The Portland Symphony Orchestra announced today that former conductor and music director Bruce Hangen will return to the orchestra in December to conduct this year’s "Magic of Christmas" concerts at Merrill Auditorium.

Hangen served as music director of the PSO from 1976 to 1985, preceding Toshiyuki Shimada. He helped originate "Magic" when it began 28 years ago.

Hangen currently directs the orchestra programs at Boston Conservatory, and recently retired as principal guest conductor of the Boston Pops.

“We are thrilled and honored to welcome Bruce Hangen back to lead this year’s Magic of Christmas,” PSO executive director Ari Solotoff said in a statement. “We believe that honoring the beginnings of this beloved tradition, that now extends through three generations of New Englanders, is a wonderful way to celebrate the season."

Tickets for "Magic" go on sale May 5. A total of fourteen performances run December 12-21.

At Round Top Farm in Damariscotta on Saturday, friends celebrated the life and all-around good spirit of longtime arts supporter Jody McCorkle of Brunswick.

McCorkle, one of Maine's most honest and ardent arts patrons -- and a fairly accomplished artist herself -- passed away over the winter. Saturday's reception, arranged by McCorkle's dear friend Nancy Freeman, was meant simply to bring a few friends together to celebrate McCorkle's life and her art. Her paintings hung on the walls alongside those of some of her artist friends, giving folks a chance to reflect on her life and goodwill.

The family plans a formal memorial this summer.

"I miss her every day," Freeman said on Saturday.

I didn't know McCorkle well, but knew her well enough to know that she was a bright light in the Maine arts scene -- and an impeccable judge of talent. Soon after I started writing about the arts in summer 2002, McCorkle became a sounding board. Whenever I was unsure of a story idea, I would seek McCorkle's counsel. If she liked the artist, I usually did the story. If not, the story didn't get written.

Freeman is absolutely right. McCorkle is sadly missed day in and day out, but the good will and cheer ring true.

BATH — The newly installed Charlie Goodhue exhibition at the Chocolate Church in Bath, “His Studio Revisited," is worth a look.

It's a nice show, with several appealing images, including this oil painting "Autumn Range Farm."

Goodhue, who died in 2005 and worked in the midcoast, worked freely in multiple media: watercolors and oils primarily, but also a technique called “vitreous flux,” which involved the application of watercolor paint to a Marlite board or other impermeable surface, causing the paint to spread in a way that challenges the artist to retain balance between freedom and control.

Goodhue embellished on the technique by adding volcanic ash to bring greater texture and depth to his paintings.

Some of his paintings are highly realistic, others abstract. Clearly, he was comfortable moving back and forth among many styles.

Many of the paintings in the Bath show are of area locales, Five Islands in particular.

The show will remain on view through May 31.

You've got give Gillian Britt credit for her dogged PR work. Britt, who owns gBritt PR with her husband, Jim, represents Bull Moose Music.

On Saturday, independent record stores around the country will celebrate Record Store Day, a publicity event designed to bring attention to independent music retailers. Dissatisfied with the coverage the day was receiving, Britt decided to take her quest for publicity to the very top of America’s pop-culture scale.

Once a week, “American Idol” solicits questions from viewers for the contestants and judges on the popular TV show. Britt decided to phone in this question for judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell: “Saturday is national Record Store Day. What was the first record you remember buying?”

Not only did they use her question, but the show’s producers also used her voice on the air. The only bummer: They misspelled her name.

All day Thursday, Britt answered e-mails and phone calls from friends who asked if the “Jillian B” on "American Idol" was their friend Gillian.

Indeed it was.

Students from Casco Bay High School will be at Space Gallery, 538 Congress St., Portland, from noon to 1:30 p.m. today to interview people in the community about what matters to them.

The students are participating in a weeklong intensive program, the Telling Room, a nonprofit writing program in Portland dedicated to young writers and storytellers between the ages of 8 and 18.

The students will spend five minutes interviewing participants and taking their photos. They are looking for contributors from all sectors. If you have a spare five minutes, stop by.

The toll of our bad economy is beginning to show up in tangible ways. Suzanne Gagnon, who operates the Cooper Jackson Gallery at 70 India St., Portland, plans to close her gallery.

She writes in an e-mail, “Spring has arrived, but the weather and the economy have taken their toll. I will be closing the gallery at the end of May, which means this is the last show Cooper Jackson will mount.”

That news is not altogether surprising. Art galleries and other entertainment that depend on discretionary income are likely to be among the first casualties of a bad economy.

The final show at Cooper Jackson features the work of photographer Noah Krell.

He photographs staged scenes of domesticity. The show is titled “At Home.”

Says Krell, “Physically, the home becomes a stage where we explore and enact our culturally influenced roles, behaviors and identities. Emotionally, feeling ‘at home’ with oneself or one’s surroundings requires a certain level of acceptance and comfort in one’s own skin. With the daily barrage of messages showing us how we should look and act, and what material possessions we need to be happy and comfortable, it becomes more and more difficult to be truly ‘at home’ with ourselves.”

Krell will attend a reception 4 to 6 p.m. May 3.

Not that we needed affirmation from an outside source, but it's nonetheless interesting to note how revered Maine native Marsden Hartley remains.

Bloomberg.com is reporting that Hartley's painting "The Lighthouse" is expected to be auctioned in May for $7 million.

According to Bloomberg reporter Stephen West, "The Lighthouse" was seized by the Soviets at the end of World War II.

He painted "The Lighthouse" in 1915 in Berlin.

Christie's International in New York will sell the painting May 21.

If you get a chance to see “Rabbit Hole” at the St. Lawrence Arts & Community Center in Portland when it opens later this week, pay attention to the set.

Designer Craig Robinson has created four aspects of the home of Becca and Howie, an upper-middle class couple from suburban New York whose lives have been ripped apart by the death of their 4-year-old son.

Much of the action of the play occurs in the kitchen and living room, which are the most prominent features of the set. Tucked away in the back is the boy’s bedroom, left mostly unchanged since his death. Off to the side of the stage is the entryway of the house, represented by a solid front door and shingled exterior.

Suspended from the ceiling above the room is the home’s exterior fascia, fractured in parts to represent a home broken apart by tragedy.

Robinson has made brilliant use of his space, and done an effective job creating four distinct settings within one set.

“Rabbit Hole” is a deeply personal and emotional play, telling the story of Becca and Howie and how they cope with their loss and, ultimately, survive their tragedy.

To make the play as meaningful as possible, director Brian P. Allen encouraged cast members to bring items of personal significance to populate the set. Denise Poirier, who plays Becca, hung a still life painting of fruit in the kitchen, painted by her brother.

Kathleen Kimball, who plays Izzy, Becca’s sister, hung pictures from her kids’ bedrooms in the child’s room. And Allen hung art from his own home in Scarborough in the living room of the set.

The rocking chair in the bedroom is from Allen’s grandmother.

“I always try to find something like that,” said Allen. “I’m a sentimental guy. I was very close to my grandmother. When she died, my sister and I both got some of her things, and it means a lot to be able to use them in the shows.”

The show opens on Thursday.

Speaking of exceptional set design, Portland Stage Company’s Anita Stewart is exporting her talents to New York. She has designed the set for the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s production of Samuel Beckett’s “Endgame.”

It’s very impressive that Stewart is designing for BAM, though it’s not the first time she has taken her talents elsewhere. A few years ago, she designed for the Guthrie in Minneapolis.

BAM, which dates to 1861, brings international performing arts and film to Brooklyn. It has a 2,200-seat theater and a smaller concert hall.