Maine nonprofit Artascope is an arts center – with a dash of community support
Eric Jacobsen gives a demonstration of plein air painting at the Yarmouth Boat Launch as part of Plein Air Art Fest 2026 earlier this month. (Photo courtesy of Artascope)
The counter covered in plates of brownies, charcuterie boards, and a jumble of other homemade fare may have been assembled by different neighbors, but the scene at an open house in Yarmouth last spring was no mere potluck gathering.
The celebration to introduce a brand new art studio space was more a high-energy hive of invention: In one room a metalsmith showed off jewelry she’d created and explained her process for ring-making to a small cluster of high schoolers; in another, a couple bought a landscape painting in a gallery-like setting; and in still another, a ceramics demonstration was setting up. And each artist — many of whom also teach classes in the space — is a member of the local art group Artascope.
In many ways, that potluck table is emblematic of what fuels the organization — and what initially drove executive director Catherine Bickford to found the group in 2000.
“My kids were 4 and 2, and I enjoyed being a mom but was really struggling to have adult conversation in my life,” says the Yarmouth native. “I wanted to connect with other people and have meaningful moments.”
She began offering art classes out of an apartment for $25 apiece, art materials included. “It made my life so much more full,” she recalls.
Julia Nichols paints plein air at the Royal River. (Photo courtesy of Artascope)
More than 25 years later, those early classes have morphed into a nonprofit group funded through a combination of paid memberships ($60 per month, which includes access to all studio hours), and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Maine Arts Commission and the Town of Yarmouth.
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Its large, new space is a single-floor home converted to three studios offering year-round events and (for an additional cost) classes — ranging from one-day watercolor workshops and free pastel classes at the Yarmouth Farmer’s Market to six-week paintings series and two-day wax carving workshops. Members must be over age 18, but there are classes for multiple age groups.
Yet in how it functions, it’s as much a community support group as an arts center—and members say that’s thanks as much to its inclusivity as to how classes are taught.
“What I saw in those early classes that really impressed me was cohort learning,” says Bickford, referring to the pedagogical practice that embraces collaboration within a group, with peers giving each other feedback and ideas on individual projects. “I thought, this is fantastic. I don’t know what it is, but I know it’s changing people.”
Artascope founder Catherine Bickford creates collage paintings at the Yarmouth Community Garden as part of Plein Air Art Fest 2026. (Photo by Francie Cook)
Experts agree while there may be no silver bullet for the loneliness epidemic, emphasized with a warning by the last U.S. surgeon general Vivek Murthy in 2023, one of the most helpful solutions can be community groups and shared spaces.
A 2024 national study from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education found “three-quarters of those surveyed said they wanted ‘more activities and fun community events,’” and its researchers “urge public and private leaders to build up social infrastructure in order to help people develop meaningful relationships with others.”
Yarmouth resident Pam Delpenich attests to that. “I was pretty depressed after retiring,” says Delpenich, who was previously an architect. She signed up to take a pottery class at Artascope, where she found people not only helping each other on individual projects, but as a group.
“I met five women there, and we’ve become really good friends. Several of them lost their mothers within the last year, and we supported each other through that. It’s that kind of place.”
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Delpenich now volunteers as Artascope’s board chair. She’s become so engaged in making ceramics there, she peddles her creations at the Yarmouth Farmer’s Market. “After a while I began to make so much, my husband told me I had to start selling some of it.”
From left, Lyn Bickford, Sue Lambe, David Finley and Emma Finley paint in a workshop with Liz Prescott in August 2026. (Photo courtesy of Artascope)
Cohort learning and social connection have also dovetailed for Kim Round, who decided to attend a workshop after moving back to Maine. “A lot of art is just trying to figure things out,” she says. “It’s problem solving and it can be tedious and tricky but it’s also fun. And solving problems is part of feeling like you’re doing things together.”
Since then she’s become an Artascope member and metalsmithing teacher, and her mother has volunteered as a studio monitor for the last three years.
“She was looking to connect with people and be part of the environment,” says Round. **“**She just loves seeing the people who come in. She’s a knitter, not an artist.”
In fact, it’s the group’s lack of hierarchy and intergenerational makeup that many credit for both its supportive structure and its growth. Members actively recruit non-artists to join — and at many different stages of life.
“What’s stuck out to me is there is no such thing as age here,” says Eric Jacobsen, an accomplished painter who this year taught for the fourth straight year at Artascope’s annual Plein Air Art Festival. “There are high schoolers and college students, and then there are some people who are retired. It’s a place where everybody feels the same age because everyone is excited about the learning and creating in an environment together with other people.”
Or, just as often, artists with one area of expertise will become members and take classes to learn about others. That was the case for Lisa Davis, a Maine high school art teacher of almost 30 years. She took one introductory class on metalsmithing last spring and got hooked. “I immediately signed up for three more,” she says. She now both teaches and takes classes — and brings her high school students in to take classes, as well.
“The point isn’t to be excellent, it’s to be creative and connect,” says Jacobsen, who has been teaching for three decades now, and travels the country teaching painting. “When there’s a safe place like Artascope where you’re not being judged, it has a very therapeutic effect.”
Gretchen Drown paints watercolors in Audrey Parker’s floral painting workshop in July 2026. (Photo courtesy of Artascope)
Alexandra Hall is a longtime New England lifestyle writer who lives in Maine.
Artascope will hold a juried art show Nov. 14 through Jan. 4, headed by Emma Wilson of Portland Art Gallery. Submissions are welcome; the deadline is Oct. 15. For more information visit artascope.org.
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