NORWAY — The Norway Arts Festival and Norway Memorial Library invite the public to gather for a kick-off celebration for the Arts Festival weekend at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 11, at the Norway Memorial Library.

The program will feature a talk by Christopher Glass on the “Art in Architecture” of Norway’s Main Street. There will be an accompanying exhibit of artwork in the Main Reference Room featuring the architecture of Norway’s Main Street throughout the month of July.

Works by local artists including Duncan Slade, Ann Beyers, Ron Hamilton, George Elliott and others will be shown. In addition there will be a glass case display of “souvenir china” that shows images of Main Street buildings both past and present from the Norway Historical Society collection.

Glass is an architect who has practiced in Camden since 1974. His work has consisted primarily of new houses and renovations to existing ones, along with historic preservation and small commercial and church projects. He is the former architect member and chairman of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission and former President of Maine Preservation, and he has received awards from both organizations. He taught architectural design at Bowdoin for 20 years and has lectured widely. He is the author of “At Home in Maine: Houses Designed to Fit the Land,” and “Historic Maine Homes: 300 Years of Great Houses.”

For more information visit www.norwayartsfestival.org or call the Norway Memorial Library at 743-5309.