Waterfall Arts

09/04/2026

Calling all Maine artists and makers! Applications are now open for the 2026 Waterfall Arts Holiday Pop-Up Market, a juried indoor marketplace celebrating the incredible creative talent of Maine.

Join us Friday, December 4, from 2:00 to 7:00 PM and Saturday, December 5, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM as Waterfall Arts transforms into a modern holiday marketplace filled with handmade treasures.

Artists will be featured throughout the building, including the Clifford Gallery, Gallery North, Dance Annex, Community Art Studio, private studios, and our public-access studios for clay, print, and glass.

We’re looking for a wide range of handmade work, including glass, ceramics, jewelry, prints, drawings, paintings, sculpture, cards, textiles, journals, clothing, décor, and more.

APPLICATIONS CLOSE SEPTEMBER 30TH!
Apply now and join us for the 2026 Holiday Pop-Up Market!

Apply now! https://tinyurl.com/2x78rr2b

09/02/2026

We’re excited to announce that our Handbuilding foundational classes are now live, along with new Intermediate and Advanced levels for students ready to take their clay practice further.

Beginning Handbuilding
September 17 to October 29
Learn the foundations of handbuilding through pinching, coiling, and slab building. With these three techniques and a little imagination, clay can become almost anything, from functional objects to whimsical creations and deeply personal works of art.

Intermediate Handbuilding
September 16 to October 21
Ready to deepen your skills? Explore pinching, coiling, and slab building through short demonstrations and plenty of hands-on studio time. Bring a technique you want to improve or a project you’ve been dreaming about. Some recent handbuilding experience is preferred.

Advanced Handbuilding
September 15 to November 3
For experienced handbuilders with a firm grasp of pinch, coil, and slab techniques. Explore hollow and closed forms, fitted lids for jars, boxes, and bottles, and working with clay at different stages of dryness.

New to handbuilding? Start with Beginning Handbuilding and build your foundation from the ground up.

Find your level and register today!
https://tinyurl.com/4n8jssn4

08/28/2026

Thank you to everyone who gathered with us last night to celebrate this new chapter for Lincoln Street Center and Waterfall Arts.

A big thank you to the Lincoln Street Center artists for making time in your busy schedules, to our generous donors for believing in and supporting this acquisition, and to the staff members on both sides who have worked tirelessly to ensure both organizations continue to flourish.

A special thank you to , The Ellis-Beauregard Foundation Founding Executive Director, for hosting such a beautiful celebration and cooking the most decadent foods. Thank you to Cara &the Crowd for providing the perfect soundtrack throughout the evening.

At a time when affordable creative space is disappearing, this investment protects a vital cultural resource that has served artists and the public for generations. The 42,000-square-foot historic campus, home to one of the nation’s oldest theaters and 40 working artists’ studios, will continue to be a place where artists create, communities gather, and creativity thrives.

We are so grateful to everyone who helped make this moment possible. Here’s to what comes next, and to a future filled with art, community, and possibility.

08/27/2026

We’re kicking off a new monthly gathering for anyone interested in developing ideas, making art, and building community around our annual ART Parade.

Have an idea you want to pitch? A work in progress you’d like feedback on? Or simply looking for a creative community to share food, ideas, and inspiration? Parade Potlucks are a place to bring it all.

Join us on the third Tuesday of each month from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Each gathering will feature a different technique or theme, with opportunities to share materials, learn new skills, and experiment with paper mâché, plastic bottle lanterns, paper and reed lanterns, puppets, and more.

Bring some food and ideas to share. Registration is helpful so we know how many forks and paper plates we’ll need, but drop-ins are welcome too.

PARADE POTLUCKS
Tuesdays, 5:30 to 7:30 PM
September 15
October 20
November 17

FREE!

Ages 10 and under must be accompanied by an adult caretaker.

Come make, share, brainstorm, and start dreaming about the next ART Parade!

08/26/2026

We can’t believe PRESS PLAY is coming down this week!

There’s still time to experience PRESS PLAY at Waterfall Arts before the exhibition closes on August 29.

Featuring the playful and imaginative work of artists Tara Morin, Tori Marsh, and Tom Jessen, PRESS PLAY invites audiences to reconnect with curiosity, experimentation, and the joy of making.

Want to go behind the scenes? Watch our Artist Interview Spotlight featuring Tara Morin and Tori Marsh. In conversation, they share their creative processes, inspirations, and what it means to approach art through experimentation, curiosity, humor, and play.

Morin and Marsh discuss how PRESS PLAY encouraged them to step outside familiar approaches, embrace new ideas, make mistakes, and rediscover the joy of simply making.

For Tara Morin, “Press Play” is an invitation to begin, engage, experiment, and participate. For Tori Marsh, it became an opportunity to let down her guard, explore new directions, and create some of the playful pieces she had long wanted to try.

Don’t miss your chance to experience PRESS PLAY before it comes down. The final day is Saturday, August 29!

Watch the interview now! https://youtu.be/oHCZmP6sp9I?si=8Fr7NiWai47M8AEQ

Go behind the scenes of PRESS PLAY, Waterfall Arts’ summer exhibiti...

08/25/2026

Calling all crafters, creatives, teachers, and bargain-loving artists! Our epic indoor ART STUFF SALE is back, with a treasure trove of supplies just waiting for their next creative adventure.

From pom poms to oil paints, handmade papers to vintage photo gear, you’ll find all kinds of art-making goodies, including sketchbooks, canvases, fabric, yarn, paint, stencils, inks, dyes, and so much more.

Whether you’re stocking your studio, looking for supplies for your classroom, or just love a good creative bargain, there’s something for everyone.

Saturday, September 19 | 10:00 AM–1:00 PM
256 High Street, Belfast, ME

No early birds. Prices as marked.

Best of all, all proceeds support Waterfall Arts Youth Programming, so you can shop for a cause and help put more art-making opportunities into the hands of young people.

Tag your artsy friends and bring your creative crew. This is one sale you don’t want to miss!

08/21/2026

For more than 40 years, artist Jerri Finch has been painting water. Through decades of exploration, her practice has evolved from appliqué to airbrush and machine quilting, and ultimately to oil painting. With Water’s Embrace, Finch shares her ongoing pursuit of something beyond the visual representation of water: its movement, sensation, atmosphere, and transformative power.

For Finch, water is not simply a subject. It is an immersive experience. She shares its fluidity, the salt on her lips, the wind in her hair, the droplets of fog on her face, and the sensation of surrendering herself to the water. All of these experiences inform her work.

Cold-water immersion has become an especially transformative part of Finch’s life and creative practice. When the water calls, she enters its cold embrace to float, swim, or gently move with it. These experiences shape her understanding of water, not just as something to observe, but as something to feel.

Water’s Embrace is an invitation to experience water through Finch’s eyes, but also through the senses. Water is the liquid that makes life on Earth possible. As water cycles from the air to the land to the sea and back again, it shapes our planet and nearly every aspect of our lives. These works explore the fluidity, energy, and surrender that come from being immersed in something larger than oneself. There is a peace and joyfulness in this body of work, a sense of fulfillment that time by and in the ocean offers us.

Through this collection, Finch hopes to inspire viewers to do more than look at the water. Instead, she invites us to embrace it in new ways.

Opening Reception Sept10 | 5:30 - 7:30 PM
On view Sept 10 - Oct 10

08/20/2026

Have you seen these amazing postcards? Our Printmaking Studio Co-Director, Ross, made them to hype up all the creative things happening in our print shop, and honestly, we’re pretty obsessed.

But these postcards are just the beginning.

Our Print Shop is a welcoming, hands-on space where artists of all levels can learn traditional and contemporary printmaking techniques, experiment with new ideas, and make something they’re proud to send into the world.

As one recent student, Becca, shared:

“I’ve never tried printmaking before, but this was an awesome experience. It was the perfect anniversary activity, and I can’t wait to try more workshops!”

THREE WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

• Take a class - New classes just posted!
Try your hand at relief, monotype, etching, and more with hands-on instruction and access to tools you might not have at home. Perfect for beginners or artists looking to deepen their practice.

• Use open studio time - Keep your creative momentum going and make time for your practice in the print shop.

• Apply for an artist subscription - For artists looking for an ongoing way to make, experiment, and build their printmaking practice.

Whether you’ve been printmaking for years or have never pulled a print in your life, there’s a place for you here.

08/20/2026

Tune in tonight at 4 PM to hear from our very own Executive Director Kim Fleming and Institutional Advancement Director Katherine Devereux as they join Creative Maine on Community Radio WERU 89.9 FM!

Hosted and produced by Adina Salmansohn, Creative Maine is a monthly community radio program exploring Maine’s rich culture, art, local crafts, writing, and traditions that enrich our daily lives.

Don’t miss this conversation featuring two of our Waterfall Arts leaders! Listen in and learn more about the people and creative work shaping our community.

If you miss tonight's live show, stream it after on your own time! https://archives.weru.org/category/creative-maine/

Creative Maine 7/16/26: Buskers of Maine Producer/host: Adina Salmansohn Other credits: Theme music written and performed by Ariel Chapman. Theme music written and performed by Ariel Chapman “Down on my Luck” and “Root Hog or Die” performed by Dusty Buckets (Zack Woodard) “Lean on Me” an...

08/19/2026

THANK YOU FOR MAKING OUR FIRST COMMUNITY ART PARADE SO MAGICAL!

What a night! Thank you to everyone who came out for Waterfall Arts’ inaugural ART Parade this past Saturday and helped us turn the streets into a celebration of imagination, creativity, and community.

From glowing handmade lanterns and giant puppets to colorful costumes, masks, music, and plenty of playful spirit, you brought the magic of PRESS PLAY to life. We loved seeing so many people of all ages join the procession, whether carrying something they made, wearing something wonderfully unexpected, or simply coming along for the fun.

Thank you to everyone who helped create the lanterns, puppets, costumes, and other fantastical creations that made the parade possible (looking at you Davy!). And thank you to our parade marshals, volunteers, artists, community partners, and everyone who helped make the event welcoming and accessible.

Thank you to Valeska Populoh for her lantern workshops, personal instruction, AND her outpouring of parade expertise. Your guidance has sparked a movement!

A HUGE thank you to our parade collaborator, , for sharing their beautiful artistry and giving our community the opportunity to carry, dance with, and experience puppetry firsthand! The Puppet Library is a community puppet and processional arts program founded by and Ellery Chalmers in 2023. The Puppet Library is a program of Arts in Action and is generously funded by RSU 13 and the Anonimo Foundation.

We could NEVER have pulled off our inaugural parade without their support! In Annie Bailey’s own words, “Let’s do more public art!”

Most of all, thank YOU for playing with us. We hope the Community ART Parade becomes a Waterfall Arts tradition and an annual reminder of what can happen when we make space for imagination, curiosity, and a little bit of magic.

We can’t wait to see what we create together next!