Visiting Artist Series: Roberta March
Roberta March
As the second in the Visiting Artist Series at the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine, Roberta March will facilitate a communal art project. Visitors to the Makerspace will be invited to use markers and art supplies to create designs, patterns and pictures on individual wood pieces. These decorated pieces will be added to a communal, large-scale wooden butterfly mosaic. The butterfly was chosen for this project because it is a species endangered and impacted by climate change, and a symbol of hope and change.
The Visiting Artist Series in the Lunder Arts and Culture Gallery is designed to enrich the Museum & Theatre’s arts education programming for children and their families with a focus on using art as a lens to explore sustainability and our changing planet. From February 19, 2022 to May 28, 2022, the Visiting Artist Series will host three artists who call Maine home. The Artists will work with Museum & Theatre visitors to create communal works of art.
Roberta March’s Artist Statement:
My art is within the field of abstraction. Inspired by nature and by water in our surroundings, I seek to create artwork that expresses movement and is directed by color and light. Through the use of color, shape and patterning, and by using different materials, I strive to express energy and gestural quality in my paintings and mosaics, and to investigate the notion of transforming subjective ideas into objects of art.
“The process of making art is meditative and an opportunity to reflect and to open a space for a conversation with the kids about the butterflies looking for new environments to live in because of climate change.”
The project “Butterfly-Migration pattern'' intends to create a large-scale mosaic butterfly. Each one of the recycled wood pieces will be designed by the kids and then attached side by side to make the large scale butterfly. The process of making art is meditative and an opportunity to reflect and to open a space for a conversation with the kids about the butterflies looking for new environments to live in because of climate change. The reflection can be about what we can do now to help the environment, using simple examples with the kids like, turning off the lights when you are not using them, saving water when possible, etc. The idea is to link it with the United Nations action guide: “Save energy at home, walk, bike, or take public transport, eat more vegetables, consider travel, throw away less food, reduce, reuse, repair, recycle, change your home’s source of energy, switch to an electric vehicle, choose eco-friendly products, speak up” (www.un.org/en/actnow). The butterfly is a symbol of hope and I believe that it is very important to start this conversation early in life to have the new generations taking actions to help our planet. The colorful pattern of the piece as an end result intends to bring joy and hope to the participants' eyes and it is a reminder that together we are all creative and can make changes in our world.
Roberta March Bio:
Roberta March was born and raised in Brazil. She started to pursue her art education later in life. Her first degree is in business administration and she received an MA in marketing, followed by a career in human resources within the field of banking. She attended the Hampstead School of Art in London, England, receiving a foundation diploma in Fine Arts. In 2015, she relocated to Houston, Texas where she studied for four years at The Glassell Studio School of Art. Afterwards, she moved to Portland, Maine where she intends to make her home indefinitely. Roberta March became an American citizen the same day she began her MFA program at Maine College of Art & Design , where she graduated in May 2021 and now works as a painting technician. She has a mosaic studio at Mayo Street Arts and a painting studio at home where she divides her time between her family and her art making.
The large scale butterfly mosaic created by visitors to the Makerspace.
More About the Visiting Artist Series
Beginning in February and continuing through May, visitors will have the opportunity to meet and create alongside our three Visiting Artists who were chosen through a rigorous application and selection process: Pamela Moulton, Roberta March and Marissa Glover. Over the course of several dates, each Visiting Artist will be working in the Makerspace for special “pop-up studios” during specific play sessions over four weeks (please see events calendar).
Each artist works in a different medium and will supply base materials and lead special art-making techniques that visitors will use to contribute to the communal work of art. Over the course of the spring, visitors will help create sustainability-themed artwork:
The Museum & Theatre’s mission promotes engagement with the transformative power of the arts and provides essential opportunities for children to explore identity, foster creativity, and develop critical life skills essential for healthy development. As children engage in artmaking, they also are given the opportunity to explore new and complex ideas and express their understanding of the world around them.
In addition to generous funding of the Lunder Arts & Culture Gallery by The Lunder Foundation,
the Visiting Artist Series is funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.