Getting to know Phoebe Dean: Delightful barely begins to describe my recent experience of spending time talking with 21-year-old self-taught artist Phoebe Dean. In addition to being very accomplished in the art of drawing, Dean is also a barista at downtown Damariscotta coffee bar and co-working space Buzz Maine. She is the one responsible for making the cool-looking new signage tacked onto the front counter at Buzz.

Luoma landscapes: I braved the latest round of snow to head over to the Hall Gallery at LincolnHealth’s Miles Campus in Damariscotta to see Alna artist Jon Luoma’s new exhibit “Landscape Watercolors of Maine, Newfoundland, the Galapagos, and Beyond.”

River Arts rocks it: There is a fabulous new exhibit on the walls (and pedestals) of the River Arts gallery in Damariscotta. “Figures & Sculpture” features the work of more than 60 artists from all over Maine, including such names as Belfast’s David Estey and Rockland painter Ronald Frontin.

Viva, Rhodes and Garren: “Viva Cuba” is the name of the fantastic photography exhibit currently on the walls of The Carey Gallery at Skidompha Library in Damariscotta. Featuring photographs from recent trips to Cuba by Katherine Garren, of Damariscotta, and Gisela H. Rhodes, of Newcastle, this show is must-see stuff. Rhodes (and her dog), incidentally, volunteer once a week at Skidompha.

Die Kunst des feinen Porzellans: I am back from my two-week vacation in Bavaria, Germany, where I had a great time. One of the interesting arts-related things I did – besides just taking in some of the beautiful architecture, such as Wahnfried Haus in Bayreuth, the preserved former home of the late German composer Richard Wagner – was check out Seltmann Weiden, the world-famous manufacturer of fine porcelain in the small city of Weiden in der Oberpfalz, where my son and his family live.