Commission Member Bios
John Rohman, Bangor
Chair
John Rohman is CEO and President of WBRC Architects - Engineers in Bangor. He received a BS in civil engineering from the University of Maine at Orono in 1968 and a BS in business administration from Husson College in 1976. In 1973, he joined what is now WBRC Architects-Engineers. In 1988, John returned to school at the Boston Architectural Center for studies in interior design.
For many years, John has had strong interests and involvement in the arts and has served as chair of the Board of Directors of the Maine Crafts Association, on the Board of Directors of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and the University of Maine Museum of Art Advisory Committee. John is a Trustee of Husson College and serves on the University of Maine Alumni Association Board of Directors. He is now active as the chair of the Maine Arts Commission as appointed by Governor John Baldacci. In 2004 John was elected to serve on the Board of the Maine Chamber of Commerce. John is currently the president of the National Assembly of States Arts Agencies, the national organization that serves all state arts commissions, and is also on the Board of Directors for the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA).
After serving as President of the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce, John entered the political arena and started his first City Council term in 1997, and he served as Mayor of the City of Bangor in 2001. Both the arts and downtown/waterfront development were a focus during his tenure. The selection of Bangor as the three-year site of the National Folk Festival was a very active item for both John and his wife Lyndy and that continues for the American Folk Festival. John served as chair of the festival in its first two years. After the success of the Blaine House Conference on Maine's Creative Economy, Governor Baldacci established the Creative Economy Council and appointed John as the chair. Lyndy and John live in a wonderful historic home on Broadway where both the interior and the gardens keep them active in their spare time. John's children both live in the west, Erik in Colorado and Amy in Montana.
Owen Smith, Bangor
Vice-Chair
Dr. Owen F. Smith is an Art Historian, Curator, Artist, Writer and Teacher whose interest lies in the exploration of the cultural gap between art and life. He is currently Professor of Art History and Digital Art and the current Director of the New Media Department at the University of Maine. Owen received his BA in Art History, MA in Museology, and PhD in Art History, from the University of Washington in Seattle. Owen has authored some 40 books, book chapters and articles, key among these being his book, Fluxus, a History of an Attitude. Currently he is editing several publications, including Events and Event Structures, which will be published by the Danish Academy of Art in conjunction with an conference he is co-organizing there in 2007. Owen is an active artist, preferring digital art and new media forms. His work has been exhibited nationally, as well as internationally in over 70 exhibitions. In the state of Maine, Owen has exhibited his work at the Carnegie Art Museum at the University of Maine, the University of Southern Maine in Portland and most recently at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport.
Richard Abramson, Arundel
Richard is Superintendent of Schools for Union 42/Maranacook Community School District 10. In this position, he oversees the administration of schools in the Readfield area. Throughout his professional life he has also worked as an instructor and education consultant in Maine and elsewhere in the country. In 2001, he was the Maine Department of Education's Distinguished Educator. Richard also serves as Chair of the Maine Alliance for Arts Education, as well as Chair of the Arts in Education Committee of the Maine Arts Commission.
David Moses Bridges, Perry
David was awarded the Maine Arts Commission’s Tradition Arts Fellowship in 2006. He is a Passamaquoddy tribal member from the reserve at Sipayik. Upon the passing of his great grandfather, Sylvester Gabriel, the last of the old time bark canoe and basket makers, David was left with his great grandfather’s canoe making tools, the desire to build a canoe of birch bark and without a mentor. Serendipity stepped in when he met Steve Cayard, a self-taught birch bark canoe maker. Together they documented and repaired a Passamaquoddy canoe for The Smithsonian Institution; and documented and did condition reports on the 120 scale birch bark canoes models made by Edwin Tappen Adney for the Mariners Museum of Newport News, VA. From 1997-1999 David worked as an assistant instructor at the Wooden Boat School in Brooklin, ME. Since that time, David has been working to bring back the art of canoe building to the native nations by providing programs in native communities that are free of charge and open to all. David has produced an 18’ 2” Porpoise Hunting Canoe (2003), an 18’ 6” St. John River canoe (2004) and an 18’ 2” Passamaquoddy Ocean Canoe (2005). In 1997 he began teaching basket making programs with the Abbe Museum, The MIBA, The Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Malecite Nations and various schools throughout Maine. David intends to continue these studies in the traditional basket forms and design motifs, to catalog and photograph the extensive collections here in Maine for eventual publication, and perhaps more importantly, to ensure that this unique art form never comes as close to dying out again.
Alan Crichton, Belfast
Alan Crichton is a sculptor, draftsman and writer living in Liberty, Maine. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Goddard College and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, he has taught at Colby College, the MFA program at Vermont College and the Farnsworth Museum and has exhibited throughout Maine and New England for over twenty-five years. He is the co-founder of Waterfall Arts, a center in Montville and Belfast, which for nine years has brought together artists from Maine and around the world to celebrate creativity and promote sustainability through education, artists’ residencies, exhibits and events.
Jon Calame, Portland
Jon Calame is a partner with Minerva Partners, a non-profit consultancy group focused on quality in the built environment. He specialized in post-conflict urban rehabilitaiton. His book entitled Divided Cities: Belfast, Beirut, Jerusalem, Mostar & Nicosia, will be published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in early 2009.
Joseph Donald Cyr, Lille-sur-St-Jean
Don is an instructor for the University of Maine – Presque Isle in the History and Art Departments and he also teaches History at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone. Don holds a BA in English, BA in Art and a BS in History from the University of Maine – Presque Isle and an EdM in History from the University of Maine – Orono. Don’s passion for the Acadian culture makes him an avid researcher, restorer, curator and photographer of Acadian culture and history. In addition, Don performs Acadian Dance and has traveled internationally for performances and has mounted many one-man art shows as well as group exhibitions. He is also the founder and director of the Musée culturel du Mont-Carmel in Lille, and is currently a PhD candidate in U.S. History (material culture) at UMO.
Hugh T. French, Eastport
Hugh is the director and co-founder of the Tides Institute and Museum of Art in Eastport. The institute is an innovative cultural center that combines a mixture of cultural resources (museum, research, art production facilities and workshops) with regional renewal. Located on the Maine/New Brunswick border, the center focuses on the region's broader Canadian-American relationships, working as much in Canada as in the United States. Prior to his work in Eastport, Hugh was involved for 19 years with the establishment of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, departing in 2001 as associate director. He holds a MA in history from the University of New Brunswick.
Victoria Mares Hershey,
Portland
Victoria is the director of development for Portland West, Inc. and holds a BA in Political Science with a minor in Sociology from Michigan State University. She also holds a certificate in electronic journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Victoria is a writer and freelance journalist who, for the last 5 years, wrote a weekly column for the Portland Press Herald. Victoria has received a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Community Service Award for her work in Maine. She is a board member of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, and also a member of the Steering Committee of the University of Southern Maine’s Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine. The center provides documentation, study, and promotion of diversity, human rights, and civil rights in Maine; in addition, the center collects, houses, and preserves primary and secondary research materials on the experiences of diverse groups in Maine. Victoria’s experiences prior to Maine include print and television media and being a news anchor. She also wrote, directed and produced in New York City.Victoria is also a visual artist and musician.
Noah T. Keteyian, Portland
Noah splits his time in Rockland between two very different jobs. Together with his wife Jessica the couple own Cozy Deluxe, a high-end design and manufacturing company that sells home furnishings and fashion accessories.
Noah is also the Executive Director of Midcoast Magnet, a grass roots nonprofit organization that brings people together to develop the economy of Midcoast Maine through creativity and innovation. A native of Hancock County, Noah has also lived in Portland, where he owned Hip House, a home and design shop. As a team member developing Governor Baldacci's Realize!Maine initiative, Noah created recommendations on how to help young adults work and thrive in Maine. Noah is also an accomplished violinist and vocalist.
Felicia Knight, Scarborough
Felicia is a 20-year veteran of Maine broadcasting and spent 10 years in public service in Washington, DC. Felicia began her career at WABI radio in Bangor, Maine. From there, she moved to WABI-TV where she served as anchor and Managing Editor of Channel 5 News. In 1988, she moved to WGME-TV in Portland where she anchored the station’s number one rated First News at 5:30 and Noon Report. She also served as Channel 13’s political reporter, analyst, and debate moderator. In addition to her anchoring and political coverage, she carved out a niche arts reportage. Over the course of her broadcasting career, she won numerous state and national awards for writing, anchoring, producing, and reporting.
In 1998, she left broadcasting to become Director of Communications for United States Senator Susan Collins in Washington, DC. In 2003, she became Communications Director for the National Endowment for the Arts under Chairman Dana Gioia. The NEA is an independent agency in the federal government and the nation’s largest annual funder of the arts. After five years of directing that agency’s media strategy, Felicia returned home to Maine.
Mark Miller, East Millinocket
Mark is an East Millinocket native who began playing guitar when he was only six years old and has since made a living playing guitar for over 45 years. In high school Mark had a band that played top-40 music and later he played with several bands as a "Hired Gun" including studio work for CDs. After a short spell in Nashville, Mark came back to Maine and formed a blues band playing all over New England at various clubs and large festivals, such as the annual North Atlantic Blues Festival in Rockland. Since 1965, Mark has performed as a guitarist with various bands and solo artists throughout Maine, and in the midst of all this he studied Music Education at the University of Maine at Augusta. Marks accomplishments include opening for various national acts, including Johnny Winter, Taj Mahal, Peter Wolf, Pat Travers, Wayon Jennings and others. He played guitar onstage with Dick Curless, Buddy Spicher, Jimmy Day, Debbie Davies, Johnny Rawls, Jimmy Johnson, James Montgomery, and Brad Delp, lead singer of the group Boston, with whom he performed at the Boston Music Awards. Mark is most proud of winning the Lenny Breau Memorial Trophy by the Country Music Association in 1989. Later, in 1998, Mark represented the State of Maine at the Memphis Blues Competition. Mark has recorded a CD, Naked Soul, and has featured in numerous forms of New England media outlets including televised appearances. Currently, Mark teaches guitar lessons and performs at various local venues, mostly as a solo act playing acoustic dinner music. Mark brings to the Maine Arts Commission his extensive knowledge and experience of the performing arts.
Linda Nelson, Stonington
Linda is a founder and the Executive Director of Opera House Arts, Stonington, and holds a BA in American Studies from Bowdoin College. Linda is also an Executive Consultant, specializing in strategic planning, operations, and technology implementation for firms nationwide. A graduate of Leadership Maine, Linda has extensive media experience, having worked both as Chief Information Officer at Village Voice Media, and as News & Web Editor for the Island Ad-Vantages on Deer Isle, Maine. Her freelance writing has been published in a variety of national periodicals. Linda uses her knowledge to develop community-building and leadership programs, public education improvements and small business growth in her local community.
Aimee Petrin, Freeport
Aimée M. Petrin is the Executive Director of PCA Great Performances, a 78-year-old, Portland-based, multidisciplinary presenting organization. She is active in the performing arts field, participating regularly in state, regional and national grants panels, artist showcase juries, advisory groups, curating excursions, and panel discussions. She was recently appointed to the board of directors of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, the leading national service organization for the presentation of live art. She is a member of the Bates Dance Festival Advisory Board. Petrin is a former Board Chair for the Arts Presenters of Northern New England and has been instrumental in initiating and supporting regional performing arts projects. She has twice been invited by the New England Foundation for the Arts to act as a delegate in international exchanges with Mexico. She previously served for 9 years as the Programming Manager at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington, VT.
Mark C. Scally, East Millinocket
Mark has recently retired after 27 years as a public school teacher. In that time he directed over 200 plays and musical productions. He serves as adjudicator for the Maine All-State Festival auditions as well as for the Regional and State Jazz Festivals. In 2003 he was appointed by Governor John Baldacci to serve on the Maine Arts Commission. Mark also serves as the Chair of the Board of Selectman for the town of East Millinocket.
