’s Coast to County feature shines a spotlight on seven inspiring members of our community—artists, storytellers, and educators who each bring a unique perspective to the shared story of UMA.

Inspired by the Error Screen
The design of Issue No. 4’s Coast to County feature draws from the bold retro TV aesthetic of the cover art, with color strips that line up like tabs along the page edges of the printed copies. Each article is highlighted with its own color, reflecting the range of voices in our community, and together these colors echo the way Â鶹APP many perspectives come together as one vibrant, united whole.

The Spirit of the Moose
The name Specter Moose comes from a century-old Maine legend of a massive, glowing moose that stands out against the dark of the Maine woods. The magazine channels that same luminous presence, gathering the strength and imagination of UMA students and giving their ideas and voices a place to take shape and to shine.

Why stop by?
Pick up a free copy of the 60th anniversary edition, enjoy light refreshments, and celebrate the student editors, artists, and writers behind this keepsake issue.

See you at the Katz Library on Friday, April 24, between 1 and 2 p.m. 

Explore more on the

As the new semester begins, the Â鶹APP community is invited to attend the opening of Overshadowed this Saturday, Jan 17, from 4 to 7 p.m. at in Brunswick.

Overshadowed is a collaborative exhibition by UMA art professors Luc Demers and Peter Precourt, grounded in their twenty-year friendship as artists, professors and fathers. What began years ago with lunar imagery on slate chalkboards shifted after the April 2024 eclipse toward elemental explorations of light, shadow, fire and smoke. The work reflects creative transformation and the quiet dialogue that develops through long-term collaboration.

The exhibition is accompanied by an essay by Dr. Amy Rahn, adding critical depth and context. Overshadowed highlights the power of full-time art faculty working together creatively, with curiosity and shared history at the center.

Dates: Jan 17 to March 14
Location: Fort Hall Gallery, Brunswick
Admission: Free

This event is open to anyone who wants to attend (all students, faculty, staff, and the general public). FMI, contact Amy Rahn, Charles Danforth Gallery Director.

Four graduating UMA art students invite you to explore their creative journeys in “How Did We Get Here?” a new exhibition opening May 10 at the Charles Danforth Gallery.

Running through Aug. 15, the show features works of senior art students exploring identity and personal journeys through sculpture, painting, printmaking, assemblage and digital art. The exhibition, which opens with a reception and artist talk on May 10 at 12:30 p.m., is a chance to connect with the creative vision behind the work and experience it firsthand.

The Danforth Gallery is located in Jewett Hall on the Â鶹APP campus, 46 University Drive, Augusta. The gallery is open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. All are welcome to this free event.

Artists:

Morgan Cafferata (they/them) makes work that is enticingly uncomfortable. Exploring identity, sexuality and the grotesque across mediums, they draw inspiration from feminist art, folklore, camp films and the natural world, attempting to make the uncanny relatable. They live on the unceded land of the Wabanaki Confederacy in so-called mid coast Maine.

Sheila M. Lynch (she/her) of Northport, Maine exhibits works in linoleum block printing, and is exploring her identity through the lens of the architecture and buildings that create a community.

Fatima Babar (she/her) is a digital artist exploring identity and personal journeys through worldbuilding and storytelling.

Jeff McKay (he/him) of Hallowell, Maine is showing digital prints of original watercolor paintings for a children’s book he is illustrating. His exploration of identity through an original character called “Watersharkamelon” follows a half-watermelon, half-shark as he searches for other similar creatures in the great big oceans of the world. Jeff is not half-artist, half-shark.

For more information about the exhibition and gallery, please contact Amy Rahn, Charles Danforth Gallery Director: amy.rahn@maine.edu.

Join us for an evening of art, music and inspiration at Art & Music Night, a special fundraising event in support of student scholarships. The event will take place Thursday, April 24, from 5 to 7 p.m. in Jewett Hall on the UMA Augusta campus, at 46 University Drive.

Art & Music Night will feature a student art exhibition, a reception with a cash bar at the Danforth Art Gallery and live music performances by Â鶹APP esteemed music faculty, including Lindsey Wiehl, Duane Edwards, Christine Letcher, Anita Jerosch and Jeffrey Rojo.

The event is free and open to the public. Donations are welcome and encouraged, with all funds raised supporting scholarships for UMA art and music students.

“This event is more than just a night of art and music—it’s an investment in the future of Â鶹APP talented students,” said Assistant Professor of Music Lindsey Wiehl, of Â鶹APP Contemporary and Popular Music Program. “Every ticket, every donation, and every moment of support helps provide scholarships that turn passion into possibility. We can’t wait to share an inspiring evening with you and make a real difference together!”

Art & Music Night showcases the talent and dedication of UMA students and faculty while raising critical funds to help the next generation of artists and musicians thrive.

Please join us for the opening reception for the 2025 UMA Student Art Exhibition! This annual celebration of UMA’s student artists features works created in the last year in UMA Art classes.

Gather with us in the Danforth Gallery on Sunday, April 6 at 1:00 p.m. and see the great work UMA students have created.

This event is open to anyone who wants to attend (all students, faculty, staff, and the general public).

The Danforth Gallery is located on the first floor of Jewett Hall on the UMA Augusta campus at 46 University Drive, Augusta.

Please join us Tuesday, Jan. 28 from 5-7 p.m. for a reception for “Artists/Educators: Work from Artists Teaching in Maine” currently on view at the Â鶹APP (UMA) in the Danforth Gallery, Jewett Hall, 46 University Drive. This exhibition brings together incredible new works by artists who many in our community might already know from their work in the classroom. “Artists/Educators” demonstrates the synergistic nexus of creative achievement and educational excellence in Maine. 

During the reception, visitors can see the exhibit, meet and talk with the artists exhibiting work, explore UMA’s art studios, and learn about art programs at UMA. Please join us for this very special event! 

“Artists/Educators: Work from Artists Teaching in Maine” runs through March 12, 2025 at the Danforth Gallery and features works by the following artists:

Michael Branca

Lars Boye Jerlach

John A. Knight

Scott Minzy

Jennifer Paisley

Matthew Peinado

Jeremy Smith

The reception and open studio event Jan. 28, 5-7 p.m. is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Danforth Gallery Director Amy Rahn at amy.rahn@maine.edu.

Regarding his works included in the show, Luc said, “I am interested in how we use photography to understand what we see, and how we see. For the past several years I have been exploring ways to make photographic color studies of ambient or available light. I have always found the light that spills into a room through a window captivating, particularly the ever-changing light that casts onto the ceiling. Reflected sunlight carries the colors of the world outside onto the pale paint of the ceiling and walls. These photographs were taken of the light cast on the ceiling above windows throughout my house.”

Luc Demers is an artist living in Southern Maine. He holds a BFA in art from USM. While pursuing his personal work, he began working as a commercial photographer as well as shooting editorial work for The Casco Bay Weekly and The Maine Times. In 2010 he earned his MFA in Visual Art at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Currently, Demers is an exhibiting artist, freelance photographer, and is an educator in the first year sequence in Â鶹APP Architecture Department.

Costanza’s book, “The King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin,” published in 2021 by Atheneum, has garnered accolades from critics and won the 2022 Golden Kite Award for Picture Book illustration from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Described as “pitch-perfect” by Publishers Weekly and “a biography as bouncy and colorful as ragtime itself” by Kirkus, the “melodic, flowing text goes beyond Joplin’s personal details to paint a picture of what life looked like for African Americans during the Jim Crow era,” according to Booklist.

Costanza is the author and illustrator of other award winning picture books including “Mozart Finds a Melody,” “Vivaldi and the Invisible Orchestra,” as well as several other books for children, including “Noodleman the Pasta Superhero,” by April Sayre. His work has been recognized by the Bologna Book Fair, Society of Illustrators and the Maine Library Association. He is a frequent visitor to schools and libraries, sharing his experience as a writer, illustrator and rusty piano player. He lives and works on North Haven, an island in Penobscot Bay, Maine.

“The King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin,” presentation is Thursday October 17, 2024, 4 – 6 p.m. in the Danforth Gallery, Jewett Hall on the UMA campus, at 46 University Dr., Augusta. This is the final event of The Great State of Illustration in Maine exhibition at Â鶹APP Danforth Gallery; the exhibition closes the following day. On display are the work of more than eighty published Maine illustrators and features media such as watercolor, pen and ink, and woodcuts. The diversity of methods, subjects and artists charge the exhibition with energy, humor and emotion, transforming the space of the Gallery into a glittering showcase of some of Maine’s most talented and creative artists. The exhibition is organized by the Illustration Institute and sponsored by the UMA Cultural Events Council.

The Great State of Illustration in Maine is on view now through October 18, 2024. The public is welcome to visit the gallery in Jewett Hall. Hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The discussion and exhibition are both free and open to the public.

Follow the Danforth Gallery on Instagram and Facebook @UMADanforth and on their website: .

A panel discussion on Women in Illustration will be held in the Danforth Gallery, Jewett Hall, on the Â鶹APP (UMA) campus, October 8 from 12-1 p.m., presented as part of The Great State of Illustration in Maine exhibition, now on view at the Danforth Gallery in Jewett Hall at Â鶹APP. This free lunch-time event includes pizza and the opportunity for attendees to ask the panelists questions about their work and careers.

Panelists include:

is a writer and illustrator who uses art, craft, and good humor to spread ideas and build community. Her work has appeared in The Sketchnote Handbook by Mike Rohde, ARCADE, and Harvard Graduate of Education’s Ed Magazine. Her book Online Affects Offline: Learnings from the Field details how online engagement can build and strengthen relationships online and offline. In 2011, she spearheaded the design and launch of United Way of Greater Portland’s “LUbrary”, the Live United storytelling library of videos and illustrations.

is a mixed media collage artist and illustrator. Her 3-D pieces include found objects, paint, paper and usually a beach treasure or two. Work created as illustration is supplied to her clients in digital form, artfully photographed by Russell French. Her work has been shown as part of open studios, gallery exhibits and published in magazines, children’s publications, textbooks and for a variety of corporate clients. She is the co-founder and program director of the non-profit Illustration Institute.

is an illustrator, designer, and storyteller inspired by her experience working as a park ranger and environmental educator. She has worked in Glacier National Park, North Cascades National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, and the redwoods of Northern California. In 2018, she created Grand Canyon National Park’s official centennial poster series. Her other creative endeavors include writing and illustrating a Young Adult novel and making mushroom-inspired ceramic sculptures. Her clients include DK Publishing, Down East Magazine, Maine to Mountain, Tallulah Ketubahs, Maine Ocean Farms, Willow Bend Environmental Education Center, The Nature Conservancy of Maine, Shine Creative Industries, and the Maine Audubon Society.

an award-winning illustrator, educator, and biker living three miles out to sea. Jamie was an adjunct professor at Maine College of Art in Portland from 2003 to 2018, teaching courses in the BFA Illustration program and Continuing Studies. Her illustrations have appeared in books and magazines and have won merit from the Maine Advertising Club, the 3 x 3 Illustration Annual, American Illustration, PRINT Magazine, Graphis, and the Society of Illustrators. She has illustrated a dozen children’s books and adult titles, including Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins, which won the Jane Addams Peace Association Award and was named one of the New York Public Library’s 100 Best Books. Rickshaw Girl has also been adapted into a motion picture!

The Great State of Illustration in Maine exhibition displays the work of more than eighty published Maine illustrators and features media such as watercolor, pen and ink, and woodcuts. The diversity of methods, subjects and artists charge the exhibition with energy, humor and emotion, transforming the space of the Danforth Gallery into a glittering showcase of some of Maine’s most talented and creative artists. The exhibition is organized by the Illustration Institute and sponsored by the UMA Cultural Events Council.

The Great State of Illustration in Maine is on view now through October 18, 2024. The public is welcome to visit the gallery in Jewett Hall. Hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The discussion and exhibition are both free and open to the public.

Follow the Danforth Gallery on Instagram and Facebook @UMADanforth and on their website: .