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 Artists collective revives Grange hall... - Machias, ME Posted by:  T0SHEA
N 44° 42.798 W 067° 27.431
19T E 622202 N 4952260
Across the river from Machias proper, this wood framed Grange Hall continues to be used as a Grange meeting hall, as well as a cultural centre.
Waymark Code: WMQB8P
Location: Maine, United States
Date Posted: 01/27/2016
Views: 2
As with a great many Granges, attendance has dwindled in recent years. In 2001, dwindling attendance forced the Machias Valley Grange to sell their building to an artists' cooperative, who maintain the Machias Valley Grange Hall as a community cultural center. However, the few remaining Grange members are still able to meet in the building.
An article about the transfer of the building and its status in 2001 was published by the Bangor Daily News on June 26, 2001, shortly after the artists' cooperative had taken over the building. The first half of the article can be read below.
Organized by 1903, the Machias Valley Grange met in the third story hall of the Pennell Block in Machias until November 15th 1904. It was on that day that the Pennell Block burned to the ground, taking with it all of the Grange property in the building. The Grange was then forced to meet in various other places in Machias, including the Knights of Pythias Hall. The members soon began exploring the possibility of building their own hall, and in the meantime received its charter as Patrons of Husbandry Grange # 360 on January 5, 1905.
In September of 1905 they purchased the lot on which had stood their old meeting place, the Pennell Block. They built a new hall on the footings and foundation of the old building, giving them a meeting hall 36 by 50 feet in dimension and two and a half story in height. 
Artists collective revives Grange hall
Machias landmark host to creation of mosaic for Unity exhibition hall
By Mary Anne Clancy, BDN Staff
This story was published on June 26, 2001
MACHIAS – For the first time in almost five years, the old Machias Grange Hall is alive with activity as a small group of socially active artisans works on a stone mosaic mural that will be part of an agricultural exhibition hall at the site of Maine’s Common Ground Country Fair in Unity.
Members of a group known as the Beehive Design Collective say they will use the spacious two-story building to cut, design and assemble a 400-square-foot floor mural for the new Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association exhibition hall.
The work – a storyboard centerpiece of giant insects and plants that depicts the history of modern agriculture and its potential future – will take three to five years to finish.
The mosaic will be on the concrete floor of the 40-by-80-foot exhibition hall at MOFGA headquarters in Unity. Kim Grier, the Gouldsboro woman who launched the collective, came forward with the idea of the mural and is funding the work through a number of small grants, said Russell Libby, MOFGA’s executive director.
The hall is MOFGA’s educational facility, Libby said. Every September, more than 40,000 people visit the hall during the Common Ground Country Fair, which celebrates rural life with demonstrations and Maine-produced food and crafts.
Unlike most mosaics, which are two-dimensional designs constructed from broken ceramic or glass fragments, the collective hand-cuts stone in a variety of shapes to reflect the fur, feathers and skin of the creatures depicted in the work.
“It takes 20 to 30 hours a square foot,” said one of the collective’s members, Mitzi Christianson.
As the collective creates the work in Machias, its members say they are eager to open the 97-year-old Grange Hall to the community next month.
Sky Hall, another member of the collective, will concentrate on community outreach. “We want to have people use the space for public suppers. And [artist] Pat Sharp is going to be doing a mural project with kids this summer.”
Sharp’s paintings are on display this month at Milbridge Historical Society, and she has been doing murals for 20 years, Hall said.
From the Bangor Daily News
Type of publication: Newspaper
When was the article reported?: 06/26/2001
Publication: Bangor Daily News
Article Url: [Web Link]
Is Registration Required?: no
How widespread was the article reported?: regional
News Category: Arts/Culture
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