In pursuit of his intention for the University of Maine Museum of Art to become closely intertwined with the downtown Bangor community, George Kinghorn wants to be able to walk to work.
He’ll be able to do just that when he takes over as the museum’s new director – Kinghorn recently found a place in the “tree street” section of town, certainly within walking distance of the museum on Harlow Street. It should give him a chance to experience downtown Bangor firsthand, and to strengthen the connections not only between the museum and the city, but also to Orono and beyond.
Kinghorn’s hiring, which was announced May 15, is one of several changes and events that highlight the museum’s summer. His arrival in Maine will coincide with a celebration of the museum’s fifth anniversary at its present location in Norumbega Hall, and Kinghorn will soon have a chance to experience 1stmondays@noon, a relatively new event at the museum.
Kinghorn replaces Wally Mason, who resigned last September after 11 years to become director of Marquette University’s Haggerty Museum of Art in Milwaukee. UMaine art professor Laurie Hicks – who was busy this spring curating an exhibit of her own at the Orono campus’s Lord Hall (see sidebar) – served as interim UMMA director.
Kinghorn was most recently the deputy director and chief curator of Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville (Fla.), where he had held various positions since 1999. In making a move North – although he is a Florida native, Kinghorn received a master’s degree from Michigan State and said he’s used to cold weather – UMMA seemed to fit the type of position he was seeking.
Kinghorn said he wanted to be in a more intimate museum environment than the MOCA Jacksonville facility, which is much bigger than UMaine’s museum. He was also looking for an institution with a lot of potential for growth, and one that wanted strong ties with the community.
“MOCA Jacksonville is significantly larger than the University of Maine museum, but you have similarities in regards to its location downtown and the fact that our museum has [played] a very vital role in downtown revitalization,” he said. “I think that this is also the case with the [UMMA].”
In fact, the museum is already striving to connect with the downtown community with the creation of the First Mondays series, which kicked off earlier this month. The free series gives the public a chance to learn about the current exhibitions or works from the permanent collection. Hicks said the museum is hoping to draw downtown workers and others who might be available during the lunch hour, with talks from about 12:15 to 12:45 p.m., enough time for people to grab lunch, get to the museum, and be back at their desks by 1.
The next First Mondays talk will be June 2, when Stephen Hartgen – the son of legendary former UMaine art department head Vincent Hartgen, who founded the university’s collection – will speak about his father and a new book, “Vincent Andrew Hartgen: His Art and Legacy,” compiled by Stephen Hartgen, his brother David Hartgen, and Maine arts writer Carl Little. Three Hartgen works from the UMMA collection will be on view.
The museum’s connection to the University of Maine is also important to Kinghorn. A one-time member of the art faculty at Jacksonville University, he would like to build on the UMMA’s current internship programs and strengthen the museum’s connection to the main campus in Orono.
While at MOCA Jacksonville, Kinghorn ran a program that gave students both curatorial and administrative experience.
“I really enjoy working with college students and other scholars so being in a community of scholars and art faculty is something that really informed my decision to take this position,” he said.
Kinghorn’s interest in reaching out to the community was something that impressed the search committee.
“One of the things that I really appreciated about him was the complexity of his understanding of the audience, of the community that the museum serves,” said Hicks, who served on the search committee. “I have great faith that he’ll be doing all sorts of things to reach out to a multitude of communities.”
Kinghorn hopes to connect with other major museums in Maine, such as the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland and the Portland Museum of Art. In fact, he extended his stay in Maine earlier this year with the purpose of visiting those museums.
In his travels through the state, Kinghorn also had a chance to see why Maine has inspired so many artists over the years.
“Artists have been inspired by the Maine landscape and you have that history of important visual artists that have called Maine their home at some point,” he said. “It is a beautiful state. … I will be looking during my first six months to really forge relationships with these other institutions. I want to position the museum in line with other cultural venues in Maine and really ensure that it is a destination for people around the region.”
But the focus, Kinghorn said, will be on Bangor. The new director was impressed with the UMMA staff, supporters and the museum itself during his visit.
“The gallery spaces are beautifully designed, very flexible, and I think the scale of the galleries are wonderful for presenting a diverse range of exhibitions from contemporary art forms to more tradition forms of art,” he said. “I think the other thing that kind of was appealing to me was the individuals who are presently involved in the museum. [Everyone was] so warm and welcoming in terms of their vision [for] the museum.”
So what will Kinghorn do with his free time, aside from walking to work? Why, what many Mainers themselves do.
“While I enjoy [Jacksonville] very much, it is suffering from growing pains, traffic, urban sprawl, things like that,” he said. “I greatly enjoy the outdoors, and geographically Maine is perfect for me in terms of canoeing and things like that.”
1stmondays@noon will be held the first Monday of every month at the University of Maine Museum of Art, with the exception of Mondays during which new exhibitions are being put up. The next talk will be Monday, June 2, starting at noon. Talks are free and open to the public. The museum is located at 40 Harlow St. in Bangor. For more information, call 561-3352 or go to www.umma.umaine.edu.
jbloch@bangordailynews.net
990-8287
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