Programs & Events
Creative Nature Programs
Fostering wonder, curiosity, and care for nature through art.
Wonder Walks
for ages 0–5 + caregiver
Weekly on Fridays, 9–10 AM June 12–September 4, 2026
Wonder Walks are child-centered meanders through the Langlais Art Preserve. Rain or shine, each walk offers new discoveries as the landscape shifts and evolves over the season. Our staff gently facilitate each walk, creating a safe environment for children and their caregivers to engage with outdoor artworks and trailside wonders. Children may choose to borrow a backpack containing simple tools to help them explore. And as the goal of Wonder Walks is not the destination but the journey, the group dynamic will dictate the distance traveled.
Wonder Walks are free.
Donations are appreciated and directly support the Langlais Art Preserve’s operations and programs.
Click the link below to register. You will be redirected to Georges River Land Trust.
Creative Nature Club Summer Camp
for ages 5–10
Two weeks only August 3-7 & August 17-21, 2026
Calling all junior adventurers, artists, observers, and problem solvers!
Each week of Creative Nature Summer Camp revolves around an ecological topic, with time spent exploring the preserve, making art, and having fun outdoors. Through creative, hands-on activities, we’ll build a unique understanding of the dynamic factors at play in the natural world around us.
$225 per session. Registration required. Scholarships are available, please inquire at langlais@grlt.org
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Meant to Bee!
Bugs and their botanical besties
August 3–7 | Ages 5–7
9 AM-1 PM; drop-off begins at 8:45 AM
You knew that some bugs have a favorite plant, but did you know that some plants have a favorite bug too? Come explore the kinship between plants, insects, and the rest of the more-than-human world. All week long, we’ll take an ant’s-eye view of the preserve to get to know more about the hidden friendships and alliances amongst our local ecology.
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Detectives of Nature
Uncovering the story of the land
August 17–21 | Ages 7–10
9 AM-1 PM; drop-off begins at 8:45 AM
Things are not as they seem at the Langlais Art Preserve, and the land is trying to tell us a story about its history, and what it needs in order to thrive. We will tune in as investigators, fact finders, naturalists, and artists, uncovering clues about how human-caused disturbance has impacted the preserve, and what we can do to help.
Watershed Workshops
for teens & adults
Monthly on Saturdays, 2–5 PM May–October 2026
What creative activities can help us reconnect with the non-human members of our watershed —from red oaks to asters to ospreys? How can imagination inspire us to become better stewards of our local nature?
Join regional artists engaged with ecological themes for monthly workshops featuring artist talks, guided nature walks, hands-on art projects, and group discussions. No art experience is needed—just curiosity and a willingness to explore.
Registration fees are pay what you can ($10 suggested), to help offset materials costs. If this fee is a barrier, please get in touch—we want everyone who is interested to be able to participate.
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July 11 | How to Fall in Love with a Flower with Bri Bowman (encore)
An encore of artist and herbalist Bri Bowman’s popular 2025 workshop, featuring meditative listening exercises, crafting personalized flower essences, and co-creation of a sound performance inspired by the natural world.
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August 8 | May I Have Your Attention with Jillian Impastato
A museum educator’s guided exploration of how we experience attention in both art and nature.
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September 5 | Drawing in Place with Eleanor Conover
How can an observational drawing practice extend beyond a single, illusionistic image of a landscape? In this open-ended drawing workshop, we’ll focus on the relationship between text and image, using the built and natural surroundings of the Langlais Art Preserve.
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October 3 | Finding Magic in an Acorn with Joan Sommers
An introduction to the magical boxes of Joseph Cornell (1903-1972), participants will play with juxtaposing the natural and the man-made, focusing on symbolic, metaphorical, or emotional connections to create small sculptural assemblages.
Wild Foraging Series
for teens & adults
July 18, August 15 & October 17, 1–6 PM
Join artist-forager Rachel Alexandrou for seasonal foraging excursions at Langlais and nearby Georges River Land Trust preserves. These five-hour experiences begin with a slow walk to observe, identify, and responsibly harvest edible and useful plants while learning about each landscape’s ecology. Back in the Teaching Studio, a guest craftsperson will demonstrate creative uses of wild materials—such as plant fiber, clay, salt, or acorns—followed by a live cooking demonstration and a shared Wild Food Picnic among the sculptures, inspired by the day’s discoveries.
$125 per session, includes ticket to Wild Food Picnic.
Revenue from the Wild Foraging Series directly supports our free Creative Nature programs, helping us offer accessible, arts- and nature-based experiences for children, families, and our broader community.
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July 18 | Flowers & Clay with Joshua Clukey
A guided foraging walk exploring summer flora and glacial marine clay, followed by a wild clay processing demonstration, and a shared Wild Food Picnic featuring clay-baked and floral inspired foods.
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August 15 | Seaside Foraging & Weaving with Gabrielle Brown
An exploration of the edible and fiber producing plants of the coastal shoreline followed by a cattail-basket weaving workshop and a Wild Food Picnic featuring Rachel’s foraged coastal delicacies.
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October 17 | Mushrooms, Acorns & Sea Salt with Usha Beaudoin
A sea salt-boiling demonstration and a guided forest walk focused on October foraging staples like mushrooms and acorns will culminate in a Wild Food Picnic featuring fall savories and sweets.
Events
Opening Reception
June 26, 2026, 4-6 PM
SEED is a multi-site project by Cushing-based artist and 2026 Maine Visual Arts Fellow Lihua Lei Farley. Created in collaboration with Georges River Land Trust, SEED explores interconnectedness, imagination, and kinship with the natural world through sculpture, performance, and participatory events throughout the summer.
At the heart of the project is an installation in the Langlais Workshop, comprising a central human-butterfly form and dozens of biodegradable egg-like sculptures containing native riparian seeds, messages to the St. George River from local schoolchildren, and fragments from Farley’s handwritten Buddhist Heart Sutra. These seed sculptures will be gradually removed from the installation and offered to the river during the project’s participatory events.
Join us for an opening reception with the artist, including light refreshments, butterfly-wing making (for kids of all ages), and a native riparian plant presentation.
Wild Food Picnics
fun & delicious for all!
July 18, August 15 & October 17, 4–6 PM
An evening among the sculptures featuring imaginative small plates designed and prepared by local forager Rachel Alexandrou using wild edible ingredients.
$35 per person, BYOB + picnic blanket. Some picnic tables available.
Revenue from Wild Food Picnics directly supports our free Creative Nature programs, helping us offer accessible, arts- and nature-based experiences for children, families, and our broader community.
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July 18 | Flowers & Clay
Featuring clay-baked foods and edible flowers in multiple forms, including fritters, sodas, salads, and sweets.
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August 15 | Seaside Foraging
Taste Maine’s finest coastal treats, like sea radish pickles, seaweed snacks, and wild beach green spanakopita.
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October 17 | Mushrooms, Acorns & Sea Salt
Enjoy savory and sweet preparations centered on acorns and wild mushrooms and featuring sea salts from Matinicus Salt Farm.
Watershed Workshop: Tree Withness with Gina Siepel
“Witness trees” are trees recognized for their presence at significant human events. While they connect us to history on an arboreal clock, this concept remains human-centered. What if we shifted focus to the trees themselves —witnessing their long, quietly dramatic lives? Led by interdisciplinary artist and woodworker Gina Siepel, this workshop begins with a presentation on witness trees, followed by playful activities that turn our attention tree-ward. We'll meet the Langlais Preserve’s charismatic trees, exploring who they are, how they live, and imagining their past, present, and future through walking, writing, and discussion.
This workshop will include about 60 minutes of slow-paced walking on the Langlais Woodland Trail.
About Gina: www.ginasiepel.com
Watershed Workshop: Amplifying the Senses: A guided walk with Karen McCoy
Sculptor and land artist Karen McCoy will lead us on a walk designed to heighten our awareness of sound and sharpen our observation of the environment. By slowing our pace, we’ll invite deeper sensory perception. Each participant will carry and learn to use a hand-carved wooden listening and sighting horn and a viewing lens. Engaging in this focused listening and looking becomes a way of assembling sound and sight into a “sensory map,” offering a richer understanding of the landscape.
The entirety of this workshop will involve slow-paced walking on the Langlais Woodland Trail.
About Karen: https://www.karen-mccoy.com/
Sown Sculptures with Rachel Alexandrou
Interdisciplinary artist and forager Rachel Alexandrou will guide a walk around the Langlais Preserve to explore local plant ecology and its connection to landscape change. We'll then shift to a creative session using Presumpscot Formation Clay—the geological foundation of Maine’s landscape—and native seeds. Using simple techniques like molding, modeling, and texturing, participants will create sculptures that can be displayed indoors or planted outdoors to become part of the landscape itself.
About Rachel: https://rachelalexandrou.com/
Watershed Workshop: Practices for Seeing with Allison Cekala
WAIT LIST ONLY
Explore the natural world from a new lens. Inter- disciplinary artist and educator Allison Cekala will begin with a talk about her creative practice. Participants will then head outdoors and be guided through meditative, observational, and artistic prompts, culminating in a series of painted studies inspired by the Langlais Preserve landscape. This workshop invites you to slow down, look closely, and discover new ways of seeing and engaging with the environment.
About Allison: www.allisoncekala.com
Watershed Workshop: How to Fall in Love with a Flower with Bri Bowman
WAIT LIST ONLY
Artist and herbalist Bri Bowman will immerse us in the world of plants through science, sensory awareness, and creative expression. The workshop includes discussions on plant communication, meditative deep listening exercises, formulation of personalized flower essences, and co-creation of a sound performance inspired by the natural world. Participants will leave with a custom essence and a renewed connection to their environment.
This workshop will involve slow-paced walking on the Langlais Woodland Trail.
About Bri: https://waterthroughstone.com
Cushing Community School Little Sprouts Plant & Seedling Sale
Come pick out some brilliant sunflowers, cosmos, or zinnias for your garden, also herbs, cucumbers, and squash. Choose from over fifteen varieties of tomatoes! There will also be perennials, including native plants from Honey Petal Plants, a yummy bake sale, and more.
Hosted by the Cushing Community School Friends & Family Group.
Watershed Workshop: Mapping the Unmappable with Elaine Ng
What does it mean to know a place? Artist Elaine Ng will help us explore different approaches to mapping and how we consider our relationship to our material surroundings. We will begin with an artist talk and brief introduction to different strategies from historic cartography to deep mapping. Participants will then have an opportunity to walk about the Langlais Preserve, apply these ideas and create their own responses with guided exercises using the materials at hand.
About Elaine: www.elainekng.com
River Weaving with Ann McClellan and Billy Ray Sims
This workshop is full.
Ceramicist Ann McClellan and basketmaker Billy Ray Sims will demonstrate willow weaving and show us how to make functional and decorative weavings inspired by the St. George River—birds, fish, bird feeders, and fish traps. We'll discuss sustainable crafting techniques and take a walk to the riverfront to learn about alewives.
This workshop will include 30 minutes of walking on a relatively flat but muddy road.
Please bring along your own craft or pruning shears, if you have them. We’ll also have some to share!
About Ann: https://www.instagram.com/camdenhillsstudio/
About Billy: https://billyraysimsbaskets.com/
Paint the Preserve with the Midcoast Plein Air Painters
Join or observe plein air artists as they work outdoors amid the sculptures, barns, ponds, fields, and forest. Everyone is invited to set up an easel or bring along a sketchpad.
Family Wild Edible Plant Walk
Join local forager Rachel Alexandrou to learn what plants around us are easy and safe to identify and eat from the woods to the shore.
Suggested donation of $20/adult & $10/child under 12
Creative Nature Summer Camp: Capturing Light
Space still available!
Monday–Thursday, 9AM–3PM | Grades K-5 - $240
We’ll uncover the secrets of cyanotype, the captivating photographic art form that uses sunlight to create printed images.
Paint the Preserve with the Cushing Collaborative
Join or observe plein air artists as they work outdoors amid the sculptures, barns, ponds, fields, and forest. Everyone is invited to set up an easel or bring along a sketchpad.
Paint the Preserve with Elizabeth O’Reilly Summer Painting Workshop
Join or observe plein air artists as they work outdoors amid the sculptures, barns, ponds, fields, and forest. Everyone is invited to set up an easel or bring along a sketchpad.
Evening Nature Walk & Gel Printing Workshop with Wild Rosie
$50/person | BYOB, light snacks provided
Join Nina Devenney of Wild Rosie for an evening nature walk and gel-printing workshop in our Teaching Studio.
Barn Studio & Workshop Opening Day
Extend your visit with some nature-inspired creativity in our new community art-making space, explore Langlais’s workshop, and watch an historic film of the art environment.
Cushing Community School Little Sprouts Plant & Seedling Sale
It’s now a tradition! Pick out your season’s vegetable and flower seedlings, herbs, and perennials, a baked good or two, and more.
Hosted by the Cushing Community School Friends & Family Group.