Category: Colcord House

THE GREAT EVENT Returns to Stockton Springs September 11th

THE GREAT EVENT, hosted by the Stockton Springs Community Library (SSCL), returns to Stockton Springs on September 11th from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm, after a year’s hiatus due to Covid. The grounds of the Library and Town Office will once again be filled with a Giant Community Yard Sale, Barbecue, Bake Sale, Homemade Donuts, Children’s Activities, and much more.

Celebrate the spirit of community at this festive event. Find bargains, enjoy good food, see old friends and meet new ones at THE GREAT EVENT!

This year THE GREAT EVENT honors the late Basil Staples, one of the library’s founders and creator of SSCL’s hugely successful “Basil’s Bottles for Books” cart, which has allowed the library to offer the latest books, audiobooks, and DVDs. Basil embodied the spirit of volunteerism, which is what allows SSCL to thrive.

SSCL’s 2021 raffle tickets will be available for purchase throughout the event and the drawing will be held that day. Prizes are an adult tricycle and a Peter Rabbit baby quilt by E.J. Pikulski. You do not have to be present to win.

There are still a few spaces available in the yard sale. If you’d like to rent a space at THE GREAT EVENT Giant Yard Sale you should come to the library soon during open hours. Library hours are Monday 3:00 – 5:00 pm, Tuesday 4:00 – 7:00 pm, Wednesday 3:00 – 5:00 pm, Thursday 9:00 am – Noon and 6:30 – 8:30 pm, and Saturday 9:00 am – 3:00 pm. To reserve your space you must fill out an application and pay in advance either by check or cash. Spaces are approximately 10’ x 15’. Cost is $30. Organizations and crafters are also welcome to rent space in the Giant Community Yard Sale. THE GREAT EVENT will happen rain or shine. For more information call 567-4147. 

We’ll see you on Saturday, September 11th in Stockton Springs for THE GREAT EVENT!

“Art in the Stacks” artist Anne Spencer

Anne was named the Featured Artist for the 2020 Senior College Art Festival, held at the Hutchinson Center in Belfast each year.  She had an early interest in drawing, painting, and lettering. She received a BA in Fine Arts from Wilson College including courses in art history, aesthetics, oil painting, and graphic design. She received professional competency in Occupational Therapy from the University of Pennsylvania. 

During her 45 years of OT practice, 26 years in Maine, Anne continued painting and exhibiting, as well as traveling extensively. She received an MA from the University of Maine, at Orono in Liberal Studies, in areas of art, history, and health. 

“I continue to exhibit paintings and enjoy teaching watercolor classes to students who are interested in drawing and painting yet fearful to begin.”

Anne Spencer

Stockton Springs Community Library (SSCL) is please to be partnering with Anne Spencer in presenting her work at the upcoming “Art in the Stacks” event, which is to be held during SSCL’s open hours: Monday and Wednesday 3-5; Tuesday 4-7; Thursday 9-12 and 6:30-8:30; and Saturday 9-3 from September 3 through October 8. For more information contact the library at 207-567-4147.

“Art in the Stacks” artist Peter Walls

Peter Walls has a BFA from NYSSC at Alfred University and an MFA from Louisiana State University, where he taught printmaking, design and digital art until moving back to New England. He is a full time studio and decorative artist and shows regularly throughout Maine. 

In 2016 he moved to Stockton Springs where he lives and maintain his studio. You can see more of his work at www.peterwallsstudio.com.

“My work is the manifestations of the beauty and mystery I find in my interactions with the natural world here in Mid Coast Maine through the process of experimentation with pigments, found materials, color and texture. My images are “built” to reveal a narrative for: fish, birds, and other living organisms.These ethereal images are creations, composites of my many years of being involved with the decorative arts and my printmaking training; this series is a true marriage of my love of nature, sense of place, and my artistic background.”

Peter Walls

Stockton Springs Community Library (SSCL) is please to be partnering with Peter Walls in presenting his work at the upcoming “Art in the Stacks” event, which is to be held during SSCL’s open hours: Monday and Wednesday 3-5; Tuesday 4-7; Thursday 9-12 and 6:30-8:30; and Saturday 9-3 from September 3 through October 8. For more information contact the library at 207-567-4147.

“Art in the Stacks” artist Betty Schopmeyer

Betty Schopmeyer moved to Maine from the Wash, D.C. area in 2001. Her painting life began in 2013, after retiring from a long career as a speech pathologist, followed by a second career of 11 years at the Penobscot Marine Museum, as grants writer and education director. 

“I began to take classes in Color Theory from master teacher, Kris Engman, to whom I owe a great deal. Color Theory was an eye opener, in so many ways.

In 2018, a group of fellow artists and I opened Local Color Gallery, in Belfast, Maine, an exciting step in my journey as an artist. Art has been a source of discovery and delight! And, it continues…I have learned that as painters we never arrive, we just keep experimenting, taking classes, practicing and most of all looking and seeing the world in new ways.”

Betty Schopmeyer

Stockton Springs Community Library (SSCL) is please to be partnering with Betty Schopmeyer in presenting her work at the upcoming “Art in the Stacks” event, which is to be held during SSCL’s open hours: Monday and Wednesday 3-5; Tuesday 4-7; Thursday 9-12 and 6:30-8:30; and Saturday 9-3 from September 3 through October 8. For more information contact the library at 207-567-4147.

“Art in the Stacks” artist Scott Moore

Scott Moore grew up in the Washington D.C. area. His parents were both artists. His mother was a freelance fashion illustrator, his father was art director of The Institute of Heraldry, an agency which designed flags, medals, and seals for the federal government. When he was sixteen the family moved to Rockland, Maine.

Scott attended the Portland School of Art (now Maine College of Art) and graduated in 1978 with a B. F. A. in painting. Scott has exhibited professionally ever since. His work is included in numerous private and corporate collections here and abroad. He has lived in Stockton Springs for the past thirty-two years. 

Stockton Springs Community Library (SSCL) is please to be partnering with Scott Moore in presenting his work at the upcoming “Art in the Stacks” event, which is to be held during SSCL’s open hours: Monday and Wednesday 3-5; Tuesday 4-7; Thursday 9-12 and 6:30-8:30; and Saturday 9-3 from September 3 through October 8. For more information contact the library at 207-567-4147.

“Art in the Stacks” artist Sarah Faragher

Sarah Faragher was born and raised on the coast of Maine, studying art history and painting at Colby College and the University of Maine. She now lives and works as a professional painter in mid-coast Maine. 

Sarah has attended residencies at Weir Farm National Historic Site and Acadia National Park, and on Great Spruce Head Island.  Her work is featured in “Drawing New Audiences, Expanding Interpretive Possibilities: Artist-in-Residence Programs of the National Park Service (US Dept of the Interior 2009). She was selected the 2011 Portland Museum of Art Biennial artist, and is included in the book “Art of Acadia” by David and Carl Little (Down East Books 2016). 

Sarah Faragher is represented by Landing Gallery in Rockland, Maine and Littlefield Gallery in Winter Harbor, Maine. More at sarahfaragher.com.

“My paintings are memoirs of my experiences with nature. Through painting I participate in the landscape, recognize transcendent moments in nature, honor the integrity of natural forms, and describe where my heart lives.  I often feel as if the places I paint have commissioned me to tell their autobiographies, at the same time that I tell my own.”

Sarah Faragher

Stockton Springs Community Library (SSCL) is please to be partnering with Sarah Faragher in presenting her work at the upcoming “Art in the Stacks” event, which is to be held during SSCL’s open hours: Monday and Wednesday 3-5; Tuesday 4-7; Thursday 9-12 and 6:30-8:30; and Saturday 9-3 from September 3 through October 8. For more information contact the library at 207-567-4147.

“Art in the Stacks” artist Judy Belasco

Judy Belasco grew up surrounded by artists and art. She is the granddaughter of Roy C. Nuse, a Pennsylvania impressionist and daughter of modernist, Oliver Nuse. She equates that lineage with forming her love of creating art and exploring Nature. She won a scholarship to Philadelphia College of Art where she studied painting and photography, and received a BFA in 1972. Later in Maine she studied digital photography with John Paul Caponigro and painting with Linden Frederick.

Judy taught art at Germantown Friends School for 32 years and then retired to focus full-time on painting. She maintains studios in Stockton Springs and Philadelphia. Her work is included in Art of Acadia by Carl and David Little (Down East Books, 2016). She is represented in Maine at the Courthouse Gallery, in Ellsworth and in Philadelphia at the F. A. N. Gallery. You can view her work at Courthousegallery.com.

“I love being out there in nature with the sky, the tides, the wind, the trees and the ever present, unfolding Beauty.”

Judy Belasco

Stockton Springs Community Library (SSCL) is please to be partnering with Judy Belasco in presenting her work at the upcoming “Art in the Stacks” event, which is to be held during SSCL’s open hours: Monday and Wednesday 3-5; Tuesday 4-7; Thursday 9-12 and 6:30-8:30; and Saturday 9-3 from September 3 through October 8. For more information contact the library at 207-567-4147.

Art in the Stacks: “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” Nursery Quilt

As part of the Stockton Springs Community Library’s “Art in the Stacks” this charming Peter Rabbit hand embroidered quilt will be on display in the Reading Room of the library from September 8 through October 3. The quilt is available to the highest bidder by silent auction. All proceeds benefit the Library Endowment Fund, which has been managed by Maine Community Foundation since 2013.

Inspired by the Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit stories and hand made by one of our long-time library volunteers, Edna aka “E.J.” Pikulski, the “Tale of Peter Rabbit” is told through 6 embroidered vignettes sure to charm any child. The quilt is perfect for displaying on a crib or nursery wall and for reading aloud to a child.

The Silent Auction runs from September 8 through October 3. Open library hours are Monday and Wednesday 3-5; Tuesday 4-7; Thursday 9-12 and 6:30-8:30; and Saturday 9-3. If you are unable to visit the library in person you can still place a bid by calling the library at 207-567-4147 or sending an email to stocktonstaff@stocktonsprings.lib.me.us.

Stockton Springs Community Library is an independent 501(c)3 all volunteer library. Fundraisers, such as this silent auction, are one of our primary means of continuing to offer a free community library for years to come.

Stockton Springs Community Library to offer “Art in the Stacks” September 8 through October 31

REVISED: Date extended to October 31 due to popularity. As art is sold the artists are providing additional new works to take their place. Come visit often!

Stockton Springs Community Library (SSCL) is pleased to offer “Art in the Stacks” at the library from September 8 through October 31, 2020. The art show and sale will feature multiple works by local artists Judy Belasco, Sarah Faragher, Scott Moore, Betty Schopmeyer, Anne Spencer and Peter Walls.

All of the artwork, displayed among the book stacks, will be available for purchase from the artists. The library will earn a gallery commission for each piece sold, which will go into the SSCL Library Endowment Fund. The library would prefer checks only, payable to SSCL (Stockton Springs Community Library). The endowment fund, which is managed by the Maine Community Foundation since 2015, was established in 2013 to ensure that a free community library will remain open in Stockton Springs for future generations to enjoy.

Those who have attended the past six SSCL Pie and Art Festivals will already know these artists and their work. For those who don’t, or want a refresh, SSCL will feature one artist each day on its blog and Facebook page leading up to the opening.

“Art in the Stacks” will be available to the public during the library’s open hours: Monday and Wednesday 3-5; Tuesday 4-7; Thursday 9-12 and 6:30-8:30; and Saturday 9-3 from September 3 through October 31.

Stockton Springs Community Library is an all volunteer 501(c)3 library located in Stockton Springs, Maine. Membership is free to anyone from any community. Call us at 207-567-4147 if you have any questions.

SSCL needs you!

Volunteers needed at the Circulation Desk

Due to Covid-19 health concerns Stockton Springs Community Library has experienced a decline in the number of volunteers currently able to work during open library hours. To maintain 501(c)3 status, and with it the ability to secure much needed grants, SSCL needs to stay open 18 hours a week. You can help by working as little as one shift a month (shifts are 2 to 3 hours depending on the day). Two volunteers are needed for each shift. Complete training is provided. So are masks and gloves. So here’s your chance to live your secret dream of being a librarian! 

The library also needs volunteers to work in its lovely flower gardens. Even an hour or so once in awhile will help keep the weeds at bay. 

Please contact SSCL at 207-567-4147 or just stop by during open hours and let us know how you are able to help.  Thank you! 

Open library hours are Monday and Wednesday 3-5; Tuesday 4-7; Thursday 9-12 and 6:30-8:30; and Saturday 9-3.  Stockton Springs Community Library is an all volunteer library and membership is free to anyone from any community.