Hands-on artmaking is the theme of the Wiscasset Art Walk on Thursday, July 29 from 5 to 8 p.m. The Hasenfus Gallery, 64 Main St., will be the pop-up studio for Scrapwood Renaissance artist Eric Graffam and painter Jessica Chaples.  Talk with these two Maine artists as they work in wood and paint.   

“My sculptures are born out of what other people throw away, give away, or forget about,” says Graffam, “and, in turn, I take those items and give each piece a new life - a renaissance.  Rather than ending up in a landfill, the old, rusty bits I find become whatever sculpture they tell me to make; whether it be a king fish, a seagull with attitude, or a mechanical crab.”

Graffam worked for years as a photographer and art director in the catalog industry, but shortly after the birth of his son, Peter, ten years ago, Graffam began experimenting with found object sculpture and Scrapwood Renaissance took wing. 

Jessica Chaples is a trained painter and illustrator and provides verse for husband Eric’s sculpture pieces. “When I create my art,” she says, “I am always looking at color, texture, and energy of line. I enjoy experimenting with different painting approaches and building up the surface of the canvas or board. For me, it’s about working through my impression of the moment.” In addition to the parents, young Peter will also be in the pop-up studio. “He loves to draw portraits of people spontaneously,” his mother said. 

Mural-making on Middle Street returns to the July WAW with artist Celia Ludwig inviting strollers to add some brush strokes to a community mural with an abstract theme. Heading down the sidewalk, Jan Whitfield offers on-the-spot tutorials to visitors who want to give shell decoupage a try.

The Village galleries, Wiscasset Bay Gallery, Ingram Art and Antiques, and Sylvan Gallery, will offer splendid art for joyous viewing. Sylvan Gallery opens its exhibition, “Neil Hughes and Crista Pisano: Interpreting Landscapes – Two Points of View,” with both award-winning artists in the gallery to talk with visitors.

In addition to viewing and making art, Downeast Brass on the sidewalks, music in the galleries, and community tables and select vendors on the sidewalks, will give strollers a very busy night.

Wiscasset Art Walk 2021 is made possible by Lead Sponsors Donna and Frank Barnako and First National Bank. Major Sponsors are Ames True Value, Big Barn Coffee, Carriage House Gardens, Cod Cove Inn, Fogg Art Restoration, Industrial ME, J. Edward Knight Insurance, Newcastle Realty, Peter H. Eaton Antiques, Red’s Eats, Rock Paper Scissors, Sarah’s Café, and Tim Dunham Realty.

For more information about Wiscasset Art Walk, www.wiscassetartwalk.org or send a message to wiscassetartwalk@verizon.net. Wiscasset Art Walk is a program of Wiscasset Creative Alliance.