Exhibition History

2025 – 2026

Precision and Expression:
American Studio Ceramics
from the E. John Bullard Collection

October 24, 2025 – March 21, 2026
Installation view of Shellburne Thurber: Full Circle, 2025, Image: Luc Demers

Shellburne Thurber: Full Circle

October 24, 2025 – March 21, 2026

Ralph Steadman:
And Another Thing

June 6 – October 11, 2025

2024 – 2025

Sketches of architectural elements on houses - door frames, decorative jambs and shutters
Hartley | Hopper: Drawings from Two New England Collections
A sketch of a seated woman with three legs playing the violin and a small, uniformed man
Saul Steinberg: Brilliant, Witty, Inventive, Cerebral
Painting depicting a landscape with blue grass, haybales and figures crouched behind them, a fence and horses
Across Common Grounds: Contemporary Art Outside the Center
Carol Chase Bjerke, The Pocket Mountain Meditator, 1994-96, mixed media sculptural book with C-prints, bookcloth, and linen carrying sack, Bates College Museum of Art, gift of Carol Chase Bjerke and Elmer LeRoy Bjerke, 2024.1.1
ARRAY: Recent Acquisition Series
Ceramic pot created by a 2025 Senior thesis student
Under the Parachute: Senior Thesis 2025
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Donna Ferrato, Enlightened, Lorain, OH, 1976, photograph, 25 x 30 in., Bates College Museum of Art, gift of Karan and Elizabeth Jain, 2018.17.8
Who Are They? Who Am I? Portraits of Artists and Artist Self-Portraits
from the Permanent Collection
Selections From the Diversify the Collections Program
Exploding Native Inevitable
Brad Kahlhamer: Nomadic Studio, Maine Camp
Neue Slowenische Kunst | Monumental Spectacular
Senior Thesis 2024
 Pedagogy
Expressions of Compassion: Selections from the Barbara Morris Goodbody Photography Collection
And So Did Pleasure Take the Hand of Sorrow and They Wandered Through the Land of Joy
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Propaganda Posters From China’s Cultural Revolution
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2023
Joseph Delaney: Taking Notice
Carl Benton Straub: His Enduring Legacy
Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts
Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts
An Adventurous Spirit: The Jane Costello Wellehan Collection
 Lesley Dill, Wilderness: Light Sizzles Around Me
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2022
African Art From the Permanent Collection
The Way Things Go
Peter Fischli and David Weiss:
The Way Things Go
Ralph Steadman: A Retrospective (Cancelled due to COVID-19 public health crisis)
Ralph Steadman: A Retrospective (Cancelled due to COVID-19 public health crisis)
Evolve: a changing exhibition of work from the collection
Evolve: a changing exhibition of work from the collection
Let’s Celebrate Ashley Bryan!
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2021
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2021
DeWitt Hardy: Master of Watercolor
DeWitt Hardy: Master of Watercolor
Joel Babb, Study for New England Towers, 2001, graphite, ink and wash, Museum purchase with the Robert A. and Minna F. Johnson Art Acquisition Fund, 2009.12.1
Joel Babb, Study for New England Towers, 2001, graphite, ink and wash, Museum purchase with the Robert A. and Minna F. Johnson Art Acquisition Fund, 2009.12.1
German Art Posters
Vanessa German: Miracles and Glory Abound
Ralph Eugene Meatyard: Stages for Being
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2020
Anthropocenic: Art About the Natural World in the Human Era
Amy Stacey Curtis: Time and Place
Peter Turnley: Refugees
Dahlov Ipcar: Blue Moons & Menageries
Maine Moderns: Drawings by Marsden Hartley and Carl Sprinchorn
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2019
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2019
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2018
Celebrating Peoples History: Iraq Veterans Against the War – Ten Years of Fighting for Peace and Justice
Kate Gilmore: In Your Way
At Home and Abroad: The Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection
Rona Pondick and Robert Feintuch: Heads, Hands, Feet;
Rona Pondick and Robert Feintuch: Heads, Hands, Feet;
Literary
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2017
Recent Acquisitions: Martin Puryear, Prints
PHANTOM PUNCH: Contemporary Art from Saudi Arabia in Lewiston
Mythology
Robert Indiana: Now and Then
Jay Bolotin: The Book of Only Enoch
David C. Driskell: The Doorway Portfolio
David C. Driskell: The Doorway Portfolio
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2016
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2016
The View Out His Window (and in his mind's eye): Photographs by Jeffery Becton
The View Out His Window (and in his mind’s eye): Photographs by Jeffery Becton
The Art of Occupy: The Occuprint Portfolio
The Art of Occupy: The Occuprint Portfolio
Maine Collected
Maine Collected
Points of View
Points of View
The Painter of Maine: Photographs of Marsden Hartley
The Painter of Maine: Photographs of Marsden Hartley
Encountering Maine
Directors’ Cut: Selections from the Maine Art Museum Trail at the Portland Museum of Art
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2015
Greg Shattenberg: Prints and Drawings
Greg Shattenberg: Prints and Drawings
Back and Forth: The Collaborative Works of Dawn Clements and Marc Leuthold
Back and Forth: The Collaborative Works of Dawn Clements and Marc Leuthold
Photographs by Women: Recent Additions to the Permanent Collection
Photographs by Women: Recent Additions to the Permanent Collection
Convergence: Jazz, Films, and the Visual Arts
Convergence: Jazz, Films, and the Visual Arts
Encountering Maine
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2014
Polish Posters: Art and Allusion
Remix: Selections from the International Collage Center
How to Make the Universe Right: The Art of the Shaman in Vietnam and Southern China
Redefining The Multiple: 13 Japanese Printmakers
Selections from Berenice Abbott’s Portrait of Maine
Selections from the Permanent Collection: Recent Acquisitions
Selections from the Permanent Collection: Recent Acquisitions
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2013
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2013
Dozier Bell: Mind’s Eye
Dozier Bell: Mind’s Eye
Fransje Killaars: Color at the Center
Fransje Killaars: Color at the Center
Max Klinger (German, 1857 – 1920), The Intermezzi Portfolio
Max Klinger (German, 1857 – 1920), The Intermezzi Portfolio
Robert S. Neuman’s “Ship to Paradise”
Robert S. Neuman’s “Ship to Paradise”
Starstruck: The Fine Art of Astrophotography
Starstruck: The Fine Art of Astrophotography
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2012
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2012
Xiaoze Xie: Amplified Moments (1993-2008)
Xiaoze Xie: Amplified Moments (1993-2008)
James Ensor: Scènes de la vie du Christ and other works
James Ensor: Scènes de la vie du Christ and other works
25: Selections from the Permanent Collection
25: Selections from the Permanent Collection
Enrique ChagoyaAyer es nunca jamais, Hoy es siempre todavia, 2006acrylic and water-based oil on canvas, 60 x 80 in.Courtesy George Adams Gallery, New York
Tale Spinning
Manuel Alvarez Bravo – Fotografias de Mexico (1933-1976)
Andrew and Jamie Wyeth: Selections from the Private Collection of Victoria Browning Wyeth
Andrew and Jamie Wyeth: Selections from the Private Collection of Victoria Browning Wyeth
Emerging Dis/Order: Drawings by Amy Stacey Curtis, Alison Hildreth, and Andrea Sulzer
Emerging Dis/Order: Drawings by Amy Stacey Curtis, Alison Hildreth, and Andrea Sulzer
Selected Drawings & Photographs from the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection
Selected Drawings & Photographs from the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2011
Senior Thesis 2011
Bound to Art: Illustrated Books from Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library
Bound to Art: Illustrated Books from Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library
Dialogue, a video series
Dialogue, a video series
Selections From the Collection of the Ogunquit Museum of American Art
Selections From the Collection of the Ogunquit Museum of American Art
Ogunquit Museum of American Art
Ogunquit Museum of American Art
The Committee on Public Art announces the arrival of Sui JianguoÕsSculpture Legacy Mantle (Mao Jacket) on the Bates Walk. The work is on loan for one year.Sui Jianguo is considered one of the premier sculptures in China today and his work has been displayed in the pivotal international exhibitions of Chinese art in the past twenty years. These exhibitions include ÒMade in China,Ó ÒArt and ChinaÕs Revolution,Ó "New Art from China: post-89," ÒChina TradeÓ and ÒBeautiful Cynicism.Ó His series of Mao suits are considered icons of contemporary Chinese art. The iconic Mao jacket, emptied of its signature occupant, appears in a monumental scale draped in irony. The 4-ton metal jacket is 3 meters high, 2.5 meters wide, and 1.5 meters deep.Sui Jianguo received his MFA from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. His studio is based in Beijing and he is a Professor and the Chair of the Central Academy Sculpture Department.Frank Toth of JC Super & Sons in Harrison, NJ, drove the Mao jacket up to Bates.Leo Castonguay, working on hooking up statue, and Jerry Castonguay, at wheel of the crane, manage moving the scultpture into place.
Mao Jacket
Metamorphosoes: A Collaboration with Ovid by Wally Reinhardt
Metamorphosoes: A Collaboration with Ovid by Wally Reinhardt
Lalla Essaydi: Les Femmes du Maroc
Lalla Essaydi: Les Femmes du Maroc
Recent Acquisitions
Recent Acquisitions
Maine Landscapes: Then and Now
Maine Landscapes: Then and Now
Joseph Nicoletti: A Retrospective
Joseph Nicoletti: A Retrospective
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2010
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2010
Barry Nemett: Drawing from Italy
Barry Nemett: Drawing from Italy
Joel M. Babb: The Process Revealed
Joel M. Babb: The Process Revealed
Collection Project 4: Alumni Collections
Collection Project 4: Alumni Collections
Our Positive Bodies: Mapping Our Treatment, Sharing Our Choices
Our Positive Bodies: Mapping Our Treatment, Sharing Our Choices
Landscape Drawings from the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection
Landscape Drawings from the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection
Bernard Langlais: Medium and Abstraction
Bernard Langlais: Medium and Abstraction
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2009
Senior Exhibition 2009
The Somali Diaspora: A Journey Away
The Somali Diaspora: A Journey Away
Recent Acquisitions: Collection Project III
Recent Acquisitions: Collection Project III
Plien Air Painting Exhibition of the Workshop 2008
Plien Air Painting Exhibition of the Workshop 2008
Figure Drawings from the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection
Figure Drawings from the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection
Stairway to Heaven
Stairway to Heaven
Flourishing Folk
Flourishing Folk
Senior Exhibition 2008
The Kimono and Traditional Japanese Culture: Investigating Kimono through Ukiyo-e
Taking Different Trails: The Artists’ Journey to Katahdin Lake
Wildness within Wildness without
Restop: The Proposal
Green Horizons
Senior Exhibition 2007
Senior Exhibition 2007
Scrape, Cut, Gouge, Bite, Print...The Graphic Work of Charlie Hewitt 1976-2006
Scrape, Cut, Gouge, Bite, Print…The Graphic Work of Charlie Hewitt 1976-2006
Cryptozoology: Out of Time Place Scale
Cryptozoology: Out of Time Place Scale
Josef Koudelka
Josef Koudelka
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2006
Senior Exhibition 2006
Eric HongistoUntitled (Theory of Tumbleweeds), 2004acrylic and yarn balls132 x 200 x 3 inches
Activator
Keith Tyson
Keith Tyson
Off the Coast: Landscape Chronology
Off the Coast: Landscape Chronology
Bates Faculty
Bates Faculty
Robert Indiana: The Hartley Elegies
Robert Indiana: The Hartley Elegies
The Environment of Landscape: Works from the Olivia and Ellwood Straub Collection
The Environment of Landscape: Works from the Olivia and Ellwood Straub Collection
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2005
Senior Exhibition 2005
Early French Photography: Art and Industry
Early French Photography: Art and Industry
New Acquisitions: Local and Global Contemporary Photography
New Acquisitions: Local and Global Contemporary Photography
Between Science and Art: X-ray Photographs by Judith K. McMIllan
Between Science and Art: X-ray Photographs by Judith K. McMIllan
The Body Holographic: Harriet Casdin-Silver
The Body Holographic: Harriet Casdin-Silver
Videodrome II
Videodrome II
Marsden Hartley: Image and Identity
Marsden Hartley: Image and Identity
Wenda Gu: Art from Middle Kingdom to Biological Millennium
Wenda Gu: Art from Middle Kingdom to Biological Millennium
Senior Exhibition 2004
Senior Exhibition 2004
Documenting China: Contemporary Photography and Social Change
Documenting China: Contemporary Photography and Social Change
From Byzantium to Russia: Popular Icons for Personal Devotion
From Byzantium to Russia: Popular Icons for Personal Devotion
Manuel López Oliva, Cuba and the Theater of Desire
Manuel López Oliva, Cuba and the Theater of Desire