benefit event

Upcoming Events

October People-Nature-Art explores The Birds of Shakespeare

October 10, 2023 5:30 - 8:30 pm

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Enjoy a birding expedition through William Shakespeare’s plays and poetry with artist Missy Dunaway whose independent art project “The Birds of Shakespeare”  will catalog every bird mentioned in Shakespeare's plays and poems. Dunaway will be at the Gilley on Tuesday, Oct. 10 for a 5:30pm reception and a 7pm presentation as the museum’s October People-Nature-Art presenter.

Each month, Dunaway releases a painting of one bird with an accompanying essay that analyzes how the species features in Shakespeare’s world.

People-Nature-Art is a 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. Each session for 2023 is sponsored by our friends at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust.

People-Nature-Art: Photographer J.K. Putnam

November 14, 2023 5:30 - 8:30 pm

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John K. Putnam, a full-time nature and landscape photographer based on Mount Desert Island, will be the November People-Nature-Art presenter at the Wendell Gilley Museum on Tuesday, Nov. 14. There will be a 5:30pm reception followed by a presentation at 7pm that will be offered in-person as well as livecast online. All events are free but registration is required.

From 2006 to 2014, Putnam worked as a photographer in New York City producing work for publishing companies and magazines as well as photographing high-end events, all while spending every vacation traveling and photographing across five continents, 20 states, and more than 30 national parks. He moved to Mount Desert Island in 2015.

People-Nature-Art is a 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. Each session for 2023 is sponsored by our friends at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust.

People-Nature-Art with mixed media artist Sara Tabbert

December 12, 2023 7:00 - 8:30 pm

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Printmaker and mixed media artitst Sara Tabbert – a past Acadia National Park artist in residence – joins us from her home studio in Fairbanks, Alaska as December’s People-Nature-Art presenter at the Wendell Gilley Museum on Tuesday, Dec. 12 in an online-only presentation at 7pm. Free but registration is required.

Tabbert’s large-scale public art commissions can be found throughout Alaska and her work is housed in public collections through the state and far beyond. In early 2020, the Alaska State Museum presented a solo exhibit of her recent work.

 She has been awarded grants from the Rasmuson Foundation and the Alaska State Council on the Arts. In addition to residencies in the United States, Canada, Argentina, and Italy, Tabbert has been an artist-in-residence through the National Park Service in Denali, Zion, Isle Royale, the Chilkoot Trail, and Acadia National Park. She has been selected as a 2024 resident fellow in the Windgate ITE program at the Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia.

People-Nature-Art is a 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. Each session for 2023 is sponsored by our friends at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust.

Past Events

People-Nature-Art with Wayne Robbins

January 11, 2022 7:00 - 8:30 pm

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.

 

People-Nature-Art with Chris Maynard, Feb. 22, Online

February 22, 2022 7:00 - 8:30 pm

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.

People-Nature-Art with novelists Kristen Britain & Julie Czerneda, March 22, Online

March 22, 2022 7:00 - 8:30 pm

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.

People-Nature-Art with Kristen Lindquist, Online

April 12, 2022 7:00 - 8:30 pm

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.

People-Nature-Art with Jonathan Meiburg

May 10, 2022 7:00 - 8:00 pm

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.

People-Nature-Art with Rebekah Lowell June 21

June 21, 2022 7:00 - 8:00 pm

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.

People-Nature-Art with Sculptor Don Rambadt

July 12, 2022 7:00 - 8:30 pm

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.

 

People-Nature-Art with Fine Art Photographer Cheryle St. Onge

September 20, 2022 7:00 - 8:30 pm

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. 

People-Nature-Art with painter Michael Boardman Oct. 11

October 11, 2022 7:00 - 8:30 pm

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.

Nov. 15 PNA with former Maine poet laureate Stuart Kestenbaum

November 15, 2022 7:00 - 8:30 pm

 

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.

Dec. 13 PNA with fiber artist Catherine Danae

December 13, 2022 7:00 - 8:30 pm

 

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 kicks off 2023 People-Nature-Art series

January 17, 2023 7:00 - 8:30 pm

 

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 .

People-Nature-Art w/ artist & conservationist Kate Gorringe-Smith

February 21, 2023 7:00 - 8:30 pm

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.

People-Nature-Art with journalist Bob Duchesne

March 28, 2023 5:30 - 8:30 pm

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.

People-Nature-Art with poet & printmaker Leslie Moore

April 25, 2023 5:30 - 8:30 pm

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.

 

People-Nature-Art with painter Mary Brooking

May 16, 2023 7:00 - 8:30 pm

 

Painter Mary Brooking celebrates what she sees in nature and aims to create spaces that interact with human senses on a primitive level and test the balance between reality and abstraction. She employs reduction rather than embellishment, distilling elemental truths about the places she paints through interactive color, texture and form.

Brooking will be online with the Wendell Gilley Museum on Tuesday, May 16, as the museum’s People-Nature-Art presenter in an online-only program that begins at 7 p.m. There is no fee to attend, but registration is required.  

Most, but not all, of her work is inspired by Maine landscapes and she works exclusively in acrylics. “I use many layers of paint," she says, "often obliterating elements as the painting progresses, challenging myself always to distill and reduce the image to its exact essence and nothing more.”

She will discuss her process, inspiration, evolution as an artist, and connection to the Maine landscape in a conversation with museum director Sean Charette. A mid-career artist who lives and works in Westbrook, her paintings are in ollections in the United States, Canada, France and New Zealand. She has exhibited widely in Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Ohio and New Mexico, and exhibits regularly at Casco Bay Artisans in Portland, Maine and Art 3 Gallery in Manchester, New Hampshire. 

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. Each session for 2023 is sponsored by our friends at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust.

People-Nature-Art with Carving Master Mark McNair

June 20, 2023 7:00 - 8:30 pm

A modern master of bird carving, Mark McNair, shares his art at the Gilley as part of the our free monthly series, People-Nature-Art. On June 20, he and his two carver sons will share stories, visuals and their inspirations in a presentation that begins at 7p.m. at the Gilley. This will be followed by a public reception with the artists. There is no charge to attend either event, but registration is required. The presentation will also be livestreamed; please indicate whether you will attend in person or virtually when you sign up.

The following day, June 21 from 1 to 3 p.m., they will give an in-person carving demonstration at the Gilley. No fee and no registraton required for this.

Mark McNair specializes in waterfowl and shorebird decoys, weathervanes, and related folk art. His work is held in numerous prominent decoy collections both public and private, including the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, the deWitt Cottage in Virginia Beach, and The Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art in Salisbury, Maryland.

Sons Ian and Colin are also active carvers: Ian in Exmore, Virginia, where he is a partner in High ‘N Dry, a company specializing in industrial grade chest waders;  and Colin in Boston where he also works for Copley Fine Art Auctions

These special events, like all the museum's People-Nature-Art offerings in 2023, are sponsored by our friends at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust.

Master Carvers Offer Demo & Conversation

June 21, 2023 1:00 - 3:00 pm

A modern master of bird carving, Mark McNair, and his son Ian McNair who is also a professional carver, will share insights and observations at the Gilley during a live demonstration of their art on Wednesday, June 21, from 1 to 3 p.m. This is a rare opportunity in Maine to connect with top U.S. carvers. No fee and no registration required.

Mark McNair specializes in waterfowl and shorebird decoys, weathervanes, and related folk art. His work is held in numerous prominent decoy collections both public and private, including the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, the deWitt Cottage in Virginia Beach, and The Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art in Salisbury, Maryland.

He has been carving and making decoys for more than half a century. After leaving his alma mater, Rhode Island School of Design, in the 1970s, he worked with antiques and carved wooden signs in his native Connecticut. During this time he was introduced to antique decoys by the Voorhees family and quickly took to the craft. He and his wife, Martha, now live and carve on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, between the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean.

Of their three children, sons Ian and Colin are also active carvers. Ian carves in Exmore, Virginia and is a partner in High ‘N Dry, a company specializing in industrial grade chest waders. Colin also works for Copley Fine Art Auctions, in Boston.

This special event is part of the McNairs' visit to the Gilley as part of the free monthly People-Nature-Art series in 2023 sponsored by our friends at Bar Harbor Bank and Trust.

People-Nature-Art with writer & naturalist Susan Hand Shetterly

July 11, 2023 7:00 - 8:30 pm

Author and naturalist Susan Hand Shetterly will delve into what she calls “the landscape of home” on Tuesday, July 11 at at 7pm at the Gilley as the museum’s People-Nature-Art presenter for July. There will be a book signing immediately afterward. The presentation happens live at the museum and will be simultaneously livestreamed. As always, People-Nature-Art presentations are free and open to all, but registration is required.

People-Nature-Art is a 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 nature. Each session for 2023 is sponsored by our friends at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust.

In her newest book, “Notes on the Landscape of Home,” Shetterly explores in a series essays what it is to live in a Down East coastal town and to pay attention, over time, to what it offers of land, water, wildlife, and neighbors, taking her cue from Henry David Thoreau and Wendell Berry, who advocate for the virtues of staying in one place, believing that as we delve deeper into the landscape of home, we learn to read the world. 

A resident of Surry, Shetterly has lived on the coast of Maine for most of her life. She writes about wildlife and wild lands, has worked as a wild bird rehabilitator. She is an award-winning writer of books and articles for magazines and newspapers. Among the many things she has written about are the reestablishment of the bald eagle population in Maine, the reintroduction of the American turkey, the turkey vulture’s northward trend, shorebird migrations, the bluefin tuna and the humpback and right whales in the Gulf of Maine, counting alewives along a stream in her town in the spring, seaweed cultivation in a bay and the rebirth of a forest.

People-Nature-Art: Bestselling Author Jennifer Ackerman Aug. 8

August 8, 2023 5:30 - 8:30 pm

Award-winning science writer and New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Ackerman visits the Wendell Gilley Museum on Tuesday, August 8, as the museum’s People-Nature-Art presenter for August at 7pm. There will be a book signing and reception beforehand at the museum beginning at 5:30pm. The presentation happens live and will be simultaneously livestreamed. As always, People-Nature-Art presentations are free and open to all, but registration is required.

Ackerman’s new book, “What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds,” was released June 13. She is also the author of “The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think,” “The Genius of Birds,” “Birds by the Shore,” and “Chance in the House of Fate: A Natural History of Heredity.”

People-Nature-Art is a 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 nature. Each session for 2023 is sponsored by our friends at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust.

People-Nature-Art with Printmaker Kathleen Walsh Buchanan Sept. 19

September 19, 2023 5:30 - 8:30 pm

Printmaker and biologist Kathleen Walsh Buchanan will be at the Gilley on Tuesday, Sept. 19, to share her collagraphic printmaking and its inspiration in the natural world. There will be a public reception at 5:30pm, followed by Buchanan's presentation at 7pm.  Both events are free, but registration is required.

“At first glance, biology and printmaking seem to have little common ground, but much of my training as a scientist has served me extremely well as an artist,” she says. “Both disciplines require skill at observing the environment, at not only looking but seeing what is going on around you. I look at biology and art as two dialects in the same language, different ways to communicate what you have learned about the nature of things, about the truth of your experience.”

A collagraph is a hand-made print generated off a printing plate that is a collage of various material. For her pieces, Buchanan starts with a sturdy backing board of plain masonite panel, then glues down shapes of Bristol paper on this board that delineate the major elements of her design. Then she paints over that paper with acrylic gel mediums to add texture and detail to the design, and to prevent the Bristol paper from being saturated with ink when it’s time to print.

Before becoming a full-time printmaker in 1999, she was educated and employed as a biologist. As an undergraduate at Tufts University, she majored in biology while nurturing her creative skills with as many studio art courses as she could fit into her schedule. After getting a master’s degree in wildlife biology at the University of Alaska she renewed her efforts at studio art with a focus on printmaking and now lives – and makes art – in Rockland, Maine.

“My connection to the natural world, my role as a mother, and my own sense of self all find expression in my images,” she says. “I enjoy looking at landscapes and their inhabitants not only as appealing composition subjects, but also as metaphors for our human experience.  Collagraph printing, with all its intricacy and subtlety, is a fascinating medium to use in the communication of these ideas.”

People-Nature-Art is a 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 nature. Each session for 2023 is sponsored by our friends at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust.

wooden bird carvings