Ann Bartges: Director of Emery Community Art Center

Ann Bartges (MFA 2014) has been named Director of the University of Maine at Farmington’s Emery Community Art Center.

University of Maine at Farmington’s Emery Community Art Center is welcoming a new director this semester, with plenty of events lined up for the coming month.

Ann Bartges is the ECAC’s newest director, taking over for Jayne Decker at the beginning of the year. Decker, who has helped organize and operate the multi-purpose art gallery and performance space since its construction in 2011, generated great energy and momentum for the ECAC, according to Bartges. When provided with the opportunity to become the new director, Bartges said, she was excited to accept.

“It’s a good way to connect with a larger community,” Bartges said of the ECAC. ​“There’s a lot of artistic energy in Farmington.”

Bartges has been teaching with the Visual Arts Department at UMF since 2014. After getting her undergraduate degree at Alfred University, Bartges went on to earn a Masters in Fine Art from the Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan in 2014. Along the way, she participated in exhibitions ranging from Denmark to Australia, working as a resident artist at institutes in Berlin, Paris, Denmark, Chicago and Vermont. While she has a background in ceramics, her more recent work has been video- and photo-based installations.

For ECAC’s new director, art can be a window | Franklin County Daily Bulldog