Arts Nights at the Library have been suspended for 2010.

 

Previous Arts Nights

2009 Events:

Arts Night at the Library: Oral Histories

This year's Arts Night at the Library series continues our exploration of our Five Rivers region through stories. This year's Arts Night series is made possible by an Arts & Humanities Grant from the Maine Humanities Council and the Maine Arts Commission. 

 

May 14, 2009: Topsham Public Library: An evening with Tad Hunter.

On May 14, 6:30 pm Brenda Cummings interviews Topsham Fair organizer and farmer Tad Hunter at the Topsham Public Library, 25 Foreside Rd, Topsham. Hunter farms property on Foreside Road, along the Androscoggin River, that has been in his family since the 1700s.  He has been active in Topsham civic life as a Selectman, Public Works Director, and President of the Topsham Fair, now in its 155th year. His family also owns a smelting camp on the Androscoggin River. 

Brenda Cummings is an avid amateur historian as well as a writer, visual artist and assistant assessor for the City of Bath. In June 2008, she participated in the inaugural Maine Story Bank Institute, where she received training in collecting and curating place-based narratives.  A Phippsburg native with generations of family roots in Maine, she is deeply interested in local history, folk art, and natural resource-based traditions.  She is the recording secretary for the Phippsburg Shellfish Committee.

In addition, the Story Bank Maine project, an initiative to preserve local place-based traditions,  was introduced this evening. Story Bank Maine is founded by Cultural Resources Inc., an organization that works with communities to help people sustain their local culture.  Five Rivers is collaborating with Story Bank Maine to present and preserve local stories about place-based traditions. On May 14 Brenda Cummings interviews Topsham Fair organizer and farmer Tad Hunter at the Topsham Public Library. On May 27, Story Bank Maine will hold a recording session for the public to record their stories. 

The evening was sponsored by Five Rivers Arts Alliance and was also a collaboration with Midcoast Community Reads. It was made possible by an Arts & Humanities Grant from the Maine Humanities Council and the Maine Arts Commission.  For more information about Arts Night at the Library, and the Story Bank Maine project, contact Five Rivers Arts Alliance at 798-6964.

 

April 2, 2009: Bowdoinham Public Library: Farmers Speak

Rich farmland hugs the Kennebec, Abbagadasett, Androscoggin, and other rivers feeding Merrymeeting Bay, making the area a center of farming for generations. This year the Arts Night at the Library series presented oral histories of our region with interviews of local farmers. The talks were sponsored by Five Rivers Arts Alliance.

On April 2, at 6:30 pm at the Bowdoinham Public Library, School St, longtime Bowdoinham farmers Donald and Pat Fenimore and David Prout was interviewed by Frank Connors at Bowdoinham Public Library. Connors introduced the evening with 1950s footage of the Prout family farm.  David Prout’s father Harry was known as the “Prince of Parsnips” and is featured in the footage.  The Fenimore family grew vegetables Bowdoinham for many years and presently grow strawberries in West Bowdoin.  Frank Connors is founder of Bowdoinham Historical Society.  A former journalist, long-time local historian, he is currently Program Director at People Plus, Brunswick.  The public was invited to learn more about farming traditions at this free event. Photo courtesy of the Bowdoinham Historical Society.

The evening also presented the Story Bank Maine project, an initiative to preserve local place-based traditions.  Story Bank Maine was founded by Cultural Resources Inc., an organization that works with communities to help people sustain their local culture.  Five Rivers was collaborating with Story Bank Maine to present and preserve local stories about place-based traditions. On May 14 Brenda Cummings interviews Topsham Fair organizer and farmer Tad Hunter at the Topsham Public Library. On May 27, Story Bank Maine will hold a recording session for the public to record their stories. 

The evening was sponsored by Five Rivers Arts Alliance and was also a collaboration with Midcoast Community Reads. It was made possible by an Arts & Humanities Grant from the Maine Humanities Council and the Maine Arts Commission.  For more information about Arts Night at the Library, and the Story Bank Maine project, contact Five Rivers Arts Alliance at 798-6964.

 

Patten Free Library, Bath, March 18. 2009, 6:30pm
Laura Nickerson on “Maine Food: Church Supper Fare”

Casseroles, pies, pickles and cookies are the glue of every small town, marking good times and hard times, and providing the key currency for any and all fundraising efforts.Laura Nickerson is one of Phippsburg's best-known practitioners of these arts. At 68, Laura has spent almost all of her life in Phippsburg, working with the Firefighter's Auxiliary and Phippsburg Elementary School, among other organizations, to celebrate, mourn and raise money with her expertise in cooking, baking and preserving. Several of her recipes can be found in "Favorite Recipes From Our Church," the 2002 cookbook of thePhippsburg Congregational Church. She works at the Midcoast Senior Center in Brunswick, and lives on the Main Road in Phippsburg with her husband, Norman.

Brenda Cummings interviewed Laura Nickerson about Maine Food traditions. Homemade lemon squares, pickles, jam and whoopie pies were served.

 

Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick Maine
February 26, 2009, 6:30 pm

As Spindleworks marks its thirtieth year, we believe that documentation of the artists' experience is a critical componant of the historical record of the center.  Founded during a time when the ideas and experiences of people with developmental disabilities were not only overlooked, but often regarded as without worth, Spindleworks has always challenged the dominant narrative of what these artists can contribute to their communities.

This project is also in response to a desire of Spindleworks artists to document the histories of their fellow artists.   By teaching the artists skills to perform oral history interviews, they will be active participants in contributing vital information to the historical record of the center.  

Spindleworks will engage a local historian to facilitate a series of oral history workshops for a group of artists in the program.  The artists and historian will work together to compile oral histories of Spindleworks artists and staff.  This community presentation will combine excerpts from the interview with items from the Spindleworks archive. 

 

2008 Events

Topsham Public Library
April 10, 6:30pm: "Cathance River, Head of Tide: Past, Present, and Future"

The Head of Tide area of the Cathance River is rich in history dating back to Topsham's Native American people, through the time that it housed Topsham's first sawmill, then later became a feldspar mill. In the 1970s the mill was converted to apartments. Today the Head of Tide site has the potential of becoming Topsham's first waterfront park and water access site to be enjoyed by the residents of Topsham and visitors alike.

Angela Twitchell, Ed Mendes (Co-Chairs of the Head of Tide Park Committee), Carla Rensenbrink (Board Member of the Cathance River Education Alliance) and Rick Wilson, Diirector of Cathance River Education Alliance) explored the past, present, and future of this interesting and historic site, its preservation and future use!

Angela Twitchell is the Co-Chair of the Head of Tide Park Committee and has worked in the land conservation field in Maine since 1998. Prior to that, she worked for Project Vote Smart from the project's inaugural year in 1991 through 1997, directing the project's voter information and research services. She is a graduate of Bates College and studied ecology in the Brazilian rain forest through the School for International Training. She is Chair of the Topsham Conservation Commission, Vice President of the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust, and board member of the Maine League of Conservation Voters Education Fund. She is a Maine native having grown up in Turner and currently resides in Topsham with her husband and four young children.

Arts Night at the Library is co-sponsored by Five Rivers Arts Alliance and the Topsham Public Library. The event is free and open to all. The Library is located at 25 Foreside Road, Topsham. Refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Five Rivers Arts Alliance at 798-6964.

Arts Night at the Patten Free Library, March 19, celebrates Banners Over Bath and the Midcoast Community Read

Help create a collective banner for “Banners Over Bath” on Wednesday, March 19, 6:30-8pm, in the Children's Room of the Patten Free Library, Summer St, Bath.  This is a unique opportunity to create a community art project reflecting the excitement of the Midcoast Community Read.

Artist Susan Perrine will talk about the “Banners Over Bath” project, now in its forth year.  Examples of banners will be on view. A library representative will give an overview of the Community Read books.  Participants of all ages will work together to create a joint banner illustrating some of the themes of this year's Midcoast Community Read.  Topics include underwater exploration, sea life, scuba diving, shipwrecks and lost subs of World War II.  Paint, stitch and draw, using a variety of materials to create and embellish your contribution to the Community Read banner.

Susan Perrine is a Woolwich textile and book artist.  Her sculptural textile "Red Sash/Leap of Faith" is currently on view at the Taking Panes show in the Ames Mill in Richmond. Her artist book entry “What's in Cleopatra's Pocket Book” received Honorable Mention at the Edible Book Festival in Portland, Maine.  She is studying fine art at University of Southern Maine. In 2007, she received the Bath Community Spirit Award for developing and organizing the “Banners Over Bath” project.

Arts Night at the Library is sponsored by Five Rivers Arts Alliance and is a joint collaboration with the Patten Free Library and the Midcoast Community Read.  The event is free; refreshments will be served. 

Arts nights at Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick explores new horizons for craft artists on February 20

Brunswick-Craft artists throughout Maine now have several new opportunities to expand their businesses and they can find out about new programs of the Maine Crafts Association and how they can benefit at Arts Night at the Library, February 20, 2008 at 6:30pm at the Morrell Meeting Room of Curtis Memorial, 23 Pleasant St., Brunswick Maine.  This presentation by Lynn Thompson, is sponsored by Five Rivers Arts Alliance.

Lynn Thompson, Special Projects Consultant for the Maine Crafts Association will speak about plans for the new Center for Maine Craft being constructed on the turnpike at West Gardiner this year.  She will address the recent merger of Maine Highlands Guild and Maine Crafts Association and present talk about programs involving representation of craft artists, access to wholesale and retail markets, a new Associates degree in Traditional and Contemporary Craft in the community college system, grants and loans to craft artists and organizations, and more.

Thompson is the former director of Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts, Newcastle. For more information about this Arts Night at the Library, contact Five Rivers Arts Alliance at 207-798-6964 or www.fiveriversartsalliance.org