Center for Maine Contemporary Art — Attraction in Rockland

Wish a different person had been at the front desk, unless they're all like this at the museum. The lady there yelled at my kids for touching stuff before we, the parents, could even get through the main doors. I quickly grabbed the kids and told them they can't touch stuff in here. Her yelling was a bit harsh, like repeated DON'T TOUCH five times, and not with any tone of understanding that kids are hard to manage sometimes, but I realized they ran in quickly before we could even do anything, so I let it slide. The kids had to use the bathroom, so we went there first and then were headed back to the front desk to pay and go enjoy the museum. One of the kids got loose and BARELY touched another, very inviting, colorful exhibit, within reach of a two-year old. The same lady immediately yelled at her again and then yelled at me to hold her, which I was obviously doing at this point. Wife got out of the bathroom a few minutes later, and I told her we weren't staying, which she was fine with. As we were leaving, the lady very sarcastically said "thanks for using the bathroom." Yeah lady, we got the stroller and three kids out of the car to walk 50 feet just to use the bathroom. Eye roll. I told her we really were going to stay (because it was raining and not much to do), but that she yelled at us twice. She didn't apologize and just said "there's a sign." I said "where?" She pointed to this pretty small sign on a stand about chest high that was turned sideways when you walk in. No one with kids is going to see that sign when they walk in. The sign had like a thousand words on it (obvious exaggeration, but it had way too much text to be able to read BEFORE kids run in and touch stuff that is RIGHT IN THE FOYER). The biggest thing is how we were treated, with so much rudeness. Clearly the lady has never had kids and has no experience with children, based on the way she talked to my pretty well-behaved children, and how she talks to adults. Not kind at all. We have three kids and A LOT of nieces and nephews. That is NOT how to talk to children or people in general. It was unfortunate too, because we have only encountered very nice people in Maine, and only kind comments about our kids, who have made countless strangers smile and laugh so far, so this lady is an anomaly. Very unfortunate for this very highly-rated museum to employ someone like her, with no warmth or...

If you are thinking of visiting this museum DON’T. Repeat - Don’t!!!

We visited August 17, 2023 and were charged $16.00 - the senior rate for two. We have visited hundreds of museums all over the world and found this one to be absolutely worthless!!!

All three exhibits were wretched and demonstrated little to no artistic quality whatsoever. This does not bode well for future exhibits for I presume the current staff approved these exhibits, which clearly means that they are demonstrably unable to discern between garbage and art in all its many forms and gradations.

So — save your money and avoid feeling compelled to jam chop sticks into your eyes - visit a truly wonderful museum just one block away - the Farnsworth. You will be...

The featured exhibits are engaging and include insight into the artists' inpirations, processes, and methods. I left feeling that I'd learned enough to appreciate more deeply the art and the work it took to create it. There is a great workshop (called ArtLab) where hands-on education is provided. My kids did an art project related to the current exhibit, but ArtLab is available to all ages. Check out the website to see...