Staff Writer

Renee Collins and Kiya Gilman neatly arranged their colorful photos and sketches on a small table in Shevenell Park before sitting back to wait for visitors to ask about their artwork.

The two teens spent last Friday night downtown, displaying their work for the first time during the monthly Biddeford ArtWalk.

 “I want to get feedback from other people and have this experience now,” said Collins, a 15-year-old photographer and Biddeford High School student.

 She and Gilman, who at 17 sketches and creates collages, said they have watched eagerly during the past few years as more attention is turned to the developing arts community in Biddeford.

 “It’s got potential,” Gilman said. “I’d like to see more galleries and music venues.”

 Attracting more artists to Biddeford and fostering the arts is key to propelling the city’s creative economy, according to Tammy Ackerman, executive director of Engine. Engine, formed this year, is the only arts-driven nonprofit in Biddeford and takes an active leadership and advocacy role to help revitalize the city through artistic programming and cultural development.

In addition to finding artists space to work and partnering with other local groups, Engine promotes the Biddeford ArtWalk, which Ackerman said is modeled after Portland’s First Friday. Now in its third year, the art walk attracts new artists and visitors each month with a goal of drawing more attention to the arts in Biddeford.

Last week, Shevenell Park was lined with tables displaying everything from photographs to silk-screened T-shirts and jewelry. Art Morrissette of Biddeford sat hunched over his table while he worked on a painting of a group of people.

“I just love it,” he said of the art walk. “I think it’s a chance for people to show what they can do. There’s a richness of creativity in this town and I think people need to see it.”

Sveltana Beattie, an oil painter from Augusta, often visits art festivals and made her way to Biddeford for the first time last week. She said she enjoyed the “cozy” feel of the park, which is nestled between two buildings.

For photographer Jamie St. Louis of Biddeford, the art walk gives him the opportunity to share his work and learn from other artists.

“I think Biddeford has so much potential and if we don’t do things like this we’re forgetting about that potential,” he said. “People are missing out on their community by not coming down.” 

Nearby, Martha Baldwin put the final touches on a table that displayed work by artists from the YES Art Works program at Creative Work Systems. The art walk gives the artists a chance to display their work beyond the gallery on Industrial Park Road in Saco, she said.

“That’s important because we need to reach out to the public and let people know who we are and what we do,” Baldwin said. “And it’s beautiful out here. There’s live music. There’s something for everyone.”

The idea that there is something for everyone at the art walk is why Ackerman and Joshua Bodwell, Engine’s assistant director, think people should head downtown to check it out.

“People can see fine art as elitist. What we’re trying to do is show a creative economy that is accessible to everyone,” Ackerman said.

Bodwell said the art walks have increasingly featured performance art and other things visitors may never have seen before. In September, a one-act play will be staged at the Palace Diner while audience members sit at the counter and eat pie.

“It’s about connecting the arts with everyday life, not just going to a gallery to look at paintings,” Bodwell said.

Ackerman and Bodwell said it is essential for Biddeford to develop density because it creates an arts scene and propels economic development. They believe commerce follows culture and art has the ability to transform communities.

Economic development in other areas has clear ties to the art community, Bodwell said. Places such as SoHo in New York City developed after artists moved into the area, but people don’t have to look further than Portland or Rockland to see that effect, he said.

Ezekiel Callanan, executive director of Heart of Biddeford, said the arts can be an economic driver for a community. There is “a ton” of artistic talent in the Biddeford area, he said.

 “One of the real beauties of the arts is it’s incredibly positive. It spawns positive creative energy,” he said. “If Biddeford has a strong arts and cultural scene, that is the basis for a strong economy. Money follows the arts.”

Ellen Converse, who owns Oh Baby! Café with her mother, Linda, said she modeled the café in part after the North Star Café in Portland, which was “a coffee shop but also a gallery.” On days when arts-related events draw people downtown, business at the café is strong, she said.

Local artists rotate work displayed on the café’s brick walls. Last week, Kathy O’Connor and Dana Johnson hung belly casts, while other artists have contributed paintings, jewelry and photographs.

Converse said she thinks Biddeford has the potential to develop an arts scene like Portland.

Ackerman said Engine also will advocate for more live-work space for artists to help foster arts and economic development. The organization currently is soliciting funding for a feasibility study of the idea while developing private-nonprofit partnerships with other groups such as La Kermesse and University of New England.

  “Economic development through the arts takes time. It’s not the magic pill. It’s going to take a few years of continually pushing in that direction,” Ackerman said. “Biddeford has a chance to redefine itself, to make it an arts and cultural destination.”

 Callanan agrees:

“The more the city, the businesses and the residents embrace the creativity that is here, the more progress we’ll see,” he said.