Haul of Mirrors Maine Discovery Museum’s new fund-raiser is ‘Lookin’ Good’

Start with: “Mirror, mirror on the wall” or think: “Here’s looking at you, kid.” No matter how you see it, the Maine Discovery Museum has a mirror for your walls. As part of a benefit fund-raiser on Saturday, Nov. 6, at Norumbega Hall, the museum will auction off more than 80 mirrors decorated by artists throughout the state.

Called Lookin’ Good, the annual event begins with a preview and silent auction at 5 p.m., followed by dinner. The actual auction begins at 8 p.m.

Last year, a pool of 65 artists donated children’s rocking chairs they had painted with whimsical imagery. Some went for $500 to $1,000. A chair decorated by Bangor artist Jan Owen sold for $1,500. (Owen also contributed a piece to this year’s event.) The bidding for the mirrors in the silent auction starts at $60, and organizers are hoping to raise as much as $25,000 for the museum.

“Last year, I didn’t have anybody to use one of the little rocking chairs but I had to have one for my home. It’s just a gorgeous piece of art, and I know it contributed something to the museum and to children’s lives in Maine,” said Susan Carlisle, chairwoman of the Lookin’ Good project and vice president of the museum’s board of directors.

Over the last few months, artists received mirrors specially framed in poplar by Hampden cabinetmaker Thomas Hutchinson. Their directive was to decorate the wooden frames in a style and medium of their choice – paint, assemblage, mosaics, fibers and natural elements. Flowers, dragons, seascapes, teddy bears, forest scenes, literary quotations and fantasy worlds are some of the themes the artists chose.

“It’s a very gratifying project,” said Brenda Ferguson, a Dixmont artist who painted morning glories on a rocking chair for last year’s auction. This year, the sunflowers her husband and son grew in the family garden inspired her. Her mirror is bursting with those images. “These are artists whose work I go to see at art shows, and to be among them is wonderful. But I also like the idea that these chairs and mirrors will be with the family that purchases them through the generations.”

In August, during the National Folk Festival, a handful of the mirrors were displayed in Bangor storefronts to promote the event. In recent weeks, more mirrors have been on display throughout the downtown area. They will be up in various stores and businesses through Wednesday, Nov. 3, when they will then be moved to Norumbega Hall for the events on Saturday.

A sold-out crowd of several hundred people attended last year’s dinner and auction. Carlisle is expecting similar numbers this year, in part, she said, because the museum has made such a positive impact on the downtown cultural scene. Combined with other cultural institutions – the University of Maine Art Gallery, Penobscot Theatre Company, Bangor Museum and Center for History, two ballet companies and the offices for the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, for example – the Maine Discovery Museum has brought attention to the city’s Main Street.

“It has shown itself as a huge draw for people near and far,” said Carlisle. “We’ve had visitors from all over the world. The museum is kind of like the Folk Festival in that way; it brings people here and leads to other development.”

The development includes the museum, too. In October, a redesigned museum store Too Much Fun opened with all new merchandise, said executive director Andrea Stark. The original store that opened with the museum in 2001 was a privately owned business. Now, the museum owns and manages Too Much Fun and is the sole beneficiary from sales. The store will be holding an open house for adults 5-8 p.m. Nov. 19.

Sales from the store, as well as the upcoming fund-raising events, ticket sales and other public programs make up the museum’s annual operating budget of $625,000.

Tickets for the dinner and auction event, which is open to the public, are $40 per person. Anyone unable to attend the event can view the mirrors online and place absentee bids.

“One of the things we highlight at the museum is art-making by children,” said Stark. “The mirror project ties into that so beautifully because it brings professional artists in service to that program.”

For information about Maine Discovery Museum, the benefit dinner and auction on Nov. 6, and the Lookin’ Good project, call 262-7200 or visit www.mainediscoverymuseum.org. Alicia Anstead can be reached at 990-8266 and aanstead@bangordailynews.net.