Stockton Springs Community Library (SSCL) will hold a new fundraising raffle to support the all-volunteer library.

Tickets are $1 each and will be sold beginning June 4th during SSCL’s annual Book, Bake, and Plant Sale. The Raffle prize is a $100 gift certificate to Sweet Cheeks Bakery of Verona Island. Sweet Cheeks is a gourmet bakery and sweets shop featuring homemade traditional family recipes.

Drawing for the raffle will take place on August 20th at 2:00 pm at the library’s annual Pie & Art Festival.

Tickets will also be available for purchase during the library’s open hours, which are Monday and Wednesday 3 – 5 pm, Tuesday 4 – 7 pm, Thursday 9 am – Noon and 6:30 – 8:30 pm, and Saturday 9 am – 3pm.

For more information phone 567-4147 or visit www.stocktonspringslibrary.org

Annual Book, Bake, and Plant Sale at Stockton Springs Community Library Saturday, June 4th

On Saturday, June 4th from 9 am to 1 pm the Stockton Springs Community Library will host its Annual Book, Bake, and Plant Sale at the library in Stockton Springs. Time to come out of hibernation and join in the fun as you find bargains to read, eat, or plant. The sale starts promptly at 9:00 so no early birds please.

Library volunteers are busy dividing perennials for this popular fundraiser. There will be a wide variety of flowers and herbs to brighten your gardens. You can stock up on books for summer reading while snacking on delicious homemade baked goods. There’s always a great variety of sweet and savory baked goods available. 

Stockton Springs Community Library was founded in 2001 and is located in the historic Colcord House on the corner of Main and Station streets. The library is run by a group of dedicated volunteers and new volunteers are always welcome. For more information visit www.stockstonspringslibrary.org or call 567-4147.

Art in the Stacks at Stockton Springs Community Library Features Binders Keepers Altered Books

Stockton Springs Community Library (SSCL) will present a special Holiday Art in the Stacks exhibition featuring altered books by Stockton Springs artist and entrepreneur Chelsea Porter from Monday, November 29th until Thursday, December 23rd.

Porter’s business, Binders Keepers, features books cut and folded into intricate designs. She started using this art form in 2017 when she learned the basic technique from her mother and aunt. Each book is measured, marked, and then folded page by page to make the design. Porter is able to create nearly any design imaginable and is able to personalize the artwork by folding in names or special dates.

Crafting an image or word into the book can take between four and twenty hours to complete. Porter acknowledges that it is time consuming yet therapeutic. Though each design varies, each requires a hardcover book with a minimum of 500 pages. She mainly uses books that are poised to be thrown away. 

Porter markets her work through an Etsy site: www.etsy.com/shop/BindersKeepersArt

Despite the pandemic, Porter has seen her online sales increase, and since joining the platform in 2017 she has shipped her creations to customers in 43 states.

Holiday Art in the Stacks will be open for viewing during library hours: Monday 3 – 5 pm, Tuesday 4 – 7 pm, Wednesday 3 – 5 pm, Thursday 9 am – Noon and 6:30 – 8:30 pm, and Saturday 9 am – 3 pm.

Sale of Porter’s work will benefit the library and the artist.

SSCL is an all volunteer library located in the heart of Stockton Springs. For more information visit www.stocktonspringslibrary.org or phone 207-567-4147.

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!

8th Annual Pie and Art Festival at Stockton Springs Community Library August 21st

Stockton Springs Community Library (SSCL) will host its 8th Annual Pie and Art Festival on Saturday, August 21st from 9:00 am until 3:00 pm. This popular fundraising event provides an opportunity to feed your body and soul, offering a variety of homemade pies and fine art from outstanding Maine artists.

Participating artists are Judy Belasco, Mary Braun, Sarah Faragher, Sue Garrett, Bill Landmesser, Scott Moore, Chelsea Porter (aka Binders Keepers), Betty Schopmeyer, Anne Spencer, Dawn Staples-Knox, Jo Swift, Peter Walls, and Anne Marie Welsh.

Following the event, remaining artwork will be displayed in the library’s non-fiction room for “Art in the Stacks.” It will be available for viewing and purchase during the library’s open hours through August 28th. Sale of artwork will benefit both the library and the artists.

2021 Copyright Judy Belasco. Painting. Stockton Springs Maine

SSCL is an all-volunteer community library. For more information call 207-567-4147.

“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.