Thurman the Turtle: Turnstyle Thursday

Turnstyle Thursday is Portland, Maine's most accessible open mic currently located at CTN 5 community television. Turnstyle is hosted and produced by the Hidden Ladder Collective. Live collaborative paintings happen during the 3 hour event each week and everyone is invited to perform, play, dance, read, cheer, draw, paint, yell, laugh, or recite artwork. Hidden Ladder Collective won producer of the year in 2013 for Turnstyle Thursday and the open mic was nominated as one of the top 5 open mics in Portland Maine!

Being an active member (and founding member) of the Hidden Ladder Collective and one of the original organizers of Turnstyle Thursday and the collaborative art wall I wanted to create something for the fundraiser table, which helps us raise money to pay for the CTN recording studio each week. Thurman the Turtle was my mascot creation for the poster and I used three stencils and 4 different spray paints to create these posters. They are limited to only 20 and are on sale for a discounted rate of $5 available at CTN (you can also message me to buy one online).

William Hessian nominated for BEST VISUAL ARTIST in Portland Maine

I am excited and humbled to announce that I have been nominated as the BEST VISUAL ARTIST in the PORTLAND PHOENIX for the city of Portland in 2014. The announcement came in the newspapers just a few weeks before I planned to announce my spring time ART HUNT & PARK CLEAN UP event! The winner of the title "BEST VISUAL ARTIST" is decided by online vote, and everyone can vote once per day until May 15th, 2014.

Also, consider voting for Hidden Ladder Collective's open mic event Turnstyle Thursday! Please visit facebook to see a list of other Hidden Ladder Collective friends and artist to show your support for the growing creative community in Portland, Maine. Vote for William Hessian now.

Award Winning Hidden Ladder Collective

Hidden Ladder Collective has been named the CTN 5 public access TV stations Producer of the Year for 2013! We are honored to be awarded such high praise for our work, most notably on Turnstyle Thursday, a weekly open mic variety show that has been running nearly a year. It started at the Meg Perry Center and is now at CTN 5. Thanks to everyone that put in the work to make this a big success. Shout out to Myles Bullen, Sighless, Artur Kaptelinin, Abbeth Russell, Seth Dussault, Agee Tibke, Patrick Russell, Bill Blood and Barry Miller!

The Hidden Ladder Collective is a rapidly growing tidal wave of creative energy based out of Portland, Maine. In this collective, painters are musicians are filmmakers are writers are photographers are activists are sculptors. The boundaries between mediums have been shattered. We are all creators. We are accountable to art. We are resourceful. We make art out of anything and everything. Boredom is unacceptable.


Sample Performance at Turnstyle Thursday. 

Collaborative art from Turnstyle Thursday

We have been putting on monthly art shows for over a year. Our shows are interactive, innovative, and accessible. We are the opposite of a museum where you must stand three feet from the art. In Rip and Tear we invited you to rip art off the walls. In Sensory Circus we allowed you to experience it with all five senses. In 10 Minute Showcase, the performances became the art. In Portal To, you became the art. At Cardboard Monster you could draw all over the artwork with markers that hung from the ceiling. Our shows allow everyone who attends to discover their own creative impulses.

Want to get involved? Come to our next show!

Make sure to read about Dr. Goodweather's Dreaming Attic show!

I love these people