PORTLAND — This month’s First Friday Art Walk, on the evening of Dec. 7, promises a variety of festivities for downtown strollers.

• The Portland Museum of Art holds its annual Copper Beech Tree Lighting starting at 5 p.m.

Acoustic concerts and illuminated window displays by local artists will fill the galleries, while outside, the Vox Nova Chamber Choir will perform holiday choral music. The evening will end with the lighting of the tree at 7 p.m.

• Maine College of Art students will sell art in exchange for volunteer service at a “Yankee swap pop-up shop,” at 85 Free St., from 6:30-9 p.m.

The pop-up shop, part of a MECA class assignment, will allow the public to buy student art by pledging to volunteer time to family, neighbors or a community organization. The shop will feature a social media booth where purchases and time commitments are recorded on the event’s Facebook page.

• While the theme may not be holiday-inspired, the city is hosting a special discussion of the iconic “Maine Lobsterman” statue, at Temple and Middle streets, at 5:30 p.m.

The discussion will be led by Patricia Murtagh, a member of the Portland Public Art Committee, which oversees the city’s 29 pieces of public art.

Sculpted by Victor Kahill for the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City, the statue is one of the collection’s most well-known and well-loved works.

The First Friday Art Walk is a popular, free, monthly open house of Portland galleries, studios and museums, sponsored by the city and Portland’s Downtown District.

William Hall can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 106 or whall@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @hallwilliam4.


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