A whimsical sketch by Kathi Nordone. Nordone creates customized drawings of people in a setting designated by the customer.
Local gem: I had the opportunity to meet Damariscotta singer-songwriter Kathi Nordone recently when she stopped by The Lincoln County News to chat with me. Besides being a musician, Nordone is also a talented visual artist, who specializes in elaborate line drawings. Recently, she began offering whimsical customized sketches for sale, featuring people in the setting of their choice .
Nordone has lived in Maine since 2008. Originally “from a big Italian family in Westchester, N.Y.,” she has “traveled a lot,” she said. Before moving to Maine, Nordone taught art at a community college in Austin, Texas. She said the thought came to her one day: “I don’t think I want to die in Austin, far away from my family.” “My heart and soul was from the beauty of the Northeast where I was raised,” she explained.
As I write this, I am listening to Nordone’s “Greater Than Gold” CD, a pleasant accompaniment to my morning. In the touching song “Where I’m From,” she tells the listener exactly where she is from: “a little red house that my daddy built by hand/top of a hill near a little lake where I swam.” Go to kathinordone.com to learn more about Nordone’s music and drawings and to contact her. Nordone will perform from 6-8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11 at Saint George River Cafe, 310 Main St., Warren.
Watershed artist residencies: I received an email recently announcing that Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Newcastle is currently accepting residency applications for upcoming summer sessions. “Spend uninterrupted time in the Watershed studio making work and connecting with other artists,” is how the email introduced the June, July, and August residencies.
Session I, “Earth, Wind, and Fire,” runs June 4-16. Session I attendees will get to work with a group of six ceramic artists creating large pieces “that may utilize fire, paper clay, and other ephemeral materials.”
Session II, “The Object’s Not the Point,” runs June 18-30. Ceramics-and-performance collective The Brick Factory and Portland, Ore.-based writer and educator Namita Gupta Wiggers will lead this session, in which participants will “investigate the possibilities of socially engaged ceramic work.”
Session III, “Directly Play(ful),” runs July 2-19. Featuring collaborations, discussions, and field trips, this session will explore how a sense of play affects one’s artistic process. Session III includes the popular Salad Days event on Saturday, July 8.
Session IV, “Reawakenings,” runs July 23 to Aug. 4. Ceramicists from Tulsa, Okla. lead this session exploring the role that clay artists have in the cultural development of small U.S. cities.
Session V, “Confluence and Influence,” runs Aug. 6-18. “Join a diverse group of artists, from large-scale sculptors to functional potters, to explore how working alongside one another in the Watershed studio will influence your work,” says the session description. This session is full, but one can get on a waiting list by emailing info@watershedceramics.org.
Session VI, a wood-firing workshop with Pennsylvania potter and writer Jack Troy, is set for Aug. 20-28.
Residency costs are $875 for a two-week residency and $1,150 for a 2 1/2-week residency, plus a housing fee. Work-exchange positions and scholarships are available. One of the scholarships is the brand-new Zenobia Award, a full scholarship “for an artist of color with exceptional talent,” as the email described it.
Go to watershedceramics.org for more information.
Open mic at the opera house: The Opera House at Boothbay Harbor, at 86 Townsend Ave. in Boothbay Harbor, is hosting a third-Friday open mic at 7 p.m., Friday, Jan. 20. Instrumentalists, vocalists, poets, and more are encouraged to attend. A piano is available for musicians’ use. The venue’s upstairs bar will open at 6:30 p.m. for talent sign-ups and early admission. No admission charge, but donations are welcome. Go to boothbayoperahouse.com or call 633-6855 for more information.
Write to me at clbreglia@lcnme.com.
