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Maine’s Oldest Artists Group Elects New Leaders for 2024

David Estey - UMVA President

Belfast painter David Estey, Harpswell painter Joanne Tarlin and retired Belfast entrepreneur John Patrick “Pat” Mullen have been elected as President, Vice President and Treasurer, respectively, of the Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA).  Estey and Tarlin are leading the board of directors toward a new emphasis on “Artists Helping Artists,” through networking gatherings, exhibitions, critiques, mentoring, studio visits and workshops.  UMVA is a 48-year-old nonprofit that advocates for the arts and artists in Maine to support the common good. It produces the Maine Masters series seen on MPBN, the online quarterly Maine Arts Journal, Artists’ Rapid Response Team! posters and banners for public causes, and LumenARRT! messages for worthy nonprofits projected on public buildings in Portland and other places. UMVA was Instrumental in passing the Maine Percent for Art Program required in all new State buildings and The Artist’s Estate Law that allows payment of Maine estate taxes with art. It has hundreds of members and some 1,500 subscribers to the free journal. For more on UMVA, visit www.theumva.org.

“Artists’ connections to one another and the world enhance their creativity and support, as well as the common good,” Estey says. “We want to create an interconnected, mutually-supportive, ever-growing and sustainable, State-wide community of visual artists and an informed public that treasures and supports the arts and artists.” Tarlin added, “We hope all artists and art lovers will join us.”

John Patrick - Pat - Mullen


After a full scholarship at Colby College, Mullen worked in the Boston insurance industry before returning to Belfast to open Mullen’s General Store and begin a 50-year career as owner/operator of several businesses and rental property in Bar Harbor, Ellsworth and Belfast. They included The Barn ice cream shop/restaurant/bar, two Christmas Shops, and Belfast Bay Brewery. He will bring experienced business acumen and successful marketing ideas to the UMVA board of directors.

Estey is an abstract painter who has a BFA degree from Rode Island School of Design and an MSA degree from George Washington University. He is also a retired regional manager of public affairs for the federal government. He has lived, worked, exhibited and taught art in Baltimore/Washington, Philadelphia, Charlotte and mid-coast Maine. He lives with his wife, Karen, in Belfast. For more visit www.davidestey.com.

Joanne Tarlin


Tarlin is a painter in the Romantic tradition who infuses constructed landscapes with her emotional reactions to life. She holds an MFA degree from The Museum School and Tufts University and BFA from The Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design. She had a full-time studio practice in Boston for over eight years. She moved to Harpswell where she resides with her husband, Ave in October of 2019. She worked as creative director for marketing firms in Los Angeles and Massachusetts and as an adjunct professor at Framingham State University where she taught courses in visual literacy and marketing. Her work is in corporate collections throughout Massachusetts including Mathworks and in the Celeste LeWitt Collection at UCONN.

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