Learn carving on Tuesdays and Thursdays from our master carver, Steve Valleau, who has been sharing this art with students at the museum for 37 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. Learn the basics of this classic American art form, and leave with something you create in our outdoor classroom. Last class for the season is Tuesday, Sept. 16.

No classes on: June 30, August 16 or August 18

Students must be at least 11 years old; those 12 and younger must be accompanied by an adult.

Cost: $35 for non-members or $28 for members (a 20% discount off the regular price). To become a member, visit our membership page HERE.

Class size limited to 4.

Artist James Eric Francis, Sr. explores an indigenous sense of place in the landscape, along with art that expresses that sense of place, in a presentation at the Wendell Gilley Museum on Friday, Aug. 12, at 7p.m.  This program is free but registration is required. When you sign up, please indicate whether you will attend in person or online.  

Mr. Francis is a multi-media artist, painter, graphic artist, photographer and filmmaker. He is also a researcher, and serves as the Penobscot Nation’s tribal historian. He says that Penobscot culture and an indigenous perspective on landscape and nature infuses all of his artwork.

Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Museum and Archives commissioned him and two other indigenous artists to create contemporary art for its permanent museum collection in an exhibit called “American Indians and Conservation,” which opens this year at the Service’s National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

The piece he created in acrylic on canvas commemorates the reestablishment of Atlantic salmon in the Penobscot River watershed. “Each dot that I painted represents one salmon that was able to go into the Penobscot watershed,” he says. The piece also includes a fishing spear as a cultural connection between the salmon and the Penobscot.

Mr. Francis grew up on Indian Island, the reservation of the Penobscot Nation near Old Town, and studied history at the University of Maine, then earned a Master of Fine Arts from UMaine in Intermedia Fine Arts.

Master Carver Floyd Scholz is the Wendell Gilley Museum’s People-Nature-Art speaker for August. He will be at the museum Tuesday, Aug.16 at 7pm to share his journey from NCAA decathlon champion, to working as a logger, to being featured in magazines as diverse as Smithsonian Studies in American Art and People Magazine, the latter of which dubbed him “one of the world’s true Renaissance men.” This talk will happen in person, and be live cast simultaneously; registration is required. People-Nature-Art is the Gilley’s monthly speaker series that explores the space where art and nature interact.

The following day, Wednesday, Aug. 17, he will give a four-hour demonstration of his much-lauded airbrush painting technique beginning at 10am. People are welcome to attend all or part of this demonstration, but registration is required.

There is no fee for either of these events.

Much like Wendell Gilley himself, Mr. Scholz began carving as a hobby while making a living doing something else. "Since 1968 I've had the pleasure of pursuing what has become my life-long passion of transformation—taking a block of wood, and with careful planning and carving, transforming it into a beautiful bird,” he says. Mr. Scholz “quit his day job” and became a full-time carver in 1983.

He is a five-time U.S. National Champion bird carver, and won the World Master’s Best in Show Championship in 2005, and his work has been chosen for the international juried art show Birds in Art at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum. In 2014 he was named a Living Legend by the prestigious Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art.

Master Carver Floyd Scholz gives a four-hour demo of his airbrush painting technique at the Gilley on Wednesday, Aug. 17, from 10am to 2pm.

"The art of bird carving is not 'wooden taxidermy,'" Mr. Scholz says. "Bird carving is sculpture in its highest and purest sense."

Mr. Scholz replicates a dazzling array of feather colors, patterns and plumage variation as part of his work. From the cryptic patterning found throughout the body of a great horned owl, to the brilliant blue of a male bluebird, he says bird artists are faced with the daunting challenge of replicating this on the hard surface of the carved, wooden bird.

He invites you to challenge yourself to learn more about this "most important aspect of the art form by joining me for an in-depth demonstration of dynamic color theory, and procedure including airbrush demonstrations."

The demo will include the importance of surface preparation and proper color application to bring forth the beauty and subtlety of a bird`s plumage. All aspects of the art form including design, carving, texturing and most importantly the painting process will be covered in great detail. Special emphasis will be placed upon the versatile application and magic of airbrushing.

Questions welcome.

No fee, but registration is required. You may attend all or part of this demo. 

Have Fun with Feathers in person at the Wendell Gilley Museum on June 23 in a special hands-on workshop. Draw feathers. Use a magnifying glass to see them up close. Learn about their structure and function. Use a feather to draw or paint your own work of art.

Workshop size is limited and masks are required. Children younger than 7 must be accompanied by an adult. 

Whooooooo’s awesome? Owls are!   

Museum Educator Cynthia Ocel will guide you through the fascinating world of these avian superstars. Discover how they find food, mates, and a safe place to hang out. Learn about their feathers, talons, eyes and ears. This fun exploration will include video; examination of the museum’s owl carvings and other artworks; and hands-on activities including dissection of owl pellets. Awesome Owls is open to curious adventurers age 10 and older. 

Registration is required and space is limited.

Join the Wendell Gilley Museum and artist Erika Rosso for a watercolor class outdoors.

This class is suitable for beginner to intermediate painters but does require curiosity and a willingness to experiment! Erika has a positive and experimental teaching style that builds confidence in budding artists, making it joyous to learn and create. This is a class for adults but also accepts mature students aged 12 and older. Registration is required and space is limited.

This workshop is designed to help you unlock your creativity and leave with some works in progress, and to have some fun along the way. Get inspired by pieces from the museum's permanent collection and current exhibitions, with writer and artist Annaliese Jakimides. Her prose and poetry have been published in magazines, journals, and anthologies; broadcast on NPR and Maine Public; and included in art venues such as ArtWord at the Portland Museum of Art. She will provide some background about this type of writing — ekphrastic writing — plus techniques, and prompts to get you going. But ultimately you choose your path.
 

Join us to discover the special adaptations that allow birds to survive life in Maine. Through using our curiosity, problem solving skills, senses and imagination we will better appreciate how and what birds eat, build a nest, stay warm, protect themselves, find a mate, move about, and use their senses. Some things may surprise you! Let's explore this interesting and amazing group of animals that share our planet and lives.

Have Fun with Feathers in person at the Wendell Gilley Museum in a special hands-on workshop. Draw feathers. Use a magnifying glass to see them up close. Learn about their structure and function. Use a feather to draw or paint your own work of art.

Workshop size is limited and masks are required. $10 per person for non-members, $8 for museum members. Children younger than 7 must be accompanied by an adult. Registration required. Sign up at www.wendellgilleymuseum.org/events

Aug. 10 & Aug. 24  9-11am   --  Bring a little bit of the outdoors indoors with this Nature Journaling Workshop taught by artist and nature-lover Erika Rosso. Gather tips and techniques for capturing your memorable moments. All materials supplied. This is a terrific family activity; children younger than 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Registration required and class size is limited.

Join naturalist Rich MacDonald in the Wendell Gilley Museum's outdoor classroom to build a birdhouse and learn about the birds who will live there. In this two-hour workshop, you will learn about the life history and ecology of some of the other bird species that might visit your birdhouse, and how best to site your creation to entice birds to use it.

This class is for people 10 and older, and anyone younger than 12 must be accompanied by an adult.  Registration required. Class size is limited.

Materials provided and you take home your birdhouse that day! Fee: $35 per person

Build a bee house for non-stinging Mason bees and leaf-cutter bees in this special workshop. In these bee houses, the cavities are 5-inch-deep drilled holes — deep enough, we hope, to be safe from a woodpecker tongue. This is a great family project. Space is limited. This is an in-person event led by the Gilley's carver-in-residence, Steve Valleau.

Join us Thursday, August 4, from 5:30 to 8pm at The Neighborhood House in Northeast Harbor for a carefully curated selection of more than fifty wines from France, chosen by Scott Worcester of Sawyer’s Specialties. Scott’s handpicked experts will be on hand to pour and discuss each wine. A comprehensive guide on all the featured wines will be available to take home. To accompany the wines, Cas Olé Catering will provide food prepared specifically to complement Scott’s selections.

Advance ticket sales only. No tickets sold at the door.

Buy tickets HERE.

Explore the beauty of Maine’s birds through the lens of noted photographer and birder David Speiser, who delves into his exhibit “Birds in Focus” in a presentation at the Wendell Gilley Museum on Tuesday, Aug. 9 at 7pm. This program happens both in-person and online. Indicate when you sign up whether you’ll be attending in person or via Zoom. There is no charge to attend. Sign up at www.wendellgilleymuseum.org/events

How does an exhibit come together? From choosing a theme, deciding on a photo finisher, space concerns, cost, and – most importantly – which images should be displayed? The audience can be the curators! We’ll look at images of the same species and decide which would be a great choice and why. We’ll discuss the artist’s decisions and see if they match up.

David Speiser has been pairing his technical skills and his love of birds for more than 25 years to capture portraits of birds in the field worldwide. His knowledge, talent and keen eye have create amazing works that capture moments of incredible intimacy in the lives of their avian subjects. He leads trips and teaches photography classes for New York City Audubon. His images have been featured at the Central Park Zoo in New York City, the Royal Botanical Gardens of Ontario, in Audubon Magazine, Birder’s World, Birdwatching, Living Bird, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, in many National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges, and on a U.S postage stamp. He is a member of the Advisory Council for New York City Audubon and a former member of NYC Audubon’s Board of Directors. See his work at: www.lilibirds.com.

The Wendell Gilley Museum is pleased to be a sponsor of the Acadia Birding Festival, and hosts to the festival’s speakers and book-signing event. Celebrate the ecological wonders of the birds of the Gulf of Maine at the Acadia Birding Festival. Explore Mount Desert Island and its birds through a variety of field trips and lectures. Greet warblers on morning walks, head out to sea to get a look at pelagic birds, and observe peregrin falcons at an active breeding site. Learn from experts in person and online through inspirational and informative talks. Register directly through the Acadia Birding Festival at www.acadiabirdingfestival.com.

The Gilley is excited to welcome the 2022 winner of the prestigious Maine Duck Stamp Contest – her fifth win! – as our featured presenter for People-Nature-Art in June. Rebekah Lowell is a painter, illustrator, and children’s book author with a passion for the natural world. Her first book, “The Road to After,” was published in May. It’s a novel in verse for middle-graders and is the kickoff book for the Southwest Harbor Public Library’s Summer Middle Grade Book Club. Her debut picture book, “Catching Flight,” is set to be published by Doubleday Books for Young Readers next year.

There is no charge for this event, but registration is required. Please sign up for either the in-person event or the livecast, and mention in the Notes which you are signing up for.

“As children, we have a sense of wonder that often fades as we grow—but my passion is to keep that youthful spirit of discovery alive through the process of observing and creating,” she says. “My heart continues to be amazed by the natural world we live in and I want to share this through the words and images of my work. By teaching others to love nature, we encourage empathy, and in that we are saving the world.”

Rebekah won the duck stamp contest (known officially now as the Maine Migratory Waterfowl Contest) hosted by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in 2022, 2020, 2017, 2014, and 2011. When she is not in her studio, you can find her outside—birding, gardening, nature journaling, rescuing birds for Avian Haven, and raising butterflies – often with her daughters, who she homeschools at their home in Biddeford.

She has a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in Children’s Literature and Illustration from Hollins University. She is the winner of the Margaret Kates Award in Art and the Ruth Sanderson Award-Illustrator’s Spotlight, and was a 2016 winner in the Kentucky National Wildlife Art Exhibit of the Fifth Third Bank Award.

People-Nature-Art is the Gilley’s signature monthly program that brings creative types of all kinds to the museum to explore the impact of nature on their art and creativity. This program will be offered in person, and livecast. Please indicate in the Notes section whether you will be attending in person or online.

Classical music is for the birds … and that’s a good thing! On Friday, June 24, the Wendell Gilley Museum hosts a special evening of music in the main gallery with members of the Fermata Chamber Soloists led by violinist Thomas Cooper, and his sister, the noted soprano Sarah Joyce Cooper. Among the pieces they will perform are selections from Louis Beydts’ “Chansons pour les oiseaux” (Songs for the Birds). The concert begins at 7 p.m., and there is no fee to attend, but reservations are required. The concert also will be livecast. Reservations for the in-person event and the livecast are two different events.

Please sign up for either the in-person event or the livecast, and mention in the Notes which you are signing up for.

The music selection is inspired by the Gilley Museum’s permanent collection and special exhibits, which feature birds as the subject for carvings, paintings and block prints by Wendell Gilley, Steven Valleau, Hank Tyler, Sherrie York, David Sibley, and David Speiser, among others.

Fermata Chamber Soloists is a Boston-based nonprofit organization intent on changing the culture of classical music with experiential, community-oriented events that are fun, intense and informal while retaining the highest level of artistry. In addition to Thomas Cooper, who is co-founder of Fermata Chamber Soloists, the quartet will include cellist Alex Fowler; violist Daniel Orsen; and violinist Jessica Tsang.

Learn from a master of the Eastern Woodland Flute, Hawk Henries, and make your own flute from bamboo using only hand tools – carving knives, files, sandpaper and fire in this all-day workshop on June 25. All tools and materials will be  provided. The workshop will be tailored to each participant’s level of experience, and beginners are welcome. Hawk will teach in a relaxed setting, allowing everyone to ask questions and talk about their experience as they learn the art of flute-making.

Space is limited and registration is required.

Bring a little bit of the outdoors indoors with this Nature Journaling Workshop on Wednesday, June 29, from 9 to 11am taught by artist and nature-lover Erika Rosso. Gather tips and techniques for capturing your memorable moments. All materials supplied. This is a terrific family activity; children younger than 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Registration required and class size is limited.

We’re teaming up with the Southwest Harbor Public Library on July 27 at 1pm for a special Birds and Books at the library! Learn about feathers and make some Loon art.  Children younger than 7 must be accompanied by an adult.

Workshop size is limited and registration required, but since this event is happening at the library, please sign up directly with them HERE. 

Join us to make art with feathers. Feathers can be a paintbrush or be painted, they can be the subject of the media for your special art. We provide the feathers, paint, yarn, glue and art paper. You bring your creativity. Art teacher Erika Rosso joins us for this special session to help your creativity soar. Registration required. Class size limited. All ages welcome. This is a terrific family activity. We will work in our outdoor classroom at the Gilley. 

Join Miss Amanda from the Southwest Harbor Public Library at the Wendell Gilley Museum for a special bird-themed story time and craft.  1pm.

No registration required and no fee.

Children should bring at least one adult with them.

Don Rambadt creates one-of-a-kind sculptures from metal, and birds are his inspiration and primary subject matter. "I sculpt because I enjoy the challenge of manipulating space,” he sayd. “I've chosen birds as my subject matter because they fascinate me to no end.” The Gilley is the honored owner of several of his pieces. Now we welcome their creator back to the Gilley as our July presenter for People-Nature-Art. Join us as Don delves into his process, his inspiration, his ongoing work, and more. “I have been fortunate to be able to combine my lifelong curiosity towards the natural world with a creative path that allows me to explore my own vision of what is interesting and beautiful,” he says. And that makes him the perfect person to join People-Nature-Art. We hope you’ll join us, too, for this very special event.

When you register, please let us know in the Notes field whether you will attend in person or online.

Join us for this special Saturday carving class for beginners on July 16^th – it’s the only Saturday class this summer. Learn from our master carver, Steve Valleau, who has been sharing this art with students at the museum for 37 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. Learn the basics of this classic American art form, and leave with something you create in our outdoor classroom. Students must be at least 11 years old; those 12 and younger must be accompanied by an adult. Class size is limited.

Cost: $35 for non-members or $28 for members (a 20% discount off the regular price). To become a member, visit our membership page HERE.

The seasonal shift of birds from wintering areas to summer breeding territories is well underway during the month of April.  This mini-course is offered as a sequential program combining classroom presentations with a field excursion each week.  April, at our latitude, is a month of anticipation for returning birds. It is also a time of exodus for species that have spent their winter with us.  By early May some bird species have begun nesting, others are establishing territories, and still others are migrating through our neighborhoods.  We’ll immerse ourselves in the bird world for 3 hours each week using slides, videos, museum specimens, select readings and field observations.  While each week is designed to build upon the previous week’s experience, course content will be accessible enough that each week alone will be a learning experience.  Join the flock, get in on the joy of anticipating and appreciating Acadia’s birdlife.

Gather up some watercolor paper, paints and brushes (whatever you have on hand), and explore the "Vocabulary of Watercolor" in this online workshop with award-winning nature artist Barry van Dusen. You’ll learn how, with a combination of materials and techniques, you can add variety, interest and sparkle to your watercolor paintings.

You'll cover the basics of wash, glazing and dry-brush (along with some other useful but less common techniques) and explore some color mixtures that are especially useful for painting nature subjects. Using step-by-step examples and a simple demonstration, Barry will help you demystify the wash sequence by applying the concepts of shadow pattern and local color.  And, of course, you'll have fun.

The Gilley's signature monthly speaker series continues in April—National Poetry Month—with naturalist and poet Kristen Lindquist. People-Nature-Art brings creative types of all kinds to the Gilley to explore the impact of nature on their art and creativity.

Lindquist is a Pushcart-nominated poet and naturalist living in Camden. She has published two full-length collections of poetry: Transportation, which was a finalist for the Maine Literary Award, and Tourists in the Known World. Garrison Keillor has shared three of her poems on “The Writer’s Almanac.” An avid birder, Lindquist guides for the Acadia Birding Festival and wrote a natural history column for years for her local paper. She currently maintains a daily haiku blog and occasionally teaches haiku workshops.

Join Swan's Island neighbors, painter Gary Hoyle and poet Gary Rainford, as they share a new collaborative project of five new paintings and poems, each artist inspired by the other's work.

This is a free online program. Registration is required.

Gary Hoyle’s sculptures and painting have been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States, as well as at the Amori Prefecture Museum in Japan. His fanciful dinosaur illustrations toured the United States in "The Dinosaur Show" sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution. In 2008 he was Artist in Residence at the Climate Change Institute where he developed a cartoon series on global warming.

Gary Rainford is the author of two poetry collections, Salty Liquor and Liner Notes. His suite of poems, We Are Here, was an honorable mention selected by Betsy Sholl for The Gabriel Zimpritch Memorial Poetry Prize.  His poems, he says, are shaped by tides, saltwater, and music.

Our signature monthly series continues in May with Jonathan Meiburg, journalist, musician, and author of "A Most Remarkable Creature," an enthralling look at the caracara, a clever, social South American bird of prey that puzzled Charles Darwin. The book twines natural history and human history, with insights and lessons that go far beyond the subject birds.

This is a free online program. Registration is required.

People-Nature-Art brings creative types of all kinds to the Gilley to explore the impact of nature on their art and creativity.

The Gilley is honored to be teaming up with Island Readers & Writers to remember the late Ashley Bryan with an interactive story time and art collage activity. Join us at the Gilley on Saturday, May 14 at 9:30am. Lisa Herrington, IRW's Program Assistant, will offer a speical story time featuring Ashley's Beautiful Blackbird followed by Erika Rosso leading a fun collage art activity reminescent of Ashley's iconic work. Participants will make their own beautiful birds to take home.

This program is free and recommned for children older than 4 and their adults. Registration is required online through IRW's website HERE.  ​

Beautiful Blackbird is a picture book adaptation of a tale from the Ila-speaking people of Zambia that celebrates community and individuality. Long ago, the many colorful birds of the world had no markings on their beaks or feathers—until they appeal to Blackbird, the most beautiful bird of all.

Ashely, who passed away earlier this year, was an acclaimed author, painter, printmaker, illustrator, puppet maker and storyteller whose career spanned more than six decades. He was a special friend of both IRW and the Gilley.  

May is prime time to spot warblers on Mount Desert Island. Join the Gilley on two warbler walks led by Rich MacDonald, a field biologist, guide, birder, naturalist, and writer. His birding-related travels have taken him all over the world, including Antarctica, but he calls Mount Desert Island home and birds here year-round. Meet at the Gilley. Cost is $7 per person, per walk.

Join naturalist Rich MacDonald at the Wendell Gilley Museum to build a birdhouse and learn about the birds who will live there in this two-hour workshop. Learn about the life history and ecology of some of the other bird species that might visit your birdhouse, and how best to site your creation to entice birds to use it. The class is for people 10 and older and anyone younger than 12 must be accompanied by an adult.  

Class size limited to 10.

Materials provided and you take home your birdhouse that day!

Fee: $35 per person

A passion for the natural world resonates through the fictional landscapes created by fantasy author Kristen Britain and science fiction author Julie Czerneda, and that passion has even influenced the makeup of those worlds. Join these longtime friends online via Zoom with the Gilley on Tuesday, March 22 at 7pm, as they discuss how their own connection to nature has influenced their novels and their writing lives. Kristen is a former U.S. National Park ranger and Julie is a Canadian biologist who started out writing nonfiction. There is no charge, but registration is required. A Zoom link will be sent after you register.

Gordon Longsworth and Michael Good have been collaborating for years with the Geographic Information System (GIS) laboratory at College of the Atlantic to create maps and field guides that connect bird data to a map, integrating location with descriptive information like habitat or tree cover. This helps scientists to better understand patterns, relationships and geographic context, and birdwatchers to find specific species.

Join us for a free online event on Friday, March 11 at 7pm as Mr. Longsworth and Mr. Good join us to share the results of this years-long project and break down the data for us. There is no charge to attend but registration is required. You will receive a Zoom link after you register.

Join Chris Maynard of Featherfolio online on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 7pm for February’s People-Nature-Art, the Wendell Gilley Museum’s signature monthly series that explores the connection between nature and art.

Mr. Maynard carves feathers into intricate art pieces. Pairing his artistic sense and scientific knowledge, he uses surgical tools to sculpt feathers while striving to respect their natural form. His message is one of beauty and appreciation of life. In grand installations, and in shadowboxes, he positions them so their shapes are enhanced as they cast shadows.

Unlike a painter’s palette, the choice of colors in feathers is quite limited. Mr. Maynard mostly keeps the natural colors and patterns of each feather. He gets his feathers from aviaries and all are legal to possess.

He believes feathers can represent flight, transformation and a bridge between our present lives and dreams.

Mr. Maynard’s work is in museums and private collections in North America, Asia, Europe, and Australia and has been featured in print and online around the world.

Have ‘Fun with Feathers’ in person at the Wendell Gilley Museum on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. in a special hands-on family program. Draw feathers. Use a magnifying glass to see them up close. Learn about their structure and function. Use a feather to draw or paint your own work of art.

Workshop size is limited and masks are required. $5 per person. Children younger than 7 must be accompanied by an adult. Registration is required. Sign up at www.wendellgilleymuseum.org/events

Woodcarver and naturalist Wayne Robbins seeks to share his passion for the sea and to inspire faithful stewardship of the Earth’s fragile ecosystem through his art.

He joins the Gilley as the first People-Nature-Art presenter of 2022 on Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 7pm via Zoom.

He says that the sea’s breathtaking beauty and its infinite varieties of flora and fauna are constant reminders that we must respect and help sustain the lifeblood of our planet. 

Raised on the coast of Maine, he was inspired as a youth to capture the essence of nature in wood. His appreciation of the innate beauty of wood helps him design pieces that maximize the beauty and grace of both the medium and the subject. He chooses from a variety of native and exotic woods. By selecting a wood that complements his subject, a synergy results that informs and guides his creative process. Then he uses various combinations of oils and waxes to give the sculpture an “almost wet” look.  Each sculpture is unique and identified for its species, numbered, dated and signed by the artist.  His work is in private and public collections worldwide.