@Blue Hill Library

Wednesday, May 28, 2014-- In this issue:

•  Events This Week...  
•  Plant Sale the Best Yet! 
•  Art Exhibit: Design By Hand 
•  A Trio of Poets 
•  Kokeshi Doll Presentation and Workshop 
•  More from Teacher's Art Month  

• Paul Weiss, Director of the Whole Health Center in Bar Harbor, will read from his new book of poetry, You Hold This, TOMORROW! THURSDAY May 29 at 7:00 PM at the Library. He will also include selections from a forthcoming book, Moonlight Leaning Against an Old Rail Fence.This event is free and open to the public. Books will be available for sale and signing. For more information contact the Library at 374-5515.  

"S" is for Success!  Such a success that we heard the 6th Annual Library Plant Sale called "the Woodstock of Blue Hill" and "the official start of the Season -- it might be fleece instead of tuxedos, but this is the social event of the year!"

We raised close to $10,000! Thanks to all who donated, volunteered, attended, browsed, bid and bought! It was our best Sale yet and raised important funds for our operating budget.  Extra thanks to Lynn Cheney, Clifton Page and Will Taylor for organizing the plant sale and silent auction.  Plus a special gardener's salute to Juanita Blumberg who donated over 500 plants making this event one to remember.  If you bought a plant with a ribbon on it, think of Juanita when it blooms!

The Library will be hosting an exhibit of hand-drawn architectural drawings during the month of June. Design By Hand will be a group show by many local architects, both year round and seasonal residents, whose own drawings or those from their offices will be shown. Participating in the show will be: Blas Bruno, Elizabeth Wastler-Bruno, Matt Elliott, and Don Mallow of Blue Hill; Lauren Reiter and Mike Sealander of Brooklin; William McHenry, Robert Knight, Chris Raphael, Eric Chase, and Bruce Stahnke of Brooksville; Stanford Anderson, Doug Coots, Robert Faesy, Don Reiman and Hub White of Deer Isle; and Richard Malm and Sam Woodward of Surry.

Drawing by Eric Chase

These days, most architectural drawings are done on the computer. This show is a retrospective, reminiscent of  the days when drawings were all done by hand.  Some architects, including a few in this show, still do the majority of their work by hand and there is an idea that using one's drawing skills is still of value.

The public is invited to a reception for the show on Friday, June 20 from 4:00 to 6:00 PM. The exhibit will be available for viewing during library hours starting June 2. For more information, call the library at 374-5515.

Three Maine poets, Beatrix Gates, Lee Sharkey, and Peter Harris will read from their recent works at the Library on Thursday, June 5 at 6:00 PM.Each has a new book of poetry to share with the audience. This reading is co-sponsored by the Library and Blue Hill Books.
 
Beatrix Gates' new book of poems, Dos, was just published by Finishing Line Press. Her poetry collections include In the Open, a Lambda finalist, and Ten Minutes. She has published in Tupelo Quarterly 3, Ploughshares, Bloom and The Kenyon Review.  A member of the Goddard College MFA faculty, Gates has taught at Colby, NYU, and Maine Maritime Academy. She lives in Brooksville, Maine.

Peter Harris' new poetry collection is Freeing the Hook, Deerbrook Editions, 2013.  Harris is the author of Blue Hallelujahs, which won the MWPA Chapbook competition and he has published poems in The Atlantic Monthly, Crab Orchard Review, Epoch, Prairie Schooner, Ploughshares, Seattle Review, and Sewanee Review. He teaches American poetry and creative writing at Colby College and has taught at Marie Curie University in Lublin, Poland, and at University College Cork. He is a Zen Buddhist priest. 

Lee Sharkey is the author of Calendars of Fire (Tupelo Press, 2013). Other books include A Darker, Sweeter String (Off the Grid Press, 2008); To A Vanished World (Puckerbrush, 1995); and Farmwife (Puckerbrush Press, 1977). Her work has appeared in Consequence, Crazyhorse, FIELD, Kenyon Review, Nimrod, The Seattle Review, and other journals. An instructor of English and Women's Studies at the University of Maine at Farmington, she currently devotes her time to writing and co-editing the Beloit Poetry Journal, one of the oldest and most respected literary magazines in the country.

Books will be available for sale and signing. For more information, call the Library at 374-5515.

A kokeshi doll from Frederica Marshall's collection, this is along the lines of what will be done in the workshop.

Postdoctoral researcher Jennifer McDowell and Deer Isle artist Frederica Marshall will team up for a Japanese cultural program and workshop for ages 7 and up, including adults, at the Library on Saturday June 7 at 10:30 AM.
Jennifer E. McDowell's childhood fascination with Japanese folk art and aesthetics continued on as the topic research for both her Masters and PhD in Cultural Anthropology.  For the last fifteen years she has been dedicated to the study of kokeshi doll culture (production, sale, and collecting), and is currently conducting post-doctoral research on renewed interest in this folk art form in Japan.

Frederica grew up in Japan and delights in sharing Japanese stories, arts and crafts. She has both bachelor and masters of fine arts degrees, and is a master brush painter, artist, teacher and researcher, and teaches sumi-e and watercolor classes at her studio in Deer Isle, at educational institutions on Florida's gulf coast and in the Republic of China.  She currently has an exhibit of Japanese kokeshi dolls in the Larchwood Cases that runs to the end of June.

Jennifer will give a visual presentation about kokeshi dolls and Frederica will then lead the group in painting their own kokeshi dolls on unfinished wooden forms. Japanese snacks will be served!

This workshop is free but registration is required. Participants can sign up using the Library's interactive web calendar, or call the library at 374-5515.

Don't hesitate to call us for more information at 207-374-5515.