Celebrate our community with books!
Join painter and traveler Judy Taylor on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 7pm as she shares images and stories of her February 2020 trip to Europe with 7 students, to draw in London and Paris’ museums.
To reserve your spot for this Zoom presentation, please register at: https://forms.gle/dCEEz6s23PLXHZQ27
Lindsay Hopkins-Weld
Cold Spring
12″x12″ oil on birch panel
$900
“I find solace in nature and due to Covid, I have been spending more time walking and looking. I have a BFA from the Museum School in Boston, MA. I am a seasonal resident on MDI and live in Scarborough, ME. ” www.lhweld.com
Linda Rowell-Kelley
Kelley Community Garden
16×16 oil on panel
$260
“Island quarantine meant using the resources available and MDI provided beautiful, luscious places to plein air paint. The community garden was ever changing and offered a bounty of shape and color. A local island artist, working in oil, watercolor and mixed medium. My home base and studio is in Hulls Cove and I am fortunate to be able to safely explore the island for inspiration.” Linda Rowell-Kelley Art on Facebook
Elizabeth Keenan
Loose Leaf Lips
14″X 18″ (framed) Watercolor
NFS
“I’ve been painting A LOT during the pandemic. It is helping me to pass the time. I live in Bass Harbor and have been teaching Drawing, Painting, and Ceramics at MDI high School for over 20 years.”
Vicky Smith
Peggy’s Cows
12″ x 14″ Oil Painting
$175
Outdoor activities are the best way to stay safe . Our Plein Air Group has been a gift. Painting and socializing!
I have come to painting in the second half of my life. Grateful for the inspiration and support of the painting women in PAPA, Plein Air Painting Artists.
Beverly Bono
Winter on Babson Creek
9” x 11” (framed) watercolor
$50
Plein air painting (in the open air) with friends ( masked and socially distant) has made this year bearable. Cold weather made it prohibitive to paint outside in oils so I started painting with watercolors on site, but in my warm car. This painting is one of my 1st “in car” paintings.
Although I’ve been painting all my life, about 10 years ago I began painting “en plein air”. Living in Bar Harbor, near Acadia National Park provides boundless stimulation for my oil paintings. I’m on a wonderfully endless journey trying to capture the beautiful scenery of this island!
Jean Forbes
Sorrento Dinghies
10.25″ x 12.25″ matted and framed watercolor
$200
“The recent life changing circumstances have given me more focus to fine tune my craft. Sorrento Dinghies is the 2nd in a series of three paintings done to obtain desired harmony in the 3rd (larger) watercolor painting.”
Jean E. Forbes is a Fine Artist with over 50 years painting experience. She retired from teaching art in South Kingstown RI public schools in 2012. Jean lives with her husband Mike in Manset where they make their year round home. www.jeanforbesart.com
Sydney Roberts
Church Chair Woman
46” x 15” x 18” multimedia
$250
“Although I submitted it last year, it was welcomed this year because it wasn’t “seen” by other than library staff.”
A NEH summer kid from Philadelphia from age 3 weeks, (year-round for 20 + years), graduate of Philadelphia College of Art (Now U Arts) ’66: painting/sculpture/graphics.
Kathie Pratt and Christine Parrish
Sweet Liberty
40″ x 25″ acrylic on foam core
NFS
“This sign is a collaboration by lifelong friends with a desire for social action. Christine created the concept and Kathie executed it. The goal was a sign that would be impactful, visible from near and far, and functional. Christine carried it at the Black Lives Matter March in Augusta last summer.”
Kathie Pratt happily lives and works in Tremont. Art is her favorite thing. Christine Parrish is a writer, journalist, and natural resource conservation specialist who lives in Lincolnville. Her connection to the island began as a teenager, when she and Kathie departed from their family homes to live a rustic lifestyle on the back side. Decades later, she stays connected by hiking the hills of Acadia.
The Bass Harbor Memorial Library is pleased to continue their collaboration with Healthy Acadia in 2021 by promoting a healthy and wellness through their Health Quest Challenge. This free public health challenge runs through April 15, 2021 and aims to increase awareness and use of the National Library of Medicine’s free public health resources, which include: up-to-date information about wellness issues, diseases, conditions, peer-reviewed medical research articles, toxic substances and household product databases, clinical trials, and much more. Participants’ will be entered into weekly raffles with the chance to win prizes.
To join the challenge go to: www.healthyacadia.org/hpm-hq
From March 6 through April 30, 2021, the Library will celebrate Women’s History Month with an art show featuring works from artists with a connection to Mount Desert Island. 10 artists will explore the theme of “Life Upended: Unexpected Inspiration.”
The show will also be displayed online for all to peruse HERE
Artists include: Sydney Roberts, Vicky Smith, Elizabeth Keenan, Debra Spressart, Jean Forbes, Linda Rowell-Kelley, Lindsay Hopkins-Weld, Kathie Pratt and Beverly Bono.
March 15, 2022 The library is fully open during scheduled hours, without patron number limits. Masks are optional but required in the children’s area when others are present. All of our services are available, from browsing newspapers, books, and magazines, to computer use and interlibrary loan. In-person programming and meetings are now welcome inside the library.
Please be respectful of staff and patron’s decisions around masking and distancing.
The Library at 89 Bernard Rd in Bernard is open to the public on Tuesday and Wednesday from 10-5, Thursday from 10-8, and Saturday from 10-2.
We have a wonderful new space and are very excited to welcome you back! Please don’t hesitate to email or call me with any questions at 207-244-3798.
Lisa Murray, Director
Oct 10, 2020 05:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Former Vice President Al Gore’s stunning slides illustrate this Zoom talk by Maine Climate Reality leaders Derek Ahi and Hilary Hosmer. Hosted by Holly Hosmer.
Join Zoom Meeting with one click:https://networkmaine.zoom.us/j/83011505060?pwd=QjhNcEpCa01UQ1JLWThTdkpnQ3FkZz09
Or sign into Zoom and enter when prompted: Meeting ID: 830 1150 5060Passcode: Bass
One tap mobile+16468769923,,83011505060# US (New York)
Join by SIP83011505060@zoomcrc.com
Join by Skype for Businesshttps://networkmaine.zoom.us/skype/83011505060
Phone Numbers for Questions:
Kathie: 207-244-0558 or email: kathie.pratt@bassharborlibrary.com
Dawn: 917-670-5262 or email: dawn@tccmaine.com
YouTube Intro Videos: Kathie Pratt & Dawn Nuding
This year Art Camp’s theme is “Create, Communicate, Connect.” The Pandemic has created a shared experience of confusion, loss and isolation for us all. This has been especially true for people your age. During the past few months you have braved a new way of learning, suffered the loss of sports games, birthdays, time with friends, trips and more. Our theme invites you to use art and all of its possibilities as a way to share your thoughts and feelings and stay connected to who you are and to each other. We want the world to hear what you have to say!
This project, more than any other, is our chance to connect to each other as a group, and to the larger community. We need your commitment to make it work, each art camper is an essential part of this whole. Kelley Farm Preserve is part of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. They are allowing us to install an outdoor “Art Walk” on the grounds for your friends and families to visit safely. Many people take walks there, and some have garden plots. So this show is for them, too.
YouTube Videos: Color Wheel and how to use your paint
This project has two important parts.
We have signs with one letter on each, to stretch along the road front and spell out our theme “Create, Communicate, Connect.” This will invite people in, and also tell them what we are doing. It sends the message that anyone, in these times, can do the same in their own way. We need you to paint a letter and bring it back for us to install. Please be sure the letter shows up. Use contrasting colors to make that letter pop! If your letter is dark, your background should be light. Use the black outline or paint over it, jazz it up, get creative, but make sure you can still read the letter and see it from a distance. Put your name on the back if you want to keep it after the show.
We have a 2nd plywood for your painting. We will put it on a signpost and create an art show along the path near the gardens. The subject can be whatever you like. You could paint something you think others may enjoy, you could express a little about who you are or what’s important to you. It can be big, simple shapes or very detailed, because the viewer will be walking and can pause and look closely at it. Please sign your work, be proud, own it! (Initials are fine if you don’t want to do your full name.)
The show will be up for two weeks. Then you need to come pick up your work because we have no room to keep it. You can take your letter, too, if you want.
These journals are really special and we are so excited to be able to give one to each camper this year. Inside your journal you will find a list of prompts/ideas for journal projects. We invite you to try a few during the week of camp, and/or make up your own. A journal is a great place to exercise your creative brain and build your art skills, so we hope you continue to use this journal long after camp is over. We hope you will treasure it as a book about you and your personal artistic journey.
Bonus: You will also find a blank postcard inside your journal. What better way to connect than to send your art to someone!
YouTube Video: Tips for cardboard
One of the favorite projects of past art camps has been making 3-D constructions from household cardboard. Make your ultimate house or room, “machines”, people, animals, or crazy abstract art. You can use any materials from your kit, or stuff you have at home to add to your pieces. The paper in your kit can easily be attached with a glue stick. Hot glue is great for attaching cardboard or other objects to cardboard, but we can show you some other ways if you don’t have that.
We double-dog-dare you to stretch your imagination and make art from the objects in the bag marked “What can you make with these?” You can add these to your cardboard creations or start a whole new piece. You are welcome to cut, fold, poke holes, add other media, or whatever else you need to do, to achieve your desired result. Don’t worry if it seems impossible at first. It is meant to challenge your creative brain. Sit with it awhile, inspiration will come.
YouTube Video: Tips for collage
Collage is the bringing together of parts to make a whole. The papers in your kit are for you to create collage on the covers of your journal, inside on the pages of your journal, on your cardboard art, and/or on a separate sheet of paper. You could even use one of the larger pieces as the background and collage onto that.
In these times of isolation, we can’t get out to visit and talk like we’re used to doing. Many people are using signs and banners to communicate their opinions and ideas. Paint a message with words and/or pictures to hang outside your house or in a window. It could be a cheerful message of hope or a comment about an issue that’s important to you.
Bonus: If you have leftover paint, you can personalize your canvas tote bag.
There are plenty of choices, you can do all or just some of the projects. (But PLEASE do the sign and painting!) You can do them at your own pace, and keep going past the week of camp. Think about what it means to you to create, communicate, and connect as you do your art. We hope these projects will inspire you to think of new ones. Thank you so much for being a part of Bass Harbor Memorial Library Art and Nature Camp 2020! Many thanks to the Witham Family Fund for their generous donation for supplies.
This journal/project for Art Camp is meant to be a place for you to play and experiment. To fill the space between larger projects and to spend some quiet, mindful time. We invite you to try some of the prompts listed below, or to get creative with your own ideas! Some material suggestions will be listed, but otherwise no rules…anything goes!!!!
Make one drawing in this journal for every day of Art Camp…and maybe even beyond. This can be something that takes a while to perfect and/or a quick sketch or scribble. Also think about using collage or writing. Doing something creative every day is good for our bodies and our minds!
Jennifer is a local artist who has a shop in Northeast Harbor called Swallowfield. She created the coloring sheets included in your journal and has more up on her website: https://swallowfieldshop.com/stuff-to-do. Have fun coloring these and maybe even pick a saying you like and try out Jennifer’s style.
You will find a blank postcard in your journal as well. Think about decorating it. Maybe even try one of the Journal Prompts listed here. Then send it to someone you miss or haven’t seen in a while.
Think a traditional landscape (rolling hills, trees, flowers, mountains, a stormy ocean) but with an “emotional” twist. Create a landscape that shows how you are feeling. Think about what you would include, what is the weather doing? Where is the location?
Materials: Think about including color.
Take a trip outside and forage for some foliage. Look for interesting leaves and ferns. Place these under a sheet of journal paper (you may want to put a scrap paper behind them to protect the next sheet in your book, or not and see what happens). Use one of the materials listed below to color over the area of your paper where you feel the leaf pressing through and see what it reveals.
Materials: You can use most drawing materials. The side of a pencil or colored pencil works well. So do crayons with the wrappers taken off.
Spirit animals or guides come from Indigenous traditions. Think of the animal or animals that most represents you and draw/paint/collage it. As always, feel free to get creative and make up an animal or use an animal from the magical world.
Make a drawing using only one color. Play around with using different shades of that color (dark green, light green, yellow green, turquoise, etc.)
Materials: Something with color and a variety of it like colored pencils or markers.
Mandala means circle in the ancient language of Sanskrit and they are used in Eastern traditions as a meditation tool. A lot of mandalas have a geometric pattern. Art Therapists study mandalas a lot and have found that creating and/or coloring mandalas is very calming to our minds. You have probably come across mandala coloring pages at home or at school. To make your own mandala, start by tracing (or if you are brave drawing) a circle. Small plates work great for tracing. To create a geometric pattern start by either finding the center of your circle and working your way out, or start your pattern on the outside edge of your circle and work your way in. You can also just draw an image or create a collage inside the circle. Remember that you are not a robot, so your pattern may not be perfectly symmetrical.
Materials: A circle to trace. Drawing, collage or paint materials.
If you could have any room, what would it be? Think big, maybe it looks like your room now but with an upgrade. Throw in a swing or a slide. Maybe even design a whole house.
Play your favorite song and use lines and colors to show the melody. Or draw a picture about how the song makes you feel or a memory it reminds you of.
Materials: Your favorite song, colored pencils, markers, pastels or gel pens.
This is taken from the book Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. Betty developed a way of teaching people how to draw realistically by training them how to see things in a different way. Some of the exercises seem a little weird, but they are meant to help you use the right side of your brain to really look at what you are drawing rather than trusting the left side of your brain to interpret what it sees. For this exercise find a picture from a magazine that you would like to draw. Now turn that picture upside down and do your best to draw it. Make sure to look at the lines and shapes and spaces and do your best to recreate them on your page.
Fill the page with random scribbles. Now look at your scribbles and see if you can find any images in them. Use a different color or material to color in those images. With two people, you can each create a scribble and swap to see what images you find. You can also use your scribble as an abstract coloring page.
Draw or collage a picture of a place where you feel totally safe and comfortable. Think about all of the things you would want to be there. It may be real or imagined or even a combination of both.
Grab a mirror and take a look at yourself. Draw what you see. This is a great project for using pencils. Think about using shading instead of lines to make things like the curve of your nose. If you like drawing faces, see if you can get someone in your family to sit while you draw them too!
Grab a bunch of fun objects and create a still life. Experiment with different shapes and sizes, maybe even something transparent like a cup or bottle. Set the objects up on a flat surface like a table or a desk and draw what you see. This is another good practice for improving drawing skills.
Masks are a new part of life for now, but why not make them fun. Design your dream mask. What would it look like? Would it have any cool functions…like air conditioning or lights?
From “The Tired Apple Tree” published by Blackberry Books; new edition (May 1990)
From “The Tired Apple Tree” published by Blackberry Books; new edition (May 1990)
From “The Tired Apple Tree” published by Blackberry Books; new edition (May 1990)