ON VIEW
April 18 – 16, 2025
May 8 – 17, 2025

OPENING RECEPTIONS
Friday, April 18, 5 – 7 pm
Thursday, May 8, 5 – 7 pm

Maxwell Hamblin-Compere

@vamoosemamoose

Maxwell Hamblin-Compere (b. 2000) is a trans, Choctaw artist from Norman, Oklahoma. His artistic practice explores generational trauma, matrilineal wayfinding, gender identity, oral history, storytelling, queer intimacy, and dreams. Their eclectic worldbuilding transports the work into the fictional realm of Eidolon, ruled by the Bird Mother and The Bramble. These studio deities assist in community performances, known as storytelling circles, where Hamblin-Compere and others embody alternative identities in order to deepen their compassion for alternative perspectives and share in a collective dream. In addition to these community sessions, Hamblin-Compare also creates “Portals to Eidolon,” which are site-specific installations dedicated to the communities in which they are presented, creating a dynamic dialogue between place and story. These installations are made from repurposed furniture upholstery, glitter, collage, riso prints, and found materials. The combining of these materials into a circular, anti-hierarchical symphony creates work that promotes anti-preciousness and equality. With each portal, important items and symbols are curated to represent the diverse community for which it is intended, creating an atmosphere of nostalgia and cross-cultural understanding.



The MFA Thesis Exhibitions for the Class of 2025 incorporate a range of making practices unified by the overwhelming concerns these students have for their environment, their communities, their families, and their own wellbeing. With an emphasis on the personal, and at times the anecdotal, these 17 artists make a variety of contributions in the form of ceramics, drawings, paintings, photographs, poems, prints, sculptures, sound and video installations, and textiles. The nature of their work and research demonstrates the caliber and cultural relevance of Maine College of Art & Design’s Masters in Fine Arts in Studio Art program.