Waterfall Arts in collaboration with Dark Sky Maine and the Union of Maine Visual Artists presents Dark Skies, a juried art exhibit opening January 17 and continuing to February 28 at Waterfall Arts, 256 High St., Belfast, Maine. An artists’ reception is set for Saturday, January 18 from 1-3 pm. Over 30 artists and invited artists participated in this exhibit, which will also include guest speakers, films and activities to help to promote dark skies and protect our natural environment. This is the 2 collaborative exhibition that UMVA has partnered with Waterfall Arts.

This dynamic show of paintings, photographs and other artworks celebrating and encouraging the appreciation of the night sky was juried by Nancy Hathaway, (President/Co-founder of Dark Sky Maine https://darkskymaine.com/) and UMVA members Liv Kristin Robinson (photographer); Emily Sabino (painter) & Arlene Jurewicz Leighton (photographer). Participating and guest artists include Katherine Bradford, Linden Frederick, Emily Nelligan (deceased),John Meader, Frances Hynes, Jane Dahmen, Lesia Sochor, Jeff Epstein, Alan Fishman and Jim Nickelson.

There are many events, talks and activities scheduled for Waterfall Arts and other venues during the months of January and February.

Jan 18th 1-3 pm  -  artists' reception and talk by Nancy Hathaway, founder of Dark Sky Maine will give a short speech about exhibition and her founding of Dark Sky Maine.  It will include info on the 28 minute video ‘Defending the Dark’... available on their website www.darkskymaine.com

Jan 25th 1:30-3:30 - The film "Wilfred Buck", a hybrid documentary following the life of Wilfred Buck, a charismatic and irreverent Cree elder who overcame a harrowing history by reclaiming ancestral star knowledge and ceremony at the Belfast Public Library, 75 Main St.

On Feb 1, Waterfall Arts presents an Art Together morning from 10 am to noon for children and parents that will be a glow-in-the-dark constellations project. Waterfall Arts also offers a Feb 8 event from 2:30 to 4:30 pm, with bookmaker Joelle Webber offering a Lantern Making workshop and afterward an all-ages walk across the pedestrian bridge to "light up the night" at sunset.

An all-ages program is scheduled for Saturday Feb 15 from 1 to 3 pm at Waterfall Artswith John Meader, founder of the Northern Sky Planetarium and Serena Sanborn, a Maine Master Naturalist, arts programmer and community outreach organizer at Waterville Creates, about the need to preserve and cherish dark skies for the health of the ecosystem. The art work in the exhibition will be explored to inform and inspire.  A dark sky zine will be available to color.

On Saturday Feb 22, from 1pm to 2pm at Waterfall Arts, Elizabeth Dickerson, of the Maine Aurora Borealis Watch Facebook group with over 63,000 followers, presents a program called: Sky Trekkers: Maine Aurora Borealis Watch. Our sun is at its peak of solar maximum into 2025 which gives us just the right conditions to see them. 

The Union of Maine Visual Artists, UMVA, founded in 1975, is a non-profit organization that promotes and advocates for the visual arts, artists, and all arts supporters. It is a statewide arts network connecting Maine artists. As artist advocates, the UMVA initiated and saw enacted into state law the Maine Percent for Art Program (requiring a percentage of funds for state buildings to include art) and the Artist's Estate Tax Law (allowing art work to be used to pay artists estate taxes). Other programs and projects supported by UMVA include: The Maine Arts Journal, an online, quarterly publication The Journal features essays by and about artists, interviews, UMVA member submissions, poetry, UMVA updates about its current projects, local chapters, and more; ARRT! Artists' Rapid Response Team, a collaboration of artists & progressive groups making art to create positive change;Lumen ARRT!!, a group creating large-scale video projections in public spaces to give a visual voice to progressive non-profits; and the New England Emmy Award-nominated Maine Masters Project, a video series of 19 compelling profiles of some of Maine’s most distinguished and often less recognized artists. There are currently two chapters: Portland and Midcoast-Downeast. More information is at www.TheUMVA.org.