News

The Gilley is running a sale in the Museum Store between now and Dec. 15. Everything except consignment items is 10% off for non-members and 20% off for Museum members – that includes art, carving supplies, ornaments and cards, toys, books, jewelry and more.

The Museum is open Fridays and Saturdays from 10am to 4pm through Saturday, Dec. 13; and on Sunday, Dec. 14 from 1 to 4pm.

Did you create art with the Gilley this year? We want you to be part of our annual Community Art Show & Open House on Sunday, Dec. 14!

Submit something you created at the Gilley for this year's show by emailing Director of Engagement Melinda Rice-Schoon at mel@wendellgilleymuseum.org or by calling 207-244-7555. Please let us know by Thursday, Dec. 11. We need your name, the name of your artpiece, and the material it’s made of. The Museum is closed to the public Mondays-Thursdays right now, but staff is on site and working, so ring the bell if you come by.

The People-Nature-Art presentation with Mattie Rose Templeton has been moved from Tuesday, Dec. 2 to Wednesday, Dec. due to the impending storm. Please join us Wednesday at 6pm for an artist’s reception in person, followed by her presentation at 7pm both online and in person.

Both are free, but registration is required. Sign up at www.wendellgilleymuseum.org/calendar.

Western Maine artist Mattie Rose Templeton is inspired by the natural world, and through art she explores our connection to nature, including the undeniable fragility that is found there. Her goal is to produce art that moves the viewer beyond the piece itself, and into a place of storytelling. “Art has always been a way to record history through visual storytelling,” she says. She works primarily in pen-and-ink and watercolor.

Please contact Director of Engagement Melinda Rice-Schoon with any questions at mel@wendellgilleymuseum.org.

Last Chance! Don’t miss  “Memories Fly Home,” the exhibit of stunning textile works created with English Paper Piecing and Silkshading techniques by MDI native Sarah Matthewson, currently on display in the Museum’s special exhibit gallery. It closes this Saturday, Nov. 1 at 4pm; last entry to the museum is at 3:30pm.

Inspired by the exhibit, the Gilley is offering a landscape embroidery class that day from 10:30am to 1pm taught by Emma Mary Murray. No experience necessary. It will start with the basics of embroidery – from choosing colors to threading needles and tying knots – then Emma will show students how to depict light and topography with thread. Bring images of landscapes that are special to you, or use an image available at the Gilley. All materials are provided. The cost is $57 for Museum members and $65 for non-members. Class size is limited. Sign up at www. wendellgilleymuseum.org/calendar   

The Wendell Gilley Museum will have a delayed opening on Tuesday, Oct. 14.

The Museum’s doors will open that day at 1pm and close as usual at 4pm. Hours for the rest of the week  will be the usual 10am-4pm.

Matinicus folk artist David Sears — carver, painter and multimedia artist — has been beset by the elements and a ferry in need of repair. Unfortunately, he cannot get from Matinicus Island, where he lives in the summer, to the mainland to join the Wendell Gilley Museum as planned on July 29 for the People-Nature-Art series. His program is rescheduled for March of 2026 and there will be no People-Nature-Art program on July 29 as previously planned.

People-Nature-Art continues in August with sculptor David Smus on Aug. 12. Join in person or online. Sign up at www.wendellgilleymuseum.org/calendar

Due to the popularity the new Carving and Woodburning a Bird for Beginners workshop, the Gilley is adding two additional sessions of the class over the holiday weekend. Join us Saturday, July 5 from 10:30am to 12:30pm or from 1:30pm to 3:30pm to learn basic skills in wood carving and woodburning in this two-hour class and create a small piece of avian art you can finish during the workshop and take home with you. Registration is required and class sizes are limited. Participants must be at least 11 years old.

For the morning class, sign up HERE.          For the afternoon class, sign up HERE.

The Museum’s 2025 Winter Session ends Saturday, May 3 at 4pm and with it, two exhibits close – Dan Miller: Going with the Grain, a collection of woodblock prints featuring birds and landscapes by the 96-year-old artist who summers in Corea; and Alley’s Avian Art, a collection of all nine of Islesford painter Rick Alley’s winning depictions of seabirds in their natural habitat which won the prestigious Maine Duck Stamp Contest (more than any other painter in the award’s history.)

The Gilley is open Tuesday night from 6 to 8pm for the April People-Nature-Art reception and presentation by Peggy Clark Lumpkins, and on Friday and Saturday from 10am to 4pm. The we will be closed until Wednesday, May 28 when we reopen with hours Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 4pm.

Come see this art before it is gone from the Gilley; then plan to come back for the next special exhibit, “Birds in Art,” a traveling show from the vaunted exhibit at the Lee Yawkey Woodson Museum.