RESCHEDULED for Saturday, Feb. 28.

Expert needle-felter, fiber artist, and storyteller Hillary Dow of Binding Tales will lead this fun workshop at the Gilley, guiding participants through the process of creating a felted coral reef wall hanging. This workshop is suitable for all skill levels including beginners.

Learn needle felting techniques as you transform puffy piles of wool into a vivid and dynamic coral reef that features several types of coral in a variety of colors with dark shadows and 3D depth. Your wool supplies will include a 5x7 wool pre-felt; blue, purple, green and coral blended batts; and solid color roving. All the felting tools necessary to create your piece are provided, including several sizes of felting needles, single and multi-needle tools, finger guards, and a felting pad. The rich variety of prepared colors allows for a painterly approach to needle felting. All the wool used in this project is sourced from Maine fiber farms.

Hillary will display an author-illustrator showcase of original artwork as well as her children’s books, which will be available for sale. She is the author, illustrator and publisher of Binding Tales books, featuring pictures she has needle felted with wool sourced from Maine sheep. Born and raised in the western mountains of Maine, she now lives with her family in Hampden.  

Join us for our monthly evening paint ‘n’ sip workshops with instructor Erika Elizabeth at the Gilley for a fun evening of learning and art. Students are guided step by step through the process of painting, with plenty of explanation and instruction along the way.

Each month has a different theme and inspiration-painting. For March, we’ll use ink and watercolor to create a portrait of a barn owl.

Sip on wine, tea or seltzer as part of this adults-only class, which is suitable for artists of all levels who are at least 21 years old. All materials and beverages provided.

Join master carver Timothy Griffin at the Museum on two consecutive Saturdays, March 28 and April 4, 2026, from 9am to 3pm each day, to create a canvasback duck decoy using power carving tools and methods.

The instructor will walk students, step-by-step, through the process of carving, painting and antiquing a cedar canvasback decoy using the Foredom rotary tool with tabletop dust collectors. The decoy will be about 75% the size of a real canvasback. Each step will be demonstrated.

Beginners who are up for a serious challenge and an introduction to the Foredom are welcome, but intermediate and advanced carvers may be more comfortable with this project. Students can work at their own pace during the class and are encouraged to take notes, pictures, and video of demos for reference.

Attendees should bring a leather glove, such as a gardening glove, for their non-dominant hand; a garden glove will do. All other materials and tools will be supplied including masks.

Other items that students might want bring but are not required include hearing protection, a leather apron, and a dusk mask if you would rather have something other than the simple medical masks supplied by the Gilley.

Students are welcome to bring their own tools, but please let us know you will be doing so in the “Notes” section of the sign-up page.

Timothy Griffin works at River Rd Studio in Bucksport, Maine, and has won best-in-show along with various other awards in competitions throughout the northeastern United States and in Canada. His art is featured at the Handworks Gallery in Blue Hill, Maine, and the Handworks Gallery in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada.

David Sears creates art deeply rooted in the surroundings of his homes in Cushing, Maine, and on Matinicus Island.

“Exploring with the eyes of a child and the awareness of a student, parent, educator, photographer, filmmaker, woodworker, writer and painter, my pattern has been to gather knowledge from a small section of the natural world and share it through creative, site-specific activities.,” he says. “For the past two decades I have lived part of each year on Matinicus, a small Maine island on the outer edge of Penobscot Bay, where I make things and try to understand life on a mountaintop surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean.”

He will share his art in person at the Wendell Gilley Museum as the Gilley’s People-Nature-Art speaker for the month of March on Tuesday, March 10 at 7pm, preceded by an artist’s reception at 6pm. Admission is free but reservations are required. The program will be livecast simultaneously; please indicate when you sign up whether you will attend in person or online.

“My carved and painted birds reflect a fascination with objects which convey an intense knowledge and awareness of the maker’s environment,” he says. “Combining function, sophisticated woodworking and designs with traditional knowledge, these birds are imbued with beauty, mysticism and the pragmatic need to attract sources of food. I hope my work honors those traditions, expands the concept and encourages a greater appreciation of traditional skills, the fragility of all environments and the critical need to preserve unspoiled locales and living things.”

People-Nature-Art is a free monthly series that brings artists, writers, carvers, and creative types of all kinds to the Gilley to explore how nature and art interact in their work, and how their art impacts their own approach to nature.