Category: Art in the Stacks

9th Annual Pie & Art Festival at Stockton Springs Community Library August 20th

The Stockton Springs Community Library (SSCL) will host its 9th Annual Pie & Art Festival on Saturday, August 20th from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. This popular fundraising event provides an opportunity to feed your body and soul, offering a variety of homemade pies and a range of fine art pieces from outstanding Maine artists.

Town & Country, watercolor by William Landmesser

Participating artists are Judy Belasco, Sarah Faragher, Allegra Kubas, William Landmesser, Scott Moore, Betty Schopmeyer, Dawn Staples-Knox, Anne Spencer, Jo Swift, Peter Walls, and Anne Marie Welsh.

Also on exhibit through August 20th in an “Art in the Stacks” show are paintings by Stockton resident Mark Quigley.

On that day at 2:00 pm a raffle winner will be drawn for a $100 gift certificate for Sweet Cheeks Bakery of Verona Island.

SSCL is an all-volunteer community library. For more information visit www.stocktonspringslibrary.org or phone 207-567-4147.

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.

“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.