Reception honoring artist William Manning

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Past Event ....... December 6^th, 2009 — 2:00 pm

Tocsin by William Manning Sunday, Dec. 6, 2-3:30 p.m. in Callahan Hall, a reception honoring noted Maine artist William Manning in recognition of his recent gift to the library of his painting Tocsin. Free.

Further details:

The public is invited to meet noted Maine artist William Manning at a reception being held in his honor in Callahan Hall at the Lewiston Public Library on Sunday, Dec. 6, from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

The event was planned in recognition of Manning’s recent gift to the Library of his painting Tocsin, and will feature remarks from Bates College Museum of Art curator William Low and LPL Board member and art critic Philip Isaacson, as well as comments from the artist himself. Light refreshments will be served.

A Lewiston native who now resides in Falmouth, Manning has over the last five decades created a body of work which, according to LPL director Rick Speer, “has been hailed as completely original and evocative of his Maine roots.” His works are in many collections, including Bates and Colby colleges, the Farnsworth Museum, and the Portland Museum of Art.

Before he left Lewiston in 1954 at the age of 18, Manning was a frequent visitor to the Lewiston Public Library. Decades later, he drove from Portland to Lewiston every two weeks to pick up books for his elderly mother. “Each timeÂ I made a point of looking at the painting by Marsden Hartley that the library owned,” he says, and “I always thought that if I became a painter of some worth that I would like to emulate Marsden Hartley’s generous donation of a painting.”

Since that time the library has, in Manning’s view, become an even more vital institution within the community, hence his recent decision to offer the facility one of his own works of art. “I am most appreciative that the Library accepted the painting,” says Manning, “which allows me to give something back to the city for all it gave to me.”

The Dec. 6 reception is open to the public free of charge. The library is located at 200 Lisbon Street at the corner of Pine Street in downtown Lewiston. More information is available by contacting the library at 513-3119.

Posted: Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 in Art