The Maine-Aomori Printmaking Society
Online Archive & Repository
Contents: About MAPS | About Friends of Aomori | Tech
About MAPS
The Maine-Aomori Printmaking Society (MAPS) was a transnational printmaking exchange program between Maine and Aomori.
Running from 2015 through 2020, MAPS celebrated the Maine-Aomori Sister-State relationship through the exchange of prints by professional artists who live, work, or have a deep connection with the Maine and/or Aomori regions.
Every year, 20 prints by 20 artists were exchanged and exhibited in venues across Maine and Aomori. Artist delegations and artist residencies in both Maine and Aomori were realized as the program progressed.
The MAPS program was volunteer-led and community-built, supported by the Munakata Shikō Museum of Art in Aomori City, Japan, and its Director, Jiro Ono; MAPS Program Coordinator Jeff Badger, Pickwick Press in Portland, Maine; Board Members of Friends of Aomori, based in Portland, Maine; The Consulate-General of Japan in Boston, University of Southern Maine student interns, and local vendors, venues, and community spaces where MAPS and its story were shared with the public.
Although MAPS has concluded its five-year run, a childrens’ printmaking exchange was founded under the MAPS program in 2018 by Briar Pelletier of Friends of Aomori. The program evolved into an annual program under the name Hashi - or “bridge” in Japanese - under Maine educator Reaghan Russell. The Hashi program features student prints from elementary and middle school students in Maine and Aomori schools. Hashi continues on and is currently run by Lynda McCann Olson, current President of Friends of Aomori.
About Friends of Aomori
Friends of Aomori is a 501(c) nonprofit organization consisting of many dedicated members striving to improve the sister relationship between the State of Maine and Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Friends of Aomori’s goals are to:
- Coordinate incoming and outgoing delegations between Maine and Aomori;
- Coordinate artistic and cultural exchanges between Maine and Aomori;
- Provide support to schools in Maine that operate educational exchange programs with Aomori;
- Educate the public about the sister-state relationship;
- Raise funds to support sister-state activities.
2024 Friends of Aomori Board of Directors (友達の青森取締役会)
- Lynda McCann Olson, President
- Don Hudson, Treasurer
- Elizabeth Bull, Secretary
Friends of Aomori Board Members at Large:
- Jeff Badger
- Lydia Badger
- Pilar Nadal
- Raegan Russell
- Briar Pelletier
Technical Credits - CollectionBuilder
This digital collection is built with CollectionBuilder, an open source framework for creating digital collection and exhibit websites that is developed by faculty librarians at the University of Idaho Library following the Lib-Static methodology.
Using the CollectionBuilder-CSV template and the static website generator Jekyll, this project creates an engaging interface to explore driven by metadata.