May 7, 2008 ~~~ Freeport
In 2005, the Freeport Performing Arts Center (PAC) brought a folk art ensemble from the southeast Indian province of Rajasthan to Freeport. The Rajasthani ensemble consists of eight young people who use music and dance to share their culture and promote good will and understanding. Their 2005 visit was a positive experience for all involved, and the PAC is determined to build on their previous success when the ensemble returns to Freeport on May 7. The musicians’ daytime visits with high school students will still be limited to Freeport, but their 8:00 p.m. concert at the PAC will be promoted to students at eight area high schools with a discounted ticket price. In addition, members of Freeport’s student radio program for future viewing and discussion will document all of the day’s activities. For more information, please contact the Freeport PAC at (207) 865-4706, or visit www.freeportpac.org.
Back to the TopMay 8, 2008 ~~~ Bethel
The Bethel Historical Society’s 2008 Lecture Series, “Maine History: Varied and Vivid,” begins May 8 with a lecture on Benedict Arnold by Thomas Desjardin of the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands. On June 12, Neil Rolde will speak on the subject of his most recent biography, James G. Blaine. Donna Cassidy will profile the subject of her biography, Marsden Hartley, on August 8. On September 11, Earle Shettleworth, Jr. will address “Historic Maine Presidential and Senatorial Election Campaigns, As Recalled by the Political Memorabilia of the Time.” Ben B. Conant, curator for the Paris Cape Historical Society, will welcome fall with a lecture on “Marketing Maine Apples” on October 9. Finally, Barry Mower of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection will address “Androscoggin River Water Quality: Past, Present, and Future” on November 13. For details, please call (207) 824-2910 or visit www.bethelhistorical.org.
Back to the TopMay 10, 2008 ~~~ Portland
Twenty-one years ago, the Brick Store Museum published the landmark book Agreeable Situations: Society, Commerce, and Art in Southern Maine, 1780-1830. The book was the result of the statewide material culture inventory sponsored by the Maine Humanities Council in 1983 as part of the Maine at Statehood project. On May 10, 2008, the Maine Historical Society will host an anniversary celebration of this key historical text. The daylong symposium will bring scholars, curators, and the public together to explore the significance of the book and consider key issues in the study of material culture in Maine today. Speakers include Laural Thatcher Ulrich, Kevin D. Murphy, Emerson Baker, and Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr. For more information, please call the Maine Historical Society at (207) 774-1822.
Back to the TopMay 15 - 17, 2008 ~~~ Portland
The second annual Maine Festival of the Book—a three-day extravaganza of reading and writing in downtown Portland-is scheduled for May 15-17, 2008. Celebrating our rich contemporary literary scene and heritage, the festival presents literature in all its forms, aiming to appeal to a wide range of tastes, audiences, and reading abilities. The festival is sponsored by Maine Reads, in cooperation with community organizations statewide, and spearheaded by First Lady Karen Baldacci. This year’s keynote speaker is David Baldacci; other speakers include Elizabeth Strout, Amy Sutherland, and Ron Currie. For an up-to-date schedule, please visit www.mainereads.org.
Back to the TopMay 18, 2008 ~~~ New Gloucester
The Merriconeag Waldorf School will host the culminating event in a poetry competition for public and private high school students in Cumberland, Androscoggin, and Sagadahoc counties at its new campus in New Gloucester. On May 18, twenty students whose original poems are recognized by poet and teacher Annie Finch will read their work and participate in a seminar on poetry as a tool for social change. For details, please contact David Sloan at (207) 688-8989 or dmsloan@gwi.net.
Back to the TopJune 5 and 11, 2008 ~~~ Vinalhaven, North Haven, and Belfast
During the 2008 Seal Bay Festival, composers and musicians will participate in workshops with grammar school students and local artists to explore the creative links between verbal narrative, visual imagery, physical movement, and music composition. The workshops will use musical improvisation as a starting point for discussion and discovery. Participants include students from Vinalhaven and North Haven schools and visual artists at Belfast’s Waterfall Arts Center. The workshops will take place on June 5 and 11. For details, please visit www.sealbayfestival.org.
Back to the TopJune 6, 2008 ~~~ Peaks Island
Fran Houston, a photographer and writer who moved to Peaks Island in 2003, attended an oral history workshop funded by the Maine Humanities Council in December 2007. Since then, she has interviewed many older Peaks residents about their memories and stories from childhood. Her work comes together in “For the Love of Peaks,” an exhibit of black and white portraits and writings at the Gem Gallery on Peaks Island. The exhibit will open on June 6 and run for two weeks. For gallery hours, please call (207) 766-2456.
Back to the TopJune 21, 2008 ~~~ South Portland
Portland Harbor Museum will convene a full-day conference, “Defending the United States in a Time of Turmoil: The 1808 Fortification Program in the District of Maine,” to acknowledge the 200th anniversary of Forts Preble and Scammell. Historians, archaeologists, and preservationists will discuss the legacy of the forts and consider the challenges to the forts’ survival. The conference will include walking tours of both forts. For details or to register, please call (207) 799-6337 or visit www.portlandharbormuseum.org.
Back to the TopJune 25 - 28, 2008 ~~~ New Gloucester
Hosted by the United Society of Shakers, the Maine Festival of American Music will devote an evening to Shaker culture and history, featuring performances of Shaker hymns and a tour of the art exhibit “The Human and the Eternal,” at the historic Shaker Village in New Gloucester. For tickets or details, please call (207) 926-4597. For more information, visit www.shaker.lib.me.us/maine_festival_2008.html.
Back to the TopJuly 22 - 25, 2008 ~~~ Lewiston
During this year’s Bates Dance Festival, filmmaker/dance scholar Joan Frosch will conduct a one-week residency including a lecture on choreographers Gregory Maqoma and Nora Chipaumire (July 25) and a screening of her award-winning film “Movement (R)evolution” (July 24). Frosch will also contribute contextual program notes about Maqoma, who is from South Africa, and Chipaumire, who is from Zimbabwe. Finally, Frosch will moderate the Festival’s Global Exchange Panel Discussion (July 22), which brings together participating artists from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. For more information on the Bates Dance Festival, please visit www.batesdancefestival.org.
Back to the TopAugust 2, 2008 ~~~ Kittery
The Kittery Art Association will host a daylong symposium on the early 20th century artists of southern Maine to complement exhibitions of Kittery artist Russell Cheney’s paintings at the Portsmouth Athenaeum and Portsmouth Historical Society. Speakers will explore Yankee Modernism in Maine through the artistic careers of Russell Cheney and his contemporaries: Marsden Hartley, F.O. Mattiessen, and the Ogunquit School painters. Special components of the symposium include a tour of the Cheney studio in Kittery and a new website devoted to the artist, www.russellcheney.com. To register for the symposium, please call the Portsmouth Athenaeum at (603) 431-2538.
Back to the TopAugust 2 - 15, 2008 ~~~ Deer Isle
Award-winning writer David Jauss will be an artist-in-residence at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle from August 2-15, 2008. Jauss is the author of Black Maps, You Are Not Here, and other books of poetry and short stories. He teaches at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and in the MFA in Writing Program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. At Haystack, Jauss will interact with workshop participants, present a public program on August 4, and write a monograph interpreting the contemporary craft world. To learn more, visit www.davidjauss.com or www.haystack-mtn.org.
Back to the TopAugust 4, 2008 ~~~ Lisbon Falls
The theme for the 2008 Summer Reading Program in Lisbon Falls (and many other communities in Maine) is “Wings, Stings, and Leggy Things.” The program begins on June 25 and culminates on August 4 with a performance by Greg McAdams called “Stop Bugging Me, I’m Reading!” The storytelling, puppetry, and audience participation from this program will motivate children to keep reading until school begins several weeks later. For more information, please contact the library at (207) 353-6564.
Back to the TopSeptember 28, 2008 ~~~ Lewiston
A symposium on Maine Folk Art, bringing nationally known scholars to engage the public in an exploration of the place of folk art in Maine history and culture, will serve as the culminating event in the statewide Maine Folk Art Trail project. Speakers will cover such topics as scrimshaw, quilts, redware, and hooked rugs. The symposium takes place on September 28 at Bates College; proceedings will be captured on video for future reference. For more information on the Maine Folk Art Trail and its participating institutions, please visit www.mainefolkarttrail.org.
Back to the TopMay - October, 2008 ~~~ Hinckley
“Some Homes,” a new exhibit at the L.C. Bates Museum in Hinckley, Maine, will stimulate thinking about the meaning of Home through contemporary art and historical context. The project goal is to promote discussion, knowledge, and interpretation that focuses on the experience of Home, specifically Maine homes and the related philosophy of home at Good Will-Hinckley. The exhibit runs from May through October. Accompanying events include a lecture by Earle Shettleworth on domestic architecture in Maine, a panel with artists and representatives from Waterville Main Street and the Margaret Chase Smith Library, and a film screening at Railroad Square Cinema. For details on these events, please call the museum at (207) 238-4250.
Back to the TopJune - October, 2008 ~~~ Peaks Island
The artifacts on display in Found Treasures, the 2008 exhibit at the Fifth Maine Regiment Museum (located at 45 Seashore Avenue), were “rescued” from the island transfer station or unearthed from basements and attics. They include diaries, documents from island businesses, and an 1879 bible full of mementoes from the life of its owner. Each grouping of artifacts will be connected by provenance or theme, and accompanied by interpretive text. The exhibit is on view from June through October, 2008. To learn more, contact the museum at (207) 766-5514 or fifthmaine@juno.com, or visit www.fifthmainemuseum.org.
Back to the TopJune - October, 2008 ~~~ Vinalhaven
The Bodwell Granite Company Store operated on the island of Vinalhaven from 1858 until 1919. The Vinalhaven Historical Society maintains an extensive collection of receipts, correspondence, payroll tickets, and other documents from the store, as well as glass plate negatives of images of quarry operations, workers, and managers. Based on census, payroll, and union records, the historical society has built a database of quarry workers employed by Bodwell. Public access to this database will soon be available at www.vhhis.org. In addition, the historical society is planning an exhibit that examines the influence of the Bodwell Granite Company and their company store on the history and economy of Vinalhaven through the lives of ten representative workers. The exhibit will be on view during the museum’s 2008 summer season, from June through October. A public lecture will also take place during the summer at the Smith-Hokanson Memorial Hall. For more information, please call (207) 863-4410 or visit the aforementioned website.
Back to the TopJuly - August, 2008 ~~~ Thomaston
This summer, the General Henry Knox Museum in Thomaston will mount an exhibit of armaments and weapons, centered on a cannon on loan from Fort Ticonderoga, NY. During the exhibit, two lectures will highlight Henry Knox’s career as Chief of Artillery and the nation’s first Secretary of War. On July 1, John D. Bottero will speak at the museum, while Mark Puls will speak on July 22 at the Hutchinson Center in Belfast. For more information, please call (207) 354-0858.
Back to the TopNovember 13, 2008 - January 11, 2009 ~~~ Portland
In conjunction with the exhibition “Textiles/Translations,” featuring the work of Alice Spencer, the University of New England’s Gallery of Art will hold a series of five educational programs. Each program will approach textiles from a different perspective: their cultures of origin, their common themes and symbols, the role of women in their creation, and their ability to inspire artists like Spencer. In addition to the general public, students from the Maine College of Art and local high schools will be encouraged to attend the exhibition and related programming. For more information, please call (207) 221-4499 or visit www.une.edu/artgallery.
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Notes from an Open Book welcomes feedback from its readers. Please contact Diane Magras by email at diane@mainehumanities.org or by phone at (207)773-5051 ext. 208 (toll-free 1-866-637-3233, ext. 208) to respond.