Spindleworks Art Center Recognizes Fifty Years of Art Making, Supporting Artists with Disabilities, with Exhibition at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Brunswick, ME—April 29, 2026—This summer, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) will present Celebrating Independence! Fifty Years of Spindleworks, 1976–2026, an exhibition honoring the fiftieth anniversary of Spindleworks Art Center, a nationally recognized progressive art studio based in Brunswick, with a sister location in Gardiner. The exhibition and related programming will showcase approximately fifty works across many media—including works on paper, painting, sculpture, poetry, weaving, and music—together with dance, film, and poetry, drawn from Spindleworks’ collection and that of participating artists. Related archival material will document and contextualize the art center’s achievements. The exhibition will illuminate both the organization’s history and the dynamic, creative work that continues to be produced by the artists active at Spindleworks. Celebrating Independence! will open May 20 and run through August 16, 2026.

“For fifty years, Spindleworks artists have demonstrated the transformative power of creative expression,” said Mya Benally ’26, co-curator of the exhibition. “Their work challenges us to see the world with fresh eyes and reminds us that artistic freedom takes many forms.” Added Anne Collins Goodyear, the BCMA’s Co-Director and co-curator of the exhibition, “We are honored to celebrate this milestone alongside our neighbors and to share these remarkable artistic voices with our museum audience.”

Organized thematically, Celebrating Independence! touches on powerful intersections between the artists at Spindleworks. It reveals powerful explorations of the natural world, including Ocean Rocks by Anna McDougal and Lazy River by Ethan Landry and human relationships with animals, such as Dana Albright’s sensitive evocation of the tools used to care for horses and Melissa Capuano’s depiction of a rescued wild porcupine, Milkshake. The power of sensory experience—including rhythm and motion—is evoked in the abstraction of artists including Dianna Oliver and Michael Thibodeau. Other artists, including Quinn McBride and Nancy Bassett, share their observations of domestic environments, while still others, such as Barbara Carter and Bruce Winslow, focus on the spirit of home.

Examples of humor and word play, such as that of Nancy Scott and Lidia Woofenden suffuse the exhibition. Also highlighted in the exhibition are examples of the art of weaving—which helped launch Spindleworks originally—by such celebrated talents as Earl Black and Loralei McGinn. The work of legacy artists active early in the history of the organization, such as the textiles of Stevie Mann, the portraiture of Diane Black and Betty Pinette, and superheroes of Sam Eberhart and John Joyce, testify to interconnections between generations of artists and to the play and experimentation that has long characterized the robust creative community nurtured by Spindleworks.

“This partnership with the Bowdoin College Museum of Art is an important recognition of our artists and their contributions to the cultural life of Maine,” said Brian Braley, Senior Manager, Spindleworks, Brunswick and Gardiner. “For five decades,” continues Deirdre Barton, Artist Mentor, “Spindleworks has provided a space where creativity flourishes without limits. We look forward to welcoming new audiences to experience the inspiring work of our community in partnership with BCMA.”

Located less than a mile from the Museum, Spindleworks has fostered artistic freedom and fresh creative vision for five decades. In 1976, Nan Ross—herself an artist, weaver, writer, and educator—founded Spindleworks with grant funds from CETA (Citizens Employment Training Act) and the Maine Arts Commission. Many of the early program participants came from the Pineland Center, then Maine’s largest institution serving people with disabilities. Ross articulated two goals for participants, which remain part of Spindleworks’ vision: “to get their art seen and for people to respect them as artists” and “to get (the artists) more at ease in the community.” From the start, Spindleworks has been part of the Independence Association, which has a similar mission to assist individuals with disabilities in obtaining full and inclusive lives in their chosen communities. Housed in a historic 1840s Greek Revival building in Brunswick and in a glass-fronted studio in Gardiner, Spindleworks represents a vibrant part of the bustling communities of which it is a part. The program has grown substantially since its inception and currently supports over 40 artists.

USA @ 250

This summer, in tandem with Celebrating Independence!, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) will present USA @ 250, a major exhibition commemorating the 250th anniversary of American independence that examines this semi-quincentennial history through art. Spanning the period from the Revolutionary era to the current decade, the exhibition presents 25 thematic “episodes” that trace how artists have documented, shaped, celebrated, and contested the nation’s evolving identity. Grounded in the BCMA’s longstanding commitment to inclusive and critically engaged storytelling, the exhibition uses artworks to illuminate the diversity and complexity of American experience, drawing on 118 works from its collection. USA @ 250 will open to the public on June 27, 2026 and run through November 8, 2026; admission is free for all visitors.

Bowdoin College Museum of Art

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art is the cornerstone of the arts and culture at Bowdoin. One of the earliest collegiate art collections in the nation, it came into being through the 1811 bequest of James Bowdoin III of 70 European paintings and a portfolio of 141 old master drawings. The collection has been expanded through the generosity of the Bowdoin family, alumni and friends, and now numbers more than 20,000 objects, including paintings, sculpture, works on paper, decorative arts and artifacts from prehistory to the present from civilizations around the world. www.bowdoin.edu