Letter from the Director, November 2026

The fall semester is in full swing here on campus, which means that this is an exceptionally busy time in Bowdoin’s Art Museum. We’re opening several new exhibitions in the weeks to come. The first of these to open (on November 19, to be specific) will be hyperVISIBLE, a fascinating reflection on the theme of diaspora. It was curated by Edwin Kim of the class of 2027, with support by the BCMA’s curator, Cassandra Mesick Braun. An interview with both Edwin and Cassandra is below; it gives you a great sense of how the exhibition concept developed through their sustained collaboration. Of course, opening new exhibitions means that we must close others to make room in our galleries, so be aware that USA @ 250 will be closing near the end of this month. That exhibition, organized in response to the nation’s sesquicentennial, has been warmly received all summer and into the fall. Indeed, Bowdoin recently hosted the annual gathering of the Association of Historians of American Art, which brought scores of experts in the field to campus, with USA @ 250 serving as a space for them all to gather and exchange ideas. A report on that gathering appears below. We are excited to offer many more events in the weeks to come. In particular, note that one event will occur almost immediately after this e-bulletin goes out: a talk by Dr. David Areford at 5 PM on Wednesday evening, November 4, in the Visual Arts Center’s Beam Classroom. Hosted in partnership with Bowdoin’s Hastings Initiative for AI and Humanity, the talk is titled “The Sacred Multiplied: Fifteenth-Century Woodcut as Reproduction, Surrogate, and Simulation.” It will explore parallels between the technological shifts we’re witnessing in this present moment with the changes wrought by the introduction to Europe of print media in the fifteenth century. As with all our events, this talk is free and open to the public. We hope to see you in our galleries or lecture halls very soon!

Stephen Perkinson
Professor of Art History and Interim Director, Bowdoin College Museum of Art

This letter from the director accompanied the Museum's November 2026 e-bulletin newsletter.