Sailing Tours, Daily Events and Seven Exhibitions

Photograph courtesy Dean Kotula

Penobscot Marine Museum This Summer:

Sailing Tours, Daily Events and Seven Exhibitions

Searsport, Maine, May 14, 2014 – On Saturday, May 24, Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport opens with Fish, Wind and Tide: Art and Technology of Maine’s Resources,one of seven exhibits which begins a season overflowing with events including sailing tours of Searsport Harbor, craft demonstrations, the Maine Boatbuilding Forum, twice weekly children’s activities, and the Historic Photography and the Thursday Night Lecture Series.

Using interactive displays and historic photographs, Fish, Wind and Tide: Art and Technology of Maine’s Resources explores the past and the future of these resources in Maine.  The exhibit examines the modern technology of fishing and of wind and tidal power, and looks at how this impacts Maine’s working waterfront, culture, environment and tourism.   The opening reception for Fish, Wind and Tide: Art and Technology of Maine’s Resource is Friday, May 23, 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at Penobscot Marine Museum’s Main Street Gallery, 40 East Main Street, Searsport.

History Chests: Exhibit Designed by the Sophmore Class of Searsport District High School has a special Opening Reception and tour on Thursday, May 22, 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. The students will take visitors to see the sea chests they placed in PMM’s Merithew and Fowler True Ross Houses.  Nine sea captain chests, which contain specific artifacts showing the different aspects of the impact the Penobscot Bay has on the Midcoast region, were assembled and documented by students from the sophomore class of SDHS. The topics include marine art, the granite industry, lumbering, fisheries, the Penobscot Nation, life at sea, navigation, ship building, and Far East trade.  

History Chest designed by SDHS students

A major retrospective of a beloved Maine artist, Eric Hopkins: Shells – Fish – Shellfish, opens Monday, June 16.  Eric Hopkins will be on hand for the Artist’s Reception on Friday, July 25, 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm.  One of a handful of artists born in Maine to receive national recognition, Hopkins has exhibited in galleries and museums across the country.  This exhibit includes paintings, monotypes and glass and wood sculpture, much of which has not been seen before.  It also includes, for the first time, Hopkins’ personal collection of the skeletons, shells and remnants of creatures picked up on beaches over his lifetime and which have inspired the artwork in this exhibition.  This exhibit is in Penobscot Marine Museum’s Douglas and Margaret Carver Memorial Art Gallery, 11 Church Street, Searsport through Sunday, October 19. 

Three photography shows in the Main Street Gallery will explore the art of fish, wind and tide throughout Penobscot Marine Museum’s season.  The first exhibit is Maritime Muse – Inspired By the Sea, Saturday, May 24, through Thursday, June 26.  These exciting photographs by Dean Kotula are from his years of working on foreign factory ships.   Photographs by Lisa Tyson Ennis, What Once Was - Our Changing Fisheries,

document a traditional way of life which is fast disappearing, and include photographs of remote fishing villages in Newfoundland accessible only by boat.  Tuesday, September 9 through Sunday, October 19, The Photography of Antonia Small bears witness to some remarkable souls living along the coast and doing whatever they can to keep the ancient link to fishing and to the sea alive in coastal villages.

“Do It Your Way”: Gee’s Bend Quilts & Quilters in Maine brings quilts hailed by the New York Times as “some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced” to Penobscot Marine Museum’s Main Street Gallery, Saturday, August 2 through Sunday, September 7. September 3^rd through September 8^th four of the Gee’s Bend quilters will be teaching courses at Fiber College of Maine in Searsport.  Maine Fiberarts in Topsham, Maine will also have quilts from Gee’s Bend from Friday, July 4 through Saturday, August 30.  This will be the first time the quilts and the quilters have been north of Boston.

In addition to the five exhibits, the Schooner GUILDIVE will be offering sailing tours of Searsport Harbor on Mondays and Saturdays, every Tuesday the Searsport Farmers’ Market will be on the crescent 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm, children’s activities are scheduled for every Wednesday and Friday, crafters will demonstrations on Thursdays for Artisan Days, and lectures and book signings are scheduled nearly every week.  Please call 207-548-2529 or go to www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org for more information.

Penobscot Marine Museum, 40 East Main Street, Searsport, is open for the 2014 season from Saturday, May 24 through Sunday, October 19.  The Museum is open Monday through Saturday, 10am to 5pm, and Sunday noon to 5:00 pm.