TEMPOart and Old Port Square Unveil Public Art Installation By Margarita Jane Arguedas

Old Port Square and TEMPOart are thrilled to announce the unveiling of the public artwork 'Buoyancy’ by Margarita Jane Arguedas. In a private event last night, the temporary art installation was introduced to members of the community. In ‘Buoyancy’, Margarita Jane Arguedas reimagines three existing signage frames on Exchange Street and Union Street— transforming ordinary spaces into compelling new artworks. On Friday, November 7, as part of First Friday Art Walk, the Portland-based artist will be present at 46 Exchange Street to discuss the artworks from 6:00-7:00pm. The three-part installation will then be on view to the public until August 2026.

Margarita Jane Arguedas (b. 1990, MN) is an emerging, Portland-based artist whose practice is centered on the act of deconstructing knit fabric by hand to its most fundamental form, engaging with it as a living material. This process becomes a meditation on interdependence, transformation, and the unseen forces that bind us. As Margarita explains in her artist statement: “Portland’s Old Port is host to dynamic ecosystems among a shoreline of memory, where tides carry stories reaching back to 11,000 BCE. This fabric installation is a reflection on its waters and the countless threads they have woven—wildlife tracing ancient migration patterns, vessels crossing in trade, and lives entwined across time... The work is both map and memory, a living fabric that stretches beyond centuries into what is still to come.”

The installation was commissioned by Old Port Square in partnership with TEMPOart, a non-profit organization dedicated to commissioning temporary public artwork in Portland, Maine. An invitational open call was sent to emerging artists in the region, inviting them to activate vacant signage in three areas with temporary artwork.

A four-acre block within Portland’s Old Port, Old Port Square is owned and managed by East Brown Cow. 200 Middle Street, previously known as One Canal Plaza, was recently reimagined into a premier retail destination. Recent events hosted by Old Port Square include the Old Port Maker’s Market. ‘Buoyancy’ is a continuation of Old Port Square’s reimagining of its four-acre block into a distinctive urban destination.

“It’s been an honor to work with TEMPOart and invite compelling artists like Margarita Jane Arguedas into Old Port Square to reimagine and activate the streetscape,” said Jacob Soley, Director of Development at East Brown Cow. “Public art offers a unique way to bring artists into our everyday lives, to inspire us to stop and look at the world around us with fresh eyes.”

“We’re grateful to East Brown Cow for commissioning public artworks from emerging artists like Margarita Jane Arguedas,” said Laura McDermitt, Director of TEMPOart. “These are rare opportunities that allow artists to expand the scale and vision of their work—as well as interact with new audiences.”

‘Buoyancy’ will be on view until August 2026.