Tides Institute & Museum of Art

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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.

JOE'S PLACE, EASTPORT, 1975! Photo in our collections that shows the popular corner grocery store, Joe's Place. Owned an...
10/23/2026

JOE'S PLACE, EASTPORT, 1975! Photo in our collections that shows the popular corner grocery store, Joe's Place. Owned and run by Joe Chevrier, the store stood at the foot of Sullivan Street (also known as Back Lane or Irish Hollow) along Water Street in Eastport, Maine where Ye Olde Hookers restaurant and bar now is. Photo dates to 1975 and was taken by John L. Raye.

2ND PORTRAIT OF TOMAH JOSEPH, C.1895! A second studio portrait photograph from an original glass plate negative in our c...
10/22/2026

2ND PORTRAIT OF TOMAH JOSEPH, C.1895! A second studio portrait photograph from an original glass plate negative in our collections of Tomah Joseph (c. 1837–1914), the legendary Passamaquoddy birchbark artisan and canoe maker and guide, who is dressed in traditional ceremonial regalia for the occasion. Photo dates to about 1895 and was taken by photographer, Charles. E. Brown, of Eastport, Maine. The glass plate negative is part of a large number of glass plate negatives in our collections, now known as the Charles E. Brown Family Collection.

STEAMER EASTERN CITY, 1850s! Wood engraving in our collections of the steamer Eastern City. The Eastern City was built b...
10/21/2026

STEAMER EASTERN CITY, 1850s! Wood engraving in our collections of the steamer Eastern City. The Eastern City was built by Lupton & McDiermed of New York City for the Calais (Maine) Steamboat Company in 1854. It took passengers between Boston, Portland, Eastport in the U.S. and Saint John in New Brunswick in Canada. The Eastern City was lost in a fire in the South Atlantic in August 1858. Wood engraving is from Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion periodical of Boston, March 11, 1854.

KEN'S POOL HALL, EASTPORT, 1975! Photo in our collections of an active interior scene at Ken's Pool Hall in downtown Eas...
10/20/2026

KEN'S POOL HALL, EASTPORT, 1975! Photo in our collections of an active interior scene at Ken's Pool Hall in downtown Eastport, Maine in 1975. It was located in the building where Horn Run Brewing is now. If anyone can identify any of the individuals in the photo that would be much appreciated. Photo is by John L. Raye.

CulturePass 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑 - October 9 - November 1, 2026 Cultural passport for classes, events, and exhibitions throug...
10/19/2026

CulturePass 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑 - October 9 - November 1, 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-october-9-nov-1
- 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]

TINNED FISH, MAGAZINE ANTIQUES! We were contacted last week by the national Magazine Antiques publication about their us...
10/16/2026

TINNED FISH, MAGAZINE ANTIQUES! We were contacted last week by the national Magazine Antiques publication about their using images of three tinned "fish" labels in our collections including this wonderful label for Lynbert Brand Choice Maine Clams packed by L.A. Fish of Jonesboro, Maine. We're guessing the label dates to about 1950. Magazine Antiques told us they are preparing an article on tinned fish in an upcoming issue of their magazine. Images of other labels they were seeking from our collections were Rockland Brand American Sardines and Mermaid Brand smoked sardines packed by the Sunset Packing Compnay of West Pembroke, Maine. We were happy to send along high res image files of these labels to them. Look for them in an upcoming issue of the magazine.

EARLY MORNING! Photo taken early this morning from across the street from our StudioWorks building in Eastport, Maine sh...
10/15/2026

EARLY MORNING! Photo taken early this morning from across the street from our StudioWorks building in Eastport, Maine showing the scale of the cruise ship Viking Mars (left) that docked earlier in the night at the breakwater pier compared to the aquaculture vessel MV Pauline T (right) docked at the fish pier. The Viking Mars departs around 2 pm (eastern) this afternoon.

COLLECTIONS ROAD TRIP! We made a mad dash over this past weekend to the Hartford area of north central Connecticut and b...
10/13/2026

COLLECTIONS ROAD TRIP! We made a mad dash over this past weekend to the Hartford area of north central Connecticut and back to pick up a van load of historical artifacts related to this area from a long time supporter of the Tides Institute. Posted here are a photo of the supporter, John Raye, with two of three c.1835 portrait paintings of his family ancestors here; individual photos of each of the three c.1835 portrait paintings; and a photo of downtown Hartford with the 1796 old Connecticut state house. Other artifacts brought back here include watercolor paintings, prints and photographs as well as basketry, a late 19th century quilt, an early 19th century trunk and ephemera. We’ll post photos of these additional artifacts in the coming months. Thank you John!

HOLD THE WATER! NO FIRE HERE! At first glance, it appears that this photo taken early in the morning late last week show...
10/13/2026

HOLD THE WATER! NO FIRE HERE! At first glance, it appears that this photo taken early in the morning late last week shows a fully engaged fire at our nearly 200 year old historic 1828 Meeting House (former Congregational Church) building on Middle Street in Eastport, Maine. Thankfully, it was just early morning sunlight illuminating in fiery orange-red a cloud behind the building and several window panes on the front of the building. No photoshop manipulation or A.I. shenanigans here. Just straight up photography at the right moment and at the right place. Designed and built by architect and builder, Daniel Low, the Meeting House has been listed on the National Register since 1976 and is deemed “the finest example of federalist architecture in Washington County, Maine.” We're having a new roof installed on the building this fall and we're working to raise significant funds to install a new foundation and undercarriage for the building over the next two years. Work is continuing to develop a small park to the rear of the building. Next summer there will be a new series of monthly Meeting House talks at the building. All part of efforts to preserve and restore this incredibly important historic building and bring it back to life. Onwards!

DIGITAL VERSIONS OF ORIGINAL LARGE 1780 J.F.W. DES BARRES CHARTS OF PASSAMAQUODDY REGION! In late July of this year, we ...
10/09/2026

DIGITAL VERSIONS OF ORIGINAL LARGE 1780 J.F.W. DES BARRES CHARTS OF PASSAMAQUODDY REGION! In late July of this year, we posted a note that original copies of the two scarce 1780 J.F. Des Barres charts of the Passamaquoddy region were gifted to the Tides Institute by Jim Arsenault, rare book, manuscript and map dealer based in Arrowsic, Maine. Jim has now also supplied us with high resolution digital copies of these two charts and we have posted slightly lower resolution digital copies of the charts here along with a couple of more detailed sections of the charts. Des Barres (1721-1824) was a cartographer working for the British Navy during this time. The chart consists of two sections, one of the upper Passamaquoddy Bay region and one of Grand Manan island with part of the Bold Coast and Lubec, Maine. Overall dimensions of the combined charts are approximately three feet in width and eight feet in length.

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43 Water Street
Eastport, ME
04631

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