ArtFeeds 4th Annual Exhibition & Silent Auction

2025 marks the 4th year of our collaboration with our community’s vibrant artists, Page Gallery, and the Maine State Correctional Facility which culminated in another amazing exhibition of work.

This year's ArtFeeds silent auction raised close to $22,000. For context, this covers the food costs for our Market (serving about 900 people/week), our Home Delivery program (serving about 175 people/week), and Self-Serve Shelf Units—all 12 of them (serving about 300 people/week)—for 3 weeks. That’s 1,375 people fed for three weeks. We are incredibly grateful to all who participated and supported AIO.

ArtFeeds is the result of a proud partnership between

2025 Bowls

  1. Go to our online bidding platform: Bidding Owl.com and create an account.
    We recommend you register early.

  2. Bid early and often! Visit our ArtFeeds Auction Page beginning September 6th.

    Bidding will close Saturday, September 13th at 5pm.

FAQ

How to Bid

  • Bidding begins on Saturday, September 6 and ends at 5:00 PM on Saturday, September 13.

  • No, all bidding is online. However, there will be assistance to set up you online bidding account at Page Gallery on Saturday, September 13. The closing reception is from 4:00-6:00pm, with closing bids by 5:00pm.

  • Nope…online bidding can be done from anywhere! Just be sure to check in on your items frequently so you are not outbid.

  • Yes, we have a flat rate of $25 for packaging and shipping. Some items may require additional packaging and insurance which will be added at the time of shipping.

2025 ArtFeeds Artists

ArtFeeds Background

AIO has a long tradition of harnessing the talents and innovative ideas of Midcoast Maine’s creative community to make the connection between food and art. ArtFeeds, Artists-in-Action Against Food Insecurity, is a first-of-its-kind collaboration with the community’s vibrant artists, Page Gallery and the Maine State Correctional Facility, created to highlight and raise support for AIO’s programs.  

Fifty artists have participated in ArtFeeds since its start in 2022, each artist creating their own bowl or working with a wooden bowl carved and donated by residents of the Maine State Correctional Facility’s woodworking program. 

The collection of finished bowls are part of a one week exhibition at Page Gallery in Camden, culminating with a reception and silent auction. The three silent auctions to date have raised over $80,000 to benefit AIO’s programs. 

Filmmaker David Berez and photographer Tara Rice documented artists at work and their process of creating the bowls. You can view the film at the bottom of this page. ArtFeeds was featured in DownEast which can be read here.

We are fortunate to live in a vibrant art community here in Midcoast Maine. This collaboration demonstrates what we can do when we combine the unique talents and compassion of our community members to help fight hunger.

Maine State Prison Handmade Wooden Bowls

ArtFeeds bowls were designed and handcrafted specifically for this project at the Maine State Prison in Warren, ME.

Maine Department of Corrections Commissioner Randal Liberty

“This partnership is personal”, says Maine Department of Corrections Commissioner Randall Liberty. “I grew up food insecure, I grew up with that shame and fear. No one should have to go through that. The impact of this trauma has informed my professional outlook. The Maine Department of Corrections operates within a framework of transforming lives, just like AIO. We believe in rehabilitation, humanism, and reducing stigma. We believe in being of service to the community. Residents bake, grow and harvest thousands of pounds of food specifically for the benefit of those food insecure in the mid coast.

Innovative programs and collaborative efforts, like ArtFeeds, ensure food is accessible to all, reduces stigma, and allows those incarcerated artists and farmers a pathway to personal and community redemption”, says Maine Department of Corrections Commissioner Liberty. “We share in AIO’s vision to have a hunger-free community.”

Words from the Artists

I'm honored to be a part of ArtFeeds and to bring awareness to AIO. I want people to be aware that resources like this exist. Help for people in our community who need food and heating assistance is so important.

—Ileana Appleton Foster

“Participating in ArtFeeds allows me to support an important cause in the community—where I've lived nearly all my life—while doing what I love most—art!

—Caroline Dishop

The bowl is a vessel to gather around, to collect nourishing food, and to feed our families from. With my painted bowl, I wanted to honor the way AIO serves the same purpose.

—Colin Page

“AIO restores my faith in the basic goodness of people. When we have, we share. When we can, we help. That is the definition of community. AIO embodies that. That is why I feel honored to participate.”

—Laura Waller