The Edgecomb Town Hall is a busy place this coming Sunday, May 14! At 2:00 p.m., the North Edgecomb Cemetery Society is holding its annual meeting. They would welcome new members! From 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., the Midcoast Unitarian Universalist Fellowship is sponsoring a talk by Greg Field, executive director of Peace Action Maine, on the Smart Security Platform, which offers a new approach to nuclear weapons policy, terrorism control and U.S. foreign policy in general.
Early alert: Friday, May 21, is Edgecomb's Election Day. The polls open at 1:00 p.m. and close at 7:00 p.m. All candidates are unopposed: Frank Perkins for selectman, Steve Ward for school board, Erin Cooperrider and Bruce Cameron for two seats on the planning board, all 3-year terms; Claudia Coffin for town clerk/treasurer, Lee Smith for tax collector, Russell Griffin for road commissioner, all 1-year terms.
Saturday, May 22 is the Annual Town Meeting, from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. or until our business has been conducted. It will be held in the Edgecomb Eddy School auditorium. I hope to see you all there, celebrating and upholding the last bastion of direct democracy in this country!
Meanwhile, I spent a couple hours and lotsa money at the Edgecomb Eddy Spring Fling last Saturday, a festive but wind-blown, glorious but chilly day in the sun. "Oh, no!" my spouse greeted my return. "Not more books!"
Bob and Cyndy Brown are back from more adventures in the Far West.
Bruce and I spent last Tuesday in the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston, on a Portland Art Museum Docents-sponsored trip to see the big international exhibit, Gauguin in Tahiti. It was sumptuous! The centerpiece was the big canvas called "Where Do We Come From? Who Are We? Where Are We Going?" which was flanked by a number of subsequent paintings expanding on details in the larger work. Along with his paintings, wood blocks, carvings, ceramics and graphics were actual items the artist used for inspiration; for instance: a number of illustrations of Hindu and Buddhist art, details of which can be found in the poses of his human figures; anatomical studies of horses; a Tibetan text on horn, from which he took several characters he used as cryptic symbols in several paintings. There was no time to view the videoed edition of his Noa Noa, a scrapbook cum journal of his life in Tahiti and the Marquesas, but we were able to admire the open book in its glass cube.
We were one of the last groups to tour the Gauguin exhibit that day. While we waited we lucked into a wonderful gallery of Japanese post cards. These miniatures captured the Japanese transition into Western styles and techniques of expression, blended with their own artistic traditions. Some were fashion statements: traditional kimonos side by side with Western frocks of the late 1920s; others were humorous, for instance, a series updating the ancient gods of Japan. My favorite was the god of war, Ni-O, struggling to don a European military uniform. My only quibble with the museum: I thought European art drew upon the Japanese in developing Art Nouveau. The labels gave the idea that Japanese artists drew on Europe's Art Nouveau for their own trending into modernism. Oh, well. The cards were delightful, and of great interest to Bruce for their postal significance, as well.
And then! We literally stumbled on a display, held over by common consent with the lenders, of lavish Chinese imperial court robes, all featuring the Nine Dragons of the Ming and Qing Dynasties! Amid all the splendid colors (bright yellow for the Emperor, apricot orange for the Heir Apparent) and designs of waves, mountains, lesser mythological creatures soaring among the dragons, for me the most striking robe was all black, loaded with silver thread embroidery in these same themes!
Steeped in Hoch Kultur at 234 River Road, 633-2978, bonesukl@midcoast.com. This column appears in several local papers, and at www.Edgecomb.org.