CAPE ELIZABETH

Land trust to hold auction of newly created artwork

Additional Photos

Paul Bonneau paints at Jordan’s Farm in Cape Elizabeth, the community that will be the scene of the July 17 Paint for Preservation 2011 event. Courtesy photo

The Cape Elizabeth Land Trust will hold its Paint for Preservation 2011 on July 17. Participating artists will paint at designated public and private locations chosen to highlight Cape Elizabeth’s natural beauty. That evening, the newly created unframed artwork will be auctioned at a cocktail reception hosted by John Higgins and Nano Chatfield at Ram Island Farm.

Proceeds benefit the land trust’s Saving Cape’s Great Places initiative. Early reservations are recommended. Paint for Preservation 2011 reservations, as well as raffle tickets to win an original oil-on-canvas painting by Don Stone, are available at the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust, 330 Ocean House Road, online at capelandtrust.org/paintforpreservation/2011 or by calling 767-6054.

This will be the land trust’s fourth annual wet paint auction supporting local land preservation efforts.

Media sponsors are Maine Home + Design and MaineToday Media, owner of the Maine Sunday Telegram. Conservation sponsors include Ethos Marketing and Design, Inn by the Sea, Nappi Distributors, Pinnacle Vodka, R.M. Davis Inc., Town & Shore Associates, and Watermatic and Woodin & Co. Inc.

Stewardship sponsors include Broadway Gardens Greenhouses, Casco Bay Frames and Gallery, Castle Kitchens, Home Again by Hancock Lumber, Maine Limousine Service, Pierce Atwood, Piper Shores and Wright-Ryan Homes.

Catering will be donated by CVC Catering Group, and auctioneering services are provided by Thomaston Place Auction Galleries.

Artist entries were juried by Dennis Gleason of Gleason Fine Art Galleries.

FREEPORT

Historical society invites public to take part in dig

From July 25 to 29, Freeport Historical Society will host archaeological excavations on one of its historical properties. The fieldwork will last one week, and is open to adults ages 18 and older. Participants will have the opportunity to work alongside professional historical archaeologists Pam Crane and Peter Morrison, who have worked throughout the Northeast over the past 20 years. Through direct participation, they will learn how archaeological excavations are carried out, including how to dig, screen for artifacts, how to map archaeological feature, and how to take good notes.

Participants will also begin to learn how to identify historical artifacts and be introduced to related skills such as “reading” historical landscapes and surveying. The program is limited to 14 participants per day. The per-day fee is $100. Weeklong participation is $335.

The fieldwork and dig will take place at a site that was once owned by early Freeport resident Abraham Grant and is now part of Pettengill Farm. Previous investigations were carried out in the 1990s by students from Freeport High School, led by archaeologist and teacher Norm Buttrick.

The students found evidence that a succession of two dwellings may have stood on the site. The first was built in the mid-1700s and occupied by Grant, his wife, Sussannah, and their children from the 1780s or earlier. The second was built circa 1800.

Among the artifacts found were imported English and Dutch ceramics, broken bottles and tobacco pipes, many of which were manufactured before the Revolutionary War.

Other artifacts, manufactured from the 1790s to about 1830, were representative of the later occupation, and possibly, a second and third generation of occupants.

This season’s excavation will focus on the earlier portion of the site. Among the goals of the excavations will be finding evidence for just what kind of house the Grants first built.

For information and to register, call the Freeport Historical Society at 865-3170.

BOOTHBAY

Summer book fair to feature more than 40 Maine authors

On Saturday, the seventh annual Books in Boothbay: Maine’s Summer Book Fair will be at the Boothbay Railway Village, with more than 40 Maine authors attending. Five authors will read from their work and answer questions. The Book Fair will be in old 1847 Boothbay Town Hall on the Railway Village grounds. Readings will take place in the adjacent and historic Spruce Point Chapel.

Elisabeth Tovar Bailey will discuss her best-selling story of her ongoing recovery from serious illness, “The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating.” James Nelson will read from his book “With Fire & Sword: the Battle of Bunker Hill” and other works. Jim Nichols will read from his novel “Hull Creek,” and mystery writer Julia Spencer-Fleming will read from “One Was a Soldier.” Children’s book author and illustrator Chris Van Dusen will read from a selection of books.

Books in Boothbay is co-sponsored by the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library and the Boothbay Railway Village Museum.

Authors who will greet the public and sign books include: Liza Blakewell, Crash Barry, Cheryl Blaydon, Bill Bunting, Tim Caverly, Holly Chamberlin, Richard Shain Cohen, Melissa Coleman, Susan Conley, Ron Currie Jr., Katherine Davis, Paul Doiron, Sandra Dutton, Cathryn Falwell, Ardeana Hamlin, Karel Hayes, Hannah Holmes, Shonna Milliken Humphrey, Lily King, Carole Lambert, Cynthia Lord, John McDonald, Tammy I.R. Meserve, Dana Moss, Lillian Nayder, Maria Padian, Alice Persons, Van Reid, Michael S. Sanders, Caitlin Shetterly, Susan Hand Shetterly, Jennifer Smith-Mayo and Matthew Mayo, Randy Spencer, Harrison Thorp, Lea Wait and Jim Witherell.

Contributing sponsors of Books in Boothbay are the Boothbay Harbor Fine Arts Dealers Association, the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, Sherman’s Book & Stationery Stores and Arts 27: Boothbay Harbor Region Arts & Cultural Alliance.

The book fair runs from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., and a reception begins at 3:45 p.m. Admission is free. Visit booksinboothbay.blogspot.com, or call 633-3112 or 633-4727.

KENNEBUNK

‘Paint the Port’ live auction benefits Heartwood College

Heartwood College of Art’s “Paint the Port” benefit live auction will take place Saturday throughout town. Forty-five community artists will paint Kennebunk scenes throughout the morning and afternoon. At 4 p.m., the work will be available for preview at the River Club on Ocean Avenue. A live auction with auctioneer Jim Fitzgerald will commence at 5:30 p.m.

Tickets cost $20. Call Heartwood at 985-0985 for information.

Proceeds benefit the school’s art-education mission.

BRUNSWICK

New website to promote Maine’s many art walks

Five Rivers Arts Alliance is spearheading an effort to publicize art walks across Maine through a new website, artwalkmaine.org. The site will help visitors and residents discover the creative communities and artists across the state. More than 80 art walks are held annually, and 17 are offered in July alone.

The art walks are self-guided tours, often held on Friday evenings. They include museums and galleries, as well as artist studios and exhibits in local businesses and cafes.

Five Rivers Arts Alliance serves Bath, Brunswick and 10 nearby towns in the southern midcoast, but the website includes statewide resources. Five Rivers sponsors two monthly art walks, one in Brunswick-Topsham and one in Bath, held on the second and third Fridays of the month, respectively.

“We began this grassroots project as a way to strengthen communities through the arts,” said Harriet Mosher, executive director of Five Rivers Arts Alliance. “We want to enhance Maine’s reputation as an arts-rich destination, and improve the economic benefit to the artists, businesses and communities these art walks represent,” she said in a statement.

The project is funded in part by grants from the Maine Arts Commission, Maine Office of Tourism, Maine Community Foundation and the Quimby Family Foundation.

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