Everyone is invited to join us for our annual commemoration of the library's benefactor Adelaide Pearson. This year we are hosting the third annual Adelaide Pearson Arts Festival on the library's front lawn! On Saturday, August 8 from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. local artists will present their work with live demonstrations and displays, while also providing fun activities for kids of all ages. Joining us will be sculptor Leda Ball, fabric painter Susan Steinbrock, stone craftsman Alex Turanski, metal craftsman Tanya Washburn, and painter Lise Williams. There will also be a craft and coloring area for kids of all ages, and a special activity with artist Kirsten Rickert who will be here to guide kids and adults in crafting natural mandalas on the lawn.

Leda Ball a Maine native, has been a resident of Penobscot for the past 10 years. "Clay has become my medium because of its flexibility and forgiving nature.  Throughout the process of making sculptures, clay allows me to add and subtract on each piece. I work with the human form because I find it challenging."  

Susan Steinbrock is a painter and fiber artist living in Brooklin, Maine. She has been painting scarves and fabric for the past 30 years, and has been making paintings most of her life. 

Alexander Turanski was born in Seattle, Washington in 1995. His family moved to Penobscot, Maine when he was 4 years old and he has lived there ever since. Beginning his education at a Waldorf-inspired school, the Bay School, in Blue Hill, Alex learned from a young age to integrate the arts with academics and to foster his natural creativity and curiosity. Alex started balancing stones in Stonington in the summer of 2018. Creating stone sculptures quickly became a passion and his repertoire has grown to include live demonstrations and installations, designing and producing his signature Rock Stack Playing Cards, creating one-of-a-kind rock stack puzzle sets, and filming and editing balancing videos. A highlight of his work has been receiving the award for ‘Best Set Design' for the stone work he created and installed for the Isle Theatre Company's production of 'Do Not Move Stones,' which also won the Broadway World 2021 Maine Awards for Best Production of the Year.

Tanya Washburn: From a young age Tanya was intrigued by metal objects and knew she would eventually embark on the journey to know the many processes used to create them. Be it jewelry or forged iron gates, Tanya has explored and worked her hands in these techniques for many years, in many places. She landed in Maine over 15 years ago and has continued this exploration.  Tanya spends most of the non-frozen months in Maine working as a native plant gardener but when the temps dip, is found in her tiny but well-tooled workshop working with metals like silver, bronze, brass, and copper -- etching, forging, piercing. Much of her inspiration derives from the alive yet dormant forms of plants and nature. 

Lise Williams is a local (Surry) artist and graphic designer. Her paintings burst with color, capturing both representational and abstract interpretations of nature. Working primarily in acrylic and mixed media, Lise uses bold hues and layers to evoke the depth and vibrancy of some of her favorite views of nature. Her work often embraces whimsy and abstraction, inviting viewers into a world of expressive joyfulness.

Special Guest Artist Kirsten Rickert: Kirsten loves flowers and trees. Born and raised on a farm in Australia, she is a mother, devotional artist and writer. Kirsten has a Bachelor of Visual Arts and attended Southern Cross University, Pratt Institute and University of Alaska South-East. While raising a family she was an art director, designer and photographer; working with magazines, boutique companies and international corporations, which led Kirsten to a personal art practice of ephemeral sculpture and ritual installations. Kirsten is currently in the third year studying at Hyllantree School in Hope, Maine, completing the Whole Being Anatomy, Plant Spirit Medicine and Ancestral Remembrance courses. 

This event is sponsored by the library and all are welcome. All materials will be provided, though some activities will have limited space and are first come first serve.  If you have any questions please contact Teen Services and Outreach Librarian Kendall Chapman at kendall.chapman@bhpl.net or by calling 374-5515.

The annual Adelaide Pearson commemoration is made possible by a generous donation from the Purvis family.