Out and About for the Belgrade Lakes Region of Maine Aug. 31-Sept.6

Out and About for the Mid Coast Lakes Region of Maine Aug. 31-Sept.6
August 31, 2017
Out and About for the York/Sanford Lakes Region of Maine Aug. 31-Sept.6
August 31, 2017

Out and About for the Belgrade Lakes Region of Maine Aug. 31-Sept.6

“Windsor Fair,” Windsor Fairgrounds, Windsor

Aug. 31-Sept. 2 and 5-6, Thursday-Saturday and Monday-Wednesday, 9am-4:30pm, “Cockamamie! Odd and Unusual Books,” some remarkable books will be on display, each of them unusual in some way. Some are books in strange forms, such as “Mr. Bridge” and “Mrs. Bridge,” two novels that intersect in their stories and in their bindings, or “Migrant,” a graphic novel that takes place on one huge page. There are books on strange subjects, such as “The Practical Book of Tapestries,” or “The Romance and Tragedy of Banking,” and books that have problems, including a children’s book that accidentally switches from English to German half way through. And there are particularly beautiful books, such as a Victorian woman’s fishing diary, complete with water colored sketches of her catches, free, Mantor Library, UMF, 116 South Street, Farmington. FMI: 207-778-7210, library.umf.maine.edu.
Aug. 31-Sept. 3, Thursday-Sunday, 10am-5pm/Thurs.-Sat, 12pm-5pm/Sun, “Graphic Matters: George Bellows and World War I,” In the decade before his death, the American artist George Bellows (1882–1925) embraced lithography, a printmaking technique in which the artist draws directly onto a stone or plate with an oil-based medium. Of the more than 170 lithographs that Bellows produced, twenty belong to his “War Series,” which was immediately controversial when published in 1918. As an illustrator for left-wing periodicals such as the Masses, Bellows was accustomed to addressing social issues pointedly, but he condemned “obvious, heavy propaganda.” Nevertheless, in 1918, with the United States at war, the former pacifist completed a series of prints, drawings, and monumental paintings that was mobilized as just that. Drawing on press and government accounts—Bellows enlisted in the United States army but did not fight overseas—and owing a debt to the themes in Spanish artist Francisco de Goya’s Disasters of War, he represented extreme brutality in a highly classicized formal language. His depictions of reported German atrocities on the Western front were used by media outlets and the federal government to stoke anti-German sentiment. Bellows’s “War Series” highlights the complex and porous relationship between art and propaganda. The artist’s attempt to balance narrative strategies adopted from history painting with contemporary reportage, while ambitious, created an unresolvable tension that accounts, in part, for the series’ mixed reviews and limited endurance. Graphic Matters reflects on the centennial of American entry into World War I by reexamining Bellows’s prints for the timely questions they raise about representation, aestheticized and institutionalized violence, nationalism, and masculinity, free, Colby College Museum of Art, 5600 Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville. FMI: 207-859-5600, www.colby.edu/museum/exhibition/graphic-matters-george-bellows.
Aug. 31- Sept. 4, Thursday-Monday, all day events, “Windsor Fair,” traditional fair with harness racing, woodsman day, demolition derby, tractor pulls, animal exhibits, livestock and more, $9/Thurs. and Mon, $10/Sat. and Sun, free/under 16, Windsor Fairgrounds, 100 Ridge Road, Windsor. FMI: 207-549-7911, www.windsorfair.com.
Aug. 31-Sept. 3 and 6, Thursday-Sunday and Wednesday, 8pm/Thurs.-Sat, 4pm/Sun, 2pm/Wed, “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery,” get our deerstalker cap on – the play’s afoot! Sherlock Holmes is on the case. The male heirs of the Baskerville line are being dispatched one by one. To find their ingenious killer, Holmes and Watson must brave the desolate moors before a family curse dooms its newest heir. Watch as our intrepid investigators try to escape a dizzy web of clues, silly accents, disguises, and deceit as five actors deftly portray more than 40 characters. Does a wild hellhound prowl the moors of Devonshire? Can our heroes discover the truth in time? Join the fun and see how far from elementary the truth can be, $17-$22, Lakewood Theater, 76 Theater Road, Madison. FMI: 207-474-7176, www.lakewoodtheater.org.
Sept. 1, Friday, 5:30pm, “Waterville Rocks! w/Adam Ezra Group and Chris Ross and the North,” a series of four outdoor concerts presented by the Waterville Opera House for the enjoyment of the greater Waterville community. At these concerts, families and friends gather in historic downtown Waterville, lay down a blanket in Castonguay Square, listen to awesome local music, and dance and socialize with others in the community. Established in 2016 by local business leaders and arts-focused organizations, Waterville Rocks! is becoming an annual community celebration of all-things-music held in the great outdoors. This year Waterville Rocks! is expanding its offerings with a new beer garden, giving adults of age extra incentive to come out and listen to excellent music! There is no charge associated with this event; it is all about community, free entertainment and good times in a delightful downtown greenspace, free, Castonguay Square, 93 Main Street, Waterville. FMI: www.mainetoday.com.
Sept. 2-3, Saturday-Sunday, 10am-5pm/Sat, 10am-4pm/Sun, “Rockhounders Gem and Mineral Show,” the show will feature door prizes, a daily grand door prize, demonstrations in cabbing and lapidary, mineral displays, dealers in minerals, jewelry, gems and fossils, geode slicing, mineral mine and other games for the kids. Children can win a mineral starter kit and get a free stone just for coming in. For information on rockhounding and how to join a mineral club, see Rocky the rockhound dog, National Guard Armory, Western Avenue, Augusta. FMI: 207-873-6270, Kennebec-rocksandminerals.com.
Sept. 2, Saturday, 4:30pm, “Public Supper,” supper consists of home-baked beans, coleslaw, casseroles, homemade pies, coffee and punch, $8, $4/under 12, Randolph United Methodist Church, 16 Asbury Street, Randolph. FMI: 207-582-5188, www.mainetoday.com.

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