PORTLAND

Sousa, Broadway tunes on tap for July 4 Pops program

The July Fourth Patriotic Pops program of the Portland Symphony Orchestra will include selections from Broadway shows and marches by John Philip Sousa.

The PSO announced details of the Patriotic Pops program that will be performed as part of the Stars and Stripes Spectacular on Portland’s Eastern Promenade. Music director Robert Moody will conduct the Independence Day program, with Suzanne Nance, host of MPBN’s Morning Classical, as featured vocalist.

The roots of American independence will be celebrated with a reading of the Declaration of Independence and a musical salute to the armed forces, and the “1812 Overture” by Tchaikovsky will kick off a fireworks display.

The free concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. and run through the beginning of the fireworks display, slated to begin at approximately 9:15 p.m. MPBN radio will broadcast the concert live statewide. Information about limited reserved table seating in front of the concert stage is available at july4thportland.org.

Moody just completed his second season as PSO’s music director. Nance has performed around the country, and in Europe.

Founding sponsors of the Stars and Stripes Spectacular are Quirk Chevrolet, Wright Express, the Maine Red Claws and MaineToday Media, which publishes The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, the Kennebec Journal and Central Maine Morning Sentinel in Waterville, the weekly Coastal Journal in Bath and their respective websites.

Additional support is provided by Unum, Coca Cola Bottling of Northern New England, PowerPay, Boston Musicians Association, MPBN, Seacoast RVs, and the Narrow Gauge Railway.

For information, visit www.portlandsymphony.com. 

Art museum is offering Blue Star free admissions

The Portland Museum of Art is participating in the Blue Star Museums Program, a partnership among Blue Star Families, the National Endowment for the Arts and more than 750 museums in all 50 states to offer free admission to military personnel and their families through Labor Day.

The free admission program is available to any bearer of a Geneva Convention common access card, a DD Form 1173 ID card, or a DD Form 1173-1 ID card, which includes active duty military (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard), National Guard and Reserve members, and up to five immediate family members.

SOUTH PORTLAND

Photographer to discuss his art perspective today

Photographer Christian Farnsworth will host an artist talk and reception for his exhibition “Topographies” from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Verbena, 103 Ocean St., South Portland. The show at Verbena has been extended through Saturday.

With his work, Farnsworth is trying to develop a system of information gathering that challenges the basic tenets of photography, and find a new way to present visual information. His current work blends panoramic perspectives, offering a vertical slice of the world from below and above the water.

BRUNSWICK

Pendexter gives collection to Bowdoin Museum of Art

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art announced a gift to its permanent collection from long-time friend and donor Charles Pendexter, a resident of Brunswick.

Totaling more than 1,500 prints and eight drawings, the Pendexter collection expands the breadth of Bowdoin’s print holdings, increasing them by 20 percent. The gift includes works by Albrecht Durer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Edouard Manet and Giorgio Morandi, among many others, and multiple works by Hendrick Goltzius and Honore Daumier. Highlights include rare first editions of Francisco de Goya’s Disasters of War and Proverbios series, both from the early 19th century.

A native of Maine, Pendexter is a retired research geologist for the Exxon Corporation. Over the course of his career he traveled widely, collecting master prints in cities around the world for 50 years.

Becker, print curator, fellow collector, and museum donor, said in a statement, “Charles’s gift is remarkably wide-ranging, adding immeasurably to the reach of the Museum’s holdings.”

Museum director Kevin Salatino said, “Charles’s prints join rich holdings of works on paper at Bowdoin, now made exponentially richer by the generosity of one remarkable man. This truly outstanding gift is an exemplary act of selflessness that recognizes that a great collection is greatest when kept intact, and when shared with the largest possible audience.”

Highlights from this gift will be showcased in the summer exhibition “Scratching the Surface: Master Prints from the Charles Pendexter Collection,” on view in the Becker Gallery beginning Wednesday through Aug. 29.

ELLSWORTH

Sculptor Kazumi Hoshino joins Courthouse gallery

Karin Wilkes, director and owner of Courthouse Gallery Fine Art, announced that Maine sculptor Kazumi Hoshino has joined the gallery. Hoshino’s work is currently on view at the gallery in Ellsworth through June 20, and at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland through the end of December.

Hoshino’s work was selected by Michael Komanecky, chief curator of the Farnsworth, for the museum’s exhibition “Four in Maine: Site Specific.” Komanecky invited Hoshino and three other Maine sculptors, Jesse Salisbury who also shows at Courthouse Gallery, Warren Seelig and Aaron T. Stephan to select a site, inside or outside the museum, that best fits their work. The exhibit examines how each sculptor integrates their work into the place they have chosen.

Hoshino and Salisbury are married.

Hoshino was born and raised in Nagoya, Japan. She studied oil painting and sculpture privately before attending Tohoku University of Art and Design, where she graduated with a sculpture degree. She has participated in several international sculpture symposia. She met Salisbury in 2004 at the Nasunogahara International Sculpture Symposium.

For information, call 667-6611 or visit www.courthousegallery.com.

STONINGTON

Many winners in Bud Carter Memorial Music Scholarships

Opera House Arts and the Bud Carter Memorial Scholarship Committee announced a record number of applicants and winners for this year’s Bud Carter Memorial Music Scholarships. This year’s winners are: Candace Oliver, bass guitar; Meredith Oliver, guitar; Sarah Wilson, dance; Esther Adams, voice; Walter Kumiega Jr., bass guitar; Daniel Kolysher, drums; Christina Hobbs, flute; Jessica Joyce, piano; Emily Hobbs, voice; Leah Boyce, trumpet; and Devin Trundy, guitar.

They will celebrate their success as part of the 2010 Lupine Festival at the Stonington Opera House with the 20th Annual Bud Carter Memorial Scholarship Concert at 7 p.m. Saturday.

This year’s concert will also feature guest William Witham, the Maine Poetry Out Loud winner. The annual concert raises funds for the scholarship. Proceeds from the event fund music lessons, instruments and music camp tuitions for local students.

Scholarship recipients are students of the Deer Isle-Stonington schools and were awarded scholarships for music lessons and to purchase instruments. The Bud Carter Memorial Scholarship Committee members also provide advice and oversight regarding instructors and instruments.

In addition to this year’s winners, Saturday’s concert will also feature 2009 scholarship winners: Asia Eaton, vocalist; Sophie Kumiega, guitar; and Daniel Nagle, drums. The concert will include musical performances by past scholarship recipients, as well as by other musicians and performers.

The suggested donation to benefit the Bud Carter Music Scholarship Fund is $10, and can be made at the door the night of the performance. Donations also may be sent to the Bud Carter Music Scholarship fund c/o Opera House Arts at the Stonington Opera House, P.O. Box 56, Stonington, ME 04681. 

Maine filmmakers to screen documentary on John Marin

Filmmakers Michael Maglaras and Terri Templeton of 217 Films will screen their new Maine-made documentary “John Marin: Let the Paint be Paint!” at the Stonington Opera House at 7 p.m. June 23. Written, narrated and directed by Michael Maglaras, this film tells the story of one of the most important artistic figures of the first half of the 20th century.

Marin painted across Maine, and was particularly drawn to Stonington.

“Marin’s summers in Stonington were a great inspiration to him,” Maglaras said. “With the exception of 1929 and 1930, he spent every summer painting in Stonington and elsewhere in the area during the years 1919 through 1933, when he discovered Cape Split in South Addison.”

GARDINER

‘Salad Days’ exhibit to show at Center for Maine Craft

The Center for Maine Craft will show highlights of “Salad Days,” the annual exhibition of work created by artists from the Watershed Center for the Arts in Newcastle. The exhibition is on display through June 29, and a reception is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. June 25.

The Center for Maine Craft is located in the service center at the Gardiner rest area, and is accessible from both I-295 and the Maine Turnpike. The address is 24 Service Plaza Drive, Gardiner.

In addition, the center will host Craft Artist Studio Days every Saturday in July and August, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., featuring a different Maine artist each week.