Celebrate Nature, Art and Creativity in Maine.
Wendell Gilley delighted in helping others find connections with nature and creativity. Our Museum sustains his legacy through vibrant art exhibitions and a wide range of hands-on creative and educational programs for all ages.
Watch a video about Wendell Gilley.
Intro Carving Class
Learn carving with the Gilley’s master carver, Steve Valleau, who has been sharing this art with students at the museum for 38 years. This 1.5-hour class, suitable for beginners, comes with a kit that includes a bird blank and paints. Tools are available to borrow.
New Exhibit showcases Avian Art
The Gilley's new exhibition, Avian Artistry: Treasures from Maine Collections, is open!
It features more than 100 pieces of art from private collections, all inspired by birds in some way, and many of which have never been exhibited in public before.
“The range of rendering is remarkable, from geese made from tamarack twigs by Cree artists to Hiroshige’s stylized eagle’s-eye view of Edo, Japan,” says exhibit curator Carl Little. “This aviary of art includes a flamingo, crows, herons, a chickadee, owls, a dodo, catbirds, curlews, loons, wood ducks, and hummingbirds. Artists include the museum’s namesake, Wendell Gilley, along with Ashley Bryan, David Driskell, Carol Shutt, Amy Pollien, Bernard Langlais, Gina Sawin, Rick Alley, Paul Plante, Katie Bell, Dan Falt, and Neil Welliver. “From beak to toe, from feather to flight, birds offer artists incomparable subject matter.”
Convergence Ensemble performs American Voice in Poetry and Song
The Wendell Gilley Museum and YWCA of MDI are proud to host American Voice in Poetry and Song III, an exploration of the expressive range of African American composers including Margaret Bonds and John. W. Work III, and poets including Langston Hughes, in a free concert at St. John Episcopal Church in Southwest Harbor. There will be a reception with the performers at the Gilley Museum afterward. This event is free and open to all, but registration is required.
Boston-based Convergence Ensemble will perform this music and poetry through a historic lens along with a discussion of societal issues surrounding social justice and representation in the world of classical music The performers are singer Davron S. Monroe, poet and literary performer Regie Gibson, and pianist Rachel Gibson.
Master Carver comes to the Gilley
The Gilley’s People-Nature-Art series continues June 20 with a rock star in the bird carving world, Mark McNair. He'll be here from Virgina with his sons, Ian an Colin, for talk and public reception. Then on June 21, there will be a carving demonstration. We have a fabulous lineup of presenters for the year.
People-Nature-Art 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 nature. These programs are always free, family friendly, and open to everyone. Most are in-person events that are also livestreamed.
The entire People-Nature-Art series for 2023 is sponsored by our friends at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust.
