July 2008 Artscape
Click for PDF of July '08 here: Front. Back, w-calendar
Intro
Once you decide to celebrate one anniversary, you realize it’s impossible to keep up. Maine State Music Theatre celebrates its golden anniversary. Spindleworks is 30. Harpswell celebrates its 250th birthday well ahead of the 232nd anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence! Here at Five Rivers Arts Alliance, Artscape is one year old, the alliance was founded 10 years ago, and we’re feeling pretty good about these anniversaries too!
Whether you are enjoying a vacation here from away or are taking a stay-cation this summer be sure you enjoy the arts and culture that surrounds you. This issue of Artscape offers plenty of suggestions.
Artspeak:
Remembering Victoria Crandall
Victoria Crandall founded the Brunswick Summer Playhouse 50 years ago, opening nine ambitious and fully staged musicals in the course of ten weeks! It was hardly a Rooney-Garland-“let’s-put-on-a-show” moment, for Crandall brought experience and pluck that set the foundation for the theater’s impressive run. An Eastman School of Music training, Crandall had a concert pianist career, toured Europe during World War II with the USO, and accompanied many big names on Broadway of the era, including Maine’s own Rudy Vallee, Ethel Merman, Jimmy Durante, Frank Loesser, Richard Rodgers and Moss Hart. She produced musicals that toured resorts along the eastern seaboard and the Caribbean, playing a circuit of summer playhouses that catered to traveling shows with big name stars.
At 50, Crandall “settled down” in Maine to start her own summer music playhouse, with the ambition of staging locally producing musicals of Broadway caliber. From the start, strong alliances with the Town of Brunswick, Chamber of Commerce, local businesses and Bowdoin College have been keys to the theater’s success and longevity. So too has Crandall’s legacy of determination, professionalism, and dedication to “the best.” Opening night of the first 1959 production, “Song of Norway,” played to the Governor of Maine a loyal and engaged audience that has only grown with the years.
Able to shift with changing times, the theater succeeded first as Crandall’s for-profit business, and more recently as a nonprofit. It now provides educational training for more than 40 college interns and apprentices on stage and backstage. In 1988, Crandall received accolades for her work from Governor John R. McKernan and that year the theater was renamed Maine State Music Theatre, marking its statewide patronage and reputation. After flirting briefly with a move from Brunswick in 2000, MSMT purchased its Elm Street facilities where scene shop, rehearsal space and offices run year round. Come May, the company & crew move into Bowdoin College’s Pickard Theater as soon as the students move out. Today MSMT is one of the state’s largest cultural institutions, contributes more than $5 million to the local economy, and year after year, fills the seats of the beautiful Pickard Theater.
Audiences look for a “mix of the old favorites and the newest, hottest shows available” states Marketing Director Andrew Gilbert. “Every season we say ‘there's is no way we can top this next year’ and then we somehow do.” This season is as ambitious as any to date. Under the guidance of Artistic Director Chuck Abbot and Executive Director Steve Peterson, the whole staff, Equity actors, musicians and crew of interns clock many hours to create the appearance of an effortless performance audiences see opening night to closing curtain.
Tickets sell fast so to catch this summer’s shows and special events, go to msmt.org. Upcoming shows include: “The Producers,” June 25-July 12; “All Shook Up,” July 16-August 2; and the first full-scale production in Maine of the World’s Most Popular Musical, “Les Miserables,” August 6-24. “Toxic Audio” is a special event July 28. This Grammy-nominated a capella group ranges performs rap to be-bop, scat to doo-wop.
This year’s golden anniversary events include a gala opening night reception, art exhibit at Frontier Cafe, banners along Maine Street, and Accolades, the highly anticipated coffee table book with memories from the beginning through today. The entire staff and actor community of MSMT is behind this anniversary and involved in promotions, workshops, parties and presentations. Adds Gilbert, “Most importantly we realize that we would not have made it through 50 years without the support of the community and our audiences. This anniversary celebration is really for and about them.”
HERITAGE HIGHLIGHTS
Bath Heritage Days¦July 3-6¦Theme this year is “Coming Home, A Celebration of the Red, White and Blue!” Library Park, Waterfront Park and downtown Bath. Art in the Park, craft show, library book sale, pie eating contests, carnival rides, nonprofit exhibits, lots of live entertainment. Fireworks on July 4, 9:15pm. Contact: www.visitbath.com.
Richmond Days¦July 25-26¦ “Richmond’s Shipbuilding Legacy and Future.” Fri: noon-10pm. Sat: 10-10. Most activities at Fort Richmond Waterfront Park. Fri: Swan Island tours, antique appraisal, music. Sat: parade at noon, pirate re-enactment, lobster crate races, Swan Island tours, sock hop and more! Contact: 737-4305.
Harpswell Festival¦July 27¦The festival is bigger and better than ever to celebrate Harpswell's 250th birthday and the festival’s 5th! Giant puppets on parade (including Admiral Peary, his dogs and Witch of Harpswell), bigger better fireworks 9pm, 2 stages with music and dance all day. Water access and kayak tours of Middle Bay. 11am-9pm, rain or shine. George J. Mitchell Field, Rte 123, Harpswell. Contact: 833-0562, www.harpswellfestival.org
Harbor Lights and Shipbuilding History Cruise¦Ongoing¦One-hour cruise on the Kennebec: 400 years of shipbuilding history from Percy & Small shipyard to Bath Iron Works, plus river lighthouses. One of several tours available. Daily at noon & 2pm. Prices vary. Register at front desk ½ hour before cruise. Maine Maritime Museum, 243 Washington St, Bath. Contact: 443-1316, www.mainearitimemuseum.org
Mariner Made: Folk Art by Those Who Went to Sea¦Ongoing¦ More than 80 sailor-made works from the whimsical, and the comforting, to the sometimes bizarre creations known and unknown artists. Also workshops, free Brown Bag Lunches, tours and river cruises. Maine Maritime Museum, 243 Washington St, Bath. Contact: 443-1316, www.mainearitimemuseum.org
Music on the Mall, Brunswick¦Wednesdays, 7-8:30pm¦Bring your lawn chairs and the whole family. Rain date: Thurs when possible. Free. www.downtownbrunswick.com
Bath Gazebo Concert Series¦Tues & Fri at 7pm ¦Grab your sweetheart and a picnic blanket and head down to Library Park every Tuesday and Friday night at 7pm (except July 4th) this summer. July 4: Bath Municipal Band, 8pm, with Fireworks. Free. www.visitbath.com.
Bowdoinham Concert Series¦Sundays at 6:30pm¦Mailly Waterfront Park, Rt. 24, Bowdoinham. Free. www.bowdoinham.com.
June '08 Artscape
Eating and Art: 
A close relationship between local restaurants and local artists
Grab a cup of coffee or sit down to a three-course meal at a local restaurant and you are likely to find yourself surrounded by locally produced art. What makes an entrepreneur decide to decorate her establishment with a rotating gallery? Why do artists reach out to a food establishment as a gallery? What effect does the art have? These are a few questions we asked café/gallery owners in Bath and Brunswick and we found they shared a consistent view of food, art and community.
Eat Local/Display Local: “This is a community space and showing community art just makes sense. We do a high volume of business and in terms of visibility it is a great place to show. It makes people more aware of the artists in their own community,” said Café Crème owner Tonnie Schultz. Foods and products from local producers are coveted by consumers in our region, and sharing the creative side of our community adds meaning to the “shop local” motto we often hear.
Rotating Menus and Rotating Exhibits: Many restaurants vary their menus weekly, monthly, or seasonally and couple those variations with changes in the gallery space. Mae’s Café owner Kate Winglass noted, “It’s like changing the furniture; it creates variety, and our customers love to see the new pieces.” As the wall decor changes in an establishment, it can change the atmosphere of the space, fill an otherwise barren expanse and provide fulfillment of more than just the taste buds of the community. Says Frontier owner Michael Gilroy, “Our walls are in a constant state of change, so even our full time staff is inspired.”
Introducing art to new eyes: One of the benefits for artists showing in restaurants is that it allows people to see their work who might never experience it otherwise. Paul Harrison, owner of Little Dog Coffee Shop, says “We are approached by artists all the time…. Some artists have done reasonably well… an artist is able to show to a big audience here.” Gilroy adds, “Folks who might not enter a more traditional gallery/museum setting become exposed to different types of artwork, unintentionally.” New experiences for consumers can work both ways, bringing new customers into restaurants because of the art. “Through the month of May we always exhibit the Morse High [School, Bath] AP art class. Many students and their families come to the gallery opening who have never been here before. New artists bring in new people; their friends, family and people familiar with them.” says Winglass.
Let’s Talk! Conversation is fundamental to our society and art encourages these discussions. “Our customers like the storytelling aspect of our artwork. I’d also like to believe that it exposes our customers to something different, when they may least expect it,” says Gilroy. It may be a story told through the artists’ work, or a concept inspired by their work. Winglass said, “Some pieces are controversial; they bring up issues with different effects. Our latest artist had some pieces with political and religious elements and some customers loved it, and some hated it, but it’s all open to discussion. It makes people talk, and that’s important – that’s what art is all about.”
Let’s Walk: Visit these and many more art venues during regular business hours and on June 13, 5-8pm for 2nd Friday Art Walks, Brunswick & Topsham, and June 20, 5-8 pm 3rd Friday ArtWalk, in Bath. Listings at www.fiveriversartsalliance.org.
Interviewers: Amanda Similien, Economic & Community Development Specialist, Town of Brunswick and Erika Helgerson, Community Relations Coordinator, City of Bath talked to Michael Gilroy, Frontier Cafe, Cinema & Gallery, 14 Maine St, Brunswick; Paul Harrison, Little Dog Coffee Shop, 97 Maine St, Brunswick; Tonnie Shultz, Cafe Crème, 56 Front St, Bath and Kate Winglass, Mae’s Cafe, 160 Centre St, Bath.
Spring Artscape: March, April, May
PDF of Artscape: Spring 2008
Let the Light in! 
Are you and yours experiencing Cabin Fever? Don't worry! Winter is nearing its close; the clocks are about to change, and spring is right around the corner. Five Rivers Arts Alliance has some great suggestions for you to get out of the house and back into the world.
Visit local farms for Maple Sugar Sunday and spring happenings like lambing, or just pull on some old mud boots and take a walk outside - check out the reverse side of this publication for a list of healthy hikes to get your blood flowing. Dance! Head to the Downeast Dance Festival March 28-29 in Topsham. Take a look at our list of dance, art and craft classes and get your creative juices flowing, or learn new facts and perspectives by participating at the Midcoast Community Read. View your windows in a whole new way after seeing the group art show “Taking Panes” in Richmond. For details about these activities and more,
read on; or visit fiveriversartsalliance.org.
ArtSpeak RICHARD LEE - TAKING PANES
"Look at those weathered mill windows with wavy glass panes," exclaims master paper artist Richard Lee. Stacks of windows lean against each other along a wall in Lee's second floor studio in Richmond's historic Ames Mill. Their frail, transparent forms mirror the artist to some degree. Both show their age. Each is outlined in white. They share a few cracks and creases between them. And together, man and medium are responsible for a vibrant collaboration of creativity, community and transformation in the dead of winter.
"Taking Panes"--an exhibition fusing historic windows with contemporary artists--is a response to the disposal that these long-lived windows faced after replacement. "What are you going to do with the old windows," Lee recalls asking? "Discard them" came the answer. Lee proposed salvaging them instead--and window-frame after window-frame quickly arrived at his studio, listing at attention, awaiting his orders. Lee's command, "Let’s give windows to artists and ask them to make an art statement."
Nearly one-hundred artists from the midcoast to as far away as Eastport, Bethel, Solon and Portland have traveled to Richmond and returned to their studios window-handed. The collaborating artists are diverse in their expressive styles and Lee expects that the upcoming show will reflect both quality and originality. "I think the challenge of transforming these old panes has been stimulating to their creators," he explains.
Regional artists, however, are not the only inspired participants contributing to "Taking Panes." Local businesses and agencies including the Town of Richmond, Richmond Contract Manufacturing Company, Paradigm Windows, K & G Hardware, Steve Pennisi, Amy Stacey Curtis, Jay Robbins and dozens of volunteers have also donated space, staging, promotional materials, hospitality and energy to this artistic salvation. Artists Mary Beth Morrison and Karen Campbell have helped organize the effort. Proudly, Lee nods and says the generosity he has received has been "overwhelming--a tremendous response."
Credit Lee's quiet magnetism for this. Lee, 75, is not only a master papermaker but a sly motivator. His ability to invite, cajole, suggest, and challenge artists from around the state in the dead of winter to pick up a window, create new work quickly, return it to Richmond, and attend the show's opening in-person is, like winter itself, a force of nature most cannot escape.
Artist Richard Lee has inspired children and adults locally, nationally and around the world to participate in and practice papermaking. Last year, Lee was awarded Honorable Mention for the 2007 Maine Alliance for Arts Education Bill Bonyun Award and his paper expression "Egyptian Angel with a Monk" is currently traveling in the Fuller Craft Museum's national exhibition "Pulp Function." Lee himself traveled to Turkey last year and envisions another exotic journey this coming year if his health allows. All of his effort now though is focused on this exhibition and only one chore remains. Participation. Lee leans over and says, “Come all, bring your neighbors.”
Show details: Opening Reception: Sunday March 16th, 10am - 4pm. Free.
Ongoing: Wed – Sun, 10am to 4pm, March 12 - 16, March 19 - 23, March 26 - 30.
Location: Ames Mill, 307 Front Street, Richmond, 4th Floor.
Elevator in the building for those needing assistance.
Contact: 798-0935
Winter Artscape
December, January & February
PDF of Winter Artscape-front
PDF of Winter Artscape-back-calendar
Artspeak: Fiber-Therapy
It all started with Bert the duck—that is if you can start a sheep farm with a duck. In the case of Kelly Corbett, that duck, plus a childhood dream and a passion for animals is what started Romney Ridge Farm in Woolwich. Kelly grew up on the Great Wass Island off of Jonesport, Maine. Day trips with her family to neighboring Nash and Roque Islands, where sheep roamed, instilled in her the dream to one day have a flock of her own. That chance came 8 years ago when a call came from her brother. He had heard that an older ram on a nearby island, no longer wanted by his owner, was soon to be put down. Kelly’s immediate reaction was “bring him but give me a week to get a fence up”. That she did and Rodney the Romney ram became the first member of the farm (besides Bert the duck). Unfortunately Rodney was ill and did not survive long but he gave Kelly the confidence and determination she needed. After Rodney, she began to grow her flock and flush out her dream.
The current flock at Romney Ridge is a diverse group of crosses and pure breeds all of which have been picked for their differing fleece. Each February, Jeff Burchstead comes from Wiscasset to sheer the flock. Kelly spins some of the raw fleece herself, but sends most of it to Green Mountain Spinnery in Vermont. Kelly treats the resulting yarn with Cushing Dyes from Kennebunkport and sells it from her small shop--a transformed pony shed--which she opened on the property a year ago. The small interior glows from the array of colored skeins stacked neatly inside. There are also finished products including felted wool pillows, mittens, bags, and other beautiful items made by local artisans. The shop is doing well, but Kelly gives priority to the experience over the purchase: “I don’t care about the profit as long as I can keep doing this. I love this life. I love sharing it with people”.
It is clear that her fondness for her sheep goes beyond her appreciation of their fine fleece; she calls her time with the sheep “fiber therapy”. Walking around the farm she introduces them all by name, and breed—Vespa, Laverne and Shirley, Judy, Millie, Martha, Gromet…“I’m not a real farmer; they all have names!” Other members of the farm include Romeo the goat (their “Wal-Mart greeter”), three dogs, 2 rabbits and a rescued pony, Ladybug. Big Mouth the duck shares space with several other fowl including Loudmouth (recovering from surgery on his leg) and Pumpkin, who was abandoned in the neighboring pond last Halloween.
Aside from the farm, Kelly’s life has fallen into place in a way that seems to surprise even her. This summer, when looking for a part time job, she was offered a position with her vet. This position has enriched her farm knowledge as well as allowing her to continue to run her shop and care for her three children. Recently Kelly was also chosen to take part in a series of business classes held by Women, Work and Community. “Mama Class” is now blocked in on the family calendar on the refrigerator, on the Tuesdays that she travels to Augusta. Days are certainly busy, but Kelly and her family have found a balance and a quality of life to be admired.
Kelly created her own website, www.romneyridgefarm.com, complete with a blog which pulls you in to the seasonal happenings on the farm. But in order to really experience fully the magic of Romney Ridge, you need to go there, which is what Kelly wants you to do. It is also the only place where Kelly’s yarns are for sale. The shop is closed Monday and Tuesday, open Wednesday through Friday, 2-6pm and on Weekends, 11am-4pm but call first.
by Liz McGhee.
Check back for calendar updates.
ARTSPEAK: Art and Accessibility
Anyone familiar with Brunswick knows the solid shape of the Walker Art Building perched on the edge of the Bowdoin College Quad, with its broad sullen shoulders, and back hunched to the community. Though the building’s stoic exterior bears no signage on the street side to announce its purpose or stature to passers by, this well-known centurion is on the National Register of Historic Places. This fall the Bowdoin College Museum of Art will reopen to reveal a newly tailored exterior, and an expanded and state of the art interior, completing a renovation project begun in 2003 to honor this Brunswick landmark.
The goals of the renovation are multifold, but perhaps the most interesting to me are those pertaining to the museum’s relationship to the community. While honoring the original structure, architects Machado and Silvetti Associates of Boston have created a visual and literal point of entry from the town-facing or street side so that the museum no longer appears to cater just to the college. The “glass curtain” on what might be considered the back of the building offers a glimpse into a new gallery featuring Bowdoin’s well-known Assyrian reliefs.
The new transparency facing Park Row reflects a desire on the part of the Director Katy Kline to communicate to the town that the greater community is welcome in. In addition to this enticing view, visitors are invited to enter via a new glass pavilion rising from the ground just east of the museum itself. This entry way is the architects’ answer to Kline’s goal to make the formerly partially accessible museum “elegantly handicapped accessible.” To that end, visitors of all abilities, and from both the college and community, are invited to enter the museum through this new and somewhat magical portal.
Having been a part of the Bowdoin College community as a student, and now a part of the Brunswick community as the director of an art center for people with disabilities, my appreciation of the transformation is heartfelt. Central to our focus at Spindleworks is to foster an inclusive community where everyone, no matter what his or her ability, is embraced and treated equally. We encourage this on a human level, and law requires it to happen on an architectural level. The new entrance to the museum takes this requirement one step further by making an inclusive entrance instead of a solely accessible one. I look forward to bringing the artists I work with to the museum where they will be able to experience the museum for what it is and what it hopes to be: a home to a wealth of art and artifacts for all the community to enjoy, learn from and celebrate.
The public is invited to the ribbon cutting ceremony at 1:00pm on Sunday, October 14. The museum will remain open until 5:00 pm, and then resume normal hours. In addition, Thursday evening hours are being added to increase access for the working community.
Liz McGhee is the Director of Spindleworks, which is a program of the Independence Association of Brunswick. www.spindleworks.org
Artscape is the guide to midcoast arts, culture and heritage discoveries, a starting point for your exploration. We have created a new calendar of events, with easy-to-find Heritage, Performing Arts, and Top 5 Picks, as well as weekly listings. Look for us again in December, online, in The Times Record, and around town.
Artscape is published by the Five Rivers Arts Alliance with support from The Maine Community Foundation, Davis Family Foundation, Midcoast Council for Business Development & Planning, Town of Brunswick, Town of Bowdoinham, Our Advertisers & Our Members.
For information on sponsoring Art Scape, click here.
