Public events and programs that promote awareness and appreciation of the arts.
About CAA
The Castine Arts Association, located in Castine, Maine, is a non-profit, community-based volunteer group organized for the purpose of promoting awareness and appreciation of visual, literary and performing arts through sponsorship of public programs and events.
The CAA endeavors to focus public attention on the arts, to encourage the use of local art resources and services, and to encourage and receive grants, gifts, endowments and bequests to support and further the arts locally.
The Castine Arts Association was founded as a 501(c)3 organization in 1995 by Castine residents Lib O'Malley, Sue Loomis, Gregory Dunham, Peggy Rogers, and Vickie Sheridan who were interested in promoting the arts in Castine.
Board of Directors
Johanna Sweet, President
Vice President (open)
Roberta Boczkiewicz, Secretary
Don Tenney, Publicity, Media & Membership
Don Tenney, Treasurer
Debby Neve, Visual Arts Chair
Sam Friedlander, Music Coordinating Chair
Casey Bernard, Literary Chair
Tracy Lameyer, Children's Programs Chair
Ted Lameyer, President emeritus
Sue Loomis, MMA liason
Lyn Mayewski, Honorary Chairperson
CAA History
CAA was founded in 1995 and presented its first program in the spring of 1996, a lecture by author and critic Carl Little on The Art and Legacy of Winslow Homer.
The idea for CAA started with conversations between Lib O'Malley, a well-known Castine artist, and Sue Loomis of MMA's humanities department. MMA had recently acquired the impressive facilities at the BIW Center and was willing to share these facilities with the community. An open meeting was held for anyone interested in seeing the room and watching a demonstration of the audio-visual equipment.
Thanks to Lib's persistence, a small group began meeting to discuss ways to take advantage of all that was offered. Out of the many ideas that bounced around in those conversations, two basic principles emerged:
1) That Castine area was bursting with talented people and ardent supporters of the arts.
2) There was a need for more cultural events in Castine, especially in the winter.
Founding members:
- Lib O'Malley
- Peggy Rogers
- Gregory Dunham
- Vickie Sheridan
- Sue Loomis
with many others soon joining the ranks.
CAA developed by-laws and a mission statement that defines the group "as a community-based, volunteer group organized for the purpose of promoting awareness and appreciation of visual, literary and performing arts through sponsorship of public programs and events."
It stated that the group hoped to "recruit speakers and performers from away, but also recognize the resources on our doorstep."
Programs
Music:
Soprano Nancy Ogle recital of musical settings of poems, including a Philip Booth poem set to music by Arnold Berleant
Piano recital by Walter Nowick
Bagaduce Chamber Players
Big Band Jazz concert
Organ Dedication concert
Opera Company of Maine
Cellist Marion Feldman
Irish Traditional Music by George Fowler
Piano benefit concert with Bagaduce Chamber Players and Alan Feinberg during Castine Arts Festival
The Choir of Trinity College
"Lower Octave", Young Men's Choir of the Boy Singers of Maine
Castine Christmas programs – 27 years!!! – even before CAA was formed. Co-sponsored with Castine's 4 churches
George Steven's Academy Jazz Concert
Acadia Big Band Concert
"Maine-ly Music," barbershop chorus
"No Strings Attached" chamber music
Bagaduce Trio
MELa concert
Mathias Reed concerts
Woodwind trio piano concert featuring Bangor Symphony musicians
Vocal concert by Marcia Sly
Young Musicians concert – several years
Annual Big Band Swing Dance to benefit the Castine Town Band – 9 years
Pianist, Anastasia Antonacos concerts
DaPonte String Quartet
Maeve Feinberg concerts, accompanied by Alan Feinberg
Baroque Music by Heidi Powell, Richard Hsu, and Gerald Wheeler
"Music in Midwinter" by Diana Brown, Brian MacFarland, Prevailing Winds
"Seven Centuries of Music in Seventy Minutes"
Sentimental Journey concert on the Town Dock
Christmas Band concert
Organ, Harp & Brass concert
Trio Cleonice
Castine Town Band (CAA sponsored at times)
"Just for Fun" concerts
McWildage concert
"Music for a Spring Afternoon" with Sarah Schneider, Gerald Wheeler,
Deirdre McArdle Manning
"Vive la France" concert, MeLa woodwind ensemble, Suzanne Eaton, soprano, and Gerald Wheeler, piano.
"Four Shillings Short" concerts
"New Shades of Blue" concert, Witherle
"Sound Artists" concert
"Scott Cleveland Piano Concert"
"George Stevens Jazz Combo"
"Chris Gray Bagpipes"
"Mike Rogers Harmonica"
"The Castine Brass Quartet"
"An Afternoon of French Music" featuring musicians from The BSO, Sandy Warren sponsor.
"Big Band Dance Night" with Sentimental Journey and Alice French
"Gus La Casse" fiddler
"Kneisel Hall Young Artists" concerts
"Hungrytown, Folk Duo"
"The Novel Jazz Septet"
"A German Christmas Horn Concert"
Literary & Dramatic Arts:
Workshops in Speaking and Hearing Literature with Paul Gray
Readings from Castine authors Philip Booth, Noah Brooks, and Mary McCarthy During Castine Arts Festival
Milton Reading
"Thurber's Carnival" reading at Annual Meeting
"Our Miss Brooks" and "Romance of Helen Trent" radio scripts readings
Story Telling by Joe Slocum
Conversational French classes
"The Sky's the Limit" poetry exhibit at art exhibit
"Excerpts from the Odd Couple" featuring Paul Gray & Harry Kaiserian
Ekphrastic poetry
"Ekphrastic is Back a Bit"
"Mainely White: E.B. White on Life Downeast" readings
"Booth and Hardwick: Castine Treasures" readings
"Much Ado About Nothing" Shakespeare troupe performance
Creative Writing Group formed – has been going on for years
Concrete Poetry presentation
Creative Writing Group presentation
"Abraham Lincoln Goes to the Movies" lecture
"Highlights from The Fort" (book by Bernard Cornwell) presentation
"Twelfth Night" by No Holds Barred
Play Reading group formed
"Mark Twain" performance – co-sponsored with library
"Poetry of New England from the Time of Robert Frost" – co-sponsored with library
"Castine in So Many Words" presentation at Annual Meeting
"Here's Lookin' at You, Castine" presentation of slides and readings
Writer's Workshop by Anna Noyes – co-sponsored with library
Writers Group, repeating
"Not Just Desserts" play readings at Witherle Library (Shakespeare insults; Higgins vs. Doolittle)
"Driving Miss Daisy" staged reading - Cold Comfort Theater
"Story Slam" at Witherle Library
"Macbeth Murder Mystery" Thurber skit at Annual Meeting, 2017
"A Panoply of Castine Poets"
"Mr. Preble Gets Rid of His Wife" Thurber skit at Annual Meeting, 2019
Children's Programs:
Puppet making
Adobe Sculpture project
Fairy House events with author, Tracy Kane
Sailors Valentines
"The Sky's the Limit" poetry exhibit at art exhibit
Art exhibit at Trinitarian Church
Votive candle workshop
Ornament making workshop – many used on the town tree
Summer Art Camps – several years
Bookmaking, painting, clay, sewing with Ariel Nelson
Cooking with Harry Kaiserian, Felting with Lyn Mayewski
Watercolors with Ted Lameyer, Flower Arranging with Tracy Lameyer
Painting, drawing, clay, etc. with Meredith Olivari
"Recycled Art" with Katrina Dagan
Adams School students were provided with journals and art kits to take on their trip to France – later exhibited
Theater Camp with Georgia Zildjian
"Miss Rumphius" "The Rainbow Fish," "Trojan Girls" "Where The Wild Things Are" "North Atlantic Right Whale" "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" "Island Boy"
Children's Chorus at Castine Christmas celebrations
Summer Art Camps with Katrina Dagan
Youth Cooking Classes
Beginner Ballet Classes
Visual Arts:
Art Exhibit in Emerson Hall
Drawing class with Robert Shetterly
Floorcloth workshop by Barbara Benson
Puppet making workshop and performance
Exhibits of Wilma Rifkin and Judy Payne at BIW
Art exhibit at Emerson Hall during Castine Arts Festival
Watercolor class with Mary Laury
"Weeds & Seeds" art exhibit at Emerson Hall
Fine Crafts Sale in conjunction with the Bagaduce Quilter's Guild
"Creating Canvas Floorcloths" with Karen Stanley
Face Mask-Making Demonstration by Edie Platt
"Women with Attitude" rug hooking workshop
"Water Works" art exhibit
Fibers Day (started by Deborah Pulliam – ran 3 times in Castine)
Fibers Day at the Bangor Library (started at CAA – CAA participants – (4 times)
"Let's Knit" with Peggy Rogers
Knitting Gathering
Silk Painting class
"Twigonometry" class
Craft Show and Sale
Felting with Lyn Mayewski
"Blossoms, Buds" by Cinnie Norvell & Mary Ellen Hunt
Chanel Jacket workshop with Peggy Rogers
Scallop Shell Basket workshop with Sara Pavia
Gallery Shows at the Trinity Episcopal Church:
Lisa Burton – photographs
Group show of botanicals
Vickie Sheridan
Lyn Mayewski
Liddy Fitz-Gerald
Karen Stanley
Judy Wylie
Reenie Mainen
Juliane Gardner
Nancy Parker
Bagaduce Rug Hookers
"The Sky's the Limit" art exhibit at Emerson Hall
"The Artist as Witness" drawing class with Bruce Bulger
"Features of the Face" drawing class with Rob Shetterly
Landscape Painting workshop with Louise Bourne
"Down to Earth" art exhibit at Emerson Hall
"Imaginative Drawing" workshop with Gail Page
"Drawing Hands and Feet" with Rob Shetterly
"Mushroom Workshop" with Liddy Fitz-Gerald and Lyn Mayewski
Independent Drawing and Painting – running for numerous years
Auction of 1/2 model sailboats decorated by local artists
"Draperty and Tresses: Drawing Textures" with Rob Shetterly
"Techniques for Painting with Pastels" with Pam Cabanas
"Introduction to Oriental Brush Painting" with Betty Cleghorne
"Painting the Still Life in Abstraction" with Louise Bourne
Stained Glass workshop with Sandra Beske
"Seasons" art exhibit at Emerson Hall
"Celebrate Castine" Street Fair craft fair in conjunction with Castine Merchants
Life Drawing sessions – several years underwritten by Harold Koda
"Boats and Water" painting workshop with Stefan Pastuhov
Lib O'Malley retrospective art exhibit co-sponsored with Wilson Museum
"Simplifying Landscapes" with Barbara Joy Hare
"Beginning Watercolor" with Margery Read
"Self Portraits" with Rob Shetterly
"Go Fish" auction featuring wooden fish decorated by area artists
"Play with Clay" with Solveig Cox and Bev Bishop
"Plein Air Painting" watercolor workshop with Ted Lameyer
Presentation of the Art & Craft of our Members at Annual Meeting
"Painting a Still Life in Oils" with Ed Gummel
2013 to 2019 Castine Plein Air Festival, Reception and sale
Hypertufa workshop with Tina Anthony & Gretchen Raber
Basket Making workshop with Gerry Estabrook
Shibori Silk Scarves workshop with Sandi Cirillo
Boxwood workshop with Johanna Sweet to benefit Holly Berry Fair
"Lathe, Bowl & Candlestick Holder" workshop with Temple Blackwood
"Schooner Bowdoin Half Model" workshop with Don Small & David Wyman at Highlands Woodturning
Raku pottery workshop with Anna Woolf and Neale LaSalle
Fly Tying Workshop and a weekend trip to a Maine lake to try them out
Potluck and a Movie Night, winter schedule, at Emerson Hall. Audio visual system donated to the town by CAA.
Forest Hart Studio Tour
Etched Metal Jewelry with Gretchen Raber
Holiday Birch Ornaments
Bowls and Boxes woodturning with Temple Blackwood
Sail Bags at the MMA Sail Loft
Locker Hooking with Susan Watson
"Castine Class Sloop Half Hull Model" with Don Small and David Wyman, at Highlands Woodturning.
"Museum Mania Tour" with Kay Hightower and Bev Bishop
"Arts Week Painting Workshops" - Diane Dubreuil (watercolor), Bobbi Heath (oils)
"Tray Basket Workshop" - Jerry Estabrook
"Adirondack Chair Workshop" - Bev Bishop
"Watercolor Workshop" - Ted Lameyer
"Youth Cooking Classes" - Tracy Lameyer
"Fibers Through Time Fashion Show" - Jean Miller
"Introduction to Needle Felting" - Bob Nichols
"English Paper Piecing Workshop" - Charlene Wiseman
"Sip and Paint Night" - Ted Lameyer
"Craftology Sessions" - Nisa Smiley
"Fall Fashions at Five" - Jean Miller
"The Art of Wood - Paddles" - Don Small and David Wyman at Highlands Woodturning.
"Needle Felting Workshop" - Lyn Mayewski
"Holiday Woodturning Workshop" - Bill Corbett and Temple Blackwood
"Sign Carving Workshop" - Bill Corbett and Temple Blackwood
"Shaker Footstools Workshop" - Bill Corbett and Temple Blackwood
Visual Arts Committee Lectures:
"Winslow Homer" by author, Carl Little
"Marsden Hartley" by author, Gail Scott
"A Visit to the Louvre," multi-media presentation
"An Evening with Rembrandt", multi-media presentation
"19th Century Marine Painting" by Kate Campbell of Penobscot Marine Museum
"The Wyeth Family in Maine" by Farnsworth Director, Christopher B. Crosman
Slide presentation by Clark Fitz-Gerald
Slide presentation by painter and fabric artist, Jerri Finch
"Ideas in Art" slide presentation by Owen Smith, art historian at UMaine
"From Bed to Wall: The Art Quilt Movement Today" by artist, Elizabeth Busch
"The Light of Edward Hopper" by Robert Shetterly
"Art of the Maine Islands" by Carl Little
"Botanical Drawing" by artist, Linda Heppes Funk
"The Role of Narration in Italian Renaissance Art" by Michael Grillo of UMaine
"Bernice Abbott: A View of the 20th Century" by Karen Sheldon
"Louise Nevelson in Context" by Suzette Lane McAvoy, Farnsworth Museum
"Mary Cassatt's Modernism" by Linda Docherty of Bowdoin College
"Synthesizing Art Influences" by artist, Dorie Klein
"From Homer to Hartley: Painting in Gloucester from 1870-1935" by James McAllister
"Developing a Children's Book" by author, Tracy Kane
"Ukrainian Easter Egg Decorating to Lifestyle Entrepreneur" by Jane Pollak
"Isabella Stewart Gardner" by Linda Docherty
"The Arts of Fitz Hugh Lane" by John Wilmerding of Princeton University
"Rivers & Tides – the sculpture of Andy Goldsworthy (shown twice over the years)
Maine Masters film of Clark Fitz-Gerald
"M.C. Richards: The Fire Within"
"Bo Bartlett & American Realism" by Helen Fisher, Curator of Farnsworth
"Farnsworth's 60
th Anniversary" by Michael Komanecky, Chief Curator
"An Artist's Look at Korea" by Gretchen Raber
"Stephen Pace/ Lois Dodd/ Clark Fitz-Gerald" Maine Masters films with presentation by Rob Shetterly and Richard Kane
"Colby College's Museum of Art 50
th Anniversary Exhibit" by Ann Lunder Leland
"Winslow Homer – Society and Solitude" film
"The General" film
"Rock Solid" film
"The Costume Institute: Fashioning a Collection" by Harold Koda, Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
"Traveling with Winslow Homer" by Robert Demarest
Cooking Classes:
Potluck Supper at the Manor Inn to discuss the direction of cooking events
Castine Inn Kitchen Cooking Class with Tom Gutow - sauces
"Una Festa Italiana" with the Rogerses, Kulis, & Kaiserians
"From Farm to Table – Cooking with Local Foods" with Tom Gutow
"Gravlax" with Par Kettis
Italian cooking with Harry Kaiserian
Armenian cooking with Harry Kaiserian
French and French Colonial Potluck at the Manor Inn
Bread Baking with Kathy McKloskey
Thai cooking with Nancy Watson
French cooking with Tom Gutow
2nd Thai cooking with Nancy Watson
Food in Film potluck with Harry Kaiserian at the Manor Inn
Dim Sun cooking class with Henry and Christine Liu
"The Art of Cooking" with Diane Bianco
"The Art of Cooking" at Aragosta with Devin Finnegan
"Italian Cooking" at Wilson Museum with Harry Kaiserian
"Phun Pholding Philo" with Harry Kaiserian
"Food" a multi-media presentation - Harry Kaiserian
Board positions:
President or Board Chair
Vice-President or Board Co-Chair
Secretary
Treasurer
Publicity
MMA Liason
Membership Chair
Committee Chairs (Visual Arts, Music, Dramatic/Literary Arts, Children's Programs)
Lib O'Malley
Peggy Rogers
Sue Loomis
Vickie Sheridan
Gregory Dunham
Arnold Berleant
Reenie Mainen
Lyn Mayewski
Lisa Burton
Hector MacKethan
Tracy Lameyer
Gladys Kuli
Anne Parson
Dave Unger
Pat Dunham
Debby Neve
Don Tenney
Tony Politano
George Bland
Gene Bland
Don Hoople
Don Small
Joan Torno
Sandra Dinsmore
Visual Arts Committee:
Vicky Sheridan
Peggy Rogers
Reenie Mainen
Gregory Dunham
Tom Barrett
Lyn Mayewski
Deborah Pulliam
Liddy Fitz-Gerald
Patty Hutchins
Kay Bailey
Karen Stanley
Judy Wylie
Eve Stwertka
Susie Disston
Bev Bishop
Marcia Mason
Pat Dunham
Janet Forbes
Barbara Joy Hare
Alice Kimball
Dan Graziano
Don Tenney
Kay Hightower
Goody-B. Wiseman
Harold Koda
Music Committee:
David Unger
Don Small
George Bland
Don Hoople
Gladys Kuli
Sam Friedlander
Jean Miller
Joan Torno
Arnold Berleant
Bob Chickering
Sylvia Carter
Literary & Dramatic Arts Committee:
Paul Gray
Dixie Gray
Harry Kaiserian
Mary Appleman
Gladys Kuli
Riva Berleant
Sandra Dinsmore
Peter Davis
Bob Bonini
Johanna Sweet
Johanna Barrett
Children's Programs Committee:
Susan Adam
Lisa Burton
Tracy Lameyer
Website:
Colin Powell
Barnstormer Design
Venues:
Emerson Hall
Trinitarian Congregational Parish
Trinity Episcopal Church
Unitarian Universalist Congregation
MMA – various sites, including BIW lecture hall, Delano Auditorium, 1954 Lecture Hall,
Harborview Room
The Manor Inn
The Castine Inn
Castine Historical Society's Mitchell Room
Studios of Bev Bishop, Lyn Mayewski, Clark Fitz-Gerald, Temple Blackwood
Homes of Kulis, Kaiserians, Evans, Nualla
