Light Hearted ep 276 – Maine Maritime Museum and Sounds of the Maine Coast

Light Hearted

Dianne Ballon

Located in the historic shipbuilding city of Bath, Maine, the Maine Maritime Museum includes exhibits dedicated to the past, present, and future of Maine’s storied waterways. For lighthouse buffs, there’s an exhibit called “Into the Lantern: A Lighthouse Experience.” Opening this past February, the exhibit “Lost and Found: Sounds of the Maine Coast” is a collaboration between sound artist Dianne Ballon and the Maine Maritime Museum.

Dianne Ballon (left) and Catherine Cyr recording a fog bell on the grounds of the Maine Maritime Museum

Catherine Cyr

The exhibit looks at navigational warning systems from buoys to foghorns, past and present. It investigates the idea of lost and found maritime sounds and invites visitors to reflect on how sound affects our individual and collective memory. Interviewed in this episode are Catherine Cyr, associate curator of the Maine Maritime Museum, and sound artist Dianne Ballon, who is the creative mind behind the new exhibit.