Curriculum Vitae
Susan C. Bickford
56 Falls Rd. Newcastle, Maine 04553 phone: (207) 329-8311
email: sbickford@tidewater.net, sbickford@maine.edu
websites: www.susanbickfordinteractive.com, www.stillnesscollective.com
Instagram: @susan.bickford, @the_stillness_collective
Facebook: @susan.bickford1, @thestillnesscollective
Susan Bickford on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user338004
https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lR2rw-A=/?share_link_id=793513187063
Education:
Maine College of Art, Masters of Fine Art in Studio Art, 2001
Rhode Island School of Design, Bachelors of Industrial Design, 1986
Rhode Island School of Design, Bachelors of Fine Arts, 1985
Gesturing Towards De-colonial Futures, Sensing Harm by Design online 6 week course 2023
Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides, Certified Forest Therapy Guide December 2017
The Upstander Academy 2021, Professional Development Program for Educators, focuses on
genocide against Native peoples in the United States as a framework for historical inquiry.
Foresta Collective Seasonal Academy 2020 - 2023 International online ecologies of human and
more-than-human vibrancy and restoration of bonding within the world of many worlds
Wilderness First Aid Certified 2005 - 2023
Mentorship / Apprenticeship Training in Qigong, Taiji, Gongfu and Sword with Brea Fisher, Quan
Yin Gongfu 2020 - ongoing
Astrology: Private Teachings Andrea Goodman, weekly ongoing
National Art Education Association Summer Vision Immersion 2015
Two-Year Apprenticeship Training in Shamanic Healing, Spirit Passages 1996
Recent Awards:
The Maine Arts Commission Individual Fellowship for Media and Performance 2017
American Rescue Plan National Endowment for the Arts, awarded through SPACE Gallery 2022
Selected Exhibitions, Performances, Experiences:
The (stillness) project/collective an annual intensive making retreat in nature. August 2015 - present
Experience: Founder visionary, organizer, collaborator, producer, videographer, writer, performer, link to interactive
Map with digital traces of all years: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lR2rw-A=/?
share_link_id=793513187063
Upcoming:
SPACE Gallery, Portland Maine February 2024
Exhibition: the (stillness) collective: Bodies of Weather
Annie Bailey, Susan Bickford, Fletcher Boote, Katherine Ferrier, Robin Lane, Heather Lyon, Luke
Myers
A place based interdisciplinary, improvisational, collaborative practicing deep listening and intensive
making in nature offering our work toward kinship with human and more than human partners along
waterways in Midcoast Maine. Multiple screen video installation, spoken word poetry, sculptural ephemera,
costumes, photography, live performance.
Recent:
Speedwell Projects, Portland, Maine, May June 2022
Exhibition: (stillness) collective: Unfolding Place:
Annie Bailey, Susan Bickford, Katherine Ferrier, Robin Lane, Heather Lyon and Luke Myers
A place based interdisciplinary, improvisational, collaborative practicing deep listening and intensive
making in nature offering our work toward kinship with human and more than human partners along
waterways in Midcoast Maine
Multiple screen video installation, spoken word poetry, sculptural ephemera, photography, supportive
events programing
Speedwell Projects, Portland Maine, Platform Walks curated by Julie Poitras Santos
Experience: Forest Therapy meets Foraged Feast, collaboration with Rachel Alexandrou
The Yarmouth History Center Stone Wall Gallery, Yarmouth Maine
Exhibition: Mapping the (stillness) project, drawings, charts and maps, video installation, March 6 - May
1, 2020
The Picnic Pavilion, Venice, Italy May 2019 Curated by Gabriel Adams, Con-current with the Venice
Bienale
Experience: A garden bathing experience with spruce tea and persimmon pudding
Maine International Film Festival, MIFF on Edge July 2019
Exhibition: Installation of (stillness)18 a 5 screen synched video projection from collaborative intensive
Including a foraged happy hour experience collaboration with Rachel Alexandrou
Stanley Whitman House Historic Colonial Museum, Artist in Residence, October 2020
Experience: Forest Therapy meets the Dooryard Garden, reading and tea: “A Recipe for a Reparation
Pie”
Maine International Film Festival, MIFF on Edge July 2018
Exhibition: Installation of (stillness)15 a 5 screen synched video projection from collaborative retreat
The Ogunquit Museum of American Art October 2017 + August 2021
Experience: A Forest Bathing Intervention in the Garden with foraged tea and field drawing
Rhode Island School of Design October 2015
Exhibition: Collaborative Portrait Project: RISD: Seven, four foot collaborative portraits of legacy
professors made with 175 RISD Alumni from around the world. www.collaborativeportraitproject.com
Musical Concert of Laraaji Nadabrahmananda December 2015
Experience: Video projection designer
University of Maine at Augusta Danforth Gallery, Augusta Maine
Exhibition: UMA 50/Faces 50 Portraits : Five four foot collaborative portraits of notable alumni made
by 144 UMA community members
University of Maine at Augusta Danforth Gallery, Augusta Maine
Exhibition: Collaborative Portrait Project Farmers Edition: Ten four foot portraits of CSA Farmers
made collaboratively by 250 high-school students and their teachers.
http://www.collaborativeportraitproject.com/
Englewood Art Center, a division of Ringling College of Art and Design, Englewood Florida Jan. 2013
Exhibition: Polyphemus: An immersive installation of interactive projected video, sound and installation
Harlow Gallery, Hallowell, Waterville, Brunswick, Maine April 2012 – Feb. 2013
Exhibition: CSA: CSA group show: Paired with Goranson Organic Farm in Dresden, “A Growing
Season”, 50 minute video, monthly zine of working farm
University of New England Art Gallery, Oct. - Dec. 2012
Maine Women Pioneers 3, Vanguard: featuring experimental works by nine Maine artists who offer
insights into the future using mixed media, conceptual installation, performance and video elements.
Exhibition: Torndado, an immersive installation of interactive projected video and automated sculpture
Theater at Monmouth, Monmouth Maine, Summer 2012
Experience: Projection designer for production of “Point Last Seen”, by Hannah Nyala, directed by
Dawn McAndrews + Odelle Bowman
Charles Danforth Gallery, University of Maine at Augusta, Augusta Maine, Jan. 2012
Exhibition: FLOAT/PLAY: Electronic Arts Collaborative Exhibition
An extension of research with faculty Robert Rainey, community member Kerstin Gilg and Clay Waites
Heartwood Regional Theater Company, Newcastle Maine, Spring/Summer 2011
Projection team, animation designer for production of "Sunday in the Park with George", by Stephen
Sondheim, directed by Griff Braley
Charles Danforth Gallery, University of Maine at Augusta, Augusta Maine, Sept. - Oct., 2009
Exhibition: Solo show Susan Bickford: Precarious Balance a show of interactive video installation,
projected video, electronic sculpture, drawings and collaborative performance
Colby College, Strider Theater Waterville Maine, November, 2009,
Video projection designer for Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman, directed by Lynne Conner
Portland Stage Company, Portland Maine, May 2010
Video projections for a production of Snapshot Silhouette, by Kia Corthron, directed by Odelle Bowman
Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport Maine, August 2007
Exhibition: Up Close, juried show, “warrior2poet”, video
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine, February, 2006
Performance: “FF>>: Duet for Piano Hydraulic Lift & vol. F”, Collaborative performance with video
installation.
University of Maine at Farmington, Farmington, Maine, February - March, 2006
Exhibition: Working together: working apart: Solo show, video, installation, performance, iris prints
SPACE Gallery, Portland, Maine, June 2005
Performance: “Tranpsyrenation”, collaborative multi-media performance with video and sound
Portland Stage Company, Portland, Maine, Cassandra Project, May 2005
Performance: “I want to talk to you”, Solo performance, spoken word, movement, video projection
St. Lawrence Performance Center, Portland, Maine, Cassandra Project, May 2006
Performance: Collaborative performance, spoken word, movement, video projection
Portland Museum of Art Biennial, Portland Maine, April, 2005
Exhibition: Landing and Compost before Fire, Video
Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, Maine, March 2005
Exhibition: Faculty of the Next Generation: Video and Iris Prints from In my Backyard
SPACE Gallery, Portland Maine, January/February 2005
Exhibition: “Light in the Dark”, Curator for a show of Installation, Sculpture and Performance with light
inherent in it’s form
University of Maine, Augusta, Jewett Gallery, December – February 2004
Exhibition: “FeedBack” Curator for a six person sculpture/installation Gallery Show
Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, Maine, March 2004
Exhibition: Table, “Plugged In”, juried festival of new media and performance, Video installation
In My Backyard 1,2,3 ,4 & 5 Yarmouth, Maine, June, July, August , 2001-2005
Experience: Organizing, promoting, producing this annual international art and performance festival
Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland Maine, Juried Alumni Show, November 2003
Exhibition: Still Undetermined, Performative Installation
Northwestern Connecticut Community College Art Gallery, Hartford CT, Sept./Oct. 2003
Exhibition: Letting Go, Solo installation/ including projected video
University of New England Art Gallery and The Maine Art Gallery, Portland Maine and Wiscasset ME
“A prelude to an Apocalypse”, September 2002 Exhibition: Morning Remains and Total
Undetermined, Collaborative performance, Waiting for a Sound, a solo installation with projected video
The St. Lawrence Arts and Community Center, November 2001
Performance: Meeting the Beast, Conceived of and organized cast of 25, video, dancers, musicians,
and installation artists to co-create this theater performance based on the texts of Emanuel Levinas
Saco Museum, Saco, Maine, “Inspired by Saco: Artists respond to the Collection of the Saco
Museum, 2001
Exhibition: 21st Century Digital Portrait Painter, performance /video projection
Islip Art Museum, Long Island, New York, “The Spiritual in Art,” 2000
Exhibition: Window to the Outside World, Solo performance, projected video, sound
Teaching and Related Experience:
Co-Director/Director of Danforth Gallery at the University of Maine at Augusta 2017 - 2019
Curating 3 shows in Fall semester, 4 student shows in spring semester annually, focus on programming
to bring Maine Artists into the Gallery for talks and performative dinners. CAUSE Club faculty liaison,
facilitating weekly pot-luck lunches in the Gallery for Artists across disciplines. www.artsuma.com
@danforthgallery on Facebook
University of Maine, Orono, Graduate Intermedia Program 2013 -2016
Associate Graduate Faculty Member: Topics in Technological Development; Interactive Installation,
Intermedia Studio Critique 2 & 3, Research Studio 2: Collaboration
University of Maine at Augusta 2003 – Present
Adjunct Professor: 2-Dimensional Design, Contemporary Studio Practices and Theory, Electronic Arts 2,
Modern Art 2, Senior Seminar, 3-Dimensional Design, Art 100
Rippleffect, Cow Island, June-August, 2005 - 2008
Artist in Residence, video Instructor/editor, environmental art, ring making, Adventure Kayaking
Leadership School
(stillness) kitchen 2021 Co-Directed Nature School with Rachel Alexandrou
Five long weekend immersions at the reversing falls on the Sheepscot River in Newcastle Maine.
Following the plants through the seasons May - September sharing our knowledge within a small cohort:
plant identification, foraging, processing, preserving, cooking, feasting, wild tending, nature therapy,
drawing, crafting, writing, story-telling, river immersion, yoga, sharing circle, modes of communication +
reflection. https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lUa_Zo8=/?share_link_id=245071616596
Forest Therapy Guide 2017 - Present
Guiding Forest Therapy walks in various conservancies, such as the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens,
The Midcoast Conservancy, Baxter Woods, The Bates Morse Mountain Preserve, as well as museums
The Ogunquit Museum of American Art and the Stanley Whitman House in Farmington CT