Buzz Maine owner Jen VanHorne is excited about the downtown Damariscotta cafe’s new Stage and Screen Discussion Group. (Christine LaPado-Breglia photo)
Getting into the arts at Buzz Maine: Things are happening over at Buzz Maine, the cool cafe and collaborative co-working space at 133 Main St. in Damariscotta. Besides making great drinks like chai and turmeric lattes, and baking some yummy muffins and pizzas, Buzz Maine has been adding arts-and-crafts-focused regular evening get-togethers to its lineup. Wine (& Knitting) Wednesday takes place every Wednesday from 5-7 p.m., and Paint & Wine Night happens every Thursday from 5-7 p.m.
The latest is its Stage and Screen Discussion Group, which started up June 13 and meets every second Tuesday. The next one will take place on June 27 at 5 p.m.
Buzz Maine owner Jen VanHorne, who is also an oil painter, leads the Paint & Wine Night group as well as the Wine (& Knitting) Wednesday group. She sat down with me recently in the business’s recently added second-floor space for a chat about the cafe’s newest group, which is facilitated by travel writer Tom Tripp and Heartwood Regional Theater Company’s Nanette Fraser.
VanHorne enthusiastically described Tripp as “a total stage and screen aficionado – like you can’t stump him!” She said that Tripp and Fraser came to her with the idea for the group, which focuses on movies and theater of the Midcoast and of Maine, in that order. “They want the focus to be Midcoast first, Maine second,” VanHorne said. “Also, present-day (theater and film) is number one, and then they will look at things historically.”
“They are coming at it from all angles,” said VanHorne. Discussions can range anywhere from being about the perspectives of local writers and artists to the history of theater and theaters. VanHorne said that Fraser and Tripp are eager to hear what people are interested in discussing in the group. Already they plan to have someone come to speak about the history of Lincoln Theater and of The Strand Theatre in Rockland.
Find Buzz Maine at buzzmaine.com and on Facebook. Call 563-2224 for more information.
Wiscasset artist Nick Dalton’s public art piece “Hesper” honors the defunct four-masted schooner Hesper. (Christine LaPado-Breglia photo)
Hesper back on the waterfront: Wiscasset artist Nick Dalton’s large public art piece, “Hesper,” an homage to the defunct schooner Hesper that inhabited the Wiscasset waterfront for many years, is up and running next door to QT’s Ice Cream Parlor at the Recreational Pier in Wiscasset. Featuring the word “Hesper” in giant block letters fashioned from PVC pipe and a water fountain that works, the outdoor sculpture is worth checking out. A good time to do that is Thursday, June 28 from 5-8 p.m. during the first Wiscasset Art Walk of the season, when Dalton will be available to chat with people about his art, its meaning, and the history of the Hesper and its companion schooner, the Luther Little, also long-defunct.
“Hesper” will be on view until sometime in October.
(Email me at clbreglia@lcnme.com or write me a letter in care of The Lincoln County News, P.O. Box 36, Damariscotta, ME 04543. I love to hear from readers.)
