While in Maine you can get up close and personal with Scottish traditions, during annual celebrations such as Tartan Night and August’s Highland Games, where everything from pipes and jigs, to textiles crafts and haggis, is on loving display, 2013 marks the ideal year for adventuring across the Atlantic, as Visit Scotland’s ‘Year of Natural Scotland‘. A year-long celebration of everything Scottish, that Mainers know and love, is coming alive in Scotland as everyday life and history in this wild land is being brought out, relished and praised in festivals, tourist trails, arts exhibitions, adventure trips and hearty meals.

However well Mainers know their tartans from their tatties, their kilts from their ceilidhs, of course for a real taste of Scotland, you have to experience for yourself the natural environments of Scotland for yourself – the lochs, mountains and seascapes familiar to Mainers’ hearts, but alien to Maine. Whale-watching out on boats, skiing in the mountains, climbing, hiking – even finding adventure in the skies, in the form of the northern lights, all this is for celebrating in the Year of Natural Scotland.

Pride in natural heritage, so evident in Maine, is no more evident than in Scotland’s natural larder. As anyone lucky enough to have enjoyed a Burn’s supper or sample home-cooked Scottish cuisine will know, Scots have a national sensibility rooted in a love of nature and eating good, natural food.

A store of Scottish hospitality and abundant natural wilds, events and festivals, complementing regular farmers’ markets, are planned all this year so visitors will find welcoming and hearty fare, wherever they travel. You don’t have to tell a Mainer how fresh seafood makes a meal, and seafood is king in Scotland, with its stunning seascapes, homely harbours, and forbidding fishing grounds and lonely isles. If you’re a Mainer, your instincts will be for Scottish smoked salmon, Arbroath Smokies (haddock), oysters and langoustines – and you’ll be proved right!

The holiday spirit set up by the festive food trails of this Year of Natural Scotland, with everything from dedicated ‘cheese trails’ to whiskey-tasting tours, make for a celebration of everything traditionally Scottish. No Mainer should go home without having sampled Scotland’s whiskey, by loch and by mountain. Whiskeys are inspired by its local surroundings, matured differently. Definitely sample Strathisla, Glenlivet, Glenfiddich and Cardhu – and go home to Maine to the highland games to surprise your friends and neighbours with an expert knowledge of exported drinks from Mainers’ Ulster Scots’ long-ago home.

Iain Miller is a marketer, travel enthusiast and contributor to BushWhackingScotland who rarely leaves Scotland, which is why he’s writing about it.

Each large landscape is taken from Downeast imagery and reveals nature about to shed its winter stillness before warming up to its inevitable animation in the changing spring light. Cadieux’s expressive style observes nature in anticipation, nature in readiness for change.

Speaking of the series Cadieux remarks, “I use Downeast images as a pretext to create the paintings within me. I use nature as a jumping off place to make those feelings within come alive in the work, sometimes even disregarding the rules of good taste in order to create a successful painting.”

Heightened color and unmistakable rhythm are clearly identifying features of the work. Color choice shapes the mood of the paintings and also creates movement of the eye in and out of the picture plane. Cadieux’s use of grey as an underpainting as well as on the surface functions as a neutral that sets off the color to intensify the emotion. “I want the color to proclaim the paintings, to say this is nature on the verge of coming alive out of the Downeast grey. I want those feelings to project an explosion of emotion, of passion,” Cadieux explains.

The rhythm in the work is supplied by jazz which he listens to most often and dances to brush in hand. For this series he also added Stravinski, Satie, and Copeland to the mix. Feeling the rhythm in music helps Cadieux find a new way to look at the familiar, to transform rather than record what he remembers of the images that he paints. Working together, the music, its rhythm, and the paint, help him create.

Of his process the 69 year old painter explains, “I spend everyday in the studio working, slogging through the chaos and destruction of the work to bring it back into balance and clarity.” For Cadieux that is the way to find that voice that is authentically his own “that expresses the familiar, but is still fresh and spontaneous” while at the same time speaks with authority gained from mastering the medium and being careful that his intention is made clear in its execution.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Masters Degree in Fine Art.

He is a member of the Eastport Gallery and also shows his work at the Eastport Breakwater Gallery.

The Yvette Torres Gallery of Fine Art , 21 Winter Street, Rockland, ME, will host a reception for Arthur on Friday, June 7th from 5 to 8PM.

My occupation is the reason why. Owning my own horticultural business, I just never wanted to spend my free time pruning my own apple trees! In college I was taught that you can’t grow fruit trees without a regimented spray schedule of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.

I have learned so much since.

Eastport’s apple trees are abundant and with the local organic food movement in high swing, I can’t understand why we are not trying to save these apple trees. Far too many apples go to waste on this island.

The following workshop will teach you how to get your apple trees to a healthy state, to produce semi perfect apples and reduce common insects and diseases by adding beneficial plant options that attract beneficial insects, that keep nature in balance.

Join us for this workshop, so we can change this one tree at a time.

Being accustomed to short walks from a parking spot to the bakery, the pizza shop, or an art gallery is one of the perks of living in a small town. And Eastport, Maine is no exception! Going about your afternoon errands is a breeze knowing that your car is safely parked in one spot, especially if you’re paying next to nothing for the space.

But if Eastport were to grow, it would face parking challenges. In large cities, parking services like Parking4less come in handy because you can find the best deal quickly. Wasting time on finding parking means less time to do the things you want to do, and paying expensive parking fees means doing less of what you had planned to do.

If you’re from a small town and you’re traveling to a big city, and you’re used to parking for cheap (or walking from home to your destinations), do your research first. You don’t want to come back from your afternoon of shopping or your vacation to find you’ve racked up an expensive parking bill—or worse, a parking ticket.

And if you’re a city slicker who wants to visit a small town—even better. You’ll find that parking in small towns like Eastport is less stressful than parking in a city. Wherever you’re from, do your research before leaving the comforts of your home so that your car can have a safe place to call home while you’re away!

Ms.Gray has led spirit guide seminars for over 20 years and has hosted her own syndicated radio show THE GENERAL STORE VARIETY SHOW about life in a northern Maine border town called Angels’ Notch for the last 10 years.

Contact Lisa Bradbury at 853-4765 for more information.

Almost 10% of the people of Eastport claim Scottish heritage according to the 2007 census, so the games have a huge appeal. Even those with no Scottish roots should find something to entertain them: bare thighs for the ladies, impressive demonstrations of bicep power for the men. Kilts, whiskey, dancing and athletics- what more could you ask for at a summer event? A sheep’s organs wrapped in its own stomach, you say? Your wish may be granted, as you will most likely find haggis on the menu at any highland games event.

Arguably the best known elements of the games are the bagpipes, the kilts and the ‘heavy events’ which include the caber toss and the hammer throw. The latter are basically opportunities to watch men flinging about dangerous objects of various shapes and sizes whilst decorated in their clan’s tartan. Most games also incorporate traditional dancing, crafts, piping and fiddling so there tends to have an atmosphere of feasting and merriment which goes hand-in-hand with historic Scotland. Oh, and let’s not forget the whiskey- a vital part of any authentic Scottish experience.
The first Highland Games took place in the USA in 1836, imported by the many settlers who journeyed from Scotland and Ireland in the eighteenth century. Today, events occur every year across the country from Alabama to Wyoming. In fact, the two biggest games in the world in terms of spectator numbers are hosted by the Caledonian Club in San Francisco and the Labor Day event in Pleasanton, California. The crowds at both are even bigger than those at the Braemar games in Scotland, which is attended by the Queen. Of course, there’s no reason you can’t visit and rent one of the many Scottish holiday cottages in Royal Deeside and see the Braemar games first hand. Obviously the kilt is optional.

The roots of the Highland Games go deep, and it is thought that they predate the Greek Olympics, beginning somewhere around 2000 BC. If you want to be a part of this ancient tradition, why not get practicing for next year? Whether your skills lie in leg-flinging, stick-slinging or looking good in a kilt, take to the fields and wow your fellow Mainers next year.

Paint Eastport Day is intended for the bidders as well as the artists to have fun and get into the art spirit. “Bidders realize that the paintings are dashed off in the course of a few hours,” explains David Orrell, former chairman of the event. “It’s what keeps the fun in the day and make it one of the social highlights
of the summer.”

This year’s chairman, Dan Butler, predicts that the Gallery will provide more than 150 bidding cards to residents and visitors who so very enthusiastically vie with one another for the day’s submissions.

Registration begins at 7:00 AM at the Eastport Art Center and artists are asked to return their day’s work no later than 3:00 PM. The auction begins at 4:30 PM. Light refreshments will be served as the happy bidders accept their prizes.

Gail began in traditional quilting, picking it up from her mother, but quickly moved toward more non-traditional and contemporary designs and fabric choices. “I do still enjoy making the typical quilt, but if I sit down to do so, I tend to favor scrap quilts and patchwork that allow for a wide variety of color and pattern. However, I find art quilting exhilarating because there is freedom to have an idea or feeling, begin to choose fabrics from my stash, and let the creative process flow,” she explains.

Her art quilts are rarely the product of a singular and unchanging concept from beginning to end. Rather, they evolve from a sketch, an observation, a combination of fabrics, and/or an emotion or idea needing expression. “Sometimes, I feel I’m making most of the choices and using the fabric as a medium, much like paint. Other times, it is more about what the fabric is telling me to do with it. Designs can take a while to take form depending on if the right energy and conversation, if you will, are occurring.” She adds jokingly, “I have a lot of partially finished projects.”

Gail almost exclusively creates abstract pieces, employing a calculated use of color, contrast, line, and shape to create impact, emotion, and movement. True to the exhibit’s title, the art quilts for this show feature saturated colors, in complimentary and analogous arrangements, that energize as well as calm. The unique feature of art quilts is to add an additional layer of design, communicating something more, with the style of quilting stitches and color of thread, making it more than simply holding the pieces together.

The show’s opening reception coincides with August’s Art Walk, a recurring event in Eastport scheduled on the 3rd Friday of the months of June through September. During the Art Walks, restaurants, shops and galleries along Water Street stay open later. The event affords the public a chance to stroll along the historic waterfront and enjoy seeing, and maybe buying, the work of local artisans.

OPENING NIGHT IMAGES
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Have you an island of your mind or one you peek at as you whiz by in your car, or one that you gaze upon from shore that lends a degree of peace, a chance for adventure for solitude or that you populate with your friends, real or imagined?

The responses to this invitation will be revealed Monday, Aug 20, 2012 with an opening from 5-7 and will continue until September 4, at 3 Dana St, in Eastport,. Look for the big clock at the corner of Water and Dana across from Tides Institute, turn up Dana, and come upstairs, to peruse the answers to these questions with responses from:

• Bonnie Beard
• Bev Bley
• Jean Bookman
• Leslie Bowman
• Judith Colemann
• Pat Derry
• Martha Leister
• James Levendosky
• Rebecca McCall
• Deb Nelson
• Elizabeth Ostrander
• Heidi Reidell
• Yarrow Rivard
• Frederic Silberman
• Thomas Sundberg
• Lee Suta
• DianaYoung

Sail away with us, and discover a Tiny Island that speaks to you!

For further information contact Heidi Reidell, heidi.reidell[at]gmail.com, 207.853.4777.

Artist Statement – Chris Crittenden
My poetry is fueled by two things: an intense worship of the depth of words and a fervent quest to overwhelm social apathy. It intolerably shocks me that a nuclear bomb could go off, sparking stock market crashes and a civil slide; and yet our hallowed institutions play dumb, as do most all of us in our unelected and unenviable roles as bipedal ants. There is an antidote for anthood. Empathy. Empathy and its ingredient passion. Empathy that cracks denial. Passion that pulls life into roseate, lime, tangerine, or any other chakra-worthy color. Poems do not need to wax political to stimulate healing; but they must be brutal or sublime while focusing on what I call “the miracle of the simple.” One of my favorite inspirations is the physiognomy of a leaf. The endless ways it can ramify into profound metaphors. Joy and lachrymosity await in the humble flutter of a single green wing lost to its own Sufi-dance. The bravest bard swings round on the wheel of life, euphoric with youth, whirling through frissons. One moment, celebration. The next, despair. What a journey, rolling along in candid odyssey, chasing a sob. The Muses demand it, especially in these times, when humanity straddles ominous achievements, one leg resting on hope, the other doom. If you are brave enough to see this bifurcation when you look at a dancing leaf, you are no longer an inmate in purgatory, but rather a most special and needed guide.

Artist Statement – Shanna Wheelock
War, nuclear disaster, corruption. We are inundated with news that somehow tricks us, makes us believe that the health of both human and Earth is hostage to profit. My sculptures comment on this social dysfunction and reflect my struggle in the face of insane dualities. A person of peace, I have a dark edge, and must delve into it, ultimately, to ground my protest. Although the images may invoke violence and pain, they establish a source of hope. Repetition, in one sense a symbol of machine drudgery, harbors an ironic depth: a creative state of profound concentration.

Even when crafting grenades, I find peace.

Repetition can be reclaimed. It yields a statement against the Mechanism in which we are slated to conform. Although I find peace in art’s repetition, countless souls suffer to keep our mechanized world functioning. Mechanization in this mode is a psychotic trajectory, extending from factory to war to fanatic ideologies, whether religious or avaricious.

With my sculptures, I portray the road to doom as superficially appealing. The shine of gunmetal. The streamline of a bullet. The virile thrust of a missile. And, riding these, the glamour of the patriotic hero who dies for a falsified cause. Through repetition and devilish aesthetics, I present our collective fascination and glorification of things that work to destroy our best works, and everything else.

My functional pottery and weaving is deeply rooted in the spiritual realm, a celebration of nature and being. Like my sculptural work, repetition is at the forefront. It is my daily meditation.