Tides Institute & Museum of Art

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Eastport, ME
Tides Institute & Museum of Art

43 Water Street, Eastport, Maine 04631 USA TIMA's collections represent the largest and most significant cultural collections along the eastern coast of Maine.

Founded in 2002 in Eastport Maine, the Tides Institute & Museum of Art is located on the Atlantic coast at the US/Canada border. This boundary location shapes its perspective on the region and the broader world: through its initiatives and programs to foster new innovative and cross-sector works; through its wide ranging collections, education and preservation eﬀorts; and through its partnerships

and endeavors to strengthen the region’s economic prosperity, vitality and wider connections. From historical to contemporary, from the 18th century to today, the collections have a particular focus on art, broadly conceived, but also have strong interests with architecture and history. The focuses of the collections are on the U.S./Canada northeast coast with connections to the broader world. TIMA's StudioWorks Artist-in-Residence Program is now in its ninth year. Facilities include an 1887 downtown StudioWorks space, an 1819 North Church Project Space plus two historic buildings for artist housing. Since 2013, 62 artists from 18 different states and four foreign countries have participated in the program. The Tides Institute & Museum of Art (TIMA) campus is made up of eight 19th century repurposed historic buildings as well as additional properties owned by TIMA. These buildings, dating from 1819 to the end of the 19th century, preserve and reflect the region’s architectural heritage while repurposing them with 21st century activities and resources. Four of TIMA’s buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (including three that were designed by the same architect and built at the same time), six (including the four on the National Register) are part of Eastport’s local historic district, and two other TIMA buildings are located nearby in an adjacent historic residential area.

09/07/2026

CulturePass 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑 - September 7 - 20, 2026 Cultural passport for classes, events, and exhibitions throughout the international Passamaquoddy Bay region. From Grand Manan to Campobello, St. Andrews to St. Stephen. Calais to Eastport to Lubec and the places in between.
Click on our latest CulturePass (CP) events calendar:
https://mailchi.mp/tidesinstitute/culturepass-events-post-september-7-20
- which highlights events for the upcoming weeks.
Subscribe to CP and receive this weekly calendar directly to your inbox every Sunday night:
https://www.artsipelago.net/subscribe-to-our-newsletter
CP and its companion website, Artsipelago.net, are projects of the Tides Institute and Museum of Art.
Would you like to see your artwork or images used in our email? We welcome submissions of all kinds, simply send an email to: [email protected]

09/04/2026

LA SARDINA LOCA SIGN! Sign in our collections for the famed La Sardina Loca Mexican restaurant that ran for more than 15 years (June, 1990 to September, 2006) on the first floor of our Masonic Hall building in downtown Eastport, Maine. Sign measures approximately 30" wide by 38" high and was painted by Martha "Marty" Howbert. It was a gift to the Tides Institute from the estate of Chuck and Val Maggiani who owned and ran the restaurant. We're hoping to develop a collection of stories about the restaurant.

09/03/2026

EARLY 19TH CENTURY SECRETARY DESKS! Three early 19th century secretary desks that are part of a large collection of furniture from this region at the Tides Institute. We have two other early 19th century secretary desks in our collections that still need to be photographed: one that came down through the Eaton family in Calais, Maine and one that came down through the Emery family in Eastport, Maine.

09/02/2026

SEED SOWING, WASHINGTON COUNTY, MAINE, 1975! That's the title of this watercolor painting (16 3/4" W x 13 3/4" H) in our collections. It's the work of Philadelphia based mosaic artist, Isaiah Zagar (1939-2026), who recently passed away. He must have come here during the "back to land" movement. We know nothing about his time here, whether it was a brief visit or whether he lived here for awhile.

09/01/2026

WEST QUODDY HEAD LIGHTHOUSE, C.1895! Image from a high resolution scan we recently made from an original glass plate photographic negative now in our collections of the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse in Lubec, Maine. Grand Manan island in New Brunswick can be seen in the background. Glass plate negative dates to about 1895 and is the work of photographer Charles E. Brown (1863-1945). It is part of the Charles E. Brown Family collection of over 500 glass plate negatives of this region held at the Tides Institute.

08/29/2026

LAST DAY/DAY 2: 1776 DUNLAP COPY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE ON VIEW TODAY @ TIDES INSTITUTE! The Maine Historical Society's rare 1776 Dunlap copy of the American Declaration of Independence was on view at the Tides Institute yesterday and 277 people came to view it including 101 1/2 year old Ruth McInnis of Eastport, Maine. People came in period costume as well. The Dunlap copy is also on view today, its last day here, from 10 am - 3:30 pm. This is a rare opportunity and you don't need a ticket to see it. At 4 pm today, there will be brief closing remarks and a talk by historian Liam Riordan of the University of Maine on the Dunlap copy. These remarks and talk will take place in front of the Tides Institute's main building in downtown Eastport, Maine.

08/28/2026

RARE 1776 DUNLAP COPY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IS HERE! VIEWING TODAY & TOMORROW @ TIDES INSTITUTE! The Maine Historical Society of Portland, Maine has brought its rare 1776 Dunlap copy of the American Declaration of Independence to Washington County, Maine as part of a statewide tour. The Tides Institute will serve as the Washington County exhibition site today (August 28, 10 am - 5:30 pm) and tomorrow (August 29, 10 am - 3:30 pm). Shown in posted photo taken late yesterday afternoon is the installed Dunlap copy in the Tides Institute's main building with Maine Historical Society curators Catherine Cyr (left) and Tiffany Link (right) along with the Society's director Steve Bromage (center). Related exhibition elements will be at our Masonic Hall building across Water Street from our main building.

Full details on this exhibition including two remaining all ages workshops at our nearby partnering institution, the Peavey Memorial Library, in Eastport today and tomorrow, can be found on our website: https://www.tidesinstitute.org/declaration-of-independence-exhibition-programming-august-27-29/. Online timed ticket information for viewing the Dunlap copy can be found here: https://mainehistory.rezgo.com/details/425083/declaration-of-independence-tour-tides-institute-museum-of-art. At 4 pm on Saturday, August 29, following the closing of the exhibition at 3:30 pm, there will be brief closing remarks and a talk by historian Liam Riordan of the University of Maine on the Dunlap copy. These remarks and talk will take place in front of the Tides Institute's main building.

We also commissioned a large broadside to commemorate this event. Posted photos show signing of the Declaration of Independence, the 1776 Dunlap copy and the commemorative broadside. Full view of the commemorative broadside and how to purchase it online can be found here: https://tidesinstitute.app.neoncrm.com/giftstore/product?id=46/.

08/27/2026

TRIPLE TROUBLE! Lobster boat, Triple Trouble, heading out just at sunrise from the breakwater harbor in Eastport, Maine with a full load of lobster traps. Islands in nearby New Brunswick are in the background: left to right, Indian, Thrumcap, Cherry and Campobello Islands.

08/26/2026

STUDIOWORKS ARTIST! The second half of August we have had with our StudioWorks artist-in-residence program architect and artist Carol Ann Livingstone (www.calivingstone.com/) of Cape Cod. Posted photo shows her pulling a print earlier this week in our Nina Bohlen print studio in downtown Eastport, Maine. She departs this weekend. We have two more artists arriving on September 13th for a month: Esther Jiskoot, (https://estherjiskoot.com/) of Amsterdam in The Netherlands and Ish*ta Jain (https://ish*tajain.in) of Brooklyn, New York.

08/25/2026

LUBEC! Oil on masonite painting (23 1/4" x 18 3/8") in our collections of a view of Lubec, Maine from nearby Campobello Island, New Brunswick. The painting is signed in the lower right corner with what appears to be the initials "P S" underneath the title "Lubec", but we don't know what the full name of the artist might be. Does anyone know? We're guessing the painting dates to about the 1950s, perhaps earlier.

Address

43 Water Street
Eastport, ME
04631

Telephone

+12078534047

Website

http://www.tidesinstitute.org/

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