Sean Thomas on Art, Belonging, and the Maine Creative Community

He has been in the main artistic community promoting main artists for I would say probably at least a decade now. Welcome. Thanks for coming in today. Thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be here with you on the show. Yes. Well, I've had a front row seat your career. I've watched you progress from, graduated from Cape Elizabeth High School where you did a lot with art there to go the Savannah College of Art and Design and having your focus on photography. And you've been obviously focusing on photography and documentary filmmaking and other types of art for really a long time. And also while doing this, you've been building these creative relationships amongst the community in Maine and beyond. So talk to me about the importance of community when one is an artist or one has a creative spirit. It has been quite an exciting career. Being from Cape Elizabeth, going to scad, having this artistic background, I feel very fortunate to have been able to pursue photography as my artistic endeavor and to dip my toes into the world of documentary filmmaking. But how that's all managed to translate into creative community is my own personal connection. I mean, I love to create, I love to be out there. I love to talk to people who are also creative. I love to hear new ideas. I love to explore new avenues. I love to be inspired by what else is being created. And I just think myself wanting to understand and see more and see what's being created, it's just inherently creates community. When you're fascinated with the world around you and you're inspired with the world around you, people are drawn to that. You're drawn to people, you're drawn to small communities, you're drawn to different organizations, and you are inherently exposed to new ways of seeing. I love that and I love that by being around other people who have that similar idea of seeing the world from a unique space, you are inspired yourself to see the world from a unique space. And then when you foster that, you really encourage people to be true to what they're seeing and to bring it out into the world, which isn't always easy. Do you think that knowing that being an artist ends up being sometimes somewhat solitary, but then also being in a gallery ends up being very social. Do you think there's ever a challenge in shifting from one type of self to the other? Do you see that in yourself or in artists generally? As an artist, it's not inherently obvious of how you're supposed to integrate with the local artistic community. And being able to rub shoulders with people who are also creatives in a generally social way. Sometimes it's just difficult to get in the room and to talk about your craft in a way that you can actually have a conversation that might inspire you or might lead you to new answers. And you really, every time you're talking about yourself and what you do and what your drive is, you are putting yourself out there in a way that's not necessarily the most comfortable. Being an artist is exposing yourself and your inner thoughts and your inner thinkings to the world. And it's very easy when it's on a canvas and it's over there, I'm over here, but once you put yourself in the space with that canvas, it takes on a completely different direction and suddenly you are very responsible for that backstory, that direction, and that train of thought that got you to this end product. And I think as artists or as people, we generally, we work in our own space. We need our own space to recharge. We need our own space to create. Being able to get from your own space to a community, sometimes an alien jump. Another thing that I know you've taken from your time at Savannah College of Art and Design is an understanding of positive critique. A way of sharing with an artist, this is what I see, this is where I think the opportunities lie. This is how I would encourage you to work with your craft to continue to evolve. And critique is a very challenging thing sometimes to be able to offer and to receive. So talk to me a little bit about that and why it's been important not only to your own practice, but also as the manager of the Portland Yeah, that is a phenomenal question because critique in my undergrad, my professors always said, this is the most critique you'll ever get and this is the most community you'll ever get. And they weren't wrong, but they weren't totally right. Community growth over time will lead you back to getting positive critique, positive feedback on your work or negative feedback. That's part of what critique is, but it is different. I mean, it is very different. And as I continue to grow professionally seeking out critique in general more and more difficult, but it just makes it that much more special when I do get a really genuine, positive, good critique. And because I know what a good can be and what a dearth of critique can be, I try to be as supportive as possible with the artists at the Portland Art Gallery. I mean, it's always exciting to me when an artist wants to talk about what they're doing, when they want to talk about a new direction, when they're trying out a new piece or a new train of thought, I want to see that to see where their head's at, to see where they're thinking, to see what we might expect in the future. And it really comes down to guiding or understanding where this could go and what this could lead to, whether it's scale or palette or a complete change in styles that soft critique, understanding the direction, coming up with ideas, it just always ends up being a positive interaction. I love that answer because I think it speaks to the idea of art being a living process. And if you do the same thing over and over and over again, it's not a bad thing, especially if you have a market for the pieces that you're creating and it generates income for your family. But what if you could continue to do that and also evolve? Evolve not only as an artist but also as a human, because we're all constantly changing. So if things stay static, that doesn't really reflect either our inner or outer worlds. So when you are looking at, for example, let's just say artist submissions, and I know that this is become a big part of what you do because you're always trying to bring new talent into the gallery and you're always trying to evolve the talent that you have. So when you look at artist submissions and you think of somebody as an emerging artist, what are the things that you're looking for that indicates to you that yes, there is potential and we maybe will going to consider bringing them on because I think this could be something that would work well for our group. It is interesting. I have been getting more and more into looking at artists submissions and talking with more emerging artists, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be in the position that I am to be able to review people's portfolios the way that I've been able to review people's portfolios. But things that I look for are consistency in work. What is being created, how long have you been creating, how consistent are you in creating? I just love to see that people are active. If you're active and you're pushing yourself in a direction, and I can firmly see that. I love to follow that. I love to keep track of your journey. I love to see where you might be going, what you might be doing in the future. Also like that you're not afraid of experimenting or when an artist isn't afraid of experimenting, like if they have their core body of work, but then there's also some offshoots that necessarily part of their main portfolio. It's not just that they're creating their main body of work, but they're also setting aside time to work on something that inspired them in the moment. That's really exciting for me. Yeah, I think those are two of the biggest things that I'm drawn to. One of the things that I know that you're great at is building trust, and I think some of that comes from actually meeting people where they are. And you've traveled all over the state of Maine and New England to meet with our artists who are from this part of the country, but you've also gone as far away as Florida and Texas to meet with artists who have a main connection but aren't fully based here. So tell me how meeting an artist where they are and photographing them or creating a video, tell me how that generates that trust that's so integral to the relationship you have with them. Absolutely, and I think something that I would like to mention to that end is before I was here as the manager at the Portland Art Gallery, I was a freelance photographer and I photographed all of the artists did travel and I did some short form documentary video work. Both of these projects just gave me an unprecedented amount of access to the artists, and part of meeting them on their level was that I was also a creative in their creative space. So we were having conversations about being creatives. I was coming at it as a creative myself, photographer, knowing how I would want to be treated, what I would want to have documented, being able to navigate those situations. And it's not always the easiest as an artist. I mean, studio space is a very personal space, whether it's in your home, whether it's an external site, whether it's also a pseudo gallery space where you do get some foot traffic through. I mean, all of these spaces are spaces that you go to create and express yourself. And I was very fortunate to be able to enter these spaces to converse with people, to learn more about them and to really get into the nitty gritty of why they do what they do. As an artist, I think it's interesting for me to see sometimes that people have an idea if I just create something, the world will come and buy it. And what I suspect you have really learned over the last, more than a year and a half now working with the gallery, it's just how important it is to have the business practices and the logistics that back up bringing that art into the world. Are there lessons that you're taking away from being the gallery manager that have surprised you? That is a great question. I am trying my hardest to think of any lessons in particular that have surprised me. Maybe the closest thing I can think of is that the stories we tell as artists through our work specifically any individual piece of work or our body of work writ large, they're just more important than I ever could have possibly given those credit for. And I mean, in my undergrad and in my artistic life, I've always heard about telling your story as an artist. And the more time has gone on, and especially in this role, I mean I have started repeating that mantra. I like tell your story and you tell your story through words. But more often through practice, the more work we see and the more you continue to explore and the more you continue to create, that is part of your story. And I think that has maybe surprised me quite a bit how all of the tiny parts lead into a very flushed out hole in a way that I think I underestimated before coming here to the gallery. One of the things that I've noticed in observing your work with the Portland Art Gallery as the manager is how important it has been for you to carefully organize people's stories, people's art. I watch you make sure that you have all of your files are very carefully done, all of the artwork is very carefully labeled and protected, and there's such care to that, that it is this great respect for the work that people are presenting to you. And I think that that type of care and that understanding that you do have somebody's story and piece of art that they're trying to bring to somebody else's house, I think people might underestimate that. In fact, in talking to your father who happens to be the owner of the Portland Art Gallery, which I told you I was going to mention at some point, it's not the reason that you are hired, but it is certainly not an insignificant point. He said to me, one of the things I learned from Sean is how to organize my work. And as a photographer, that's very important because you can photograph lots of different people over or subjects over a long period of time. And if you don't know where to retrieve that information from, it's just going to waste a lot of your effort. And I've seen you translate that into what you do at the art gallery that you're very good at setting up processes. You're very good at lining up where can I find this thing so that when a person comes into the gallery, you're like, I'm ready. I am ready to go. Let me show you what we have here. And I think that that's a counterbalance sometimes to this idea of being, well, if I have a creative mind, I don't have to organize things. But somehow you've managed to not only integrate that for yourself, model it for other people, but also really do it effectively in the art gallery. So is that something that you've had to teach yourself over time or was that intuitive to you from the beginning? A little of both. Mostly the taught over time part of my photographic process has been an understanding in digital organization and file management, and it took me a number of years to get proper file management down and really understand how I could access my archive in a way that makes sense. And with that sort of very nitpicky background, I have been able to translate that into real life and the physical space at the gallery where we have an archive that is, well, it's not an archive, it's body of work from our artists that is very accessible to the point where we always have more inventory in the gallery than we're able to put up on the walls. And when somebody comes in and says, do you have other works by this person? We can in an instant grab two or three because we know exactly where they are, exactly what they look like, and we know exactly where we can hang 'em in the gallery to give a viewing on the fly. I tell people all the time, who are, they sort of object on occasion to seeing other works as they think's going to be too much of a hassle. And I tell them, I have it here. I would love to show it to you. That's what we have it here for. It doesn't matter if you're going to take it home, it doesn't matter if you're not going to like it. I want to share the work. You are obviously interested enough to ask about it in the first place, and I'd love to share this artist's story with you. One of the things that I remain intrigued by, because over the years having interviewed many family owned business owners and people who work within family owned businesses is that it's something, I think it's part of Me's heritage. We have farms where entire families work together. I know your background has a family farm in it A few generations ago, and we've already mentioned that your father is the owner of the Portland Art Gallery. You and I and your father, and actually other members of our family have worked together in two different family businesses around the arts and creativity. And I think it's something that if you're from another part of the country where there's maybe more people, maybe there's fewer family businesses, But what I've noticed is it can be incredibly successful that maybe there's a little bit too much crossover at the dinner table sometimes talking about like, well, how are we going to handle this or how are we going to handle that? But on the other hand, if everybody really wants something to be successful and you're all in the same family and you're all kind of trusting each other, then I think it really can build on this great energy. And I've seen that happen. I mean obviously you're working with Jess and with Emma at the gallery as the other parts of the gallery team, but I've seen that happening with you and your father where you bounce things off each other. You really have a great respect for one another. I'm just wondering how you feel about being part of this family business. What has this meant to you? It's An interesting question. I don't know that I've thought about it in the way that you're asking about it. I think part of how I've thought about it is this thought of how did we get so far away from the idea of the family business. I think there's something inherently Maine about the idea of the family business, the family farm. I'm not originally a mainer, but the longer I spend in the state, the more I feel like there is a real familial connection in communities here with whatever town you're from. You can know families for generations. And I feel like there's parts of where we are today that have gotten away from that to an extent. And I do wonder how that came to pass because there is something so strong about having those family ties to the business and having those generational connections and being able to bounce off ideas between people who have been in the trade for that long that are just irreplaceable. It's so interesting to hear you say you're not a Mainer. I know you actually were born in Massachusetts and you came up from Massachusetts, but that's by virtue. And one of your parents is from Massachusetts, but obviously your other parent is from Maine. And your father who we've interviewed on radio Maine before, he's from Kyle, his family's from New Brunswick. That's where the family farms were. I mean, you weren't born here and you lived some formative years elsewhere, but you've lived in Maine for a big chunk of your life now. Been quite a while. And I feel the same way that I have generations of Maine in my blood, and yet I also was not born here. So when somebody says, are you a Mainer? I'm like, well, technically no. I was born in It depends on who you're talking to. True. That is very true. But I think that there's also this spirit of being a Mainer that is really this willingness to show up and put a handout and shake a hand and say, Hey, nice to meet you and tell me about your story, and I really want to understand you because there isn't that distance that larger states might actually have. So it's when I talk to people for Radio Maine, I think about it as less like where your mother physically gave birth to you and more sort of this idea of a kind of zeitgeist and you having lived in other parts of the world. Does that resonate with you? Yes. This is very off the cuff, but something that strikes me about the state of Maine is we have a very transitory populace here. We're a very small state, and we have a lot of people that come and go. And part of the nature of that is that you're always introducing yourself to new people. You're always meeting new people with new experiences from wherever. And I think that on its face is very unique experience. I'm sure there are other states that have similar areas, but Maine has such a populace that comes and goes that you just need to be open to having conversations and open to experiencing new things. And I used to say, I'm not a Mainer because I'm not born and raised in the county going back three generations. And it always depends on who you're talking to, but you're right. I did grow up here. I spent my formative years here. That's what I usually tell people. And I've spent quite a bit of time running around this state getting a sense of what goes where and what things look like and how the weather acts and how to get lost in the woods and all that jazz. But yeah, I think the fact that we're always meeting new people here and you're always wanting to say hello, I don't know that I've learned that anywhere else. I think I was very fortunate in Savannah, Georgia to be in a place that was very accommodating. I mean, the college was essentially the town, and that was a melting pot of people, not just nationally, but internationally, artistically and personality wise that just, it gives you a different perspective. But Savannah is a very unique place. I don't think there are many places like it. Well, having been to Savannah a few times, not only while you were down there, but while your brother was down there in art school, but also my daughter now lives there, her husband's in the army down there. I agree. It definitely has a different feel to it than Maine, but also very special. So I suspect that it's interesting that there's so much of a connection that our family seems to have with Savannah, Georgia for whatever reason, which it's kind of magical actually. I looked at the people that you consider inspirations you have, and we're not going to go too far down this path. I don't know a lot of these people very well, but I was impressed that you were able to come up with quite a list. Robert Kappa, Gregory Cren, Matt Black, Alex sa, Gregory Halburn, Yusef Karsh. You obviously have this very rich sort of intellectual background when it comes to art, and when I look at this as somebody who did not go to art school, I can feel a little intimidated by this, but what I love about watching you talk with people come into the gallery is that even though you have that intellectual and you have these as your inspiration and you are an artist yourself, that's not where you lead from. When people come into the gallery, you just meet them as people and you really try to understand them and what they're trying to do with the art. Do you want something for your living room or are you celebrating a wedding? What is it that you would like? And visually, how do we bring you to that place? So having witnessed this many times with you, I am wondering, is there some way that you just start the conversation when somebody walks in so that you can help them achieve that level of comfort? I wouldn't say there's any one size fits all to every conversation I have at the gallery, but at the bare minimum, I try to say hello to everybody that walks in the door, engage with them on the bare minimum of, how's your morning? How's your afternoon? Hope you have a good rest of your day. Feel free to look around, feel free to ask me any questions. Just the bare minimum things. But then the next step after that is what interests you? What draws you to this artwork? What is it about this piece? What is it about this subject checked? I mean, you can learn a lot from somebody on, not just sometimes the space that they're looking for a piece for, but also just what inspires them. I mean, when you walk around the gallery, you get to see artworks from over 60 main artists or 60 artists that we represent, and there's something that can resonate with at least one person. There's something in there for everybody, and it's very exciting to see what resonates with who and what they're drawn to. But then also, if they're drawn to multiple things, the threads that tie those different artists and those different artworks together, it starts to tell or paint a little bit of a picture of what they're drawn to, what they're looking for, what they feel is representative of where they are at that point in their life that they're looking to collect this sort of art. That conversation just goes from there. I mean, it's a great answer because I don't think there is a cookie cutter way to say interact with other humans. As a physician who has had many patient interactions, I never go in with a preconceived notion as to what I'm going to say or how I'm going to act. It really does start with hello. And I also don't want to underestimate the importance of that because I do think having been to really galleries around the world myself, there is a way to make things more or less accessible to make the art more or less accessible. And I think there is, if one shows up in a gallery and there's the sense like, well, you're not even good enough to look at these pieces, then that's not a great feeling. However, if you show up and somebody says, hello, great to see you, and I'm going to, oh, I see you're looking at this. Have you ever thought about this? I just think that shows a respect, a decency, a willingness to interact that is not always typical of our galleries everywhere. So again, love that that's the approach that you take because I've come to really consider art to be an important part of my life over the years. And as a non-artist, getting to that place required that I needed to kind of be okay with that uncertainty and others along the way who helped me with that uncertainty, that was really pivotal to my love of art. Now, I think that I've spent a lot of time in galleries and in our gallery, and I think that's something we do at the Portland Art Gallery that's really special, is meet people where they're at. Art is for everybody. And I think what we do is really unique in that we have something for everybody. We have a conversation with everybody. We make it as accessible as possible, whether that's through being friendly in the gallery or whether that's through the myriad amount of video and photo and articles that we create. Introducing the artists to viewers and collectors alike. We try to put out at least one or two different little artists interviews a week, and they're a minute, they're two minutes, they're an hour long. And I just don't see that in a lot of spaces. I feel really fortunate that we can share the artworks, we can share the artists and their messaging, and that we have found a group of collectors and art admirers who want to see that, who want to be more connected, who want to have more of a conversation, who don't just want the museum experience. Well, I'm glad that you brought that up because it is part of meeting people. Where they are is if they're not even in Portland and they can't show up there, then go to the website. And there is, you're right, there's just a lot of really great content for people to get to know the artists with on the website, but also Substack also, we have our event series, and there's just a lot of ways, I mean, you show up and if you have even an inkling of an interest, something will probably draw you in. So I think it's admirable because I know how much time it takes to do any one of these things, and you and Emma and Jess and Kevin are really doing a lot of things simultaneously, and it's wonderful to see, And that's part of any small business, is wearing hats. We have a hundred different hats that we all wear, and it's exhausting changing the hats. But at the end of the day, it's a ton of fun. I mean, wear your inventory hat, wear your greeter hat, wear your install hat, wear your social media hat. It's all things that happen in any given day, and you never know which hats you might wear in any given day. But it's always fun and it's all towards the same goal, which is getting art into people's collections and into people's homes. I'm Dr. Lisa Blay. You've been listening to or watching Radio Maine, and I've truly enjoyed my conversation with the Portland Art Gallery manager, Sean Thomas, who I've obviously known for many years in many different capacities. But you can meet Sean in person if you go to the Portland Art Gallery in Portland, Maine. He's certainly there many days of the week. Also at our first Thursday openings also, he very likely will answer the phone if you give him a call. He's a lovely human, extremely knowledgeable about art, and has been a really fun person for me to talk to. So thank you for coming in today, Sean, and having this conversation with me. Really appreciate you having me. I had a great time.