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BIDDEFORD, Maine

UNE-MGEC Living Art-Living Well Studio second seminar features Acadian woodcarver Tom Cote

Community health professionals/providers, health professions faculty, and students are invited to participate in the "Living Art-Living Well Studio" second seminar series.  This series - sponsored by the University of New England Maine Geriatric Education Center (UNE-MGEC) in partnership with Cultural Resources, Inc. and the Maine Arts Commission - is offering this model learning seminar series to increase awareness and knowledge regarding the impact of art in aging and how creativity matters to the health of the body, mind and spirit of older adults.

"Living Art-Living Well Studio" #2 takes place Tuesday, February 22, 2011 from 12:00-2:00 p.m. at the University of New England Westbrook College of Health Professions Lecture Hall on UNE's Portland Campus.  This seminar features Acadian woodcarver Tom Coté and his apprentice/granddaughter, 13-year-old woodcarver Ellyzabeth Bencivenga.

"Ms Bencivenga's artist's eye and talent for tools have earned her four Best of Show ribbons, two Best of Category ribbons in competitions ranging from the Presque Isle fair to the Maine Fair.  She also has won back-to-back Downeast Woodcarving and Wildlife Art Show Best Youth Carving awards and has even been a featured apprentice during the music festival in Bangor," said  Natalie Bazinet in the Aroostook Republican & News Oct 7, 2010.

"Living Art - Living Well Studio" is an opportunity to explore the connection between traditional art, cultural legacy and life review, as well as to explore the role these play in health, aging and positive decision-making and how this informs the practice of health care.
 
Thomas Cote´ of Limestone, Maine, comes from a long line of talented woodcarvers,  stretching as far back to his great, great grandfather, Jean Baptiste Cote´ , a noted carver from Quebec, to his mother who showed him how to use a jackknife when he was 12-years-old.

As a master woodcarver, Thomas Cote_ shares this heritage with his apprentices Jessica Stackhouse and Ellyzabeth S. Bencivenga.  He says, "Inspiration for my work comes from history and places, things and people I have seen throughout my life.  I want to teach my apprentices that carvers have a tradition of dealing with the shaping of dull, common, and ordinary things into objects of interest and value, using raw materials to enrich the lives of family and friends."
 
This seminar is free for all participants. For seminar-related questions, please contact Judith A. Metcalf, Director UNE-MGEC at 207-221-4459 or e-mail jmetcalf@une.edu.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.