Adele R. Drake

adrake@rsu22.us

207-542-0733

Artist CV

Recent Solo Exhibitions:

Monhegan Artist Residency, Monhegan, Maine

Sequences White Gallery, Bangor,  Maine

Surface Deep  Big Jar Books, Philadelphia, PA

Recent Exhibitions:

The figure Revealed, Waterfall Art Gallery

Alignment David Hopkins Galley

Yarmouth Art Festival

Generations Show, The Maine Art Gallery,

Sharing Space Granite Gallery

I-95 Triennial Invitation, Zillman Art Museum

Scofield Jazz Festival, Lincolnville, Maine

Awards:

2026 Lunder Institute Artist Educator Fellowship

2025 National Boards Certified teacher in Visual Art

2024 Monhegan Artist Residency

2010 Bangor Library, Bangor Arts Association annual show, 2nd place

2007 Lord Hall Gallery, Student Exhibition, Best in Show

Collections:

Various Private Collections throughout the United States

‍Education:

2015-2023, Graduate Course work in IMFA, University of Maine, Orono, Maine

1991 Master of Fine Arts MFA in Painting, University of Pennsylvania, Phila., PA

1983 Bachelor of Fine Arts BFA in Fine Art - Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA

Bibliography:




I create oil paintings of the Maine landscape to have an experience of being fully present within a particular place. My work is inspired by nature and the ever changing landscape. I approach much of my work through plein-air painting, often working alla prima and completing a painting in a single session. This direct way of working allows me to respond to changes in light, color, weather, and atmosphere. The urgency of painting outdoors encourages me to make decisive marks and to trust my own perception. These smaller field studies sometimes become the foundation for larger studio paintings, where observation is joined by memory and reflection. Through my paintings, I hope to invite viewers to pause and experience a sense of connection. Rather than simply depicting a beautiful landscape, I want the paintings to communicate what it feels like to spend time attentively within it. Ultimately, I hope my work contributes to a broader conversation about our relationship with the places we inhabit and encourages us to see the natural world not as something separate from ourselves, but as something with which we are deeply interconnected.

Teaching is an essential part of my creative practice and has deepened my understanding of art. As a high school visual arts educator and Maine Department of Education curriculum writer, I have worked to create learning experiences that encourage young artists to discover the significance of their own voices. In 2024, I was an artist-in-residence on Monhegan Island, an experience that strengthened my commitment to painting directly from the Maine landscape. More recently, I was selected as a 2026 Artist Educator Fellow with the Lunder Institute for American Art, where I have continued developing a new body of landscape paintings while working from a studio at the Greene Block + Studios in Waterville. I recently achieved National Board Certification in the teaching of art and for me, being an artist and being an educator are not separate identities; they are reciprocal practices that continually deepen and sustain one another.