Current & Upcoming Events & Exhibitions
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“Dreams, Reverie, Reflection” Exhibition – May 3 – 31
River Arts invites the public to visit the new juried exhibition entitled “Dreams, Reverie and Reflection” Friday, May 3rd from 5 – 7 pm. The exhibit “Dreams, Reverie and Reflection” features art describing dreams, fantasy or deeply reflective moods, through any genre: abstract art, imaginative sculpture, contemplative scenic scenes, etc. Over 127 works by 68 artists from Swanville to Lewiston are be on display with all media represented, including photography, and sculpture. The show runs from May 3rd through May 31st.
Juror for “Dreams, Reverie and Reflection” is John Sideli. Sideli has been making art and selling fine antiques for the last 45 years. He was a partner in Sideli & Sideli Inc. a show management company mounting antiques shows and special exhibits throughout the eastern United States. He has shown in galleries throughout the new England area, in NYC and in London and is currently represented by Hirschl & Adler Galleries in NYC who will mount a one man show of his work opening Sept 19th. Sideli owns and operates John Sideli Fine Art in Wiscasset, Me. where he shows his work as well as fine American antiques and African Art.
A sample of the works
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EKPHRASIS: Art & Poetry: May 23, 2013
River Arts, mid-Coast’s premier member-supported arts organization, will host a special evening program which celebrates the creation and interpretation of works of local artists, into the language of poetry, as well as music and dance. The event will be held at the new River Arts gallery on Route 1 from 7 to 9 p.m. It is free and open to the community, although donations are welcomed.
Entitled “Exphrasis”, the event will showcase 17 works of art within the current “Dreams, Reverie, Reflections” Exhibition at the gallery – pairing an individual piece of the artwork with a poet, a musician or a dancer, each of whom will create an artistic expression of what a particular piece says to him or her. “It is not just a reflection of what someone sees; rather it is an emotional creative response,” says poet George Van Deventer, a Bristol poet who organized this extraordinary evening.
EKPHRASIS is an emotional identity with a subject between the eye and ear – a discourse of influences between the senses. It is an ancient cultural collaboration, stemming from the Greek (ek “out” and phrasis – speak, or to speak out). Maine poets, as well as a musician and a dancer, will interpret the works selected by Van Deventer and River Arts executive director, Linda Morkeski.
As one example, Van Deventer has created a brief poem based on his emotional response to a photograph in the show called “Memories”, a dreamlike capturing of a decaying barn, by artist Anna Shaw of Newcastle. His words, which also evoke his own memories of having a dairy farm years ago, read in part:
Without the cows
the forest moved in on us.
The grass grew.
Vines, unimaginable,
lifted their bodies
crawling the walls of the barn.
The poets reading original works during the evening are: Ted Bookey, Readfield; Marianna Tupper, Yarmouth; Sally Woolf-Wade, Pemaquid; Elizabeth Potter, Round Pond; Robin Merrill, Madison; David Moreau, Wayne; Ken Rosen, Portland; Judith Robbins, Whitefield; Bruce Spang, Falmouth; Claire Hersom, Winthrop; Bob MacLaughlin, Warren, Jay Frenzel, Wayne; Henry Braun, Weld; Anne Mullin, Pemaquid, as well as Van Deventer himself.
The dancer is Shanna Bloomstein of Belfast (originally from Freedom), and the musician is Stanley Keach of Rome.
Mr. Keach is an internationally-known Bluegrass songwriter, whose songs have been recorded by some of the biggest names in Bluegrass. He performs with the Sandy River Ramblers and Maranacook String Band. The video of his recently-written song “What the North Pond Hermit Knows” has had over 5,000 hits on youtube in just 3 weeks; was featured on the Bill Green’s Maine (WCSH-6) show that explored the North Pond Hermit phenomenon; was the focus of articles in the Waterville Morning Sentinel, Kennebec Journal, Portland Press Herald, Lewiston Sun-Journal, and the Bangor Daily News; and the song will be featured in a documentary about the Hermit that during the Maine International Film Festival this summer.
Ms. Bloomstein began dancing professionally as a teenager and continued her studies at Hampshire College. She was with a dance group in NYC for 4 years, and has performed and collaborated throughout the country and abroad. She is now working as a physical therapy assistant, and teaches dance and yoga to children and adults. She also teaches at the Belfast Dance Studio, Unity College, and is guest artist at mid-Coast Maine Elementary schools and hospitals and also performs throughout New England.
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River Arts Community Concert
-Saturday, May 25 at 7 pm – At the Lincoln Home
Open to the public, free.
Picture taken in our newest gallery space
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If you are interested in participating in a 4-week open studio in life sculpture, please email Linda at info@riverartsme.org
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We Moved !!
All classes, exhibitions and events are now at:
241 US Route 1 (north) Damariscotta
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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
There are many volunteer opportunities at River Arts, staffing the gallery, helping set up for openings, and artist potluck dinners….
Please call 563-1507 or email info@riverartsme.org
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The mission of River Arts is to nurture appreciation,
encourage participation,
and provide opportunity in the arts.