Tides Institute & Museum of Art

Name: Tides Institute & Museum of Art
Address: 43 Water Street, Eastport, ME, 04631, US
Telephone: +12078534047
Price range: Not applicable

Home
United States
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.

06/26/2026

EXHIBITION RECEPTION TONIGHT, 5-7 PM! We've got a reception this evening at our main building in downtown Eastport, Maine from 5-7 pm for our current exhibition. The exhibition features a selection from the more than 100 works by women artists that have come into our collections over the past 4-5 years. Images posted here show several of the works in the exhibition ranging from an 1928 oil painting of Boynton Hill in Eastport by Nellie Knopf, a c.2010 Passamaquoddy fancy basket by Molly Neptune Parker, kitchen cabinet doors by Elizabeth Ostrander and a late 19th century crazy quilt by Sarah Preble Livermore. Hope to see you this evening!

06/25/2026

CONSTRUCTION OF U.S. CUSTOMS HOUSE & POST OFFICE, EASTPORT, C.1893! Photo from our collections that shows the construction of the granite U.S. Customs House & Post Office in Eastport, Maine. Photo dates to about 1893. The building took three years to complete. The granite came from the Blue Hill Granite Company in Blue Hill, Maine. The initial supervising architect was James H. Windrim who oversaw the federal design bureau. We have high resolution scanned digital copies of the original architectural drawings for the building in our collections. The U.S. Weather Station can be seen on the top of the building at far left.

06/24/2026

STUDIOWORKS ARTIST TALKS/OPEN STUDIOS, TONIGHT, 7 PM! Join us this evening starting at 7 pm at our StudioWorks building, 48 Water Street, downtown Eastport, Maine for artist talks and open studios with our June artists-in-residence, Nancy Cohen (https://nancymcohen.com/) of Jersey City, New Jersey and
Hannah O’Hare Bennett (https://www.hannahoharebennett.com/) of Madison, Wisconsin. See what they've been working on and hear about their work. Hope to see you there!

06/23/2026

HISTORIC LINCOLN TABLE, DENNYSVILLE! Historic round table, about 43" in diameter and 29" tall, in our collections with elaborate inlaid crests on the top. The table was originally part of the late 18th century Lincoln House in Dennysville, Maine and came down through the Lincoln family there. A story behind the table suggests that it was one of four tables made for General Lafayette of France of the American Revolution fame to give to George Washington's top four generals including General Benjamin Lincoln. Benjamin Lincoln's son, Theodore, had the Lincoln House built in Dennysville. A photo of the table was sent to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 1968 for their opinion about the table. They replied that they thought the table was later than the time of the American Revolution and likely dated to the 1840s. They had no idea as to the meaning or significance of the crests on the top of the table, but didn't think they related to Lafayette. When the Lincoln House and its contents were sold at auction in the 1950s, after the last Lincoln family member living there had died, the table was purchased by the Emery family of Eastport, Maine. The table later descended to Walter Emery who lived in New Jersey. It was gifted to the Tides Institute from the estate of Walter Emery who died in 2018. We would like to know more about the date and origins of the table and what the meaning and significance of the crests are.

06/19/2026

1828 MEETING HOUSE COMES ALIVE AGAIN! About 50 people turned out to our historic 1828 meeting house in the center of Eastport, Maine on a cold, rainy June evening yesterday to hear a masterful talk by historian Jeffers Lennox of Wesleyan University. Posted photo shows the view. For about an hour they heard about two very different agreements, the Treaty of Watertown and the Declaration of Independence, and how they played out and did not play out along the northeast coast of North America in the mid to late 18th century between patriots, loyalists and indigenous peoples. There was a good exchange of questions and responses after the talk. For this evening, the meeting house came alive again and played its historic role as a place for people to meet together for the exchange of ideas, of conversations and community gathering. We have two more such talks scheduled for July and August as work continues to have the meeting house come alive again.

06/18/2026

TONIGHT, 7 PM! MEETING HOUSE TALK! HISTORIAN JEFFERS LENNOX! The first of our monthly summer series of talks on art, history and architecture begins tonight with professor and historian, Jeffers Lennox (see photo), of Wesleyan University in Middleton, Connecticut at 7 pm at our historic 1828 Central Meeting House (see photo) located at 26 Middle Street in Eastport, Maine. He'll be speaking on "1776 and After: Watertown, Independence, and Loyalism in the Wabanaki Homelands" (see photos). Parking is available at the Eastport Health Care parking lots next door. This talk is presented in collaboration with the Peavey Memorial Library of Eastport as part of joint programming on the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The summer talks are supported by the Maine Semiquincentennial Commission. Hope to see you tonight!

06/17/2026

THOMAS VOSE HOUSE, 1799, ROBBINSTON! Three photos from our collections that show the Thomas Vose house located along Route 1 in Robbinston, Maine. The first two photos, showing the front of the house, date to 2003 and the third, showing the south side of the house, was taken recently. The house was built in 1799 by Thomas Vose, a Robbinston shipbuilder. The bricks used in the construction of the house came from nearby Liberty Cove in Robbinston. The fanlight above the front door is covered over on the outside, but it contains 15 window panes that symbolize the 15 states making up the United States when the house was built. As far as we know, the house is the earliest brick federal period house still standing in Washington County, Maine.

06/16/2026

PORTRAIT OF CHIEF SAPIEL SELMORE, C.1900! Portrait photograph from an original glass plate negative in our collections of Passamaquoddy Tribal Chief Sapiel Selmore who was dressed in traditional ceremonial regalia for the occasion. Photo dates to about 1900 and was taken by photographer, Charles. E. Brown, of Eastport, Maine. The glass plate negative is part of a large collection of glass plate negatives, now known as the Charles E. Brown Family Collection, that recently were gifted to the Tides Institute with the vast majority taken by Brown.

06/15/2026

CulturePass 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑 - June 15 - 28, 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/0d69eee68249/culturepass-events-post-june-15-28
- 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]

06/12/2026

HAND PAINTED CHINA, C.1900! MATTIE WAIDE! Three pieces related to the hand painted china work by Mattie Waide (1857-1929) of Eastport, Maine are currently on exhibit at our main building. The pieces all date to about 1900. Hand painted china was fashionable throughout the United States and Canada at the time. The first piece is a large (20 1/4" wide, 12 1/4" high) watercolor painting design by Mattie Waide for one of her china pieces. This was a gift to the institute from Ken Schiano and Paula Beall who once owned Mattie Waide's home on Boynton Street in Eastport. The watercolor was still in the house when they acquired it. The second piece is a tall (14 1/4" high, 7" wide) hand painted china vase by Mattie Waide with a floral design based on the large watercolor design. It was a gift to the institute by Eleanor Norton. The third piece is a large (8 1/2" wide, 6 1/2" tall) hand painted china pitcher by Mattie Waide. It was a gift to the institute last year by Christopher Brown and Scott Brown in memory of their mother, Kate Wadsworth Brown. It is one of 61 pieces of Mattie Waide hand painted china gifted to the institute by them in memory of their mother who was a collector of Mattie Waide hand painted china.

Address

43 Water Street
Eastport, ME
04631

Telephone

+12078534047

Website

http://www.tidesinstitute.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Tides Institute & Museum of Art posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to Tides Institute & Museum of Art:

Shortcuts

Want your museum to be the top-listed Museum in Eastport?