First Fridays, Quarry Road Trails, Pecha Kucha set for Waterville

Cross country skiers share the trail while passing through Quarry Road Trails in Waterville last year. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel file photo

WATERVILLE — Several indoor and outdoor events are scheduled around the city this month.

First Fridays

First Fridays: Try! Make! Create! is set for 4-7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6, at multiple locations in downtown Waterville.

The event will celebrate the vibrant creativity of Waterville by inviting people downtown to engage in multidisciplinary arts experiences. On the first Friday of every month, people can meet artists, participate in various workshops, listen to live music, eat local food, and come together as a community.

People can stop by Greene Block + Studios between 4 and 6 p.m. to engage with Where We Are Now: Maps and Doorways, an interactive paper-based installation.

These events are a collaborative program in downtown Waterville. People can discover all the downtown has to offer with music, movies, plays, art making, food, and more. Partners include Green Block + Studios, Colby College Museum of Art, The Framemakers, Front and Main, Incense and Peppermints, and The Robin’s Nest.

Quarry Road Trails

Quarry Road Outdoor Adventures, planned by The Children’s Discovery Museum, are set for every Tuesday at 10 a.m., meet at the Quarry Road Trails Yurt.

The weekly meetups take place completely outside, are socially distanced, last about an hour, and include a walk through the trails and a simple activity.

This program is free, open to all ages and occurs year-round.

Check Facebook for any changes in the schedule, especially during inclement weather.

Pecha Kucha

Trash to Art Pecha Kucha is planned for 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18, at Greene Block + Studios, 18 Main St. in Waterville.

The event is sponsored by the Colby Arts Office.

Those who attend can learn about the process of turning trash into public art from students in the JanPlan class Trash to Art: Upcycled Sculptural Installation, taught by Kim Bernard.

In this class, students work as a creative and collaborative team to transform plastic trash into an upcycled public sculpture to be installed temporarily on the Colby campus. The student cohort will collectively determine an environmental concern they wish to call attention to, research that topic and use their findings to inform their sculpture.

After a big plastic collection campaign, students will clean, shred and extrude No. 2 plastic milk, water and juice jugs into a colorful plastic sculpture that will raise environmental awareness. They also will create supplemental educational information for the viewing public.

The projects’ focus will be to inspire and raise awareness about the importance of preserving natural resources through creativity, community engagement, and environmental awareness.

For more information, email Colby Arts Office Program Manager Tyler French at tfrench@colby.edu.

For a complete listings of Waterville Creates events, or for more information, visit watervillecreates.org.