Art & Science Come Together at UMVA Exhibit at Waterfall Arts
MAINE ARTS SCENE
Brenda Bonneville, editor
January 7, 2025
(Belfast, ME) In collaboration with Dark Sky Maine and the Union of Maine Visual Artists, Waterfall Arts presents Dark Skies, a juried art exhibit opening January 17 and continuing to February 28. An artists’ reception is scheduled for Saturday, January 18 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm.
With over 30 artists and invited artists participating, the exhibit also includes guest speakers, films and activities to help to promote dark skies and protect our natural environment. This is the second collaborative exhibition in which UMVA has partnered with Waterfall Arts.
This dynamic show of paintings, photographs and other artworks celebrating and encouraging the appreciation of the night sky was juried by Nancy Hathaway, (President/Co-founder of Dark Sky Maine) and UMVA members Liv Kristin Robinson (photographer); Emily Sabino (painter) & Arlene Jurewicz Leighton (photographer).
Participating and guest artists include: Katherine Bradford, Linden Frederick, Emily Nelligan (deceased), John Meader, Frances Hynes, Jane Dahmen, Lesia Sochor, Jeff Epstein, Alan Fishman and Jim Nickelson.
Related Schedule of Events, Talks, Activities in January & February
January 18 1:00 to 3:00 pm: Artists’ reception and talk by Nancy Hathaway, founder of Dark Sky Maine, will give a short speech about the exhibition and her founding the organization. The talk will include information on the 28 minute video “Defending the Dark” (available for free at www.darkskymaine.com).
January 25 – 1:30 to 3:30 pm: “Wilfred Buck” a hybrid documentary following the life of Wilfred Buck, a charismatic and irreverent Cree elder who overcame a harrowing history by reclaiming ancestral star knowledge and ceremony at the Belfast Free Library (75 Main Street).
February 1 – 10:00 am to noon: Waterfall Arts’ Art Together program for children and parents featuring a glow-in-the-dark constellations project.
February 8 – 2:30 to 4:30 pm: Bookmaker Joelle Webber will offer a lantern making workshop at Waterfall Arts followed by an all-ages walk across the pedestrian bridge to “light up the night” at sunset.
February 15 – 1:00 to 3:00 pm: An all-ages program at Waterfall Arts with John Meader, founder of the Northern Sky Planetarium and Serena Sanborn, a Maine Master Naturalist, arts programmer and community outreach organizer at Waterville Creates, about the need to preserve and cherish dark skies for the health of the ecosystem. The art work in the exhibition will be explored to inform and inspire. A dark sky zine will be available to color.
February 22 – 1:00 to 2:00 pm: Elizabeth Dickerson of the Maine Aurora Borealis Watch Facebook group (with over 63,000 followers) will be at Waterfall Arts to present the program Sky Trekkers: Maine Aurora Borealis Watch. Our sun is at its peak of solar maximum into 2025, giving us just the right conditions to see them.
About the Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA)
The Union of Maine Visual Artists, founded in 1975, is a non-profit organization that promotes and advocates for the visual arts, artists, and all arts supporters. It is a statewide arts network connecting Maine artists. As artist advocates, the UMVA initiated and saw enacted into state law the Maine Percent for Art Program (requiring a percentage of funds for state buildings to include art) and the Artist’s Estate Tax Law (allowing art work to be used to pay artists estate taxes). Other programs and projects supported by UMVA include: The Maine Arts Journal, an online, quarterly publication The Journal features essays by and about artists, interviews, UMVA member submissions, poetry, UMVA updates about its current projects, local chapters, and more; ARRT! Artists’ Rapid Response Team, a collaboration of artists & progressive groups making art to create positive change; Lumen ARRT!!, a group creating large-scale video projections in public spaces to give a visual voice to progressive non-profits; and the New England Emmy Award-nominated Maine Masters Project, a video series of 19 compelling profiles of some of Maine’s most distinguished and often less recognized artists. There are currently two chapters: Portland and Midcoast-Downeast. For more information, please visit www.TheUMVA.org.
About Waterfall Arts
Launched in 2000, Waterfall Arts is a community arts center that offers resources to arts enthusiasts of all ages and abilities. We welcome the public to engage in the arts through classes, exhibitions, art events, performances, public art projects, open studios (in clay, glass, print, and darkroom photography) and more. For more information, please visit waterfallarts.org, follow us @waterfallarts, or call (207) 338-2222.