April 3, 4, 7, 21 & 30, 2009 ~~~ Waldoboro
The Medomak Valley Land Trust, established in 1991 to preserve the diverse land-use interests of the 90,000-acre Medomak River watershed, has focused increased energy on outreach and education over the past few years. In 2009, outreach events are planned around a variety of media-photography, film, literature, and discussion-in an effort to engage an even broader audience. The series of “Conservation in Context” events began with the March 14 book signing and presentation of By a Maine River: A Year of Looking Closely by Maine author Thomas Szelog, at the Waldoboro Public Library. The Waldo Theatre hosted a film festival on April 3 and 4, including selections from “Between the Tides” (short films about midcoast Maine) and the American Conservation Film Festival. The series continues on April 7 with an appearance by author Linda Tatelbaum, retired professor of English and Environmental Studies at Colby College. A literature discussion on April 21 will encompass Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods, Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and poems by Gary Lawless. The series concludes April 30 with a 3-D presentation by photographer Roger Richmond. For more event details, please call (207) 832-5570 or visit www.midcoast.com/~mvlt.
Back to the TopApril 3, 2009 - May 30, 2009 ~~~ Saco
A special exhibition at the Saco Museum will feature work from New England Wax, an association of artists who work in encaustic (a beeswax-based painting medium). Juried by Katherine French, Director of the Danforth Museum in Framingham, Massachusetts, the exhibition will offer the opportunity for local and regional artists to exhibit their work together and exchange ideas. Programming will include a lecture by Kim Bernard about the history of this ancient medium, as well as art-making activities and school tours. Connections will be made to nineteenth century waxworks in the Saco Museum’s permanent collection. The exhibition opens on April 3, 2009, and runs through May 30. For more information, please call (207) 283-3861 or visit www.dyerlibrarysacomuseum.org.
Back to the TopApril 5, 19 & 26, 2009 ~~~ Winter Harbor
Schoodic Arts for All is proud to be collaborating with Art:21, a series of documentaries made for public television. The films from the series to be screened at Hammond Hall depict the philosophies, methods, and examples of the work of emerging artists. Following each screening, there will be a discussion with community members and artists. The Sunday screenings begin at 7 p.m.; for more details, please visit www.schoodicarts.org or call (207) 963-2569.
Back to the TopApril 9, 2009 ~~~ Bangor
Liam Riordan, Associate Professor of History at the University of Maine, studies the American Revolution from an Atlantic perspective that transcends national boundaries, and focuses on Loyalism, one of the most understudied topics in the field. Riordan will give an evening lecture, free and open to the public, on April 9 at the Maine Historical Society. A three-day conference in June, sponsored by the Canadian American Center at the University of Maine and the University of New Brunswick, will pick up on the same themes and result in new scholarship on Loyalism and the Revolutionary Atlantic World. For more information or to register for the conference, please contact Professor Riordan, (207) 581-1913 or riordan?umit.maine.edu.
Back to the TopApril 12 and May 17, 2009 ~~~ York
This spring, the museum association Museums of Old York present a series of events exploring the experiences and perspectives of Native, English, and French people in 17th-century Maine. On April 12, two re-enactors (one depicting a French Jesuit priest; the other a habitant, or settler) will provide insight into the origins of conflict between Anglo and French populations in Maine. On May 17, a panel discussion of French-Canadian residents will recount their experiences in light of the history of Anglo/French tensions. Both programs are scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Museums of Old York Visitor Center. For details, please call (207) 363-4974.
Back to the TopApril 16, 2009 ~~~ Presque Isle
For the third consecutive year, high school teachers and students from Presque Isle, Ashland, and Mars Hill will attend Foreign Language Day at the University of Maine in Presque Isle. The students will take mini-lessons in language and culture from native speakers or those who have traveled abroad. Folk or ethnic dance and international food are also components of the day. This year, the cultures represented will include France, Italy, Puerto Rico, Portugal, China, Nepal, Poland, and Germany. For more information, please call the university at (207) 768-9400.
Back to the TopApril 17 - 24, 2009 ~~~ Portland
The idea for the Maine African Film Festival came about following the success of an August 2008 film mini-series co-presented by the Portland Public Library, the Museum of African Culture, and the New York African Film Festival. Films selected through the New York African Film Festival’s traveling series will be screened at the University of Southern Maine, SPACE Gallery, the Children’s Museum of Maine, and Portland’s Nickelodeon Cinema. One film will be shown free of charge, with advertising at local shelters, soup kitchens, and resource centers intended to attract an audience that wouldn’t otherwise participate. For details and a schedule of films, please visit www.tmaff.org.
Back to the TopApril 25, 2009 ~~~ Portland
The Victoria Mansion was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts to participate in the “Big Read” program, which brings communities together around a single book. In this case, Edith Wharton’s novel The Age of Innocence was chosen for its capacity to illuminate the Gilded Age of the Victorian period while also helping readers to reflect on contemporary lifestyles and social mores. The final keynote presentation in this program, by scholar Carol Singley, will be held at the Portland Public Library, the Mansion’s Big Read partner, on April 25. For details, please call (207) 772-4841 or visit www.victoriamansion.org.
Back to the TopApril 28, 2009 ~~~ Freeport
The Freeport Historical Society’s programming around its recently acquired Tam O’ Shanter oil painting continues on April 28, Freeport welcomes Dr. Glen Gordinier of Mystic Seaport, who will portray Yankee mariner Josiah Gardener as he recounts his adventures at sea. For more program details, please call (207) 865-3170 or visit www.freeporthistoricalsociety.com.
Back to the TopMay 3, 2009 ~~~ New Gloucester
The Merriconeag Waldorf School will host its second annual poetry competition for public and private high school students in Cumberland, Androscoggin, and Sagadahoc Counties at its new campus in New Gloucester. On May 3, 2009, twenty students whose original poems are recognized by Maine Poet Laureate Betsy Sholl 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 TopMay 7, 2009 ~~~ Portland
Maine lobsterman and MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Ted Ames will discuss his research into collapsing fish populations using oral histories collected from Maine fishermen. The evening will also include a screening of Cecily Pingree’s short film Fishing Voices: Insight into the Future. The event is part of the annual Food+Farm series on sustainable food at SPACE Gallery in Portland. To see the other events in this year’s series, visit www.space538.org or call (207) 828-5600.
Back to the TopMay 7, 2009 ~~~ Westbrook
Wescott Junior High School hosts an annual Community Read program, in which a committee of language arts teachers, students, and parents from the PTO selects a book, purchases copies, plans book discussions, and-whenever possible-arranges for author visits. The selection for this year, Billy Boy: The Sunday Soldier of the 17th Maine, was written by Falmouth author Jean Flahive, who will visit Wescott on May 7. To learn more, please call the school at (207) 854-0830.
Back to the TopMay 14, 2009 ~~~ Bethel
The Bethel Historical Society’s 2009 Lecture Series, “Celebrating Western Maine’s History,” begins with a lecture by Executive Director Stanley Howe on the 50th anniversary of Eva Bean’s East Bethel Road. On June 4, State Historian Earle Shettleworth, Jr. will cover two centuries of Maine Homes. During Sudbury Canada Days, on August 7, H. Draper Hunt celebrates the bicentennial of Hannibal Hamlin’s birth on Paris Hill with a discussion of the Civil War Vice Presidency. Thomas Desjardin will build on this talk at the society’s September 10 annual meeting, when he discusses Oxford County during the Civil War. Randall H. Bennett’s October 10 lecture will interpret 19th century White Mountain tourism through Starr King’s The White Hills. Finally, an oral history night on November 12 will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Sunday River. For details, please call (207) 824-2910 or visit www.bethelhistorical.org.
Back to the TopThrough June 14, 2009 ~~~ Bar Harbor
The first test of the new textile display cases at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, purchased with support from a Humanities Infrastructure grant, comes with the exhibit Twisted Path: Contemporary Native American Artists Walking in Two Worlds, for which the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and American Art in Indianapolis has loaned a coat made by Mi’kmaq artist Teresa Marshall. This exhibit, along with future exhibits that take advantage of the new textile display cases, will particularly enhance the Abbe’s contribution to Native American studies in Maine schools. To learn more, please call (207) 388-3519 or visit www.abbemuseum.org.
Back to the TopJuly 14, 22, 25 & 29, 2009 ~~~ Hinckley
As part of a series of programs promoting the Living the Good Will Idea exhibition at the L.C. Bates Museum, alumni of the Good Will-Hinckley facility will give tours to the public. The exhibition explores the lives of the orphan children who lived at Good Will who lived and were guided by The Good Will Idea, George Hinckley’s philosophy of child care. Other public programming will include handouts, children’s materials, and family programs. For details, please call (207) 238-4250 or visit www.gwh.org/html/lcbatesmuseum.htm.
Back to the TopJuly 18 - August 9, 2009 ~~~ Lewiston
In conjunction with the 2009 Bates Dance Festival, dance writer Debra Cash will conduct a residency from July 18-August 9. Cash will write in-depth program notes, provide pre-performance lectures, and moderate post-performance discussions on the work of contemporary choreographers Robert Battle, Tania Isaac, and Bebe Miller. She will also offer a course, “Dance in Context,” that will analyze current dance practice through dialogue and writing. For details, please visit www.bates.edu/dancefest.
Back to the TopAugust 7 - 9, 2009 ~~~ Whitefield
To help celebrate Whitefield’s Bicentennial, artist Natasha Mayers will lead Whitefield social studies students in the creation of an 8x12-foot mural depicting historic landmarks and events on a map of Whitefield. Rachel Hamlin will conduct two tile-making workshops with the wider Whitefield Community to create a tile border for the mural. A document of all participants from the school and the general public, along with photographs of the process taken by students, will be archived at the Whitefield Historical Society. The mural will be unveiled during the major Whitefield Bicentennial Days celebration, August 7-9, and will endure as a permanent installation in the Whitefield School. For more information, please call the school at (207) 549-7691.
Back to the TopOctober 22, 2009 ~~~ Portland
Joan Hedrick, the 1995 Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life, will speak at the University of Southern Maine on October 22, 2009. Her lecture, “Writing a Woman’s Life,” will explore the challenges and choices (often shaped by gender) involved in writing biography. The topic is intended to appeal to the general public as well as scholars writing about Ellen Harmon White, co-founder of the Seventh-Day Adventists, who will convene for a working conference in Portland, October 22-25. Hedrick teaches at Trinity College in Connecticut. For more information about her lecture or the Ellen Harmon White conference, please contact the American & New England Studies program at USM, (207) 780-4920.
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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.