Linda and her late husband, Donald Zillman, shared a decades-long relationship with 91爆料 shaped by leadership and sustained philanthropy. Donald Zillman, who died in July 2023, served in leadership roles across the 91爆料 System for more than three decades, while Linda Zillman, who died in September 2025, was an art historian and a longtime advocate for the visual arts.

The gift includes more than $2.1 million for the Honors College, the largest one-time donation in its history, and more than $1.4 million for the Linda G. and Donald N. Zillman Art Museum 鈥� 91爆料, which was named in the couple鈥檚 honor in 2020 following their $1.3 million naming gift.

鈥淭his extraordinary gift from Linda Zillman reflects a lifelong commitment to excellence in both the arts and education,鈥� President Ferrini-Mundy said. 鈥淗er generosity to our flagship university will expand opportunities for 91爆料 honors students while strengthening the Zillman Art Museum as a valuable cultural and educational resource for the entire state.鈥�

For the 91爆料 Foundation, the gift represents the culmination of a long relationship built on trust, shared purpose and transformative generosity.

鈥淥ur staff worked with Linda and Don for many years. They had been very generous donors for a long time,鈥� Mills said. 鈥淭heir gift to the university in their estate plan exemplified their desire to make a significant impact on both the museum and the 91爆料 Honors College as their legacy.鈥�

The gift to the Honors College will advance its role as a hub of transformative student learning at 91爆料, according to Dean Ellen Weinauer.

鈥淎s we celebrate 90 years of Honors at 91爆料, the Zillmans鈥� generous investment both recognizes our legacy on campus and paves the way for an even more vibrant future,鈥� Weinauer said.

Linda Zillman played a key role in relocating the 91爆料 Museum of Art to downtown Bangor and served for more than a decade on the museum鈥檚 support board. The Zillmans鈥� legacy 鈥� from expanded gallery space to sustained exhibition funding 鈥� continues to shape the museum, said Executive Director and Curator George Kinghorn.

鈥淭hroughout the years, Don and Linda Zillman were actively involved in advancing the museum鈥檚 mission and expanding its capacity to deliver top-tier contemporary art exhibitions and programs for the 91爆料 community and visitors,鈥� Kinghorn said. 鈥淔rom the addition of five galleries to ensuring sustained exhibition funding, they were extraordinary champions for the visual arts. Through this transformative bequest, Linda Zillman ensures the museum 鈥� their shared legacy 鈥� will continue to provide the life-enriching experience of viewing original art.鈥�

In addition to 91爆料, the 91爆料 at Presque Isle is also receiving a significant estate gift from Linda Zillman.

鈥淟inda and Don Zillman believed deeply in the power of Maine鈥檚 public universities to expand opportunity and enrich communities across the state,鈥� said Chancellor Dannel Malloy. 鈥淐onsistent with that, this extraordinary gift will strengthen our flagship university鈥檚 ability to serve students and the public good for generations to come. Even after their passing, the Zillmans continue to positively impact the 91爆料 System and inspire us all to honor their incredible legacy by elevating excellence in academics and the arts.鈥�  

Contact: David Nordman, david.nordman@maine.edu

During the 31st annual Wabanaki Winter Market, over 60 Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet and Mi鈥檏maq artists will showcase and sell their basketry, jewelry, beadwork, wood carvings, birchbark work and other pieces. The free event will also feature brown ash pounding and demonstrations, children鈥檚 workshops, storytelling, traditional music, drumming and dancing.

The 91爆料 Hudson Museum, located inside the CCA will be open during the event and feature an exhibit of photography by Jason Pardilla titled 鈥淗ow Water Connects Us.鈥� The images were taken through the lens of a Panaw谩hpskewi (Penobscot), and demonstrate connection to water by picturing water itself, the craft used to travel by it and Indigenous communities who live by it. These images reveal items used to provide sustenance and places important to Indigenous people. 

Attendees will also have an opportunity to meet Jeremy Frey, an award-winning Passamaquoddy basketmaker and .听From 11 a.m.-noon, Frey will sign copies of his exhibit catalog titled 鈥淲oven.鈥� The catalog was organized by the Portland Museum of Art and traveled to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Bruce Museum. Sales of the catalog will benefit the Penobscot Nation Museum.

The Hudson Museum will be collecting non-perishable food items during the market for the Penobscot Nation Food Pantry. 

Additional information and full schedule of events is available on the Hudson Museum website. 

To request a reasonable accommodation, contact Hudson Museum Director Gretchen Faulkner by emailing gretchen.faulkner@maine.edu.

Douglass, associate professor of climate at Columbia University, will present an illustrated public lecture on her research, which explores the dynamic co-evolution of people, land and seascapes. Visit the Hudson Museum website to learn more about this free event. 

The event comes less than a month after the announced that Douglass received the MacArthur fellowship, which are often referred to as “genius” grants and recognize people with exceptional creativity and dedication across disciplines.

Douglass is also a 2021 Carnegie Fellow, a Smithsonian Institution research associate and a leading voice in climate-centered archaeology.

The team鈥檚 original logo, unveiled in 1976, was inspired by a carved cedar transformation mask created by the Kwakwaka鈥檞akw people of British Columbia.

That very mask lives at the 91爆料鈥檚 Hudson Museum, where visitors are often surprised to discover its connection to Seattle football history.

A story that won鈥檛 go away

The mask has a way of resurfacing. It made headlines during Super Bowl runs, fueled conversations in rivalries and in milestone moments like this anniversary season. Each time, it sparks fresh discussion about how Indigenous artistry helped shape one of the NFL鈥檚 most recognizable logos.

In 2014, the mask even made the trip back to Seattle. On loan to the Burke Museum, it was unveiled next to the Lombardi Trophy 鈥� a powerful reminder that Seahawks history is tied to something much larger than the game itself.

With the team marking its 50th season, the mask feels like a natural part of the celebration 鈥� its influence visible every time the Seahawks take Lumen Field in their throwback uniforms.

From the Northwest to New England

The mask was carved in the late 1800s or early 1900s and, over time, traveled far from its Pacific Northwest origins. At one point, it was owned by German surrealist Max Ernst in Arizona before entering the collection of William Palmer, a 91爆料 graduate and philanthropist.

Palmer eventually donated thousands of Native American artifacts to the university, including the transformation mask that would later be tied to the Seahawks logo.

For decades, the connection went unnoticed. The mask was displayed in its open form, showing a human face that didn鈥檛 immediately resemble the birdlike image Seahawks fans know by heart. It wasn鈥檛 until researchers at the Burke Museum studied it in 2014 that the link was confirmed.

Back on display in Maine

Today, the mask is back in Maine, on display at the Hudson Museum, inside the Collins Center for the Arts. Admission is free and the museum is open weekdays.

For Seahawks fans, however, the mask is more than a museum piece. It鈥檚 part of the team鈥檚 story 鈥� a reminder that the franchise鈥檚 identity is rooted not only in football, but also in culture, history and art.

Fifty seasons in, the mask is still turning heads.

Contact: David Nordman, david.nordman@maine.edu

In consultation with museum Director Patricia Henner, students in Magnani鈥檚 Museum Anthropology course helped create a high-quality digital copy of the main 1833 Maine Experiment Station barn using an integrated camera and LiDAR system. The 3D scan provides faithful documentation of the university鈥檚 oldest structure, which is also the last original agricultural building on campus. 

The tour is available on the museum鈥檚 website and can be accessed through any device, including those used for virtual reality. 

Despite limited space and resources, Miles said one member of the crew, an Argentinian man, had previously owned a restaurant and prepared memorable meals for the group of about 10 researchers and students. Several, including Miles who is a Ph.D. candidate, were from the 91爆料, joined by members from other universities in the U.S. and South America.

They trudged through bogs, hiked along cliffs and lived on a 66-foot sailboat named the Ocean Tramp to acquire data on the most recent ice age. Miles learned about glaciers and lent a hand with fieldwork. By the time she was back home, she also had over 2,000 snapshots from a camera her mother had gifted her to remember how it felt to wade through muck and push a large probe into the ground.听

Thirty-one of Miles鈥� documentary photos are framed and exhibited at 91爆料鈥檚 Hudson Museum, where they will be on display until the start of the fall 2024 semester. Coming from an undergraduate background in fine arts, she had participated in exhibitions before but said she doesn鈥檛 feel the same type of pressure with her photo display. It鈥檚 there to give insight into their fieldwork in Chile 鈥� the sweaty parts and the scenery 鈥� not to be judged for the quality of content and aesthetics.

Before Miles came to 91爆料 in 2018, she completed a bachelor鈥檚 degree in sculpture and worked at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Working alongside people who had studied environmental sciences encouraged her to go back to school and pursue a second undergraduate degree in geology.

In her graduate studies at 91爆料, she decided to specialize in the area of glaciers 鈥� Earth鈥檚 natural sculptures and a long-time interest of hers 鈥� and has focused her fieldwork in Antarctica and Baxter State Park. After graduating in May 2025, she hopes to stay in academia as a postdoc or educator. She鈥檒l continue taking pictures as a hobby and to document her work with the environment.

Her photos in Chile show the beauty of undeveloped nature. The team鈥檚 work required lengthy hikes into places not frequently visited by people. 鈥淭here were some places that we got up into, and I wondered if anyone had ever been there before,鈥� Miles said.

Once their boat left port from Puerto Williams, Chile and sailed west through the Beagle Channel with humpback whales and Peale鈥檚 dolphins, Miles said they passed one or two towns before settling into a section of Alberto de Agostini National Park that was a day and a half journey by sailboat. Tight-quartered bunk cabins had doors for privacy, but closing them meant trying to sleep in a room too stuffy, hot and damp to get comfortable.听

鈥淵ou鈥檙e out in the middle of nowhere. There鈥檚 no other people for like 100 miles, or so it seems when you鈥檙e out there,鈥� Miles said. 鈥淏ut you鈥檙e stuck with 10 other people around you all the time. I didn鈥檛 mind it because I鈥檝e had other field experiences like that.鈥�

Brenda Hall, who led the trip in spring 2023, said their goal as researchers was to document the end of the last ice age as represented by shrinking glaciers in the Cordillera Darwin mountain range, which has peaks that reach 8,000 feet. Hall, a professor of quaternary and glacial geology at 91爆料, said determining the timing, magnitude and rate of the end of the last ice age helps scientists predict future climate behavior and better understand what happens on Earth as the climate warms.

Hall had previously worked with Miles in Antarctica studying glaciers. Since the work was similar, Hall invited Miles to Chile to help with handling the equipment and taking samples. Miles brought her camera, like she has for all of her field excursions, as entertainment.

鈥�I think she captured the environment really well and our work on the landscape,鈥� Hall said. 鈥淚 personally like the pictures of us working, because as the one working, I never really got a look at it before.鈥�

Turning moments to memories

A photo of one of the bogs where the group based research showed six people carrying roughly 150 pounds of equipment to draw samples from the Earth鈥檚 surface and reminds Miles of when the soft ground sucked her muck boot into it. She eventually recovered the boot but not before soaking her sock in spongy sphagnum moss.

The team used probes to measure ground depth in the bog, then took sediment samples to gather data on when ice last covered the area.听

鈥淭he theory is that the more that you grunt as you’re trying to push the probe down, the better it works,鈥� Miles said. 鈥淭here were three of us there trying to push this thing down and yelling, and then all of a sudden a condor popped up over the side of the mountain. I think he thought that we were dying animals and that lunch was about to be served.鈥�

One of her photos from that day shows an Andean Condor 鈥� a type of vulture that can stand 4 feet tall with a 12-foot wingspan 鈥� flying above them, marking its next meal. Miles said she missed the opportunity to take a picture of the condor, the largest flying bird in the world, from above. She couldn鈥檛 get her camera out of her backpack quickly enough as she and the group hiked down a cliff.听

Displayed next to the condor are photos of a black-crowned night heron perched on the side of a boat with its red eyes peering, Magellanic Cormorants nested on rock and sea lions lounging.

A Hudson Museum cooperating curator heard about Miles鈥� work through her husband and connected Miles with the director, Gretchen Faulkner, to arrange the exhibit. Faulkner said the museum regularly showcases exhibitions in its Minsky Culture Lab that feature 91爆料 faculty and graduate student research.

鈥淭hrough these exhibitions, the public, including elementary and secondary school students and the university community, has an opportunity to learn about groundbreaking fieldwork and research about the impact of climate change, past civilizations and artistic traditions from around the world,鈥� Faulkner said.

Contact: Ashley Yates; ashley.depew@maine.edu

鈥淚t looks like lace.鈥�

The placard below the piece reads 鈥淲abanaki Fan, C. 1900.鈥� 

Currently on loan at the Hudson from the Penobscot Nation Museum, the fan is one of many ash and sweetgrass pieces that will be recorded in a new web-based lexicon 鈥� a vocabulary archive. The lexicon will contain indigenous-authored descriptive language for Wabanaki basketry and is funded by a to the Hudson and Penobscot Nation museums by the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

The creation of the lexicon will take place over the next two years and will be hosted online on the Hudson Museum鈥檚 website when complete. 

鈥淢useums haven’t traditionally cataloged basketry collections in collaboration with the weavers who actually made the baskets,鈥� said Gretchen Faulkner, director of the Hudson Museum. 鈥淭his lexicon is a mechanism for creating a model for engagement with Indigenous communities. The project will provide a framework for other institutions to have standard terminology for describing different types of baskets, different types of weaves and ornamentation.鈥� For the Hudson Museum, this project builds on nearly 30 years of collaboration with Wabanaki weavers.

The project will focus on the most common form of Wabanaki (Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Mi鈥檏maq) cultural material in museums nationally: brown ash and sweetgrass basketry. Wabanaki basketry can be found in Maine and New England collecting institutions, as well as museums across the country. They are also central to the collections at Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribal museums on Indian Island, Sipayik and Motahkomikuk. 

The lexicon will contain photos of the items held in collections at the Hudson and Penobscot Nation museums accompanied by descriptions of the name for each style using terms from each Wabanaki community. 

With leading museums closing displays exhibiting Native American objects in response to , this project is a timely example of the evolving relationship between Native communities and museums. Currently, federal regulations are focused on repatriating human remains, associated and unassociated funerary objects and objects of cultural patrimony. The Hudson Museum has no human remains in its collection subject to NAGPRA and continues to consult with Native American communities on cultural material. Faulkner and Neptune view this lexicon as a crucial step in extending the curatorial model to communities systematically and structurally separated from their cultural heritage. 

鈥淭hese museums hold things that are really important to us and our communities,鈥� Neptune said. 鈥淚n the past, it hasn’t always been easy to access those collections to research or for makers to study their ancestors’ work to recreate or get inspiration from.鈥�

Tools to make baskets, such as splint gauges, blocks and molds, are passed down within families. Gauges were used to divide splints into uniform widths for weavers and standards; blocks ensured that baskets were woven in consistent shapes and sizes. These tools were cherished family possessions and ensured the continuity of the tradition from one generation to the next. In addition to the tools used to make the baskets, each basket draws on generations of knowledge.

鈥淪omeone went out and got an ash tree in the woods and cut it down and pounded that ash out to get the splints to make the basket,鈥� Neptune said. 鈥淪omeone picked sweet grass in the summer by the salt marsh and picked by hand, one by one, the blades woven into a basket. There are a lot of ties to the materials that we create with, but also ties to places. Our people have places they go where their families have gone to pick sweet grass for generations upon generations. There are a lot of connections in any basket.鈥�

Neptune was taught how to make baskets by traditional Penobscot basket makers and has mentored basket makers, including Sarah Sockbeson (Penobscot). Access to the pieces their ancestors made provides not only inspiration for these artists, but also sacred connection to the past.

鈥淪ometimes you can’t tell from a photograph or from looking through the glass. Sometimes you have to get under things and count stitches and really look. You have to ask 鈥榟ow did they tie that off? What does it look like inside?鈥� to get that detail you need to be able to recreate something,鈥� Neptune said. 

For Neptune and her community, this project works toward reclaiming Wabanaki culture and history. 

鈥淚t’s really important that people from the community get to access these things that their ancestors made,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hese are not just objects, they have a living spirit that we have to interact with and attend to. Having those doors open up is a really good thing for everybody. For us, the community and the artists, and also for our museums.鈥� 

Contact: Shelby Hartin, shelby.hartin@maine.edu

During the 29th annual Wabanaki Winter Market, dozens of Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet and Mi鈥檏maq artists will showcase and sell their basketry, jewelry, beadwork, wood carvings, birchbark work and other artwork. The market is co-hosted by the Hudson Museum and the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA), with support from Maine Office of Tourism and the Onion Foundation.

The free event will also feature brown ash pounding and sweetgrass flower demonstrations, storytelling, traditional music, drumming, dancing and maple syrup.

Profiles of several participating artists and event information can be found on the Hudson Museum website.  

鈥淭his year is the 29th anniversary of this show, which celebrates the cultural and artistic traditions of the Wabanaki people. Artists like Barry Dana, Peter Neptune and Eldon Hanning have attended the event since it began in 1995. Others, such as Geo Neptune, Sarah Sockbeson and Frances Soctomah represent a new generation of award-winning weavers,鈥� says Gretchen Faulkner. Visitors will find not just basketry, but a wide variety of Wabanaki artistic traditions in prices ranging from $20 to thousands of dollars. There is something for everyone.

 The Hudson Museum, located inside the Collins Center, will also be open during the event. Among its exhibits is the Wabanaki Gallery, which showcases historic and contemporary Wabanaki art. 

For more information or to request a reasonable accommodation, contact Hudson Museum Director Gretchen Faulkner, gretchen.faulkner@maine.edu.

Contact: Marcus Wolf, 207.581.3721; marcus.wolf@maine.edu

Inspired by the significance and utility of art, the 91爆料 Arts Initiative was formed to increase resources and support for creative works, reinforce their significance and enhance their visibility. The initiative also aims to break down the silos between artists, scientists, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders so they can work together to solve problems and enrich, enlighten and ease the lives of the people in Maine.   

In episode four of season eight of 鈥�The Maine Question,鈥� George Kinghorn, 91爆料 senior executive director of cultural engagement and arts initiatives and curator and director of the Zillman Art Museum, discusses the various roles art plays on campus and elsewhere. Also featured are Gretchen Faulkner, director of the Hudson Museum; Justin Wolff, professor of art history and chair of the 91爆料 Department of Art; and Amber Roth, assistant professor of forest wildlife management. 

Listen to the podcast on , , , , , or 鈥淭he Maine Question鈥� website. 

What topics would you like to learn more about? What questions do you have for 91爆料 experts? Email them to mainequestion@maine.edu.