‘Life in Washington County’ Project

Mark Macy, the Island Institute’s Fellow based in Easport, Maine, spends his time working between Stage East and the Eastport Art Center. As a way to get creative and make collaborative art during the pandemic, he produced the ‘Life in Washington County’ Project. Macey worked with participants, guiding them through the sometimes-challenging waters of digital collaboration and edited the resulting videos. The project featured triptych videos combining many artists using many different mediums—from music, spoken word, and dance, to felting, painting, and video.

Enjoy digging into these short vignettes from the artists and makers of Washington County!

“Participants played what was essentially a giant game of telephone,” said Macey. “[They] only saw the piece before theirs in each series leaving space for happy accidents. I was so impressed by participants’ creative choices and felt that everyone bought into the project in a way that’s pretty rare. These will be such a wonderful tribute to our community’s creativity, positivity, and connectivity during this pandemic.”

GOLD ‘N’ GREEN BALL

Part of Stage East’s online collaborative project, ‘Life in Washington County,’ this piece combines text by Melodie Greene, performance by Jenie M. Smith, music by Joan Lowden, and visual art by Lauren Koss.

SHADOW PUPPETS

Part of Stage East’s online collaborative project, ‘Life in Washington County,’ this piece combines text by Ric Craig, performance by Mark Macey, music by Alice Schuth, and visual art by Manuela Brice.

COMING FROM AWAY

Part of Stage East’s online collaborative project, ‘Life in Washington County,’ this piece combines text by Lilli Danaea, performance by Brian Schuth, music by Bill Johnson, and visual art by Anne Shields Hopkins.