(Orono, ME) On February 12th at 3:00 pm at the Minsky Recital Hall. Presented by the Collins Center for the Arts. The Jasper String Quartet has been hailed as "sonically delightful and expressively compelling" (The Strad) and as having "played with sparkling vitality and great verve .. They are polished, engaged, and in tune with one another." (Classical Voice of North Carolina) This unity comes from a quartet belief in the timeless pursuit of music's depth and meaning. They share a commitment to exploring each work to its fullest and to discovering new musical connections through each performance. The Jasper Quartet was thrilled to join Oberlin Conservatory as Quartet-in-Residence in the fall of 2010.

For more information, please visit the Collins Center for the Arts website.

(Searsport, ME) Unity College professor Kathryn Miles will talk about 19th-century Irish famine ships as part of Left Bank Books's "Winter Lyceum" series this Sunday, February 26, from 3:30 pm to 5, at the bookshop in downtown Searsport. The program is free and the public warmly invited.

Miles, a professor of environmental writing at Unity, has a special interest in nature writing, environmental journalism and New England literature. Her latest research has focused on Irish famine ships, and in particular on a single ship, the Jeanie Johnston, and the 2,500 immigrants it shuttled to safety. In the face of the mid-nineteenth century Potato Famine, millions of Irish immigrants were crowded on to ships bound for North America, expelled by England and promised work and a better life. In fact, tens of thousands died on such ships--”coffin” ships as they came to be called, whose conditions rivaled those of slave transports. On the Jeanie Johnston, however, decency prevailed and, over the course of a decade and through 16 voyages, every one of her thousands of passengers survived.

Working from newspaper accounts, rare archival documents, personal interviews, and her own sailing experience aboard a modern re-creation of the vessel, Miles tells the remarkable story of the Jeanie Johnston in a new book to be published by Simon and Schuster this summer. Sunday's talk will be a sneak preview of the story, featuring heroism, hunger, shipboard births, the founding of an Irish-American dynasty, and the harrowing journey of one group of passengers from Nova Scotia to Portland, in winter, on foot.

Miles earned her Ph.D. in English at the University of Delaware. She is the author of Adventures with Ari: A Puppy, A Leash, and Our Year Outdoors (W.W.Norton, 2009) and editor of Unity's Hawk & Handsaw journal as well as Scholar-in-Residence for the Maine Humanities Council. Her writing has appeared in such publications as Best American Essays, Delaware Today, Pop! Magazine and Blackwell's Companion to the Short Story. She lives with her family in Belfast.

Sunday's program is the second in the "Winter Lyceum" series; the third talk is scheduled for March 11th with Stephen Costanza, author/illustrator of the new children's book Vivaldi and the Invisible Orchestra. All of the programs are free, but seating is limited and winter weather or unexpected illness can sometimes require a change in schedule. To reserve a seat for Sunday's talk, or for more information, please call Left Bank Books at 548-6400. The shop is open daily.

(Brownfield, ME) On Sunday, February 26th at 8:00 pm. Widely regarded as one of the most brilliant songwriters of her generation, Suzanne Vega emerged as a leading figure of the folk-music revival of the early 1980s when, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, she sang what has been labeled contemporary folk or neo-folk songs of her own creation in Greenwich Village clubs. As vital and interesting an artist as she was then, wait until you hear her now. Don't miss it!

For more information, please visit www.stonemountainartscenter.com.

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(Belfast, ME) On Saturday, March 3rd from 6:00 to 9:00 pm, Draught & Draw returns to Waterfall Arts in Belfast. Draught & Draw is a unique extension of Waterfall Arts' Life Drawing program that features a rotating cast of dancers and actors as models. Artists of all skill levels are invited to drop in, enjoy a beverage and be inspired by the unique masked and costumed poses of artist Beverly Mann.

Beverly Mann is an actor, mask theater performer/educator, movement theater artist and mask maker. She tours Faustwork Mask Theatre’s solo show “The Mask Messenger” to schools and festivals. Beverly has performed in over 40 states, Canada, Mozambique, South Africa and Peru. She was a company member of IMAGO Theatre based in Portland, OR from 1986-89 and again in 1992-93 performing mask, movement and visual illusion touring the U.S., Germany, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong with appearances on “Good Morning, America” and the Disney special “New Vaudevillians, Too.” She was a company member of TheatreSports, an improvisational theater company based in Seattle, WA. For the past eight years she has been busy collaborating with several artists in the state of Maine. She has been seen in several mid-coast productions including: Pinocchio, Deathtrap, Gertrude Stein and a Companion, Sylvia, Wiley and the Hairy Man and Scapino. Beverly has taught numerous workshops and residencies in mask making, mask theater technique and theater improvisation throughout Maine, across the U.S. and abroad.

Draught & Draw will be broken up into three drawing sessions with a mix of long and short poses. Mike Fletcher, Life Drawing class monitor extraordinaire, will MC the event. There will be a $10 drop in fee for Draught & Draw, which can be paid at the door. Participants should bring their own preferred drawing supplies. Easels and drawing horses will be provided. Locally brewed beer and wine will be available for attendees over 21.

Waterfall Arts, located at 256 High Street in Belfast, is a non-profit community art center offering classes, artist residencies, events, studio rentals and artist talks. For more information, please visit www.waterfallarts.org or call 207-338-2222.