Lacey Flanagan is an artist and instructor in Yarmouth, Maine. She specializes in painting and sculpture but has worked with multiple media throughout her career. Flanagan is the founder and creative director of Sunrise Art Studio in Yarmouth, where she creates thought-provoking pieces and helps new artists hone their craft.
Education and Background
A native resident of Maine, Lacey Flanagan grew up enjoying the coastal wonders on and around Chebeague Island, where the unique features of the landscape captured her imagination. She found the sound of wind and water as they crashed against natural structures particularly intriguing. This experience planted a seed that still informs her art today.
Flanagan earned a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art from Boston College, where her emphasis was on drawing, painting, and ceramics. Her passion for community and teaching came alive during her time at Maine College of Art & Design. While working on her MFA in Studio Art and Sculpture, Flanagan experienced the benefits of collaborating with other artists to create installations for the university gallery and shows at various local studios.
After graduation, Maine artist Lacey Flanagan taught Studio Art in the Upper School of North Yarmouth Academy, helping college hopefuls find their unique approach to artistic expression. Her classes focused on creating a solid technique base to give students the knowledge to branch out into their specific interests. Flanagan forged connections with area artists to connect students with others who specialized in their particular media and to give them hands-on experience with the local art scene.
A community grew out of these connections. Flanagan soon discovered many eager and budding artists in the surrounding areas and formed the Lacey Flanagan Yarmouth Maine Collective. She started Sunrise Art Studio as an answer to the need for a makers’ space and performance venue in which artists can create and display their work. Since then, Flanagan has hosted numerous art classes, open studio time, and artist residencies at Sunrise, where she continues to engage in solo and collaborative pursuits.
Artistic Focus
Maine artist Lacey Flanagan’s primary medium is ceramic sculpture, but she uses her background in various techniques to add depth to her pieces. Flanagan focuses on the natural world and typically includes some element of sand, water, stone, or natural light in every detail. She seeks sustainable materials to incorporate into her work and encourages her students to do the same.
The exploration of new genres is one of Flanagan’s passions, as is evident in her various multimedia projects. She operates from the perspective that all art serves as a connection between participants, and the result is a broad range of skills that make her a versatile collaborator.
The Lacey Flanagan Maine Experience and Other Projects
The Lacey Flanagan Maine Experience is an ongoing installation at Sunrise Art Studio. This collection features interactive works that blur the lines between artists and observers. Each piece invites participants to manipulate it to produce their own unique experience with it. Artist’s works in this installation include a sound sculpture that encourages attendees to play as percussion, a textile piece that serves as an interactive backdrop for spontaneous dance, and a life-sized board game where the participants are willing pawns.
The signature piece of the installation is Flanagan’s Collide-a-Scope. A vertical stone cylinder, eight feet in diameter, encompasses a collection of wind chimes. Flanagan built these chimes out of prisms so that when participants move them, either by hand or with handheld fans, the light from above creates a constant interplay of shadow and reflection.
Academic scholarship still remains a focal point in Flanagan’s career. Her textbook on collaborative art through multimedia response releases next fall.
Community Involvement
In addition to her thriving art collective, Flanagan is a vital member of Maine’s art scene. She volunteers at Yarmouth Arts Alliance events and works with artists tasked with YAA’s public installations. Last year, scholars at her alma mater invited her to participate in the Maine College of Art & Design’s Visiting Artist Series.
Fascinated with connections between humans and the natural world, Lacey Flanagan uses her work as an artist in Maine to highlight the importance of community involvement in conservation efforts. She frequently partners with the local nonprofit LandCAN to raise awareness and secure funding for its ongoing efforts. A significant part of the education she offers through the Sunrise Art Studio encourages participants to hone their understanding of how their actions affect the world around them.
As an established fixture in the Maine art community, Lacey Flanagan continues to inspire the next generation of artists to explore their artistic interests. Whether through her work with local nonprofits or the hands-on learning opportunities at Sunrise Art Studio, Flanagan is sure to continue as a liaison between art and community in Yarmouth for years to come.
