LA Arts News.
Art Walk LA Welcomes Bates Winter Arts Festival
Lewiston, Maine, February 22, 2021 – If we can’t safely gather a large crowd in downtown Lewiston-Auburn for an art walk right now, we’ll bring Art Walk L-A to you! The next “virtual” Art Walk L-A happens Friday, February 26, 2021 on www.laarts.org/artwalk/, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. This month we feature art and performances from the Bates Winter Arts Festival:
- Original artwork by Bates Arts Society members
- Bates College Deansmen perform “A Change in my Life” by Rockapella
- Original song by LuisDa Molina-Rueda
- Magic by Abby Segal
- Poem in Hindi by festival coordinator and international student Kush Sharma
- Local Writers Read 2020 Maine Literary Award Finalists Series
- And more!
LA Arts and the Art Walk LA Committee are also pleased to present the 2021 Art Walk Artists online gallery. Artists and artisans included on this page each have works for sale; please support them with your purchases! Visual artists and artisans can register free and we’ll share your work on this web page throughout the season. 100% of art sale proceeds go to artists and makers.
Virtual Art Walk LA and all LA Arts programs would not be possible without the generous support of community partners including Community Arts Champion sponsors Acadia Insurance, Austin Associates, P.A., Bates College, Baxter Brewing Co., Berman & Simmons, the City of Auburn, the City of Lewiston, Liberty Mutual, the Sun Journal as well as the Davis Family Foundation, Maine Arts Commission, Maine Community Foundation, the Onion Foundation, and the Ladd Foundation.
Since 1973, LA Arts, the arts agency for the cities of Lewiston and Auburn Maine, has pursued a mission to engage and inspire a vibrant community through arts and culture. The agency works with governments, businesses, schools and local arts and cultural organizations to create opportunities for community members across the generations to experience, learn, and participate in the arts. LA Arts organizes arts programs and initiatives, supports the work of local artists and arts organizations, and highlights the essential role the arts play in shaping an economically vital, socially integrated, and forward-looking future for its community. Learn more at www.laarts.org.
LA Arts 2020 Annual Report
September 2020 virtual Art Walk LA
Lewiston, Maine, September 23, 2020 – If we can’t safely gather a large crowd in downtown Lewiston-Auburn for an art walk right now, we’ll bring Art Walk L-A to you! The next “virtual” Art Walk L-A happens Friday, September 25, 2020 on www.laarts.org/artwalk/, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram and includes visual arts, music, prose poetry, and more, featuring:
- Jim Parakilas and Mary Hunter perform Johannes Brahms, Sonata in G for Piano and Violin, Op. 78: Vivace ma non troppo
- Local Writers Read genre spotlight: personal essay, featuring writers Paulla Estes and Sue Repko
- Time-lapse drawing by Samuel W. Grant
- “And Then I Had a Dream,” a short film by Ariel Abonizio
LA Arts and the Art Walk LA Committee are also pleased to present the 2020 Art Walk LA Artists web page. Artists and artisans included on this page each have works for sale; please support them with your purchases! Visual artists and artisans can register free at https://www.laarts.org/artwalk/ and we’ll share your work on this web page throughout the season. 100% of art sale proceeds go to artists and makers.
There’s art to see downtown too! If you’re out and about, be sure to look for it:
- Bear Bones Beer, 43 Lisbon St., Lewiston – artist Kate Cargile
- Gritty’s, 68 Main St., Auburn – artist Jelisa Hamilton
- Kimball Street Studios, 191 Lisbon St., Lewiston – Annual Quilt Show
- MedCo, 40 Lisbon St., Lewiston – Ramble Row/artist Angie Lafrance
Virtual Art Walk LA and all LA Arts programs would not be possible without the generous support of community partners including 2020 Community Arts Champion sponsors Acadia Insurance, Austin Associates, P.A., Bates College, Baxter Brewing Co., Berman & Simmons, the City of Auburn, the City of Lewiston, Liberty Mutual, the Sun Journal as well as the Davis Family Foundation, Maine Arts Commission, Maine Community Foundation, the Onion Foundation, and the Ladd Foundation.
Since 1973, LA Arts, the arts agency for the cities of Lewiston and Auburn Maine, has pursued a mission to engage and inspire a vibrant community through arts and culture. The agency works with governments, businesses, schools and local arts and cultural organizations to create opportunities for community members across the generations to experience, learn, and participate in the arts. LA Arts organizes arts programs and initiatives, supports the work of local artists and arts organizations, and highlights the essential role the arts play in shaping an economically vital, socially integrated, and forward-looking future for its community. Learn more at www.laarts.org.
August 28 virtual Art Walk LA – Bates is back!
Lewiston, Maine, August 25, 2020 – If we can’t safely gather a large crowd in downtown Lewiston-Auburn for an art walk right now, we’ll bring Art Walk L-A to you! The next “virtual” Art Walk L-A happens Friday, August 28, 2020 on www.laarts.org/artwalk/, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram and includes visual arts, music, prose poetry, and more, featuring:
- Local Writers Read genre spotlight: dark fantasy, featuring writers Josh Gauthier and Jessica Koch
- “Art is Vulnerable – Let’s Talk,” Joan Crawford speed painting by artist Tyler Dorr
- Bates is Back! Bates student neighbors share dance, music, poetry and theater performances
“Our returning students are thrilled to have this opportunity to participate in Art Walk LA by sharing their talents with the wider community,” said Darby Ray, Director, Bates Harward Center for Community Partnerships and LA Arts Board Vice Chair.
LA Arts and the Art Walk LA Committee are also pleased to present the 2020 Art Walk LA Artists web page. Artists and artisans included on this page each have works for sale; please support them with your purchases! Visual artists and artisans can register free at https://www.laarts.org/artwalk/ and we’ll share your work on this web page throughout the season. 100% of art sale proceeds go to artists and makers.
There’s art to see downtown too! If you’re out and about, be sure to look for it:
- Bear Bones Beer, 43 Lisbon St., Lewiston – artist Kate Cargile
- The Curio, 110 Lisbon St., Lewiston – artist Bonita Boothby
- Gritty’s, 68 Main St., Auburn – “Hot Air Balloons,” group show of work by artists Cory Tancrede, Amanda Retus, and Tricia Barnhard
- MedCo, 40 Lisbon St., Lewiston – photographer Gary Stallsworth
Virtual Art Walk LA and all LA Arts programs would not be possible without the generous support of community partners including 2020 Community Arts Champion sponsors Acadia Insurance, Austin Associates, P.A., Bates College, Baxter Brewing Co., Berman & Simmons, the City of Auburn, the City of Lewiston, Liberty Mutual, the Sun Journal as well as the Davis Family Foundation, Maine Arts Commission, Maine Community Foundation, the Onion Foundation, and the Ladd Foundation.
Since 1973, LA Arts, the arts agency for the cities of Lewiston and Auburn Maine, has pursued a mission to engage and inspire a vibrant community through arts and culture. The agency works with governments, businesses, schools and local arts and cultural organizations to create opportunities for community members across the generations to experience, learn, and participate in the arts. LA Arts organizes arts programs and initiatives, supports the work of local artists and arts organizations, and highlights the essential role the arts play in shaping an economically vital, socially integrated, and forward-looking future for its community. Learn more at www.laarts.org.
LA Arts Land Acknowledgment*
Reconstructed ceramic pot, ca. 700 BCE Maine Historical Society
By Lea Rosen**
LA Arts, the arts agency for the cities of Lewiston and Auburn, Maine, is located in the traditional territory of the Wabanaki Confederacy. In June, 2020, LA Arts met with Starr Kelly, Curator of Education at the Abbe Museum, to begin a conversation about expanding awareness of Native arts and culture in Androscoggin County.
The Abbe Museum, with locations in Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, is devoted to displaying the history and culture of Native people in Maine. July 2020 would have marked the museum’s 27th Native American Festival, which is the largest gathering of Maine’s Native artists, featuring art, music, and storytelling.
Did you know?
Today’s Auburn has been home to Indigenous people for more than 12,000 years. LA Arts, at 221 Lisbon Street, Lewiston, as well as the rest of Androscoggin County, is located in the traditional territory of the Wabanaki Confederacy, the Indigenous peoples of northern New England and southeastern Canada. Today, four distinct tribes—the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot—make up the Wabanaki, or the People of the Dawnland. The rapids in Lewiston-Auburn were a traditional Wabanaki site for salmon catching. The Wabanaki also used clay deposits from the river to create pottery, and planted their crops by the Great Falls. Wabanakis in this area suffered from colonization and their homelands were ravaged for almost 100 years. In 1690, the Wabanaki town of Amitgonpontook—what is now Auburn—was destroyed by English settlers, though Wabanakis continued to inhabit the region.
Today, hundreds of Wabanakis live in the Lewiston-Auburn area, contributing much to the art and culture of our community. While also discussing our state’s history, LA Arts hopes to connect artwork with the indigineous roots of Lewiston-Auburn.
*Joseph M. Hall Jr., Associate Professor of History at Bates College, consulted on this blog post.
**LA Arts Summer intern Lea Rosen attends Bates College.