Portland's largest art auction begins at 6 p.m. Friday at Holiday Inn by the Bay, with a watercolor of a hunting scene by British artist Sir Alfred Munnings estimated to sell for between $400,000 and $600,000.

The annual Barridoff Galleries auction of American and European art also includes an oil by John Leslie Breck that gallery co-owner Annette Elowitch believes may be based on a view from the stern of Claude Monet's boat. That painting, "The River Epte, Giverny," is estimated to go for between $200,000 and $300,000, Elowitch said.

Elowitch said Barridoff assembled items for this year's auction mindful of the sluggish economy, "turning anything down that was mediocre" and stocking the sale with paintings that are all mostly new to the market.

Some examples of that include two middle-period oils by Marguerite Zorach, both untouched until recently when they were cleaned. They came from a West Coast branch of the Zorach family, and are "totally unknown," Elowitch said.

The auction opens with previews from 5 to 8 p.m.Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday.

The Maine Center for Creativity hosts a lecture at 7 tonight at the South Portland Community Center by Maine College of Art educator Christina Bechstein.

The lecture, "Making it Public: Why Puboic Art Matters," is free and open to the public, and will include slides from public art projects around the world.

Bechstein is assistant professor of sculpture at MECA. Her work focuses on landscapes and how people interact with them. Her public installations have investigated the role of art in place-making and community building.

Phil Harriman, board member of the Maine Center of Creativity will emcee.

The South Portland Community Center is at 21 Nelson Road, near the high school.

The Victoria Mansion has received a $7,500 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to host the Big Read, an NEA initiative designed to restore reading to the center of American culture.

The Victoria Mansion is the only arts organization in Maine and one of 208 around the country to receive a grant for the program.

To encourage community-wide participation, Victoria Mansion will partner with Portland Public Library, Maine Humanities Council and the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. Many other arts and educational groups also will be involved, including the University of Southern Maine, Livermore Falls High School and Skyline Farm.

The program brings communities together to read and discuss one of 23 selections from American and world literature. In Portland, the Big Read will focus on "The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton.
The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921. Set in the late 1800s in upper-class New York, it focuses on the disruption of a pending marriage of a society couple.

Activities will begin in Portland in March.

"I am thrilled to be taking part in the Big Read," mansion director Robert Wolterstorff said in a statement. "We've received major federal grant for restoration projects before, but this is the first one to support programming, and it's a great honor to receive this grant in the year we celebrate our 150th anniversary."

Grant sizes ranged from $2,500 to $20,000, based on population. In addition, the Victoria Mansion also received $4,000 from the Maine Humanities Council to support Big Read activities.

The money will be used to support reading programs, read-a-thons, discussions, lectures, movie screening and performing arts events. Communities participating in the Big Read also receive educational materials for readers and teachers.

For information about the Big Read, visit www.neabigread.org.

Art and activism make an interesting mix.

Certainly, it’s easier to get your message across if you can back it with strong visual appeal. A few weeks ago, a group of residents came out to protest the Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells Water District’s decision to engage in talks with Poland Springs about selling the bottler some of its resources.

Several people showed up with hand-made signs – a noble effort, and perhaps effective. But Carroll Berg outdid himself.

Berg, a 2007 graphic design graduate of the Maine College of Art, made a handsome poster in response to another civic controversy in York County, the proposed relocation of the York Toll Plaza. He designed a poster with strong visual elements and big, block type: “York Toll Plaza: Fight the Toll.”

The poster is somewhat reminiscent of the work of another Maine artist, the legendary Robert Indiana of Vinalhaven.

It’s the second time Berg has spoken out visually. In 2006, he developed a poster and sticker campaign in response to an incinerator debate in Biddeford.

The way Berg sees it, he’s just doing what he was trained to do. “I was trying to use the posters as a way of grabbing people’s attention,” he told a MECA colleague.

In addition to placing the posters on the windshields of legislators’ cars in Augusta, Berg has distributed the posters throughout York County.

Berg has personal motivation for the fight. His family once lost its land and livelihood to eminent domain in Massachusetts.