A California native who continually studied and refined her art skills while making a career of teaching English around the world, Leslie Moore is a full-time poet and printmaker who takes her inspiration from the natural world. Her book, What Rough Beasts, features both art forms. At the Gilley she’ll explore the alchemy that helps her poetry and prints spring from her connection to nature. This event will be livecast via Zoom. Please note: recordings are available only to museum members. We will begin at 5:30 with a reception and book signing, followed by the program at 7pm. Please indicate which you will be attending when you sign up. There is no charge to attend.

This monthly series 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. All 12 programs in this year’s series are proudly sponsored by our friends at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust. 

“At Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, we take great pride in partnering with area nonprofits doing important work to keep the community engaged. Wendell Gilley Museum is a wonderful example of this. We are excited to support this special artist series and look forward to the positive impact throughout the region,” says Lisa Parsons, Senior Vice President Regional Marketing Manager.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Cheryle St. Onge is a fine art photographer whose work is deeply connected to the natural world, with a focus on the crossover of art and science, and photography's ability to distill our sense of time and curiosity. She makes pictures predominantly with an 8 x 10 view camera and considers her work a collaborative process. She has been named one of the ‘Top 50 Photographers’ in the country by Time Magazine.

She joins the Gilley online as the September People-Nature-Art presenter on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 7pm.

Her photographs are in many private and public collections, including the University of New Mexico Art Museum, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Cassilhaus Collection, and the Guggenheim Foundation.

Her photographs have also been widely exhibited, most notably at London’s National Portrait Gallery, Princeton University, Griffin Museum, University of Rhode Island, Massachusetts College of Art, Rick Wester Fine Arts, and with the American Institute of Architects traveling exhibition. She has received numerous awards and residences, among them a 2009 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a Critical Mass Finalist Exhibition Award, Polaroid Materials Artist Support Grant, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Graduate Fellowship.

She divides her time between Durham, New Hampshire, and coastal Maine. 

Michael Boardman is a master naturalist and a masterful artist who finds inspiration in wild places. “Where the wild things are – that’s what gets my creative spark going,” he says, “places that are pristine enough to support communities of life that don’t walk around on two legs. Places where you can feel humbled and unimportant.”

He will bring his passion, vision, and talent to the Gilley as the museum’s October People-Nature-Art presenter, on Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 7pm. This program will be in person, and livecast simultaneously. There is no fee to attend, but registration is required. Please indicate when you sign up whether you will attend in person or online.

For more than 20 years he has field-sketched, drawn and painted animals from Baxter State Park to Eastern Africa, and what he calls “fortunate alignments” have allowed him to connect his artwork with science and conservation. He says the combination of art and science is essential to his work. His training as a Maine Master Naturalist gives him insight into the interconnected nature of wildlife and landscape, and this comes through in his work. Michael works mostly in watercolor in the field, painting when time permits or field sketching when not.

He was the Visiting Artist at Baxter State Park in 2010; the Artist in Residence at Acadia National Park in 2012; in Glacier Bay National Park in the summer of 2015 for the Voices of the Wilderness residency; and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 2019.

The Wendell Gilley Museum welcomes former Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum as the museum’s November People-Nature-Art guest, on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 7pm in this program is an online-only event. It is free and open to all, but registration is required.

Stuart Kestenbaum is the author of six collections of poems; a book of brief essays on craft and community called “The View from Here”; he compiled and edited “Visualizing Nature” a set of deeply personal essays on nature, ecology, sustainability, climate change, and philosophy by a wide range of contributors that honor nature's power to heal, inspire, guide, amaze, and strengthen.

He has written and spoken widely on craft making and creativity, and his poems and writing have appeared in small press publications and magazines. He served as Maine’s poet laureate from 2016-2021 and hosted “Poems from Here” on Maine Public Radi,  and was the host/curator of the podcasts Make/Time and Voices of the Future.

He was the director of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine for over twenty-five years, and was elected an honorary fellow of the American Craft Council in 2006. More recently, working with the Libra Foundation, he has designed and implemented a residency program for artists and writers called Monson Arts.

Catherine Danae sculpts animals with needle and felting wool. She calls herself  ‘a maker who loves the outdoors,'”  and she will be the December People-Nature-Art presenter for the Gilley on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 7pm in an online-only program.

“The beauty of nature is the endless colors and textures,” she says. “I am surrounded by inspiration, and try to show my passion for the outdoors in my work.” An avid fan of fishing, she frequently depicts fish in her sculptures, with birds and prehistoric creatures also making frequent appearances.

In addition to the art aspect of her creations, she hopes interacting with often hard-to-touch creatures opens the door to talk about conservation.

Ms. Danae lives in Pennsylvania and runs a business called Rod and Needle. She has had artist residencies at Petrified Forest National Park, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, and Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.

This program is free but registration is required at www.wendellgilleymuseum.org/events

It will be recorded, but access to the recordings is a members-only benefit.

Rebekah Raye is surrounded by nature in her Maine home, and it inspires the artwork she does every day. "It doesn’t seem to matter where I am," she says, "the sight of an animal, near or far calls my attention. They are consistently in my dreams and daily thoughts. It is a celebration of their lives with us that I wish to interpret and share. I am compelled to paint them, sculpt them and love them." 

We are excited and honored to have her with us as the first People-Nature-Art speaker of 2023. Join us in person or online for a wide-ranging conversation with Rebekah Raye, a painter and sculptor who also writes and illustrates children's books including "The Very Best Bed" and "The Secret Pool."

        This monthly series 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. All 12 programs in this year’s series are proudly sponsored by our friends at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust. 

    “At Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, we take great pride in partnering with area nonprofits doing important work to keep the community engaged. Wendell Gilley Museum is a wonderful example of this. We are excited to support this special artist series and look forward to the positive impact throughout the region,” says Lisa Parsons, Senior Vice President Regional Marketing .

Australian artist Kate Gorringe-Smith works in contemporary and traditional print media in 2D and 3D form and installation. Her art investigates our relationship with the environment: the threats we create vs our connectedness with it. Kate’s work often references migratory shorebirds to illustrate the environmental connections that link us individually and globally. For her "Overwintering Project" she has asked artists to find, visit, and forge a connection with their local migratory shorebird habitat, then create art prints in response to those visits. Join us for a fascinating talk from Down Under.

This monthly series 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. All 12 programs in this year’s series are proudly sponsored by our friends at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust. 

“At Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, we take great pride in partnering with area nonprofits doing important work to keep the community engaged. Wendell Gilley Museum is a wonderful example of this. We are excited to support this special artist series and look forward to the positive impact throughout the region,” says Lisa Parsons, Senior Vice President Regional Marketing Manager.

Bob Duchesne will bring his unique perspective as a birder, birding guide, and journalist to the Gilley for this in-person People-Nature-Art event. He writes widely about birding in Maine, including a weekly birding column for the Bangor Daily News. He served six terms in the Maine House of Representatives, chairing the Environment and Natural Resources Committee and the Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Committee. Currently he serves on Maine Board of Environmental Protection.

This event includes an in-person reception at 5:30pm at the Gilley followed by an in-person presentation, which will also be livecast via Zoom. There is no charge, but reservations are required. When you sign up, please indicate whether you will attend remotely or in person.

This monthly series 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. All 12 programs in this year’s series are proudly sponsored by our friends at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust. 

“At Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, we take great pride in partnering with area nonprofits doing important work to keep the community engaged. Wendell Gilley Museum is a wonderful example of this. We are excited to support this special artist series and look forward to the positive impact throughout the region,” says Lisa Parsons, Senior Vice President Regional Marketing Manager.