PORTLAND

Artists invited to submit work for museum Biennial

The Portland Museum of Art is accepting entries from artists for its 2011 Biennial exhibition. The online submission form is available at www.portlandmuseum.org/biennial.

Submissions must be made online, and the deadline is June 14.

The Biennial will showcase new work by living artists connected to the state of Maine, celebrating the richness and variety of the visual arts in the state.

Artists who have spent all or a significant part of the past two years in Maine are invited to submit digital images of their work, in any medium, for consideration by the jurors.

This year’s jurors are: Jim Kempner, owner and director, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York; David Row, a painter based in New York and Maine; and Joanna Marsh, the James Dicke Curator of Contemporary Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

The 2011 Portland Museum of Art Biennial will be on view April 7 to June 5.

SACO

Antiques Appraisal Day is May 8 at Saco Museum

Bruce A. Buxton, an authority on antiques, will bring his team of experts to the Saco Museum from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 8 for the museum’s Antiques Appraisal Day.

Buxton has auctioned and appraised antiques, fine art, decorative arts, furniture, silver and other items all over the United States for 40 years. He is considered to be one of the finest antiques experts in New England and is knowledgeable in many areas, including fine art, porcelain, metals and furniture.

Appraiser Doug Harding will also be on hand to value books, documents and manuscripts. Beth Turner will handle jewelry, and Phyllis Gaul will look at glass and ceramics. The Dyer Library and Saco Museum’s executive director, Leslie Rounds, will evaluate textiles and clothing.

Bring one, two or three treasures to show the team of appraisers. Be sure the objects are small enough to carry in your arms, and do not bring stamps, coins or bottles.

Appraisal fees are $15 for one object, $25 for two objects and $30 for three objects. All proceeds benefit the Saco Museum.

The regular museum admission fee will be waived until 2 p.m. on Antiques Appraisal Day.

For information, call 283-3861 or visit www.sacomuseum.org.

AUGUSTA

Historian to tell kitchen stories at State Museum

The Maine State Museum concludes its spring lecture series, “In Depth at the Maine State Museum,” at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday with a talk by Nancy Carlisle. A curator and author with Massachusetts-based Historic New England, Carlisle will speak on her recent book and traveling exhibition, “America’s Kitchens.”

Carlisle will discuss how the American kitchen has evolved from the 1600s to the present. Carlisle will tell the story of the nation’s kitchens from New England hearths to Victorian kitchens isolated at the back of the house, to open-plan kitchens of 1950s suburbs. Carlisle has been a curator for more than 20 years at Historic New England.

The museum is in the State House Complex off State Street. For information, call 287-2301 or visit www.mainestatemuseum.org.

BRUNSWICK

Grants awarded to festival in support of new music

The Bowdoin International Music Festival has received backing for its contemporary American music programs from the Aaron Copland Foundation, Maine Arts Commission and National Endowment for the Arts.

The Aaron Copland Fund for Music awarded a grant of $6,000 in recognition of the festival’s commitment to contemporary American music and its tradition of training and presenting promising young American composers in its Artists of Tomorrow concert series and the Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music.

The 2010 Gamper Festival will host the Juilliard Technology Center and feature multi-media performances directed by Edward Bilous, the center’s director.

The American Masters programs of the Maine Arts Commission and New England Foundation for the Arts have awarded the festival grants of $5,000 and $10,000, respectively, to support performances of string quartets by contemporary American composers.

For information about the festival, visit www.bowdoinfestival.org.