March 5, 2009 ~~~ Portland
Thin Blue Lines is part of Portland’s Arts & Equity Initiative, a national pilot project supported by the arts nonprofit Terra Moto, Inc. The project brings local poets and photographers together with Portland police officers and detectives to create poems and photographs that increase the department’s, municipal government’s and public’s knowledge and appreciation of the work the police do. Included in the project is a series of three facilitated discussions about law enforcement and police/public relations based on readings of local contemporary poetry. Among the participants will be professors, poets, city employees, elected politicians, and the police officer-poets who contributed to the Portland Police Department 2009 Calendar. The first two of the three discussions have already taken place with Portland Police officers and other city employees. The final discussion is open to the public as part of the Portland Public Library’s Brown Bag Series on March 25. To learn more about these events, or to obtain a copy of the 2009 calendar, please visit www.artsandequity.us/pcal.htm.
Back to the TopMarch 12, 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. Through a series of seven events, Professor Riordan will share his expertise with teachers, scholars, and history enthusiasts. Evening lectures, free and open to the public, are scheduled for February 5 at the Bangor Public Library, March 12 at the Hutchinson Center, and April 9 at the Maine Historical Society. Each lecture will be followed by a daylong teacher workshop in the same location, which will help teachers understand how to use primary sources, the Maine Memory Network, and the HBO miniseries on John Adams to teach Loyalism in Maine. Finally, a three-day conference in June, sponsored by the Canadian American Center at the University of Maine and the University of New Brunswick, will result in new scholarship on Loyalism and the Revolutionary Atlantic World. For more information or to register for any of these events, please contact Professor Riordan, (207) 581-1913 or riordan@umit.maine.edu.
Back to the TopMarch 13, 19 & 21; April 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 kick-off to the program will take place at the Mansion on March 13. Book discussions are planned for March and April 2009. In addition, a panel of faculty from the University of Southern Maine will present interdisciplinary approaches to teaching The Age of Innocence to teachers and education students on March 19. A festive presentation of late Victorian dress, dance, and music—featuring ”Victorian Lady” Kandie Carle—will be held at the Portland Museum of Art on March 21. Finally, a more general keynote presentation by scholar Carol Singley will be held at the Portland Public Library, the Mansion’s Big Read partner, on April 25. For more details, please call (207) 772-4841 or visit www.victoriamansion.org.
Back to the TopMarch 14 & 27 - 28 ~~~ 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 begins with the March 14 book signing and presentation of By a Maine River: A Year of Looking Closely by Maine author Thomas Szelog, to be held at the Waldoboro Public Library. The Waldo Theatre hosts a small film festival on March 27 and 28, including selections from “Between the Tides” (short films about midcoast Maine) and the American Conservation Film Festival. The series continues in April with a book signing with author Linda Tatelbaum, a literature discussion, and a 3-D presentation of photographs by Roger Richmond. For more event details, please call (207) 832-5570.
Back to the TopMarch 18, 2009 ~~~ Bath
In an effort to present, share, and record place-based narratives from the Southern Midcoast region, the Five Rivers Arts Alliance is sponsoring a series of “Arts Night at the Library” events. The first Arts Night, on February 26 in Brunswick, featured artists from Spindleworks. Featured storytellers for the March 18 event at the Patten Free Library in Bath are to be announced. On April 2 at the Bowdoinham Public Library, Frank Connors will interview David Prout and Don & Pat Fenimore; on May 14 at the Topsham Public Library, Brenda Cummings will interview Topsham farmer Tad Hunter. Finally, Five Rivers will sponsor a recording session in May with Maine’s traveling Story Bank booth, during which the public can come and tell their own place-based narratives of art, industry, and foodway. For more information, please call (207) 798-6964, or visit www.fiveriversartsalliance.org.
Back to the TopMarch 21-28, 2009 ~~~ Portland, Waterville, and Lewiston
The theme of the 2009 Maine Jewish Film Festival is “The Diaspora Experience: What it Means to be From Away.” Approximately one-third of the festival films will highlight this theme by portraying the experiences of Jewish people who are South American, African, Iranian, and Iraqi. Films will include Leaving Paradise, a documentary on the Jewish community of Kingston, Jamaica, and Where Are You Going, Moshé? a Canadian/Moroccan comedy set against the backdrop of the Jewish exodus of 1963. In addition to the traditional Portland-area venues, films will be screened in Waterville and Lewiston. The 2009 festival runs March 21-28; for a complete schedule, please visit www.mjff.org.
Back to the TopMarch 27 & April 28, 2009 ~~~ Freeport
The Freeport Historical Society’s programming around its recently acquired Tam O’ Shanter oil painting continues on March 27, when Robert Lloyd Webb presents an illustrated lecture at the Harrington House, tracing the history of ship portraits created by pier-side artists, of which the Tam O’Shanter is just one example. 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.org.
Back to the TopApril 2 - 4, 2009 ~~~ Portland
Presented by Maine Reads, the Maine Festival of the Book 2009 is a literary extravaganza to be held the weekend of April 3 in Portland. Celebrating our rich contemporary literary scene and its heritage, the festival presents literature in all its forms, appealing to a range of tastes, audiences, and reading abilities. For details, please visit www.mainereads.org.
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, 2009 ~~~ Portland
A month-long celebration of spring in the African Igbo tradition will involve students from local public schools, MECA students and faculty, and the general public. A public lecture at the Portland Museum of Art will inform the public about Ebune customs. The celebration will culminate in a parade on April 5, beginning at noon in front of MECA on Congress Street in Portland. For information on mask-making workshops and other public events, please call (207) 871-7188 or visit www.africantribalartmuseum.org.
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 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 poet 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 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 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 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.
Back to the Top
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.