Tag Archives: Justin Hoenke

Fin

Today is my last day at the Portland Public Library.

May 15 2010 at the Grand Reopening of the Portland Public Library

May 15 2010 at the Grand Reopening of the Portland Public Library

Three years ago we came to Maine as a trio and now we leave as a quartet. We’re heading to the South, somewhere just three years we thought we’d never call home, but now we’re proud to be moving to such a forward thinking city full of awesome people doing great things. Here we go.

I have learned a lot here in Maine and will always look back at my time and the people I surrounded myself with very fondly. I had some major ups and major downs, but I wouldn’t change a thing. From these moments and situations, I’ve grown as a person and I feel better equipped to handle life and everything that comes my way.

Thank you Portland, ME, specifically the teens, members of the community, and the folks that I worked with at the Portland Public Library. I have nothing but love and respect for each and every one of you. I know I use the word community a lot on this blog but I don’t think I really understood the true power of community until I lived in this town. The way that I’ve seen this town come together has shown me that no matter what, if we work together towards a common goal, we will get there. My heart goes out to so many people that I’ll forget to mention a few but I’ll try: Tim Spalding and his family, Jan Kendrick, The West End Neighborhood Association, The Rowe Family, The Schuitt Family, Leza Gough, Kirsten Cappy and Mark Mattos, Michael Whittaker and Michelle Zichella, Justin Busque, Abraham Schechter, Michelle Souliere and so many others…you know who you are.

Music

I’ve been writing and recording music for most of my life .  However over the past six years I’ve set it aside to focus on other things.  Now that my youngest son Aero can crawl and my oldest son Finn is more than capable of running around himself (he’s 3.5 years old), I’ve begun again to pick up the guitar and write bits and pieces of music.  And I’ve missed it quite a bit.

It’s been one of those moments in my life where I’ve realized that I’m clearly entering a new phase in my life.  To “clean house” and get ready for this new phase,  I’ve been working on collecting, organizing, and putting all of the music I’ve written and recorded between 2001-2011 online for free.  Most of this stuff has been available for many years now, but some is brand new to the public.  Anywho, I’m happy to share it all with you now and I hope you enjoy it.

Please visit http://belsapadore.bandcamp.com/ to download any of the eight collections of music I have compiled.

Please visit http://belsapadore.wordpress.com/ to read writings and thoughts on the music I have created between 2001-2011.

Thank you for your time!

2004

2005

2007

2009

2010

2011

2012

Making Art with Teens (THANK YOU)

To read all about the project (from start to finish) please click here

To view the artwork and also behind the scenes photos please click here

To watch our interviews with the teen artists, please click here

Thank you to Peter Hyde for helping bring the project together.  Before you stepped in, we only had an idea of what the project would look like but really didn’t have an idea about how to do it…you solved that!  We were very lucky to have someone like you as the first MECA intern to work on this project.

Many thanks to everyone from the Portland Public Library and the Maine College of Art who were involved in helping get this project off the ground and seeing it through to completion.  Extra special thanks to Portland Public Library Programming Manager Rachael Weyand for all of her organizing, publicity work, and more.

And finally, to the teens: Claire, Keanan, Paisley, and Reesey…THANK YOU for your participation, your work, your vision, your amazing artwork, and most of all, thank you for being part of the Portland Public Teen Library community.