The Penobscot Marine Museum will welcome renowned artist and musician, Gordon Bok, for a benefit exhibit June 19- July 9, 2009. The public is invited to attend an opening reception June 18, 6:00-8:00 p.m. Mr. Bok’s woodcarvings will be shown in the museum’s Main Street Gallery. The art will be available for purchase, and Mr. Bok will donate a portion of the proceeds for the preservation of the museum’s 83-foot Maine-built sardine carrier Jacob Pike. Gordon Bok is widely known for his musical accomplishments, whose origins reach back to his experiences with Maine’s working waterfront. Gordon Bok grew up around the boatyards of Camden, Maine. In his early years, he worked on a variety of vessels, from passenger schooners to yachts. He learned many tunes, sea songs, stories, legends and ballads from the people he worked with which are often reflected in his songs of land and sea. Another aspect of the artistic talent of Gordon Bok is his woodcarving skill, which he developed quite naturally from growing up around woodworkers. Already an accomplished instrument builder and furniture maker, he took up woodcarving in the 1970s when he inherited his mother's carving tools. Over the past 30 years, when not performing and recording, Gordon has been quietly working out his music and memories in bas-relief. The result is nearly a hundred carvings of people, boats and other images that have influenced his life. He displayed his carvings publicly for the first time in 2002, and now many of these unique and compelling works are available to the general public at the Penobscot Marine Museum from June 19 to July, 9, 2009.