(Portland, ME) The Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance (MWPA) has announced the faculty for its 2012 Fall Writing Retreat, as well as a new fellowship collaboration with the Maine Community Foundation. From Friday, November 2 to Sunday, November 4, the MWPA will host a weekend of workshops, seminars, readings, and writing at the seaside Nonantum Resort in Kennebunkport. In addition to the intensive morning workshops in various writing genres, the weekend will include seminars on both the craft and business of writing, as well as faculty and participant readings.

This year’s faculty includes a cadre of best-selling and award-winning authors. The faculty's workshops include: Ideas Are Like Rabbits, fiction with Lily King; The Story of Your Life: How Much Can A Memoir Hold?, memoir with Susan Conley; Testing the Fences, poetry with Gibson Fay-LeBlanc; What Happens Next?: Adding Suspense to Your Fiction, crime fiction with Julia Spence-Fleming; and Ethnographic Reporting and Writing, magazine feature writing with Michael Robert Evans. In partnership with the Maine Community Foundation, the MWPA is now proud to co-administer the Martin Dibner Memorial Fellowship for Maine Writers. The fellowship provides grants to promising Maine writers who have not published a full-length book to allow them to further their writing skills and experience. The fellowships are open to writers of all genres. The MWPA is offering one Dibner Fellowship to the 2012 Fall Writing Retreat that will cover all retreat costs, including workshops, meals, and lodging. For writers not interested in attending the workshops but who would like a weekend away to focus on their writing, mix with fellow writers, and the opportunity to attend the retreat’s Saturday Seminars and evening readings, the MWPA offers a “writing studio” option.

For more information on workshop descriptions, instructor biographies, and registration fees, visit the MWPA website at www.mainewriters.org. To contact the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, please call 207-228-8263 or email info@mainewriters.org.

(Image: "Lust" by Stephen Sheffield)

(Ogunquit, ME) StoneCrop Gallery is looking for work for a group show called LOVE, HATE & EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN, scheduled to run September 1st through September 30th, 2012. All photographic works relating to themes of—you guessed it—love, hate and everything in between are welcome. We are really hoping to include a variety of interpretations, from literal to abstract, so be creative! The deadline to submit work is August 11, 2012.

Specifics:
Entries are limited to works in photography
Incomplete entries will not be reviewed
There is a $25.00 submission fee for up to six images
Artists will be responsible for framing and delivery of artwork to the gallery
Artists will be notified of results by August 13th, 2012
Work must be delivered to the gallery by August 29, 2012

To submit, please click here

StoneCrop Gallery is a seasonal fine art photography gallery located in scenic Ogunquit, Maine, steps from the Ogunquit Museum of Art. Both a gallery and unique piece of architecture, StoneCrop has been a home to artists for much of the past century. Past exhibitions have included work by artists such as Henry Horenstein, Jim Dow, Yoav Horesh, Barbara Bosworth, Stephen Sheffield, Karin Rosenthal, Nancy Marshall and more. Please visit www.stonecropgallery.com for more information on the gallery, including its history and past exhibitions.

(Thomaston, ME) Over 50 outstanding Monhegan paintings, representing a diverse array of artistic styles, will be offered at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries Summer Fine Art & Antiques Auction on August 25 & 26. The George X. Schwartz Memorial Monhegan Art Collection will be the centerpiece of this group, with works by Andrew George Winter (NY/ME- 1893-1958), William Trost Richards (PA/RI, 1833-1905), Robert Van Vorst Sewell (NY/CA, 1860-1924), Eric Hopkins (NY, 1864-1932), Frank Alfred Bicknell (CT, 1866-1943), Alice Kent Stoddard (PA, 1883-1976), Constance Cochrane (PA, 1888-1962), and many others.

For the past 150 years, artists have been attracted to Monhegan Island, a peaceful haven located 10 miles off the Maine coast, to create paintings depicting the bold colors, beautiful scenery, and rugged lifestyle of this special place. Today, many of these works reside in museums and collections around the world. Mr. Schwartz spent many years supporting Monhegan’s lobster business, and he developed a deep appreciation for its art during his many visits to the Island.

Monhegan Museum Director Edward Deci noted: “Most of the movements in American art have had representatives on Monhegan, so many of the same island motifs have been rendered in vastly different styles. Kaja Veilleux and his staff at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries has assembled a remarkable group of early Monhegan art for their August 2012 auction.”

Thomaston Place owner and auctioneer Kaja Veilleux said: “We have the makings of a perfect Maine summer auction, with many wonderful paintings that symbolize our State’s brilliant artistic and nautical trade history. While it’s easy to participate in our sale on the phone or internet, I hope everyone will take the opportunity to come to our gallery and see these amazing items firsthand.”

The Schwartz collection includes works created over a period of 150 years on Monhegan and works by 35 different artists. Encompassing pieces executed in oil, watercolor, pastel, gouache, ink, and charcoal, there are works to fit most budgets, with auction price estimates ranging from $600 to $20,000.

The earliest artist to paint on Monhegan was Aaron Draper Shattuck (CT/NH, 1832-1928), who arrived in 1858. His work “Cliff Study - Granite Rocks of Maine” or “Monhegan” is a part of the Schwartz collection, and likely to be the first painting ever done on the Island. This work has been exhibited and published in numerous books and in the American Art Review.

An Andrew George Winter painting of lobstermen hauling traps in wintertime symbolizes Mr. Schwartz's livelihood, as he and his family knew the names of the lobstermen whose buoys are depicted in the painting. There are also paintings of “plein air” artists, a spectacular example of which is "Andrew Winter Painting Gull Rock," by Alice Kent Stoddard. This too has been exhibited and photographed in books about Monhegan Island art.

The Thomaston Place Auction Galleries August auction will also feature works by many other noted Maine artists. A complete, full color catalog, with detailed descriptions and photographs, is available, and all lots can be viewed at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries’ website, www.thomastonauction.com.

The gallery will be open for previews Monday, August 20 through Friday, August 24 (between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm each day) and from 9:00 and 11:00 am on Saturday and Sunday, August 25 and 26 before the sale. The auction will begin at 11:00 am on both sale days. In addition to live bidding in the auction hall, Thomaston Place accepts bids via absentee, telephone, and on the internet (via www.thomastonauction.com, www.artfact.com, www.invaluable.com and www.auctionzip.com). The buyer’s premium is 15%. Please call 207-354-8141 for more information, or to reserve seats in the auction hall.

Thomaston Place Auction Galleries is Maine’s premier auction and appraisal company located on U.S. Route 1 in Thomaston. Thomaston Place is a leader in discovering Maine’s antique and fine art treasures by offering Free Appraisals each Tuesday at the Gallery, creating fundraiser events for civic and charitable organizations using its unique Mobile Appraisal Laboratory, and providing house call appraisal services. Their expertise in researching and marketing antiques and fine art has earned Thomaston Place the respect of buyers, collectors and experts worldwide.

(Image: "Rocky Coast" by Candace Vlcek)

(Friendship, ME) The Third Annual Art in The Big Tent will get under way on Sunday, July 29th, at noon at the Hahn Center in downtown Friendship on Maine Street (Route 97). Twenty five artists will be under the tent, displaying their talents, discussing their work and hoping you are there to purchase or commission a terrific work of art to enhance your life. This informal gathering of talent always proves to be a fun event. Delicious burgers, dogs and haddock sandwiches will be served up by the Friendship Fire Department.

(Image: "Oh Poppy" by Pam Cabanas)

Among all the wonderful mid-coast artists participating this year, Damariscotta artist Ruth Monsell will be doing silhouettes and the Scottish Lion will be onsite with his most outrageous creations in iron and stone. There will be painters on canvas, paper, and floor cloths, photographers and potters. Jan Kilburn Patience Sampson, Brian Woods, Jane Herbert, Wendy Wight, Krisanne Baker, Nancy Nelson and Linda Paine will all be there, just to name a few.

Art in the Big Tent - Sunday , July 29 , noon till 5 pm. Artist entrance fees are donated to the Friendship Ambulance Fund. For more information or to be a participating artist, please call Pam at 832-6633.