"Some Homes" Exhibit at L.C. Bates Museum

"Faith Embroidering," watercolor and gouache, 2007: " My daughter worked for 5 months on an embroidered quilt and then made another one, ditto. The lamp was made by Caitlin Allen and Jen Gilmore with lilac wood split for insertion by the works and then glued back together. The shade is made of handmade paper with leaves embedded. The vase in the background was painted by Abby Shahn. I did the framing using oak plywood." Lynne Harwood, Anson, Maine.

Home, according to G.W. Hinckley, is the core of the foundation of the nation's values and creating a home is a vital part of child rearing. At its most basic, home is a house. However, members of the family transform these buildings into true homes. An entire community of successful homes gives children a sense of belonging, instills them with the positive emotions and memories attached to the idea of "home," and allows them to grow to build happy homes for themselves in the future. Hinckley wrote this philosophy of homes in a booklet published around 1930. It is now the basis of a unique art exhibit.

The L.C. Bates Museum 2008 summer art exhibit, "Some Homes," features the work of sixteen contemporary Maine artists depicting images with some aspect of "home" as the central theme, inspired by an early 1900's writing with the same title by G.W. Hinckley, educator, and Good Will-Hinckley Home and L.C. Bates Museum founder. Works include paintings, photography and sculpture as well as statements from each artist reflecting on the meaning of "home" to them and in their work.

During the exhibition the museum will host related public activities, including a reception for the artists on Sunday, June 22, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m.; a talk on Maine Historic Homes by Earle Shettleworth, Director of Maine Historic Preservation on July 23, at 7:00 p.m.; and children's art/humanities programs at 1:00 p.m. on July 9, 16, 23, and 30 and August 6 and 13. Other local historic house museums will provide tours that focus on the special people who called the house museum home.

"Albion, Maine," oil on canvas, 1993: "Albion, Maine is where my parents and grandparents were born and where my brother and I summered in the 1940s, in the big white house across from the church in the center of town. The painting shows also my father's birthplace on Quaker Hill, our swimming hole, the post office where Gramp was postmaster, the pea factory, the sawmill and Harold Keary's store. Albion #4 cemetery holds my ancestors' bones. The elms, now gone, once arched over the road giving a great cathedral feeling to this place of childhood memory." Forrest Meader, Skowhegan, Maine.

The L.C. Bates Museum is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. For more information visit www.gwh.org/museum/ or call 238-4250.

Redisplay This Article in Printer-Friendly Format

<— Previous • Summaries • Next —>

Summertime in the Belgrades

Contents

"Some Homes" Exhibit at L.C. Bates Museum