Students And Teachers Students and teachers joined in a sing-along after luch, led by visiting artist Joan Hammel. The MacNamara Foundation is a nonprofit artists' organization, which hosts visiting artists and students.

Students from Wiscasset schools visited the Robert M. MacNamara Foundation at Westport Island on Thursday, April 10 as part of an ongoing program designed to introduce them to artists from around the world.

The Foundation's Studio Manager, Duncan Slade, and Assistant Studio Manager, Morgan Maurer, created kits for assembling and decorating keepsake boxes. Working alongside artists in residence, the students used decorative wooden beads, acrylic gems and beads, paint, and stamps to embellish their works of art.

David Margonelli of Margonelli Fine Furniture, Edgecomb, donated cherry and maple wood for the project, while Salt Bay Framers, Damariscotta, generously provided other supplies.

Since 2002, the non-profit Foundation has hosted more than 160 artists from the United States as well as England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, India, Canada, Italy, Germany, Thailand, the Philippines, Belgium, and Holland.

Current artists in residence include writer/composer Joan Hammel from Illinois; metal smith/sculptor James Walsh from Maine; fiction writer Mae Kuckro and sculptor/installation artist Audrey Russell, both from New York; ceramic artist Michel Conroy from Texas, and non-fiction writer Dr. Phyllis Langton from Virginia.

This is the sixth year the Foundation has sponsored field trips for elementary, middle and high school students from Wiscasset Schools. In addition to an art project and lunch, the students have an opportunity to interview visiting artists and learn about working in various mediums.