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In January 2017, Creative Portland launched an inviting street presence in the heart of the arts district, with a multi-use community and gallery space, open to the public weekdays from 10-4. Our first open call for our first juried art exhibit, selected by a volunteer curatorial team of 12, received over 150 entries from emerging and established Greater Portland artists. All local art is for sale.



We are now accepting artist submissions for Creative Portland’s eighth juried art exhibition, Acceptance, which opens to the public on May 2, 2025 and runs through April 2026, Monday through Thursday, from 10am-4pm.

With the theme of "acceptance" as the subject for the open call, Creative Portland and the curatorial team ask artists throughout Greater Portland to submit work representing acceptance. What does ACCEPTANCE mean to you? How does your work represent acceptance? Acceptance can be interpreted in many ways. Acceptance can mean acknowledgement, as in an acceptance to a job position or acceptance as a part of a group. Acceptance can mean an agreement or a contract or acceptance of responsibility. Acceptance of knowing yourself, your center, your inner strength and potential wherever you are.

[For more information about eligibility and submission](https://www.creativeportland.com/creative-portland-open-calls)

**[CLICK HERE FOR ONLINE APPLICATION](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScn26MshLnlDWuUbYEs1TPv0quROX3Qla6a7HR15hFvp4v3Pg/viewform?usp=header).**

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Acceptance Exhibition - Spring 2025

Sixteen artists were selected for Creative Portland’s seventh juried art exhibition, Time & Temperature, which opened to the public on May 3, 2024 and is currently running through April 2025, Monday through Thursday, from 10am-4pm.

With the theme of “time and temperature” as the subject for the open call, Creative Portland and the curatorial team asked artists throughout Greater Portland to submit work representing time, temperature, climate change, where we’ve been, and where we’re going, through both literal and abstract interpretations.


**View the Exhibition [Here](/time-and-temperature-exhibition)**

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Time & Temperature Exhibition - Spring 2024

We are excited to open up our gallery to showcase local artists after a three-year hiatus! We invited Greater Portland artists to submit their work for exhibition consideration in our 6th juried show, RESILIENCE, which will hang for one year between **May 2023 through April 2024** at our gallery space, 84 Free Street. 

The theme for this show is RESILIENCE. Artists responded with their personal interpretations of what inspires resilience, what demonstrates resilience, and how resilience impacts life. Our curatorial team of six volunteers, including curators, artists, administrators, and educators, reviewed all the submitted work to select the artists represented in this exhibition.

**View the Exhibition [Here](/resilience-exhibition)**

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RESILIENCE -Spring 2023

# Behind the Scenes of a Juried Art Exhibition at Creative Portland 
#### by Dinah Minot, Director of the Office of Creative Portland, HEDD - March 2023

Did you know that the Creative Portland offices, located at 84 Free Street, include a publicly accessible gallery space to showcase emerging and established local artists? Come on over and check it out! Renovated in 2017, the nonprofit organization, staffed by two city employees, opened its doors in the arts district to welcome artists of all backgrounds and artistic disciplines, as well as tourists and local patrons, to a friendly and creative community resource center.

For the past six years, we have enjoyed a street presence, a real game changer for our nonprofit  organization, which has spread  awareness and goodwill throughout the community. Creative Portland is in many ways a welcome wagon and community convener, often holding space for various art community discussions and meetups. Working professionals, students, and local artists, including immigrants and underserved populations, often participate and join in our events. **Art is for ALL**.

Although our offices have not been open to the public for almost three years during the pandemic, Creative Portland is excited about our upcoming “Resilience” show, which will open during First Friday Art Walk, May 5th from 5-7pm. All are welcome to attend the show and all art work is for sale.

#### Top Ten things that go into creating an art show for public exhibition: 

1. **The Theme: **We choose a prompt or topic to inspire art submissions. Our previous exhibition was called, “[All the Great Trees.](https://www.creativeportland.com/all-the-great-trees)” For our upcoming May show, we chose “Resilience,” which seems fitting during a time where we all live with COVID. 

2. **The Jury:** A curatorial team of six jurors are selected that include curators, board members, artists and administrators. The Resilience team includes myself, Diane Dahlke, a former painting instructor at MECA & D, Clare Hannan, VP, Maine Public and Creative Portland Board member, Kifah Abdulla, artist and calligraphy instructor, Kat Zagaria Buckley, Curator and Director of USM Art Exhibitions, and Jessica Myer, former manager of Greenhut Gallery and part-time project coordinator at Creative Portland. 

3. **An Open Call is published.** It goes out on our Monthly Arts Update Newsletter, on social media and is included in several community organization’s calendar listings and online bulletins, including the Maine Arts Commission. Eligible artists must reside or work in the Portland area. The [Open Call](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeU8LMA2lgASJCZ8mRquxO6vaSO9J9lC44sQiEqWvQogQtpwg/viewform?usp=sf_link) specifies size dimensions, offers a suggested price range, and lists criteria for consideration, including framed work, and the inclusion of an artist statement and bio.  

4. **Submissions are organized:** Our project coordinator, Jessica Myer, culls together all of the information from the google form applications, including the labeling of the jpegs that the artists submitted. Name, title, medium, size, and price are included. We also gather artist statements and bios to include in our gallery brochure.

5. **The Review Process:** Two reviews with the jury took place. The first one was via zoom and lasted 90 minutes. 65 artists submitted up to three pieces each. Half of the final seventeen selected artists were chosen in the first round. The others had to be considered again at a second “in person” meeting to reach general consensus. In the second meeting, we feed the jury:)  Sandwiches from Sisters Deli, to be exact. It’s our  “thank you” for their volunteer work on the Resilience curatorial team.

6. **The Finalists are informed** via email less than three weeks after their initial submission. All the other artists receive letters thanking them for their interest and submission. Everybody is invited to join the public opening on May 5th and to sign up for our [Free Artist Directory](https://www.creativeportland.com/artists) on the Creative Portland website. 

7. **Hanging the Exhibition:**  With a small staff of two, we rely on volunteers to help hang the show. Often, I admit it’s my husband Whip who helps out the most. Good thing he is handy with the hammer:) We will be hanging the new show on May 1st.

8. **Celebration & Receptions** honor the artists and provide an opportunity to thank the team. We will plan a large cocktail party environment to welcome guests with wine & cheese and cookies (home-baked by members of the jury). Guests and artists will wear name tags to personalize the event and to get to know each other. It’s a really fun evening!

9. **Ongoing sales and exhibition: **The show will be up for one year. The summer months are the busiest for us, as visitors pop in and out to see the show. Creative Portland promotes the artists on social media and via a press release to all relevant media outlets. Sometimes, the Press comes to review the show.

10. **Our community keeps growing:)** As we share work with artists and cultivate new patronage, we witness the beauty of community relationships. People keep coming back. We want them to feel welcome and to become part of our arts community. Returning guests and community stakeholders begin to participate in our other programs too, including the creative bus shelter initiative, Monday Morning Drop By, our cultural app, the summer stage program, First Friday Art Walk, the bi-annual arts & culture summit, economic impact surveys and our fiscal sponsorship programs. 
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If you’d like to receive our monthly arts update newsletter, please sign up at the bottom of our [website](https://www.creativeportland.com/) home page. Stop by and say hello at our [Monday Morning Drop By](https://www.creativeportland.com/mondaymorningdropby) open house for the arts community on the first Monday of each month at 8:30am. Come over anytime this spring or summer to see the Resilience art show, opening on May 5! All are welcome. 
Happy April!




Artists responded to the theme “2020 Vision” by sharing a personal interpretation of a moment in Maine’s history. They reflected on how we are changing, where have we come from, what we have learned or accomplished, and most importantly—where do we want to go?

The Bicentennial-themed exhibition is available online only. The show was originally scheduled to hang from April 2020 to October 2020. Due to the global pandemic, the virtual exhibition timeline was changed to July 1, 2020 to April 15, 2021. 

View the Press Release [Here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YtLAERKwc_pGyTXP2pj7_UxTRdXYTIUD/view?usp=sharing)

**View the Exhibition [Here](/2020-vision-past-present-and-future)**

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2020 Vision: Past, Present, and Future

Come take a walk in the woods with us! Creative Portland celebrated the opening of its fifth juried show "All the Great Trees" with a reception on October 19, 2019.  A public opening was held during First Friday Art Walk on November 1, 2019, in tandem with a Maine Suffrage Centennial Celebration which highlighting the arts community involvement in United We Bloom, a Daffodil Tribute Memorial project.

With the theme of “all the great trees” as the subject for the open call, Creative Portland and the curatorial team asked artists throughout Greater Portland to submit work representing the wonders of nature and a tribute to all the great trees in our lives, through both literal and abstract interpretations. The response from 100 artists, providing over 200 submissions, answered the call with work across the full spectrum of two dimensional artistic mediums.

"All the Great Trees" replaced the organization’s fourth juried exhibition, "Immersion", which hung from April 2019 to October 2019.

View the Press Release [Here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PiYj8xEfaV9Z3lAqku4KRCvirCPNmxMP/view?usp=sharing)

**View the Exhibition [Here](/all-the-great-trees)**



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All The Great Trees - Fall 2019 

"Immersion" marked Creative Portland's fourth juried art show. A private reception was held on April 24, 2019, with a public reception on May 3, 2019 during First Friday Art Walk. The diverse group of exhibitors ranged from emerging artists in their 20s to more established artists, all from Greater Portland. 

"Immersion" replaced the organization’s third juried exhibition, "On the Verge", which hung from October 2018 to April 2019.

View the Press Release [Here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1anH0ZCggD9AguxjJgmsW_xVvyzeRpr7J/view?usp=sharing)

**View the Exhibition [Here](/immersion-spring-2019)**

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Immersion - Spring 2019

Creative Portland celebrated the opening of its third juried show "On The Verge" with a reception on October 24, 2018. The group art show, representing established and emerging artists from Greater Portland, featured paintings, photography, prints, drawings, and mixed-media work.

 Over 100 artists throughout Greater Portland answered an open call, submitting at least 225 eclectic pieces with images ranging from abstract paintings to representational scenes and explicit photographs.

"On the Verge" replaced the organization’s second juried exhibition, "(Almost) Black & White", which hung from April 2018 to October 2018.

View the Press Release [Here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/19bw9tp0hl_ADbvB11AzMJ8N58JmxXwOm/view?usp=sharing)

**View the Exhibition [Here](/on-the-verge-fall-2018)**

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On The Verge - Fall 2018

Reflecting on whether anything is ever black or white, Creative Portland and the curatorial team extended an open call to artists to address that question. The courageous, evocative, and talented responses from over 150 submissions made up Creative Portland’s second juried show, which featured works by over 20 Maine artists. 

Creative Portland celebrated the opening of its spring juried show "(Almost) Black & White" with a reception on April 26, 2018. Attendees included artists, cultural leaders, and other members of Portland's creative community. A public opening was held on May 4, 208 during First Friday Art Walk from 6:30-8pm.

"(Almost) Black & White" replaced the organization’s first juried exhibition "Best of Portland Art", which hung from October 2017 to April 2018.

View the Press Release [Here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vp1uVofb0QI0pg1mZd3kWaqL01MlPsTk/view?usp=sharing)

**View the Exhibition [Here](/almost-black-and-white-spring-2018)**

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(Almost) Black & White - Spring 2018

Creative Portland's first juried art exhibition, "Best of Portland Art," featured works by 21 emerging and established Maine artists in a variety of mediums: archival pigment print, acrylic and sumi inks on paper, oil on panel, aluminum etching, leather, hand cut paper collage on canvas, and screen print and gouache on paper.

The exhibit was on display from October 2017 to April 2018.


**View the Exhibition [Here](/best-of-portland-art-fall-2017)**

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