Maine Art Gallery opens season

     WISCASSET -- The Maine Art Gallery’s first show of the 2006 season opened Thursday, May 11. Titled “Bits and Pieces,” the show features fiber art and assemblages of eight Maine artists and is curated by Lari Washburn.

     Edward Mackenzie of Richmond will exhibit 13 mixed-media assemblages. He has exhibited in both solo and group shows in New Zealand, England, Maine, Florida and New York.

     Rosalind Fedeli of York will show six assemblages. She has exhibited widely throughout New England and presently maintains a gallery of her own, River Current Studio, in York.

     Natasha Kempers-Cullen of Topsham is a quilt artist who will display four, as she describes them, “collage construction art quilts.” She has received a number of awards for her work and one piece is in a collection of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution and another in the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City.

     Dan Dowd of Phippsburg will show 14 assemblages. He said he has been collecting found objects all his life and that since moving to Maine from Massachusetts in 2001, he has found “great resource at my local transfer station.”

     Stephanie Green Levy of Brunswick will display four fiber works. The artist has exhibited from Portland, Maine to Portland, Ore.

     Catherine Worthington, also of Brunswick, will show two hand-painted fiber works, “Photosynthesis” and Sky Blue Pink.” Worthington has exhibited in many galleries throughout Maine, including in the 2004 group exhibit of Contemporary Maine Fiber Art at the Center for Contemporary Art in Rockport.

     Mary Chaisson of Harpswell will show a number of patchwork quilts, which combine hand painted, dyed and commercially printed fabrics. Her work is in a number of private collections, in Maine, New York, California and Delaware and has been in numerous exhibitions in states across the country.

     Caren-Marie Michel of Westbrook will show 15 small acrylic paintings in a series titled “Bridges” in the vestibule of the gallery. With a style between impressionistic and realistic, the artist said she feels impelled to document the ever-changing rural and urban landscape of Maine.

     The show will run through June 11. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays. The gallery is on Warren Street.

Tapestry Singers fete Brahms

     DAMARISCOTTA -- The Tapestry Singers, under the direction of Beth Preston, will present their spring concert, “Johannes Brahms,” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 13, at the Damariscotta Baptist Church on River Road.

     The all-Brahms program, accompanied by Sean Fleming and Ron Marlowe, features a variety of lush and sparkling choral works, including “Nänie,” “O Schöne Nacht” and selections from the Liebeslieder Waltzes. Johannes Brahms (1833­1897) is revered as a composer of symphonies, concertos and chamber music, but he was equally at home in the composing choral music and German lieder. Considered a successor to Beethoven, he nevertheless surpassed Beethoven in the introduction of new and original rhythms and harmonies.

     Preston is completing her eighth year as director of the Tapestry Singers. She heads the department of visual and performing Arts at Lincoln Academy in Newcastle, where she has four choral groups and has just finished directing “Big River.” She also has served as musical director for Heartwood Regional Theater Company productions of “Les Miserables,” “Susannah,” “Man of La Mancha” and “Disney’s Beauty & the Beast.”

     Fleming, a favorite of audiences throughout the Midcoast, is also the accompanist for the Bowdoin Chorus, Coastal Chorale, Lincoln Arts Festival Chorus, Saint Cecilia Chamber Choir and the Sheepscot Valley Chorus. He is a founding member of the Maine Friends of Music and the organist at St. Andrew’s Church in Newcastle.

     Marlowe, a well-known pianist, teacher and arranger, has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Orchestra and the Dallas Symphony. He also appeared on television for more than 30 years with such performers as Johnny Carson, Gary Moore, Milton Berle,and Arthur Godfrey.

     Advance tickets for the concert are available from any Tapestry Singers member and at Maine Coast Book Shop. Tickets are $8 in advance and will be $10 performance day. Tickets also will be available at the door.

‘Wings’ flies onto Skidompha screen

     DAMARISCOTTA -- “Wings,” starring Charles “Buddy” Rogers, Clara Bow and Richard Arlen, will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 15, as Skidompha Public Library’s Spring Film Classic Film Series presentation in the Porter Meeting Hall, Elm Street entrance.

     The 1927 “Wings” was the first movie to win an Academy Award for Best Picture and is the only silent film to win an Oscar. Although a World War I period piece, modern day fighter pilots and air combat enthusiasts continue to be impressed with the flying skills and combat maneuvers of Rogers and Arlen, who were pilots themselves.

     The plot is rather simple: two best friends, David Armstrong (Arlen) and Jack Powell (Rogers), are in love with the same girl, Sylvia Lewis (played by Harold Lloyd’s leading lady, Jobyna Ralston). Both of them ignore the beautiful Mary Preston (Bow), who lives next door to Jack. But Sylvia loves David, and so it goes.

     Bow, the famous “It” girl of 1920s cinema, shows why she was the Jean Harlow and Marilyn Monroe of her era. It is well established that she was the model for the early 1930s saucy cartoon character, Betty Boop. Also to be glimpsed briefly is a young actor soon to become a movie idol of the next 30 years -- Gary Cooper.

     The audience will be prepped for the war film by a classic 1953 cartoon, “Zipping Along ­ Road Runner.” The requested $5 donation will help maintain and increase Skidompha’s classic film collection.

Call for artists for summer show

     DAMARISCOTTA -- The call for artists has gone out for the second annual Damariscotta Region Fine Art Show at Round Top Center for the Arts, Business Route 1.

     The show is set for 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, July 1, with a rain date of the following day. Juried entrance is by slides, photos or disk. The show is open to fine artists in all media. Works made from kits, manufactured articles and imports will not be accepted. The event includes cash prizes, a free concert and food concessions.

     Application deadline is Monday, May 15. For information and an application, call 563-1507, send an e-mail to rtilden@roundtoparts.org or visit www.roundtoparts.org.

Round Top Art Camp takes new tack

     DAMARISCOTTA -- Round Top Center for the Arts, Business Route 1, is taking a new approach to its four-week summer Art Camp, scheduled for July 17 through Aug. 11.

     Rather than weekly theme-based art projects, each week of hands-on art learning is designed around a specific area of art making: paper and book arts; printmaking; three-dimensional art; and drawing and painting.

     Returning to teach the Art Camp program this summer are local artists Vicky Hughes and Joyce Steel. Both are art educators committed to providing an innovative and nurturing arts environment where children may experiment and discover their creative voices.

     Each week, children will use tools, techniques and materials pertaining to the week’s art-making focus. Through carefully selected projects plus exposure to artists and teachers working at the Round Top in similar areas of art-making, children will tap into a range of creative possibilities available to them.

     Whether it is making multiple kinds of prints, trying a hand at book arts, learning new collage techniques, drawing and painting skills or building a fantastic assemblage, this year’s Art Camp at Round Top promises rewarding and fun-filled art adventures.

     Morning and afternoon sessions will be held for two age levels: 5 to 8 years of age; and 9 to 13 years of age. Sessions are set for 9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m.-4 p.m. Children may be enrolled for one week or more, for morning or afternoon or both sessions each day. Each week is designed to include age appropriate ongoing art projects, educational enrichment and outdoor art and nature activities.

     For information and to register for Art Camp 2006, call Round Top, 563-1507, or stop by the office, open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays, to pick up a brochure and learn more about the program.