Rain check

By ANDREW STEINBEISER | June 16, 2010

Portland Museum of Art | 7 Congress Square, Portland | 207.775.6148 | portlandmuseum.org

Leave the real world far behind

At the Southworth Planetarium, the sky is peeled back, showing the cosmos in all its glory — and with far better views than your average cloudy rain-soaked night. Some of the stuff is geared toward kids ("ABCs of the Sky," for example), but there are plenty of fascinating shows for adults, such as lectures on the astronomy of Stonehenge, and the "Seeing the Invisible Light" program, which flies audiences through parts of the universe that can't be seen by the naked eye, like radio galaxies and gamma-ray bursters. Maybe one day they'll tell us if there's anybody out there . . .

Southworth Planetarium | 96 Falmouth St, Portland | 207.780.4249 | usm.maine.edu/planet

Look, smell, taste, smile

Okay, so brewery tours have a leg up on other tourist attractions — they offer free beer. Portland's brewing industry has several options, with many breweries offering tours weekly or by appointment (call your fave to find out more). Allagash Brewing is the safest bet on short notice, though, with three half-hour tours and tastings every day. A brewery staffer guides visitors among the shiny metal pipes and tanks, breaking down the brewing process from fermentation to finish, immersing you in the bitter smells of yeast and malt, and the rich aromas of top-notch local beer. Learn about what you put in your body!

Allagash Brewing | 50 Industrial Way, Portland | 207.878.5385 | allagash.com

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Related: Summer people, Growing Maine art, Idealist views, More

Summer people
Ever wonder why there is so much professional-level art made and shown in Maine, a state with a total population less than that of many minor cities? One answer is that following the fame of people like Winslow Homer, creative types flocked to Maine, often to artists' colonies.
Growing Maine art
Long ago an art critic of my acquaintance remarked that New York was a border town to Europe, and until fairly recently that was true. Artistic ideas would be born in Europe, often France, and migrate slowly across the Atlantic and take root.
Idealist views
The path through my various responsibilities has led me to the Portland Museum several times in recent weeks, and along most of the floors. While passing through the Julia Margaret Cameron exhibit of photography I was struck by thoughts about templates created by dominant illusions, and how a consistent sense of an ideal world flowed through Cameron's work.
Growth + maturity
The Phoenix 's first 10 years in Portland roughly bracket the period during which I stopped writing about art.
Arc printing
For more than 50 years David Driskell, in his art and his distinguished academic career, has been a creative force in the intersection of modernist art and the African diaspora.
Looking DuBack
Looking backward, history seems a whole lot more orderly than it does while you're living it.
Hope and energy
As we launch into the next decade with a collapsing economy and apocalyptic themes bleeding into every facet of culture, it's particularly hard to be optimistic about the arts, as yes, they are often the first to go.
Cut it out
"Collage: Piecing it Together" at the Portland Museum of Art is a somewhat rambling look at a process that came into use in the beginning of the 20th century as a cubist process bringing images, colors, and shapes together that were previously used elsewhere.
An idyll examined
After 36 films and more than 40 years of filmmaking, Frederick Wiseman has probably come as close as any director to capturing this American life in all its breadth and nuance.
Re-structuring
Three large oil paintings overwhelm the lobby at the Portland Museum of Art, introducing the show "Division and Discovery: Recent Works by Frederick Lynch," a beautiful and meditative collection found on the fourth floor of the museum.
Growing pains
Although no one piece in this spartan biennial is lacking in value, the collective effect is one destined to get lost in the Rolodex.
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ARTICLES BY ANDREW STEINBEISER

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IS IT CALVIN AND HOBBES OR AN ISSUE OF JOE HILL'S LOCKE AND KEY COMIC? EVEN BETTER: IT'S BOTH. | August 18, 2010
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TOUR GUIDE | August 18, 2010
After losing a five-minute stare-down with a drunk man using a Dumpster as a temporary resting place, the Phoenix realized that some Dumpsters were actually better to visit than others.

PORTLAND'S NEW SKATEPARK IS EXACTLY WHAT WE DIDN'T ASK FOR | July 14, 2010
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