In conjunction with its "Un/Coverings" exhibition, the Farnsworth Museum will present a Fiber Arts Festival on Saturday, October 9. This activity-filled day, offering live demonstrations and hands-on art activities with felt, paper making, tie-dying and more, is open to all ages from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cost for attending the festival is $2, members free. As part of the daylong celebration of Fiber Arts, there will be a panel discussion at 3 p.m., free with museum admission, which will illuminate the processes and idiosyncrasies of fiber as a medium and art form. Panelists are artists represented in "Un/Coverings" and will be available for questions immediately following the panel discussion. A reception will be held honoring exhibiting fiber artists from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Open to the public; entrance is free with museum admission. For more information, please call the Farnsworth at (207)596-6457.

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After a successful summer, "Japan and Nature: Spirits of the Seasons" leaves at the Children's Museum of Maine on Monday, October 11. This 900-square-foot exhibit invited children to discover and explore how their counterparts in Japan celebrate and experience their natural environment through hands-on, object-based interactives and multi-media. Organized around universal aspects of childhood-family, school, play, and holiday celebrations-the exhibit encourages visitors to investigate how children living in Japan today understand nature through special seasonal and everyday environments and activities. Call the Museum at (207)828-1234 for more information.

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On Wednesday, October 13, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, president of the American Sufi Muslim Association, will present "Islam and the Challenge of America: A New Vision for Jews, Christians, and Muslims." The presentation and panel discussion are co-sponsored by Jewish, Catholic, and Islamic organizations. The program runs from 7-9 p.m. at Temple Beth-El, 400 Deering Avenue, Portland. For more information, please contact Professor Abraham J. Peck at the USM School of Law, (207)780-5331.

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"Threatened and Endangered," the traveling exhibition of artist's books by Rebecca Goodale featured in the MHC Spring 2004 newsletter, has opened at the Bowdoin College's Hawthorne-Longfellow Library. The show presents works that combine silk screen, painting techniques, and cutouts with a variety of book structures. Please call Bowdoin at (207)725-3280 for more information.

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The Franco-American Heritage Society of Kennebec Valley held the grand opening of "Museum in the Streets." The project includes ten plaques that depict the lives of Franco-Americans through photographs and information written in both English and French. The plaques will be permanently stationed throughout the South End of Waterville.

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"Un/Coverings: Contemporary Maine Fiber Art" opened at the Farnsworth Museum. The exhibition is one of the central events of this year's celebration "Maine Fiberarts: State of Fiber 2004." The exhibition examines the ways in which fiber can both protect, conceal, and reveal the physical and spiritual self, and overturns conventional ideas about fabric as functional craft. Artists represented in the show include Catherine Draper, Emily Freeman, Richard Lee, Susan Barrett Merrill, Jeannie Mooney, Arlene Morris, Anne Nemrow, Margaret Schwarcz, Donald Talbot, Patricia Wheeler, and Susan Winn. Please call the Farnsworth at (207)596-6457 for more information.

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The Curtis Memorial Library's "Cornerstones of Science" book discussion series began on September 22. E.O. Wilson's The Future of Life is being discussed in chapter order over the course of seven Wednesdays through November 3. The public is invited to bring lunch and join area authors, scientists and educators in compelling discussions on one or all of the series days. The program is free and takes place from noon to 1 p.m. in the Morrell Meeting Room at 23 Pleasant Street in Brunswick. For more information, call Jocelyn Hubbell at (207)725-5242.

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"John Walker: A Winter in Maine" opened at the University of Maine Museum of Art in Bangor. Walker's paintings are in the collections of the most distinguished art institutions in the world, including the British Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. The exhibition takes place at the Museum's Norumbega Hall in downtown Bangor. For more information, please call the University of Maine Museum of Art at (207)561-3350.

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On Wednesday, October 6, the Chekhov Centenary Festival opens at Colby College in Waterville. This four-day celebration marks the 100th anniversary of Anton Chekhov's death. The conference has been designed both for the general public and for the campus community. Events including films, lectures, readings, performances, and panels are open to the public. For more information, contact festival co-organizer Julie de Sherbinin in the department of German and Russian at Colby, (207)872-3664. www.colby.edu/news/detail/501/

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"Living Green: Examining Sustainability" is an exhibit exploring current trends in sustainable art and architecture at the Institute for Contemporary Art in Portland. By what standards do we label an object or building as green? Is sustainable architecture self-referential, applying only to the environmental concerns of the structure, or is there a more ephemeral component to sustainability, a necessary consideration of the mutual impact of humans and structure upon one another within the environment? Artist Marguerite Kahrl, international art/architecture collaborative Spurse, and the Architectural League of New York's Ten Shades of Green come together to examine the limits and possibilities of sustainability. For more information, call the Institute for Contemporary Art at (207)879-5742 x229.

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