Biddeford celebrates Maine Craft Weekend

This weekend Saturday & Sunday October 1-2 Biddeford is a featured city for Maine Craft Weekend. Biddeford has a rich history of making fine art and craft you can explore in our historic downtown and mills. Meet who is keeping the tradition of industry alive in this infrastructure — artists and makers — at Engine and throughout Biddeford. Our friends designer Albert at Wooven, Mill Studio Arts, Gil and Coco at Hog Farm Studios, Chaya Studio at the Hidden Gem will be open and sharing their incredible work, and you can learn more about all the weekend has to offer on Maine Craft Weekend’s website. Thanks to Heart of Biddeford for making Biddeford a featured city!

The gallery at Engine in Biddeford with be open both Saturday October 1 and Sunday October 2 from 11 AM – 2 PM showcasing our Compass Project Boat building exhibition, Tides Rise Us All: 20 years of the Compass Project. Plus guests will be able to meet some of the artists and makers that call the Engine studios home.

The Compass Project was founded in 2002 in Portland Maine with the goal of engaging youth in hands-on, experiential, and cooperative learning through the building of wooden boats. In 2015, Engine adopted the Compass Project and partnered with local schools and colleges to bring boat building to their classrooms. In 2019 the Covid 19 pandemic forced a dramatic shift in how Compass classes were taught. Instead of in-person collaborative boat building, students were taught similar skills virtually through the building of model boats. In recent years, as restrictions have eased, we have returned to in person classes at Biddeford High School with renewed focus on helping youth develop a more meaningful relationship community and environment. Today, in addition to building boats, Compass students work on independent projects, exploring areas of personal interest, and work on projects for organizations within our Biddeford community, allowing students to see their contributions in the real world. Compass Project has brought together thousands of individuals and families through the joy of launching these vessels into the world. Tides Rise Us All is a celebration of the work completed by Compass students in the past year as we set a new course.

Featuring the work of many hands, this exhibition invites you to respond to the question, “What Anchors You?” and will seed a series of events and engagements with our 2022-2023 Compass Project Youth.