Special Events 2025
Art Talk; Collage - The Sum of the Parts
Overlapping with our exhibit Whimsy: Flights of Fancy, this talk includes remarks and works by four accomplished artists: Robin Brooks, Christine Covert, Jillian Herrigel, and Catherine Worthington. Talk will take place at the gallery. Light refreshments will be offered. Free and open to the public.
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Image: Robin Brooks stands in front of her piece at the Whimsy opening reception. Photo by Bob Bond.
Open to public
Thursday, June 5, 4pm – 6pm
Maine Calling Podcast on Fiore
The popular morning podcast will have a segment about Joseph Fiore.
Maine Calling is a weekday podcast that airs on Maine Public Radio. This particular episode can be found here to listen to at your convenience.
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Image: Maine Calling logo from Maine Public website.
Podcast Airs
June 17, 11am - 12pm, replay at 8pm
Fiore Documentary Airs
Maine public airs the documentary “Joseph Fiore: The Nature of the Artist.” The film is a celebration “… of the art and life of Joseph Fiore [and] showcases a remarkable selection of work including early modernist still lifes, landscapes of midcoast Maine and stunning pictographic rock paintings that were the capstone of his career.” (Maine Public)
On demand videos are available to watch later here:
https://video.mainepublic.org/show/maine-public-film-series/
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Image: Maine Public website.
Maine Public TV Air Times:
June 19, 9pm
June 20, 1am
June 21, 2pm
Art Talk; Fiore Art Center Residency: Experience and Influence
Open to public
Thursday, June 26, 6pm
During the Wiscasset Art Walk the gallery will host a discussion based on its Fiore at 100: Maine Observed exhibit. This panel-led event will feature artists Jude Valentine and Michel Droge, delivering remarks on their respective residencies at the Maine Farmland Trust's Fiore Art Center at Rolling Hills Farm in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Free and open to the public.
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Image: Rolling Hills Farm. Credit: Maine Farmland Trust.
Honoring Joseph A. Fiore - Concert and Commentary
Reservation Required
Saturday, June 28, 4:30pm
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The Maine Art Gallery presents a special concert and commentary featuring a performance by duo Susanna Fiore, jazz piano, and Jay Girill, acoustic bass. Fiore student and friend David Dewey, curator of our Fiore at 100: Maine Observed exhibit, provides commentary.
Suggested donation of $25+ per person. You can email info@maineartgallery.org to reserve your seat, receive directions to George Mason’s studio in Nobleboro (a.k.a Damirscotta Mills), and donate cash or check (made out to Maine Art Gallery) at the door. Or to save your seat and make a donation online use the button below.
Images L to R: Susanna Fiore and Jay Girill. Photos by Larry Osgood.
Fiore: The Plein Air Experience
Open to public
Wednesday, August 6, 4:30pm
Join David Dewey, former Joseph Fiore mentee and student, for an art talk at the Maine Art Gallery to learn first-hand what his relationship with Fiore taught him about plein air composition, the pursuit of a professional career in art, and building their friendship. David will draw upon this experience and familiarity with Fiore's body of work to share lessons learned, and appreciation of Fiore's mastery. He will also discuss how Fiore's landscape exploration guided the modern American master.
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​​In the 1960s when Joseph Fiore was teaching painting at the Philadelphia College of Art, he also explored the natural wonders of Maine, walking his farm's meadows and hiking the hills and countryside. In 1965, David Dewey, an art student from New Jersey attending the Philadelpiha College of Art, found his future mentor. Joseph Fiore, already an accomplished landscape painter, steered David in a new direction. Fiore introduced him to plein-air painting, helping him lay the foundation for his own, mature work. The two of them spent hours painting outdoors, allowing Dewey to gain experience in composing pictures directly from nature.
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Image: Photo courtesy of The Falcon Foundation, Landscape Abstract Series, 1979. By Joseph Fiore.
Poetry and Art with Renuka O’Connell
Open to public
Wednesday, August 13, 4pm
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Renuka O’Connell will read from her new book, “Cosmic Collect Call: Appreciate the Mystery: Poems about Life.”
O’Connell will also share select pieces of her art from the book that inspired her poetry.
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“This book is for those who wish to apprentice themselves to any dream whatsoever … These poems describe everyday experiences from my youth to present day. These are the ways I’ve walked the path through trials of grief and struggle to seek a light in a newly formed creation. It turns out that the elixirs are faith and love. Out of nothing comes something to remind us that life lived from the unknown will never fail.” - O'Connell
The book is available on Amazon, and the author will have signed copies available for sale at the reading.
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O’Connell, who lives in Brunswick, has been a creative since childhood. In love with new beginnings, coupled
with her spiritual journey, she began writing in 2019. For more information about the artist, go to renuartist.com.
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Images: Renuka O’Connell and the cover of her book, “Cosmic Collect Call: Appreciate the Myster: Poems about Life."
