6 Maine artists awarded fellowships to hone their craft

Courtesy / Maine Arts Commission Asha Tamirisa, an assistant professor of music at Bates College in Lewiston, plans to use her Maine Arts Commission fellowship award to build her sound and video/film studio and to support the release of an experimental music album.

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By Renee Cordes

The Maine Arts Commission has awarded $5,000 fellowships to help six artists hone their craft. The annual Maine Arts Fellowships are merit-based awards designed to recognize artistic excellence and to advance the careers of Maine artists.

Honorees are selected by a panel of out-of-state experts.

This year's recipients include Asha Tamirisa, an assistant professor of music at Bates College in Lewiston. The Portland resident plans to use her award to build her sound and video/film studio in Maine and support the release of a full-length experimental music album.

Brittany Parker, the Lockport-based creator and lead singer of indie pop-rock band Bee Parks and the Hornets and the education manager for Rockland's Strand Theatre, plans to build on new and existing solo performance works that have been stalled during the pandemic.

“I frequently co-create with a rotating ensemble of theater-makers and musicians who share similar artistic values," Parker said. "The strong entrepreneurial spirit and the vibrant artistic community here inspired me to start creating my own works of performance. The development of this work is intrinsically linked to the wonderful people who live in the state — their reactions and participation at each show have forever influenced me as an artist and performer.”

Franco-American poet Jeri Theriault plans to use her fellowship money to fund traveling, research and residencies to support her latest project, whose working title is “Cemetery Stories,” inspired by regular walks in Mount Pleasant and Bay View cemeteries near her South Portland home.

Her plan includes visits to several Maine graveyards, including Saint Francis Catholic Cemetery in Waterville, where she was born and raised, as well as pilgrimages to Quebec and Nova Scotia, Canada, to find the graves of ancestors.

The Maine Arts Commission, a state government agency based in Augusta, supports artists, arts organizations, educators, policy makers and community developers in advancing the arts in Maine.