Beautiful stained glass windows filter light from Main Street in Presque Isle while Shelby Pelletier, Art Therapist and Owner/Curator of the Common Gallery, converses with other art enthusiasts.
Local artists and numerous musical performances have dominated our calendar this month.
Kim and I have had a couple of busy weeks this month between art shows and music festivals. I’m a pretty introverted person, but I think I’ve engaged with more people this month that I have in the past year.
This month feels like it’s been non-stop protests, art shows, craft fairs, and music festivals.
Common Gallery: Risica Caputi
First was the First Friday Art Walk on September 5th. This month’s featured artist is Risica Caputi. We actually own several of Risica’s pieces and display them around our home.
We’ve been to several events alongside Risica and her work has been featured in magazines, a local music festival (Coddiwomple, keep reading…), and local art galleries.
Risica talks to Chris Pelletier, local musician and artist.Visitors take in the range of mediums Risica uses in her work.Here’s one I think we can all relate to.Several of Risica’s works are hand-made prints, such as this one.
Wintergreen Arts 12×12 Auction
Later that evening we attended the 12×12 art auction at the Wintergreen Arts Center in which Kim had an entry. There were a lot of entries to choose from and even live music!
Kim Chabre (right) looks at some of the entries in the 12×12 auction along with Amanda Giberson, fellow artist and organizer of the annual Art Bazaar in Mars Hill, Maine.Here is the piece Kim submitted to the auction. This piece submitted by Amanda Giberson uses a pattern of hexadecimal values to dictate the colors used in the fibers.Live music at the Wintergreen Arts Center 12×12 auction event.
This event was way larger than I anticipated — hundreds of people attended the fair, so we did pretty well that day. The food trucks were excellent too.
Dozens of local vendors participated in the Blackstone Art Festival event in Ft. Fairfield.Kim sets up her Riverbed Art display.More shameless plugs 🙂 Prints of Kim’s original paintings, handmade holiday greeting cards, river glass wine charms, and framed illustrations adorned with hand-picked glass from the Aroostook River are just some of the items she had for sale at the festival.
Recovery Rocks Music Festival
The next day we headed north to the Recovery Rocks Music Festival in Fort Kent, Maine. The event was organized (at least in part) by 1st Mile Active Recovery Center.
We had attended the inaugural festival last year and had a great time. This year featured a new set of performers and had everyone on their feet and jamming out to the music.
Jacqueline Savageau, a local musician, chats with The Real Young Swagg, one of the performing acts at the event.The event was lined with booths with all sorts of recovery and substance abuse support information.Plenty of creative activities for all ages.
Here is a video I put together of one of the performers at the event, Wally and the Virginians, performing a cover of “Some Kind of Wonderful” by Grand Funk.
Here is an interview I did in 2024 with Ryan Remalia, a Recovery Coach with 1st Mile Active Recovery, talking about their role in supporting people struggling with addiction in Aroostook County.
Coddiwomple Music Festival
And finally, the Coddiwomple Music Festival in New Sweden, Maine. This was organized by local musician Travis Cyr and featured several performances by 40 Thieves, Dark Hollow Bottling Co., Hymn for Her, and others.
It was a fantastic event with phenomenal performers.
The W. W. Thomas Memorial stage is perfect for live musical performances.This poster pretty much sums up the vibe of this event.As does this t-shirt for sale by Hymn for Her.40 Thieves (Travis Cyr and Laura Bagley) perform some of their original songs. Travis is a local musician who has long been a proponent and organizer of live music festivals, including this one. You can find all of their studio recorded music at https://traviscyr.bandcamp.com/
Hymn for Her perform their song “Dingle Town”, featuring their adorable furry backup singer.
Local musical duo Travis Cyr and Laura Bagley, together known as 40 Thieves, perform “(Maybe) Miami”.
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