February
Shows and Performances
Beginning on Feb 3- Summer Island Studio is presenting painter Hati Modr. Influenced by her travels abroad and her love for gelato, Hati will be displaying her Monhegan Island pictures and other light influenced works. The reception will be held on Friday Feb 3.
Friday Feb 3- Alan Mast At The Curis Memorial Library- Opening reception 
Feb 3 Music Night with Peter Alexander in the Chocolate Church Art Gallery. 7-8:30 to accompany the Midwinter's Nights Dream. Admission $10. Art Show is continuing to show through March 3.
Feb 8- Five Rivers Arts Alliance Introduces New Structure, New Opportunities, Benefits and a New Website- at the Frontier, Fort Andross, Brunswick, 5-6:30. We are psyched about this. Fresh View Consulting has been working wonders with our new approach. See details below.
Feb 10 Studio Theatre of Bath- Beyond Therapy- This mature themed comedy lightens the winter slump with a look at modern relationshops. In the words of the Studio Theatre-
"Directed by AprilJoy Purinton, this farcical comedy focuses on Prudence (Christina Boyington and Bruce (Marc Rodriguez), two Manhattanites who are seeking stabble romantic relationshops with the helpo of their psychiatrists, each of whom suggests the patient place a personal ad..."
to be held Friday, February 3 and Saturday, February 4 at Mailly Waterfront Park, Bowdoinham, ME. A snow date of February 5th has been set.
A reception at the Merrymeeting Arts Center will be held Friday evening from 5:30 to 8 for the public, with a reading and storytelling of “Smelt Makes Ice” from Local Myths by Bryce Muir. Come enjoy refreshments and see the exhibit by local artists “Ice Cutting & Smelt Fishing: Winter on Merrymeeting Bay” in collaboration with the Bowdoinham Historical Society.
Saturday’s events, from 10-10 will include a full day of activities, games, contests, a Carnivale of Smelt – a costumed parade staged by Ziggurat Theatre Ensemble and culminating with a dance at the Town Hall from 8-10pm. The first contest to be announced is the Best Beard Contest. This contest was originally held 50 years ago and is being held again by special requests of many townspeople. There will be multiple categories and prizes offered.
Long Branch will feature a presentation and book signing on wild food by Arthur Haines, “Ancestral Plants,” from 4pm to 5pm, a potluck from 5pm to 6pm, and music from 6pm to 7pm. "Breakin' Strings" from Bowdoinham will perform Bluegrass, and the music portion will also feature students from our recent Bluegrass Band class, "The Long Branch Boys," along with their instructor, Phil Bloch. The event is free, and donations will be gratefully accepted for the band. Please, bring a dish to share for the potluck.
The events hosted by the Merrymeeting Arts Center, will signal the official start to the 250th Bowdoinham Anniversary Celebration. Additional events are scheduled throughout 2012. Check http://www.bowdoinham250.org for the most up to date information.
MerrymeetingArts Center encourages art, education and community celebrating the cultural heritage and natural environment of Merrymeeting Bay. Inspired and guided by the eclectic values of the life and spirit of Bryce Muir, the Center joyfully promotes egalitarianism, whimsy, environmental consciousness, and diversity through its artists, programs and projects. The center is open Saturdays from 10-1 and other hours by appointment. For more information please call Lee Parker, 841-5914.
Mark your Calendars-
You want to be here on Feb 8th!
Five Rivers Arts Alliance Introduces
New Structure, New Opportunities, Benefits &
a New Website.
Five Rivers Arts Alliance will be introducing their new team, & structure along with the launch of their new website at their first meeting of 2012, to be held on February 8 at 5:00pm, at the Frontier, Fort Andross, Brunswick.
In an effort to better serve the creative community and those who support it, Five Rivers Art Alliance, has recommitted itself to strong community connections and service in promoting the arts.
Plans are in place to offer members additional benefits and greater exposure. The new website will have a section exclusive to members, where they will be able to research opportunities and upcoming events to participate in, & network with other members, as well as training tools for get their art in front of the public.
The primary function of the organization and the website will continue to be 
“Connecting Regional Arts, Culture and Heritage with the Community”. Community events, including the ArtWalks, Festivals, Gallery Openings and Receptions will all continue to be listed at the website, with easy access for the public.
At the meeting we will also be discussing, opportunities for community participation in bringing greater focus to the creative community and all the area has to offer.
We invite all to join us on February 8th, 5:00pm at the Frontier to learn more about our Vision for the Future of Five Rivers Arts Alliance for 2012 and beyond. We encourage your input and look forward to your support.
January Events
- Little Dog Cafe offers Pressed Flower compositions from Patty Olds. Summer has crept in the Cafe. Pick up a cup of coffee and peruse the petals arranged in skillful compositions by local artist, Patty Olds. It's open every day.
- The Theater Project- has produced Circle Mirror Transformation and their Winter Cabaret for your performance pleasure. For more information, tickets and showtimes please visit their website Theater Project
Midwinters Night Dream
Art Exhibit at the Chocolate Church-
An opening reception Friday, Jan 20th will kick off this 6 week show of a group of talented artists. Winter inspired works are shown by
John Orcutt, Sally Loughridge, Kevin Mizner, Diana Johnson, Sara Cox, Ann THompson, Allison Shutts and Scott Redfern Enjoy the works of and don't miss Music in the Gallery with Peter Alexander on Feb. 3, from 7-8:30 pm.
Read more about the show and the artists on the new art gallery blo- www.chocolatechurchgallery.blogspot.com
Long Branch School
The Long Branch School- Located in Bowdoinham Maine, Longbranch continues to 
inspire a hands on approach to a variety of life choices. THis month classes involve
- Learning to live with Goats (Jan 18th)
-Create your own Rag Rug (Jan 19th)
-Start Blogging (Jan 19th)
-Tweeting:Bird of a different Feather ( Jan 26)
-Gong Immersion Therapy (Jan 28)
The Wizard of Oz will be featured on JAnuary 21st for those who know that there is no place like home.
See their opportunities and more at their website
The Robert Burns Supper- Jan 25
In honor of Robert Burns birthday, The Tavern at THe Inn at Brunswick Station will host a Burns supper starting at 6:30. This evening will feature bagpipes, recitations of Burns poems, and a sampling of things Scottish! For more reservations and reservations for your clan table call 837-6565.
Upcoming Events: 2011
ArtWalk season - It's a wrap in October
Image: Nanne Kennedy's yarn at Markings Gallery this month, 50 Front St, Bath.
Member Meeting:
October 3: How to Prepare Your Pecha Kucha Presentation.
Held at 6pm at Frontier, 14 Maine St, Brunswick. Click here for details.
Nov 7: Pecha Kucha Night. 6pm at Frontier.
Still time to be a presenter. Deadline for submission is October 10. Here's how:
http://www.pechakuchaportland.org/brunswick/brunswick_become_a_presenter.html
Member Meetings=Creative Community Meetings
Five Rivers has offered highly successful Member Meetings since January 2008. Join us this year!
Same great price: free for Five Rivers Members and $5 for general public. Here is what is on tap for the new year. Mark your calendars and make a reservation today!
Creative Communities Meetings
Five Rivers Arts Alliance will hold meetings in 2011 beginning on January 24, 6pm at Frontier, 14 Maine St, Brunswick.
- March 7-Members Meeting-
"Getting Found - Search Engines, Keywords, Directories, Mobile".
- March 21- Pecha Kucha Night-Submit your work to participate. Details on Opportunities page
- April 18- Members Meeting- "Community Building with your Customers and Prospects- Social Media- Blogging, Facebook Updates, Twitter Updates"
- May 23- Members Meeting- "Meeting Your Public- Offline Relationship Building-Tightening the Bond- Best Practices for Artwalks, Shows, etc. "
Previous Events:
Feb 2nd Workshop: Focusing Your Message with Joan Carney
5:30-7:30pm at Bayview Gallery, 58 Maine St. Brunswick
While getting your message out to your market is critical for your business, and the technology of the internet certainly gets more eyeballs on what your company has to offer, that is only a part of what is needed to grow your business.
Connecting with your visitors and turning them into customers is critical to growing your business..
You could have the very best product or service, but without the ability to resonate with your prospects and move them to action, it isvery difficult to make a sale.
A message focused for your ideal customer, one that clearly expressesthat you have what they need or desire,will help you bring more sales into your business.
Join us February 2, 2011 at 5:30pm to learn:
- how to create and fine tune your message, so it will resonate with your ideal customers
- find the exact words they use when looking for what you have and what to do with them.
- gain an understanding of the tools available to determine how you can get found online.
- Create your core message that you can use over and over again for:
- -a tagline on you website,
- -your 30 second elevator speech to use when asked "So what do you do?"
- - on your business card
- - on your social media accounts.
- - expand on for your "About" page
- - for your interacting with visitors, prospects and customers both in person, and online.
- - and more.
The tools that are now available on the internet are great; however without a message that 'sings' and connects with your ideal customers, one that you can use both on and off line,it will be much more difficult to build the relationships youneed, for greater sales.
Making a sale is still about interacting with the prospect and converting them into a customer. Speaking the same language makes it a whole lot easier.
This one time worshop is $20 for Five Rivers members, $25 for nonmembers. To sign up, call: 207-798-6964 or email at info@fiveriversartsalliance.org.
Jan 24: "Marketing Frameworks - for Artisans, Solo Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners"
Bringing It All Together. Many new online tools have become mainstream over the past few years, with updates arriving weekly, and often daily. New fang-dangled tools are great and setting up accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, You Tube and more is all well and good-but then what? How do you use them to market your business? How do you use them to make money?
Whether you are:
- an artist looking to support your lifestyle by selling your art.
- a solo entrepreneur with a wellness business
- a small main street business owner looking to draw more customers through your doors
being on line is a must.
However, having a website and/or a Facebook account is just not enough. Knowing why and what to do with them is priceless.
Join us, January 24, 2011, for the first of a series of presentations and workshops, to learn how on and offline marketing fits together, what tools service what purpose, how to prioritize your efforts and more.
Joan Carney, of Fresh View Inc., coaches artisans, solo entrepreneurs and small business owners on strategic planning and implementing. She helps them layout and implement a framework for incorporating systems & best practices, newly learned & adopted skill sets & habits to best leverage their strengths and grow their business.
Dec 3, 4, & 5: Arts Downtown & All Around
Nov 12: 2nd Friday ArtWalk, Brunswick & Topsham
Click here for online listings.
Image: "Christmas Cactus," by Joe Godleski, on view at his studio in Fort Andross during the 2nd Friday ArtWalk.
Sept 25: Family Arts Festival is 10-4 on Brunswick Town Mall
New this year: Maine Street Mile. The day begins with a family fun run (1500 meter) at 9am.
The festival kicks off at 10am with hours of fun, art-making, music, dance and more!
20 workshops for children and adults. Music for everyone. Dance. Come and enjoy! Details here.
May 10 Member Meeting: “How to Succeed at Outdoor Art Shows” with Biff Higgison and Kennebec Art Club
Outdoor Art Shows and Craft Shows are to be found all summer and fall across Maine (and across the country). On May 10, Five Rivers presented “How to Succeed at Outdoor Art Shows with presentations by Biff (Peyton) Higgison and Tory Jackson and Connie Bailey, representatives of the Kennebec Art Club. Image: Biff (Peyton) Higgison.
Biff Higgison described his 30+ years of selling his work at outdoor shows, and actually got his first experience helping his mother sell her artwork at exhibits. He attended MECA (then Portland School of Art) and sold abstract prints at art shows when he was in college. He has also shown extensively at galleries, but now works primarily at outdoor shows, making art, plans and applications in the winter months.
Consuelo G. Bailey and Tory Jackson of Kennebec Art Club presented with additional insiights and tips for exhibiting and for Maine shows. Bailey also invited participants to the Saturday, May 15, 2010 Photographer's Talk & People's Choice Award winner at the Topsham Public Library "Joy of the Lens" exhibit, which she curated. The event is 11am - 12 noon and the drawing for the Topsham Public Library Friends Photo Lottery. Topsham Public Library, 25 Foreside Rd, Topsham. Details: http://www.friendstopshamlibrary.org/JoyoftheLens.php
The Kennebec Art Club is a non-profit organization representing more than 40 artists in the MidCoast region of Maine. The Club meets monthly, holds a number of exhibits, and sponsors the annual Art in the Park during Heritage Days in Bath.
Comments:
- Make your tent into a gallery-professional racks, rug, signage are all very important. Some people bring battery-powered lights.
- Weather! One must be prepared for rain, wind, sun. Buy a quality tent. Zip up flies are better than tie-offs (and help keep secure at night by using zip ties to secure zipper handles). Corkscrew stakes work very well for tie-downs. If ground is wet, protect your visitors and your art with rubber maps and/or carpet.
- Constantly learn new things and develop your art. Connie spoke of learning paper batik and Biff commented that his painting style continues to evolve.
- Quality prints are an essential part of a successful sales strategy.
- Paper collateral pieces(brochures, postcards) are important for people to take home. Higgison and Bailey have each sold over phone or web after the ourdoor show.
This talk was presented by Five Rivers Arts Alliance with support of Women, Work & Community. If you are a Five Rivers member and would like a list of Maine Art shows and comments, please email us at info@fiveriversartsalliance.org.
Wrap-up of April 12: "Guerrilla Marketing" with Karen Dominguez-Brann 
We called it Guerrilla Marketing but a better title would have been her own: “Vision Logic: Marketing your Art.” Image: Karen Domiguez-Brann.
Karen presented her 8-point plan (you can find it at www.kdb-visionlogic.blogspot.com for marketing your art, beginning with defining your art, vision and market. The core of Karen’s practice is to use Free social media tools in a planned and coherent manner to promote her work, ideas and events. This entails Blog, email blast and Facebook updates to maximize visibility and set off viral marketing that reaches more and more folks as it reaches friends of friends….
For skeptics-Karen indicated that one blog she has been writing blog for 3 years. One blog, for a North Carolina fabric store (Mary Jos: http://maryjoscloth-design.blogspot.com/) has received 124,000 readers in one year and her blog posts and design website are often findable on page one of Google searches (eg: Maine encaustic artist).
Blog posts are generally both personal and informative (it is important to not just self-promoting) with links to additional information sources. An example-her article on her own encaustic work sites Jasper Johns and Miranda Lake, and these links help raise visibility of it. She also emphasized that accurate, reliable information, pertinent information, the “context of content” are all-important for achieving Google visibility.
A few tips:
- “You only have one chance to make a first impression.”
- Karen adds widgets to her blogs. One tracks where visitors are coming from
- Think of a blog as “building a place for yourself on the web”
- Give space to others on your blog-with links back to your site or blog.
- Art Hooligans-group of artists and craftpeople that held Art Rave last December meets weekly to talk art and marketing.
- Postcard or business card/leave behind should have great art, your name, phone, web or blog address
- Make blog posts visual and short.
- You can do this.
Next Month: Five Rivers Member Meeting will be “How to Succeed at Ourtdoor Art Shows” with Peyton Higgison and Kennebec Art Club representative: May 10, 6pm at Frontier, Brunswick. Details coming to: www.fiveriversartsalliance.org
This presentation is designed for artists and is presented by Five Rivers Arts Alliance with support of Women, Work & Community. This meeting is free to Five Rivers members and $5 for general public. Reservations are recommended. To reserve a seat email Five Rivers at info@fiveriversartsalliance.org.
Previous Member Meetings
March 22: Maine Arts Commission Listening Tour.
Thank you Donna McNeil and Darrell Bulmer for beginning the Maine Arts Commission Listening Tour in Brunswick.
The Maine Arts Commission is conducting a series of statewide meetings this year in order to gather information and feedback that will allow the agency to refine its services to the field. These meetings will provide the people of Maine a chance to give their input on the future direction of the Maine Arts Commission.
Maine Arts Commission Director Donna McNeil and Communication Associate Darrell Bulmer will attend numerous meetings around Maine to engage artists and community members in an open dialogue about the agency’s offerings.
The meetings are open for all interested parties to attend and will concentrate on two main aspects of information gathering; namely, gathering feedback on the services and programs that the Maine Arts Commission currently provides, and gathering input on what the agency may not currently offer but could potentially do so in the future. These meetings will provide a two-way conversation where attendees can express their views on the Maine Arts Commission to ensure that the agency continues to provide the most relevant services to their constituents. The conversations will also afford those who are not so familiar with the agency’s offerings a chance to learn more about what is currently available.
In addition, Five Rivers has asked tow state agencies to offer a brief outline of their services for artists. Check back for additional details
February 22: Pecha Kucha Brunswick.
Another great event with capacity crowd at Frontier. Image: Blake Hendrickson presents at Pecha Kucha Night Brunswick, Vol. 2
January 25: E-Commerce: mainecreates.com
Presenter: Matt Zito of mainecreates.com presented.
Nov 2: "Artful Marketing" with Nanette Giacoma
In this talk, Nannette discussed what is marketing and what in the heck are the four "Ps". She touched on why artists need a marketing plan and review an outline for the basic components of a plan.
Nanette Giacoma is the owner of New Moon Rising Coaching, LLC is a business coaching practice that helps artists, creative enterprises and small businesses succeed using Whole Business PracticesSM, a creative approach that looks holistically at both the people and the business, to achieve sustainable growth and profitability.
This Five Rivers Member Meeting is Monday, November 2 at 6p.m. at Frontier Café, Cinema + Gallery, 14 Maine St, Brunswick. This meeting is free to Five Rivers members; $5 for general public. Reservations are recommended. To reserve a seat email Five Rivers at info@fiveriversartsalliance.org.
Miss the ArtWalk? Visit studios and galleries on your own. Check our online directory or the listings for 2nd Friday ArtWalk, 3rd Friday ArtWalk, or Arts Downtown & All Around for information about artists, studios, and other creative businesses in our region.
Image: In the Footsteps of Marco Polo at Frontier, 14 Maine St., Brunswick.
