A Radio Maine topic
Why does art happen here, the way it does? These conversations sit with painters, photographers, sculptors, and the gallery directors and curators who place their work in the world. Most of the artists you'll meet are represented by the Portland Art Gallery, Radio Maine's production partner. The conversations cover how a body of work gets made over time, how a studio practice survives a relocation (from Cuba to Portland, from corporate life to fine art, from pharmacy to painting), and what it means to build a serious painting practice across decades.
130 episodes
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Three episodes from this topic, picked for a new listener.
Photographer Séan Alonzo Harris on slowing down with art in a speed-obsessed world. The conversation covers his contemplative ocean series from Surf Point, a Maine artist residency, and his earlier portrait series on Black identity in America.
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Artist Carlos Gamez de Francisco on the path from Havana to the Portland Art Gallery, the vocabulary of Cuban surrealism and European court portraiture his paintings share, and what it is to make a studio practice in a new country.
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Painter Sam Chappell on finding her own path through landscape and abstraction. A Portland Art Gallery artist whose work has matured through years of patient practice in oil and watercolor.
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April 28, 2026
a longtime Portland Art Gallery artist, returns to Radio Maine to reflect on the evolution of her painting practice and her deepening exploration of abstraction. Trained in phot...
April 14, 2026
licensed marriage and family therapist and painter based in Portland, Maine, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to explore how the impulse to understand people and the impuls...
March 13, 2026
January 4, 2026
is a Maine painter and newly represented artist with the Portland Art Gallery whose work explores landscape, process, and the often-overlooked pockets of the state. In this epis...
December 21, 2025
manager of the Portland Art Gallery and a photographer with roots in documentary filmmaking, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to reflect on creativity, community, and the e...
November 16, 2025
founder of LaRosa Studios and represented by the Portland Art Gallery, brings an uncommon duality to his life’s work, he’s both a practicing pharmacist and a professional artist....
November 9, 2025
is a Portland Art Gallery artist whose mixed-media assemblages transform found objects into vibrant, layered stories. In this conversation with Dr. Lisa Belisle, Emily shares ho...
November 2, 2025
is a Maine-based painter whose vibrant abstract works explore nature’s cycles, human resilience, and the quiet renewal that comes with listening to one’s own creative voice. Aft...
September 14, 2025
is both an artist and a retired attorney, a life path that has taken her from courtroom arguments to colorful canvases. Though she practiced law for decades, art was always her ...
August 31, 2025
is a Portland Art Gallery artist whose work beautifully explores the intersections of landscape, seascape, and human connection. With a background in graphic design, Ann brings ...
August 17, 2025
Contemporary landscape artist Sam Chappell brings a compelling blend of intuition, emotion, and resilience to her creative journey. With a background in art history, focused on ...
August 12, 2025
Sam Chappell once thought her life was a dead-end job, working for the weekends. Then she took a risk, did the work, stuck to a plan, and believed in herself. Today, she’s a soug...
August 9, 2025
Maine legend, Tim Sample, struggled with an undiagnosed learning disability before breaking through and finding his own, very successful, creative path.
August 6, 2025
Tim Sample knows Maine better than most and his story telling keeps us captivated for hours. Listen to his reflections on his friend, the late Maine artist, Philip Barter. If yo...
July 5, 2025
Photographer Séan Alonzo Harris brings a thoughtful and deeply human perspective to his art. This has been shaped by decades of experience, formal training at the Art Institute ...
May 24, 2025
is a Portland Art Gallery artist known for his vibrant mixed-media paintings that blend acrylic and collage into energetic “parties on canvas.” Based in Skowhegan, Ryan’s journe...
May 4, 2025
Documentary photographer Nick Gervin has spent the last decade capturing the soul of Portland, Maine, its beauty, its struggles, and its untold stories. In this inspiring Radio M...
April 13, 2025
is a multidisciplinary artist who has lived and created on Maine’s Blue Hill Peninsula since 1984. Heidi’s life and work blend movement, music, and visual art. Originally from B...
March 23, 2025
is a Maine-connected artist whose vibrant landscapes captivate viewers with bold color and playful textures. Based in Sausalito, California, Andrew draws on his background in gr...
February 2, 2025
is a Maine-based artist whose work reflects her appreciation for the beauty of her natural surroundings. Raised in rural Buxton, Emma cultivated her artistic perspective through...
January 5, 2025
is a Cuban-born artist known for his vibrant, imaginative works. Carlos Gamez de Francisco is a Cuban-born artist known for his vibrant, imaginative works. Educated in his home ...
December 29, 2024
Artist Brian Jude Reardon is inspired by the landscapes of New England and the charm of vintage industrial design. Born in Vermont, Brian graduated from the Rhode Island School ...
December 8, 2024
is an accomplished artist known for her vibrant, mixed-media creations. Originally from Rhode Island and now based in Massachusetts, Brenda’s artistic journey began early, exhib...
November 17, 2024
is a fashion designer, educator, and entrepreneur who has made a profound impact on the Maine community. Originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Adele arrived in t...
November 3, 2024
Home designer Patty Cooke brings a unique approach to her craft, applying principles from art and architecture to create harmonious spaces. Patty believes in the importance of r...
October 31, 2024
is a multifaceted artist whose journey began in social work. Her background in photography, painting, and drawing shaped her empathetic, expressive style. After earning a degree...
October 12, 2024
is a renowned artist and educator whose work has been exhibited widely across the United States and around the world. Originally from Long Island, New York, Grace now lives in Y...
September 22, 2024
is a multidisciplinary artist and commercial photographer originally from Waterloo, Canada. With a background in photography and film, Margot has spent nearly three decades expl...
September 8, 2024
is an artist and educator who drew upon her creativity to become successful in a diversity of professions, from computer programming to culinary arts, before returning to her ch...
July 14, 2024
is a seasoned educator who has returned to her artistic roots to focus her attention on the natural world. Originally from the New York area, Susan fell in love with Maine durin...
June 23, 2024
is deeply rooted in Maine’s artistic community. A native of Ohio, Helen’s passion for Maine spans decades: she has long been drawn to its rugged coastline, serene light, and ric...
April 28, 2024
Emerging artist Miriam Webber found her way back to art as a means to rediscover herself after becoming a mother. Miriam has long enjoyed painting and drawing. A friend who feat...
March 24, 2024
February 18, 2024
is the Director of the Portland Art Gallery, which is celebrating ten years of representing established and emerging artists at its expansive, light-filled space in Portland Mai...
February 4, 2024
has been a prolific and popular Maine artist for decades, captivating the imaginations of art-lovers with her colorful landscapes and scenes of coastal living. A child of Chris...
November 4, 2023
Originally from New Hampshire, Brian Emerson moved to Maine to be closer to his future wife. In marrying Colleen Barter, and in spending time with her family, Brian would end up...
October 21, 2023
has had to figure out how to integrate her art practice with a full-time healthcare career and parenting two small children. Her solution (at least for now) is painting in the e...
October 4, 2023
Raised in Raymond, Maine, Holden Willard found himself significantly influenced by the work of artists from his home state while studying for his bachelor’s degree in fine arts ...
September 24, 2023
Art consultant Suzi Hlavacek co-founded Alchemy Station as a means of strengthening the “magical and mystical human connections” created by an art-filled life. With extensive tr...
September 9, 2023
Maine native Chris Ryan Ross had built a very successful photography career for himself in New York City when he realized that the pull from his home state was too great to resi...
August 19, 2023
is one of the Portland Art Gallery’s most beloved and longstanding artists. She was also one of our first Radio Maine guests, joining us on episode four from her Newcastle, Main...
July 29, 2023
Artist Sarah Verardo has an eye for detail and design. Originally from a small Rhode Island beach town, Sarah grew up in a home filled with art, and socialized regularly with ar...
July 15, 2023
Artist Wylie Garcia has learned to have faith in her intuition. Based in Charlotte, Vermont, Wylie draws upon memories of gardening with her mother when creating her much sought...
July 9, 2023
More Women+ Surf media director Miranda Rico has a passion for fostering safe spaces and driving positive change. Raised in North Yarmouth, Maine, Miranda draws upon her interes...
June 10, 2023
Aroostook County native Beth Wilbur Van Mierlo credits her northern Maine upbringing with exposing her to values that have become integral to her experience as an artist and edu...
June 3, 2023
Raised in upstate New York, artist Dale Roberts has fond childhood memories of fishing, building forts and exploring the rural area in which he lived. His early attention to the...
May 13, 2023
April 29, 2023
Born in Bath, Maine, and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, sculptor Andreas von Huene has been strongly connected to the region’s creative community from his earliest years. H...
April 22, 2023
never intended to become a professional photographer, despite an early interest in the art form. As the director of photography at the high-end stationery company William Arthur...
April 15, 2023
New England native Liz Prescott loves to teach, and her passion for painting is apparent when she talks about process and technique. Liz earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the ...
April 8, 2023
When artist Christopher O’Connor arrived in Maine, one of the first things he did was to visit a few of the state’s many islands. A native of Ireland, he soon noted the similari...
February 12, 2023
Sculptor Benjamin Pochurek is highly attuned to the world in which he lives, and is unafraid to explore complex issues that deeply impact humanity. His poignant works articulate...
February 9, 2023
Watch our full video interview with artist Helen Lewis to learn more about her personal story and how her emotional life journey has contributed to a beautiful body of artwork. ...
February 6, 2023
Annie Darling is a contemporary, abstract, encaustic artist in Portland, Maine. Watch the full interview to learn more about her inspirations, creative process, and art career: ...
February 5, 2023
is carrying forward her family’s artistic legacy in a way that is uniquely her own. Growing up, she osmosed the ingenuity and perspectives of her creative kin, whose talents are...
January 22, 2023
Well known to our Radio Maine Community, Portland Art Gallery Director Emma Wilson has spent many years supporting Maine artists. Emma finds joy in connecting art buyers around ...
January 15, 2023
Artist Jill Hoy is at a place of artistic integration. She would be the first to say that she benefited greatly from the creative critique she once received from her husband and...
January 8, 2023
In 1989, Betsy Evans Hunt had an unexpected encounter with internationally acclaimed photographer Todd Webb that would prove life-changing. Her educational and professional back...
January 3, 2023
Emma has been the Director of the Portland Art Gallery since 2015. Emma is responsible for curating the artist roster and works directly with clients to find the perfect pieces ...
December 28, 2022
Helen Lewis is a contemporary encaustic artist whose paintings are created with a surprising media: wax. Her abstract art features distressing, erasure, and mixed media ephemera...
December 27, 2022
December 22, 2022
Our longer interview with Maine Sculptor and Portland Art Gallery Artist, David Moser, is here on YouTube. Go to www.portlandartgallery.com to see David's work.
December 21, 2022
December 17, 2022
See Bibby's artwork at www.portlandartgallery.com and watch her full video interview at Radio Maine with Dr. Lisa Belisle here on YouTube
December 13, 2022
Visit the www.portlandartgallery.com for more about Maine Artist Cooper Dragonette
December 9, 2022
Artist Laura Mrazik is a person of many talents. Her educational background includes an undergraduate degree in community health education and a master’s in public health from t...
November 19, 2022
Interior designer Brady-Anne Winn has approached her life with both unbridled optimism and unwavering persistence. Despite a few setbacks, and occasional advice from others that...
November 10, 2022
View the full interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQmk7p0WYek Every week, Dr. Lisa Belisle brings you an interview with a member of our artistic community, includi...
November 5, 2022
Known for his plein air landscapes, artist Cooper Dragonette has spent recent months experimenting with a different reality: that of time past. His newer pieces draw upon his un...
November 3, 2022
October 30, 2022
turned 83 in 2023, and the Portland Art Gallery celebrated his 60 years of creating iconic Maine art with a solo exhibition. Much of the work presented was sourced from Philip’s...
October 23, 2022
Julia Blake’s family and faith have had a profound impact on her art. She often returns to images of bright red poppies, which represent seasonal rebirth, and trees that repres...
October 16, 2022
is much beloved by art collectors across the United States. Raised in Waterville, Maine, she was affiliated for many years with the acclaimed Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexa...
October 2, 2022
had a varied career path, including more than two decades running her own business, before she decided to do something that would feed her soul. Heeding the advice of author Jul...
September 25, 2022
Artist Bella Weidner has never been afraid of doing what she wants to do–including selling her Cumberland, Maine homestead, so that she and her young family could travel the co...
September 18, 2022
Teaching is an important source of perspective and inspiration for artist Dietlind Vander Schaaf. Through her interactions with students, she has the opportunity to reflect on h...
August 17, 2022
Rick Hamilton’s art brings joy to those who experience it. This is true when it is invited into the homes of those who have chosen it for their own and also for those who are pr...
August 17, 2022
Artist Missy Dunaway has the unique ability to be both far-ranging and deep in her approach to her work. While attempting to convince a fellow college student of the ongoing rel...
August 17, 2022
Joyce Grasso’s life experiences, and adversities, have been quietly informing her art for many years. A native of Portland, Maine, her family had a shoe store on Congress Street...
July 19, 2022
has always had an interest in lines and intersections. Early in life, Greg would lay out and draw intricate city maps at his kitchen table. After graduating from a small high sc...
July 18, 2022
Julia Einstein’s art is all about the details. She seeks “gestures” in her subjects - most often flowers from her garden, or the farm where she is currently an artist in residen...
July 16, 2022
The founder of Maine Street Design Co., longtime interior designer Brett Johnson has many loyal clients across the state. Raised on the Maine coast, he has a deeply rooted famil...
July 15, 2022
While drawing on historical ways of painting, Blair’s work explores the landscape in varying degrees of abstraction. As a gardener and student of garden design, she is fascinate...
June 15, 2022
Traveling can create space, enlarge perspective and enrich the soul. In this episode of Radio Maine, our host, Dr. Lisa Belisle, records a brief podcast from her recent trip to...
June 15, 2022
embodies creative energy. Her widely varied background includes many years as a musician–she has been the lead singer in nearly 20 bands, and an early career as a charter sailing...
June 15, 2022
Whitney Heavey’s family has an intergenerational appreciation of the ocean. Her grandfather was the captain of the (then) fastest transatlantic ocean liner, the SS United States...
March 28, 2022
Previously a celebrity and on-air makeup artist in New York City, COVID caused Nikki Fontaine to seek refuge in the quiet coastal Maine town of Damariscotta. No stranger to New ...
March 28, 2022
Newly graduated from the University of Vermont in Burlington, Sarah Ingraham took a calculated risk and moved to Brooklyn, New York to pursue a career in art. After working brie...
March 28, 2022
kept her passion for sculpting hidden from her family, friends and colleagues for many years–at one point even her husband was unaware. With a masters degree in Middle Eastern S...
March 26, 2022
turned to art as a counterbalance to his fast-paced career in residential construction. Through experimentation and persistence, Allen developed a unique artistic approach. He s...
March 26, 2022
Growing up in the land of the Razorbacks, it is perhaps not surprising that James Bonner is a former football player and sports enthusiast. More intriguing is the longstanding a...
March 16, 2022
Originally from England, artist Christina Thwaites has lived around the world, enjoying time in such far flung locales as Scotland, France, Spain, Italy, Indonesia, Netherlands ...
December 20, 2021
With her graduate degree in clinical psychology, artist Laurie Fisher has been trained to look for, and understand, the factors that fundamentally make us who we are, and who we...
December 20, 2021
This week, Dr. Lisa Belisle speaks with plein air landscape painter Matthew Russ. Matthew Russ was born in Portland, Maine and raised in nearby Cape Elizabeth. He earned a B.A. ...
December 12, 2021
had more than a fleeting passion for art while in high school, and took his studies seriously at the Philadelphia College of Art (now part of the University of the Arts) during ...
December 12, 2021
Artist MJ Benson loves swimming in the ocean, and the accompanying profound, visceral sense of the balance between breathing and not. What she experiences so deeply in that real...
December 12, 2021
By the time Sage Tucker-Ketcham entered high school in Virginia, she and her mother had moved over 20 times. Their travels took them throughout the U.S. and Europe, with memorab...
December 12, 2021
has always approached his artistic training, and his life, in a unique manner. Homeschooled in rural Downeast Maine, his parents exposed him to art, art galleries and the workin...
November 7, 2021
Anne Heywood was an accomplished full-time artist and gallery owner when, in February 2020, her husband of thirty years passed away suddenly. Still navigating her grief, she a...
November 7, 2021
Artist Scott Bowe has long been inspired by the ocean. He spent his formative years enjoying summers at the coastal Maine property his great grandfather acquired. As a college s...
October 23, 2021
When Maine artist Dan Daly leaves his house, he checks off the essentials: keys, wallet, sketchbook. Over the past several decades, he has filled hundreds of sketchbooks with i...
October 23, 2021
has an appreciation for history, tradition, and service. This, in addition to his lifelong fascination with the ocean, boatbuilders and, (as he refers to them) “watermen,” has r...
October 21, 2021
Willa Vennema’s life is as wonderfully layered as the encaustic pieces she creates. Raised by art-loving parents in New York City, she became a talented flautist, attending what...
October 21, 2021
Sculptor David Moser has creativity woven into his DNA. A member of the Maine family known for the Thos Moser furniture company, David learned much from its entrepreneurial foun...
October 21, 2021
Artist Doug Caves has an affinity for the natural space afforded by rural New England. “It understands me and I understand it,” he says. Doug translates the energy he feels from...
October 21, 2021
began life as a traveler, moving several times for her father’s career. This pattern repeated itself in her later years. After attending art school, she became a highly sought-a...
October 21, 2021
approaches life with innate empathy, compassion, and joy. A love for people and adventure brought her to Maine after college, and she stayed to raise a family, develop her art c...
October 21, 2021
began her creative journey as a photojournalist. After growing up in central New Hampshire, she trained in art history and photojournalism at the School of the Museum of Fine Ar...
October 21, 2021
Inspired by Scott and Helen Nearing’s classic “back-to-the-land” book, Living the Good Life, Nina Fuller first came to Maine in 1972. Being close to nature had taken root in her...
October 21, 2021
Holly Smith’s New England connections run deep: she can trace her family lineage to the Mayflower. Her great grandfather, Captain George Lane, used to sail from Rockport, Maine ...
October 21, 2021
Martha Burkert’s successful career as a photography stylist taught her much about perspective, subtracting from a scene, and proper lighting--each of which has been important to...
October 21, 2021
An undergraduate finance major at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Dick Alden did not anticipate that he would enjoy his ceramics class as much as he did. In contrast to...
October 21, 2021
is committed to his craft. For months, he took a late flight out of Washington DC bound for Boston, every Thursday night after his compressed 4-day work week had ended. He did t...
October 21, 2021
In the field of computer science, abstraction refers to the process of taking away, or removing less relevant characteristics, in order to get to what is most essential. Using t...
October 17, 2021
For Brenda Cirioni, art has provided an opportunity for both catharsis and joy. While attending a retreat as an adult, she reconnected with feelings around a fire that destroyed...
October 17, 2021
By his own admission, Cooper Dragonette “could not tell the bow from the stern,” when first hired as a sailing instructor by Maine’s Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Pen...
October 17, 2021
Artist Matt Chamberlain has always felt an urge to paint. Although he pursued his passion at the Maine College of Art (MECA) in Portland, he initially felt uncertain about how t...
October 17, 2021
Artist Ann Trainor Domingue, and her eight siblings, grew up in the oceanside community of Barrington, Rhode Island. There is little doubt that her relationship with the coast a...
October 17, 2021
started working with the Portland Art Gallery just as Covid was causing small businesses like the gallery to “shift direction.” She had recently graduated from the Tyler School ...
October 17, 2021
Artist Jean Jack has earned a reputation for her unique and now iconic rendition of New England-style farmhouses and barns. Although she had no personal experience growing up in...
July 19, 2021
Artist Ann Sklar was a printmaking major in college--not because she loved printmaking, but because of the charismatic female professor who led the program. From this professor,...
July 14, 2021
exemplifies the dualistic nature of many artists. He is both a photographer and a painter, who worked for decades as an art professor, while actively practicing his own craft. ...
July 3, 2021
Aniella Salko’s career path seemed pre-ordained. The “family business” was medicine. For years she had imagined being a doctor, a surgeon, or maybe a scientist. At the same time...
July 1, 2021
Maine artist Missy Dunaway talks with host Dr. Lisa Belisle about realizing she was going to an artist from the age of 6, her wanderlust for world travel, a Fulbright Scholarshi...
July 1, 2021
Host, Dr. Lisa Belisle, connects with artist Jane Dahmen in her Newcastle, Maine home for Episode 4 of Radio Maine. Jane has created a well-established art practice over the cou...
June 30, 2021
Artist Helen Lewis creates her pieces, in part, by adding layer upon layer of molten beeswax to a panel, and scraping it away. This process creates great depth and luminosity. T...
June 30, 2021
In this episode, Lisa Belisle connects with California-based artist, Andrew Faulkner. Andrew has an unusually rich lineage of creativity. His great-grandfather was an accompli...
June 29, 2021
Maine artist Dietlind Vander Schaaf’s life, as Walt Whitman might suggest, “contains multitudes.” Not only is she an artist and teacher of art, she is also a writer and yoga te...
June 29, 2021
knew that he wanted to emigrate from Cuba to the United States when he was 14 years old. According to Carlos, the generation before him had moved to Cuba for opportunity, and no...
June 29, 2021
Have you ever wondered about how priceless artwork gets moved from one location to another? Artist Stew Henderson has the answer. He recently retired after two decades working i...
June 29, 2021
Art consultant Hadley Powell has spent a lifetime “training her eye” when it comes to art. Visits to art museums were an integral part of her childhood vacations and time at Gou...
June 28, 2021
Maine artist Alexandra Maurer is passionate about her work, both as an artist and an acupuncturist, two topics she is willing to explore deeply. In this episode of Radio Maine, s...
June 28, 2021
Maine artist Page Eastburn O’Rourke brings joy to people of all ages. A full-time artist and children’s book illustrator, she developed her artistic style at Trinity College in ...
June 28, 2021
Maine artist, Rick Hamilton has had many careers, but he has always been an artist at heart. In addition to traveling the world while in the Navy, he has worked as a framer, a m...
June 28, 2021
Maine artist John “Jack” Gable has been a full-time artist for more than four decades after an equally successful career in automobile design. Jack trained to work for his initi...
June 28, 2021
In her inaugural episode of Radio Maine, Dr. Lisa has a conversation with Gallery Director, Emma Wilson. They talk about the past year of doing business during Covid and how the...
Books, organizations, teachers, and projects mentioned across these conversations. A starting point for following a thread further.
Bakery Photo Collective · Down East Magazine · LaRosa Studios · Portland Art Gallery · Art Institute of Chicago · Emerson Umbrella · Maine College of Art · Merrill Library · Portland Museum of Art · Waterfall Arts · Berkeley College of Music · Montserrat College of Art · UC Berkeley
Anni Pat McKenney · Jane Damon · Lenny · David Hockney · Joseph Albers
Portlanders (book)
Dialogue Works
Deer Isle · Stonington, Maine · Yarmouth · Cinque Terre · Cuba · Susquehanna River
Radio Maine has interviewed James Mattison (on painting Maine's overlooked inland landscapes), Emma Ballou and Carlos Gamez de Francisco (represented by the Portland Art Gallery, Gamez de Francisco having moved from Cuba to Maine), Joan Fischer (on color and rhythm), Emily Blaschke (on creative reinvention), Mike LaRosa (a former pharmacist who moved into fine art), Heidi Daub, Ann Trainor Domingue, Andrew Faulkner, and Sam Chappell. Most episodes include studio conversation about the artist's process and current series.
Séan Alonzo Harris discussed his contemplative ocean series developed at Surf Point, a Maine artist residency, following his earlier portrait series I Am Not a Stranger and Play Hard. Nick Gervin described documentary photography in Portland.
Marnie Girado discussed moving from art history into running Girado Fine Art. Tosca Ruggieri described curatorial work at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Many Visual Art episodes also touch the Portland Art Gallery through its current-represented-artist roster.
Visual Art gathers conversations with painters, photographers, sculptors, and printmakers whose primary medium is the visual image. Filmmakers, audio producers, designers, and other makers working in time-based or material craft are gathered separately under Craft and Media.