June e-bulletin

A detail of a watercolor painting of a Maine coast

We look forward to welcoming graduates back on campus for this weekend’s Bowdoin Reunions. The BCMA team will be hosting a reception for returning alumni on Thursday evening and offering public tours on Friday and Saturday. This summer we look forward to sharing four new exhibitions in the Museum’s downstairs galleries. Under the overarching title East-Northeast: Charting Moments in Maine, each of these shows focuses on an artist whose work in Maine deserves further attention. Featured artists include Rudy Burckhardt, Ann Craven, John McKee, and Gordon Parks. You can read more about these projects in the spotlight article below. Please join us on Saturday, June 28th for a public reception that celebrates these exhibitions. The afternoon kicks off with a lecture about photographer Gordon Parks by Philip Brookman, consulting curator in the Department of Photographs at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. And, finally, a bittersweet goodbye to Sean Kramer, the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow, who completes in June his three-year appointment at the BCMA. Sean has been an outstanding colleague, and we will miss him very much.

See you at the Museum!

Anne Collins Goodyear & Frank H. Goodyear III

Co-Directors, Bowdoin College Museum of Art

exhibitions

A black and white photograph of a general store owner in his shop in the 1940s

Opening Soon

Gordon Parks: Herklas Brown and Maine, 1944

In January 1944, at the height of World War II, Gordon Parks photographed Herklas Brown, owner of the general store and Esso gas station in Somerville, Maine. These 65 photographs highlight an important early chapter in Parks’ career.

A black and white photograph of the remains of a discarded vehicle on a beach

Opening Soon

John McKee: As Maine Goes

In 1966, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art presented an exhibition of photographs by John McKee titled As Maine Goes. Almost 60 years later, the Museum is refreshing McKee’s original exhibition in a new presentation.

spotlight

East-Northeast: Charting Moments in Maine Presents Four Different Exhibitions of Maine-Focused Artists in Summer 2025

New exhibitions include the first museum show of a body of work by Gordon Parks, recent paintings by artist Ann Craven, a long unseen series by photographer John McKee, and films by photographer and filmmaker Rudy Burckhardt.

news

Sean Kramer reflects on his time at Bowdoin

As his appointment as Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow comes to a close at the end of June, Sean Kramer reflects on the past three years at the Museum of Art.

A black and white photograph shows old automobile parts strewn across a beach

Object of the Month

Chris Zhang ’25 discusses his experience re-photographing the location of John McKee's photograph Parking Lot at Entrance to Fort Popham State Memorial (1965) for As Maine Goes.

calendar

Friday, June 13, 2025

2nd Friday ArtWalk at the Museum of Art

4-7 p.m. | Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Saturday, June 28, 2025

Keynote Lecture | "Gordon Parks: The Sphere of Conscious History" with Philip Brookman

4 p.m. | Kresge Auditorium, Visual Arts Center

Opening Reception | East-Northeast: Charting Moments in Maine

5-6:30 p.m. | Kresge Auditorium, Visual Arts Center

Museum Hours

Tuesday-Saturday: 10:00 a.m.-5:00 pm | Thursday: 10:00 a.m.-8:30 p.m. | Sunday: 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. | Closed on Mondays and national holidays.

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art is open to the public free of charge. The Museum is wheelchair accessible through the Pavilion entrance.

Bowdoin College Museum of Art | 9400 College Station | Brunswick, ME 04011 | 207.725.3275

artmuseum@bowdoin.edu bowdoin.edu/art-museum

Banner: Ernest Haskell, Maine Coast (detail), ca. 1925, watercolor on off-white wove paper. Bowdoin College Museum, Brunswick, Maine. Gift of Mrs. Josephine Haskell Aldridge, in memory of Mrs. Ernest (Emma) Haskell, Sr., 1976.16.5