By Zack Anchors
Staff Writer
    During this year’s peak holiday shopping season, as usual, crowds will flock to the abundant shopping centers of South Portland to purchase gifts of all imaginable kinds and origins. But it’s often said that the most meaningful gifts are those that are made by the gift-giver, whether it’s a pie, a poem, a knitted hat or some other item that holds the unique mark of the person who made it. For those that may find the idea of creating something worthwhile and meaningful with their own hands a little daunting, Artascope Studios, a business located in a house on Cottage Street, may be the place to turn.
    Catherine Bickford opened Artascope three years ago with the intention of helping ordinary adults embrace their creativity and enabling them to produce their own art. In Artascope’s most popular program—Art Night Out—individuals can show up for a class without any artistic knowledge and leave with stylish and unique work of art that they made themselves.
    “It’s guaranteed success,” Bickford said. “It’s guaranteed you’ll leave with something. It’s important to me you don’t go home with one more thing to get done.”
    Classes at Artascope are taught by 15 artists from throughout the Portland area who specialize in crafts like stained glass, wirework jewelry, acrylic painting, altered books, rug hooking, dye and batik fabric, metalsmithing, and sewing. Many of the teachers are connected with the Maine College of Art or other local arts organizations. Bickford said bringing all these experienced artists together creates a rich atmosphere that is a big part of what makes Artascope unique.
    “The best part for me is the community—that we’ve become a place where people can come and share ideas,” said Bickford, who co-owns Artascope with artist Kendra Haskell. “It’s’ a very social environment, which is great for artists. Because lots of times artists are working out of their basements, not getting to interact with anybody.”
    Besides Art Night Out, which Bickford said makes up about 90 percent of their business, Artascope schedules more extensive classes in particular mediums and now offers memberships that allow access to the Artascope studios during the day. They also have a small shop that sells art supplies. Bickford said that many people who come in for one Art Night Out class end up getting hooked on the craft they learn and become members so they can come back any time and continue to create things.
    “I’ve seen some people come in here for the first time and then two months later they have a whole display they’ve created,” said Bickford. 
    The idea for the Artascope came to Bickford through the process of raising her children, who are now eight and ten.
    “When I started having kids I did art projects with them and I always wanted to work on them longer than they did,” she said. “We would make valentines cards and in ten minutes they would be finished, but I would work on it for another hour.”
    Bickford realized that there are a lot of people like her that could get great satisfaction out of working on art, but that like her, most people are too busy to explore their creativity. Bickford quit her job with Maine Public Broadcasting doing video production and opened up the Artascope, hoping her business would appeal to other people like herself.  Since then, the business has taken off.
    Bickford continues to work on art projects with her children too, offering classes for their Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops and collaborating with the Small School, where they attend classes.
    “They have grown up here as much as they have at home,” said Bickford.
    Although Bickford says the overall mission of Artascope is directed at adults, there are also a few programs specifically for young people. On Friday nights during the summer children through ages 11 to 16 come to the studios for classes.
    “We always serve food and drinks, like we do with all our classes,” Bickford said. “They’re here to create art, but they have time to socialize and interact too.”
    Although the majority of students and teachers at Artascope are women, Bickford said men do have a presence, and young boys are especially drawn to the one class taught by a man.
    “There’s lot’s of boys in the metalsmithing class,” she said. “It’s got lots of torches and hammers and all that stuff.”
    A lot of the items made at Artascope—necklaces, fabric journals, mosaic mirrors, etc.– are sometimes thought of as crafts rather than art. Bickford says she doesn’t see any real difference between the idea of art and the idea of craft.  And the items that Artascope students make would indeed seem just as at home in a gallery as at a craft show.
    “To me, there’s no difference,” said Bickford. “I don’t think art has to be controversial, I just think it has to be meaningful.”
    And things that are made locally and made by hand, Bickford said, tend to be more meaningful.
    “I really don’t like shopping–going to Wal-Mart makes me feel empty,” Bickford said. “I have a difficult buying something that’s made in China. I don’t understand what I’m contributing to.”
    Bickford said she hopes that the art community in South Portland, and particularly on Cottage Street, continues to grow. She believes Cottage Street, which already hosts several galleries and the Portland Players, could become a nexus for the South Portland art community.
    “I’m so interested in the art community on Cottage Street,” she said. “It’s been up and down… I think there is a great potential to create an eclectic mix of residential space and art galleries. It’s really a creative neighborhood.”
Bickford has been contacted by several people who want to expand the Art Night Out program beyond Cottage Street.
    “There is a woman who would like to start one in Gardiner,” said Bickford.
    There are also plans to begin selling items on-line next spring and the possibility of offering summer classes.
    “We intend to have a summer program for people who are here just for the summer,” said Bickford.
    Although the name Artascope is unique, there actually is something called an artascope that the name derives from. An artascope is a tool that was used in the 1920s by Jewelers and worked like a cross between a microscope and a kaleidoscope. An artist would put small items on a tray, spin it and observe symmetrical designs in hopes of inspiration. Bickford said the name suited Artascope Studios well.
    “We’re like a kaleidoscope of art,” she said.