Sarah Braik (President)
I joined Hour Exchange in 2016 and don't know quite how I managed to live without it all these years.
I have recently retired from careers in the restaurant, community mental health, and education fields.
I find myself busier than when I was working. I am a co-leader of the Portland Chapter of Citizens'
Climate Lobby as well as the Cathedral of St. Luke's Public Policy and Environmental Action Team.
I am an active member of the Maine Chapter of the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross.
Robin LoRĂ© (Vice President)
I am interested in action pertaining to ecological preservation, inclusion, diversity, and the
sharing of time and talent to build a strong, healthy, local community. I feel the Hour Exchange
embodies these ideals perfectly, and it is what drew me to join. I'm happy to be of service to
the Hour Exchange in any capacity, and hope that I can help move the ball forward in its growth
and ongoing evolution.
Sherry McAndrew
Creative collaboration brings me the greatest joy. Whether I'm working as part of an inventive team,
joining forces with another artist, or enjoying the spark of committed relationships, collaboration
always makes me feel that the sky's the limit, and my imagination soars. I also think the most
important problems we face in the world, the ones really worth solving, require the collaboration
of diverse people forging their ideas into never-before-seen combinations. I'm thrilled to be part
of the creative collaboration that is Hour Exchange Portland. To this role, I bring a professional
background in technology and higher education, a passion for non-hierarchical processes, and the
hope that our work together will strengthen the social fabric of our community.
Colleen Hutchinson (Treasurer)
I was born in the Western hills of Maine and have lived in Falmouth for almost 40 years. I started
my own bookkeeping business thirty-five years ago. A relatively new member, I am excited to be
included on the Board as Treasurer and am in awe of all the great talent and services of the
members of Hour Exchange.
Adriane Herman
I missed my true calling, which was tap dancing. I now satisfy my time-based creative energies
by serving as an Experience Broker, currently embodied by a project I call Emotional Value Auction,
which explores forms of value other than economic and leverages the power of witnessing to
facilitate release. You can read about the 2019 iteration of this non-monetized exchange of
objects grounded in reciprocity here. Through these Auctions, public displays of vulnerability
are rewarded, and are rewards in and of themselves.
Inherently drawn to alternative economies, I am always on the lookout for meaningful connections, and find things often fall into place and flow through happenstance, or what I might call "surfing synchronicity." Recently I earned Time Dollars by helping to inoculate oak logs with mushroom spores at Sweet Relief Farm through our Farm to Pantry Network (FTPN). I used Time Dollars earned by attending board meetings to pay Member Care Coordinator, Abby Greenfield, to make a delicious and nutritious lunch for students enrolled in a printmaking elective class entitled "Be Fruitful and Multiple: The Well-Fed Artist," which I designed and taught this Spring at Maine College of Art & Design, where I have been a Professor since 2002.
I have lectured on my work at over fifty institutions and shown my work here and there. One of my color woodcuts gets to live in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and two of my monotypes were recently acquired by the Colby Museum of Art. My 2017 exhibition, "Out of Sorts," at SPEEDWELL Projects in Portland, received an Eco-Excellence Award from ecomaine, and was greatly facilitated by sewing and upholstery I paid for using Time Dollars. I am currently collaborating with Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition to bring visual arts and writing workshops into Maine correctional facilities and would love to work with other Hour Exchange Portland members who may be interested in sharing your skills and passions to inspire, uplift, and educate people who are incarcerated in Maine.