Maine College of Art & Design Announces 2026 MFA Visiting Artist Summer Lecture Series
Graduate candidates work with a roster of renowned visiting artists during an eight-week summer intensive for MECA&D’s MFA in Studio Art.
During the eight-week summer intensive of the Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art (MFA) program at Maine College of Art & Design (MECA&D), MFA graduate candidates come to Portland, Maine, to bond as an artistic cohort while exploring the interdisciplinary conversation that will challenge and inform the art created throughout their program. Central to this summer intensive is the accelerated professional development that our artist candidates receive from visiting artists who are on-site each week for lectures and studio visits.
We are pleased to announce the participants in the 2026 Summer Visiting Artist Lecture Series, running June 24 through August 5:
- Nyugen E. Smith is an interdisciplinary artist whose work investigates how stories are formed, transmitted, and disrupted within Black cultural life.
- Garrick Imatani is an interdisciplinary artist who uses performance, functional objects, or interaction to draw attention to one’s embodied subjectivity. This lecture is in collaboration with the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA&D.
- Colin Self is an artist, composer, and puppeteer who creates music, performances, and new systems for interfacing with the human spirit.
- Jeffry Mitchell is a self-described “gay folk artist” whose primary medium is ceramic, drawing on traditions around the globe.
- Jess Perlitz's work is informed by our formations of landscape and the body’s place within it. This lecture is in collaboration with the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA&D.
- Allison Schulnik's practice spans the mediums of painting, sculpture, animation, and dance.
- Taraneh Fazeli is an Iranian-American curator and cultural organizer.
- Gail Spaien’s studio practice centers around the idea that a painting is a site of connection.
- Cristóbal Martínez, PhD, is an artist, digital media systems designer, and publishing scholar.
- Liz Collins is a New York-based artist and designer whose work moves fluidly between fine art and design.
In 2025, the MFA Visiting Artists Lecture Series featured individuals such as Pap Souleye Fall, Faythe Levine, Yoko Inoue, and more.
To learn more about the opportunity to work with world-renowned faculty, visiting artists, and graduate advisors, visit meca.edu/mfa.
