In partnership with Haven Homes + Lifestyle, we are excited to announce an Art Supply Drive to share a love for creativity in our local community!

Join us for our next CMPKX Event on Friday, May 15th at The Dance Hall in Kittery, ME, and bring some new/gently used (like new) art supplies along with you. The idea is to celebrate the CreativeMornings May theme - CREATE - by turning creativity into community impact. Our hope is to provide a slew of art supplies to local shelters and art therapy programs across the Seacoast, including Cross Roads House. 

To participate, bring any of the following accepted donation items along with you to CMPKX on May 15th:

✔ Accepted Donations: 

• Sketchbooks & drawing pads
• Colored pencils, crayons, markers
• Acrylic paint (unopened only)
• Paint brushes (clean, like-new)
• Craft kits & DIY projects
• Collage materials (paper, magazines, stickers)
• Canvases
• Kids’ art supplies 

❌ Not Accepted: 

• Opened or used paints
• Dried-out markers or damaged supplies
• Items that are broken, incomplete, or heavily used 

EVERYONE is CREATIVE - let's come together in community to share the creativity love across the Seacoast!

CMPKX’s Artist Spotlights continues this month with a focus on April’s CreativeMornings global theme: EMBER.

Embers are what remain after the blaze: quiet, steady, and enduring. They represent resilience, transformation, and the creative energy that continues to glow beneath the surface.

The Artists Spotlights program is designed to amplify the incredible work of local artists by sharing it with our CreativeMornings audience while celebrating and exploring each month’s global theme together.

Artists of all disciplines are invited to submit creative work inspired by the monthly theme, with select pieces featured on the CMPKX website, social media, and at our events.

Artist Spotlights is open to artists working in any medium, as long as the final submission can be shared as a static JPEG or PNG image.

We can’t wait to shine a spotlight on you and see how you interpret upcoming themes! (Up next: Next month's theme is CREATE)

🎨 Submit your work here! 🎨

This month, we’re proud to feature two artists whose work captures that enduring EMBER spark:

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Left to Be by Sara Jane Mertzic

Mixed media on illustration board (20" x 15")

What's left and what is to be. The end and the beginning. The circle. The center. The fire/energy/glow/spark. When everything quiets and your inner light shines. My ember. Created in the early 2000s and still burning bright. When you fall apart, you get to choose what pieces you pick back up.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sjmertzic/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smartcircles/

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Hot Desert Aloe by Nance Silverman

Soft pastel (6" x 6")

The fiery backdrop pulses with energy, set in vivid contrast to the grounded, natural tones of the aloe. The plant seems to hold the flames at bay, standing as both barrier and guardian, quietly protecting the viewer.

Website: https://danjacdesign.com/fine-art

We’re excited to launch Artist Spotlights, a new monthly program at CMPKX designed to amplify the incredible work of local artists by sharing it with our CreativeMornings audience while celebrating and exploring each month’s global theme together.

Artists of all disciplines are invited to submit creative work inspired by the monthly theme, with select pieces featured on the CMPKX website, social media, and at our events.

Artist Spotlights is open to artists working in any medium, as long as the final submission can be shared as a static JPEG or PNG image.

We can’t wait to shine a spotlight on you and see how you interpret upcoming themes! (Up next: Next month's theme is EMBER!)

🎨 Submit your work here! 🎨 

For March’s theme - LOCAL - we’re proud to feature the following artists whose work highlights the landscapes, places, and creative communities that make our community special:

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Wallis Sands Beach by Ed Pederson

Oil on canvas, 11x14

Website: https://purpleeagleartgallery.com
Instagram: @purpleeagle

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Kittery Foreside Website by Meg Raiano

I designed a hyper-local website for the foreside to float all boats (if you will), its very local and features my company's photography of many of the local businesses that are widely loved.

Website: recreative.co
Instagram: @recreative.co

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The Time is Now by Sara Jane Mertzic

Acrylic paint on canvas panel. 7" x 5". Layers of energy churning individually, yet creating a masterpiece of a garden together. We are all little microcosms working together, complimenting each other's truth, to create something whole.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sjmertzic
Instagram: @smartcircles

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Portsmouth Garage 4 by Sarah Fenerty

I love a broad sweeping view of our city and all the unique buildings and sites that make this home.

Website: sarahfenertyart.com
Instagram: @s.fenertyart

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Front Street, Rollinsford by Stacey Durand

This piece is collage and acrylic on a custom wood panel. In my work, I collage photographs I have taken to wood panels and paint directly onto these collages. The buildings in this piece are on the street facing the Mills at Salmon Falls in Rollinsford NH. The mills sit on the banks of the Salmon Falls river and house a number of artist studios and businesses.

Website: https://staceydurandart.com
Instagram: @staceydurandart

Something on our mind as we launch our 2026 event series is Accessibility. 

“Everyone is welcome” is a core part of our Manifesto and DEIJ statement, and we’ve been reflecting on what that truly means in practice. We know there’s always more we can do to ensure people of all abilities can fully participate in CMPKX—and feel genuinely included and that they belong here.

So, we are starting 2026 with a strategic focus on accessibility. We are getting curious, together. And we are learning, together.

We’ve already taken several steps:

• We’ve appointed an Accessibility Coordinator on our team, who will help keep our efforts focused, practical, and grounded in real experience.
• We've reviewed and improved event signage and communications to include accessibility information and actively invite accommodation requests, so everyone can fully participate and enjoy CMPKX events.
• We've begun conversations with our partners at The Dance Hall about how we can work together to improve accessibility when we host events there.
• We've ensured check-in is available at an accessible entrance, and have been offering reserved accessible seating.
• We've arranged a designated “Take 5” space - where folks can find a quiet space with comfortable seating if at any point they need a break from our program - for our January, February, and March events. 
• Our event videos on YouTube and our Instagram Reels include Closed Captioning whenever possible.
• We've meet as a team to review a draft Accessibility purpose statement and a draft year-long action plan, to align on our "why" and to set a thoughtful, paced rollout of improvements. Our aim is to build shared understanding on our team so we can clearly communicate what accessibility means to our community, what it looks like in practice, and how it becomes a lens for everything we do as a chapter.

Up next: We will review our statement on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice, to make any important refinements/updates that can better reflect our commitment. 

We’re in the early stages of our accessibility efforts and have many ideas underway, but we want to hear from you. If you have suggestions that could help make our community—and the CMPKX experience—more inclusive and accessible, please share them with us at pkx@creativemornings.com.

📣 📣 IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT 📣 📣
OUR NEWSLETTER FORMAT IS CHANGING!

Please read on to make sure you receive all future PKX updates!

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Hello Beautiful CMPKX Community!

Our newsletter format is changing and we want to make sure you still receive all future updates about all things related to CreativeMornings PKX.

Due to changes at CreativeMornings Headquarters, we will be sunsetting the use of MailChimp to send our Save-the-Date Emails, our Ticket Release Emails, and any other important email communications.

Effective January 1, 2026, all emails will be sent through the global CreativeMornings digital newsletter system, and the only way to ensure you receive these emails is by signing up here.

Important notes about this transition...

• Please be patient with us in this transition!
• You may receive this same email message numerous times. Here's why: To ensure we share this news with everyone in our community, we need to send it to everyone not only in our MailChimp database, but also to everyone who registered for any of our events this past year.
• The only way we can reach everyone in our event database is to send blanket emails, event-by-event, to each event registration list.
• We are unable to see/access/edit email addresses and so cannot merge/eliminate duplicates. So, if you registered for several of our events this year, you will receive several emails from us.
• We apologize for this inconvenience - we recognize it's not ideal to clog up your inbox and we wish there was another way.
• While you may receive numerous emails about this transition, this will only happen once and will not be indicative of future/ongoing communications.
• For future communications, you can expect to receive: 1 Save-the-Date Email each month, 1 Ticket Registration Email each month, and infrequent important one-off Chapter-wide announcement emails (once, twice, three times per year tops!).
• Aside from that, you will only receive emails from us in relation to the specific events you register for.
• Again, we thank you for your patience, and we apologize for this temporary/one-time inconvenience!

2025 marked our tenth year of programming as the PKX Chapter of CreativeMornings, and we were honored by the City of Portsmouth with a Proclamation!

The Proclamation reads:

Whereas: Ten years ago, a small group of volunteers gathered in the spirit of curiosity, connection, and community to launch the Portsmouth, Kittery, and Beyond or PKX chapter of CreativeMornings with the belief that everyone is creative and everyone is welcome; and

Whereas: Over the past decade, this chapter has grown into a vibrant and inclusive community, welcoming thousands of individuals from all walks of life including designers, artists, entrepreneurs, educators, raconteurs, and dreamers, who come together each month to share ideas, inspire one another, and build lasting relationships; and

Whereas: PKX has served as a platform for over 100 local speakers to share their personal stories, creative journeys, and bold visions, fostering empathy, understanding, and a deeper appreciation for the diverse voices that shape the Seacoast; and

Whereas: PKX has consistently embodied the values of generosity, curiosity, and collaboration, offering free events that celebrate creativity not as a luxury, but as a fundamental human trait that strengthens communities and drives positive change; and

Whereas: The collective energy of this community has sparked new projects, partnerships, and friendships, and has helped make the Seacoast a more connected, compassionate, and creatively courageous place to live and work.

Now, therefore, I, Deaglan McEachern, Mayor of the City of Portsmouth, on behalf of the members of the City Council and citizens of Portsmouth, do hereby proclaim November 17, 2025 in Portsmouth as CreativeMornings PKX Day, in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the CreativeMornings PKX chapter, and in recognition of its enduring commitment to creativity, community, and the power of connection. May this milestone serve as a reminder of what is possible when people come together with open minds, generous hearts, and a share belief in the beauty of ideas. Hugs and high fives to you all, and let us continue to gather, listen, create, and grow together.

We are humbled to have received this honor and look forward to continuing to do great work in the Portsmouth/Kittery/X community in 2026 and beyond!

🩷💚🩷💚🩷💚🩷💚🩷💚🩷💚🩷💚🩷💚🩷💚🩷💚🩷💚🩷💚

CMPKX Community: YOU. ARE. AMAZING! We released ALL 170 free tickets for our next event on 11/7 as of yesterday afternoon, and our wait list is over 20 deep! THAT'S HOW YOU SHOW UP! We couldn't be more excited, and we have a few IMPORTANT notes about our event to share with you...please read on...!

If you have reserved a free ticket and can no longer attend, please release your ticket to give others a chance to attend! There are two ways to do that: 1) Use the link in registration confirmation email you received, or 2) Log in to your CM account and release from there.  

If you have reserved a ticket and are planning to attend   please note:

- PATIENCE + KINDNESS. We are at a new location for this event (The Dance Hall, Kittery)!! This is the first time we are all hosting and attending this event in this space together, so we ask for your patience! Of course we are diligently planning every detail to ensure we pull off an amazing event with you all, and - of course - we are all only human and we might encounter some misses or missteps. We ask for your grace and kindness as we navigate this, and if you have constructive feedback to share we hope you will share it with a volunteer team member on Friday. We're confident we'll learn a lot together on Friday...and when we learn, when we know better, then we do better next time. And that's our commitment to you!

- PLAN FOR PARKING. Good news about parking in Kittery Foreside - it's FREE! Bad news about parking in Kittery Foreside - it's limited! ***UPDATE: We have coordinated with Loco Coco's and the Kittery Art Association to allow for parking in their lots, as long as all cars are moved by 11AM!!*** Additionally, please consider: Plan to carpool/ride share if at all possible (ride to CreativeMornings with a friend!), and plan to get there as early as you can (we're all early birds, right?!?!)!

- ACCESSIBILITY. The Dance Hall has an accessible entrance for those who need it. We will have team members out front of the venue to help you, and we will have reserved seating on the floor inside The Dance Hall for our friends with accessibility needs!

- BRING YOUR OWN MUGS. We will have approximately 80-90 more people than we have typically had at our events in the last buncha years, but we will still have the same size Mug Library. Please bring your own mug with you to help us out!

- GIVING TO THE SEACOAST FRIDGE. As you all know, our featured speaker is Whitney Blethen, founder of the Seacoast Fridge in Kittery. She has been booked as our speaker for a year now, and the time has finally come to welcome her to our stage! And, all along, we've intended for this event to be an opportunity for attendees to donate to the Seacoast Fridge, either through food or monetary donations. It just so happens that the Fridge - and all local giving organizations - will need this support NOW more than ever...and with almost 200 people attending this event, we have a huge opportunity to make a difference. Here's what you need to know about giving:

1 - We encourage you to please bring what you can to help. Monetary donations are GREATLY appreciated, and you will be able to give at our program in the form of cash, check, or Venmo!
2 - In terms of food donations, the best items to bring are: 1) Shelf stable fresh fruits and veggies (root veggies, apples, oranges, zucchini, onions...), 2.) Canned soups/stocks (ones with pop/screw tops that do not require a can opener are ideal), and 3.) Snacks for school kids (granola/protein bars, share your favorites!).
3 - We will have collection bins on-site and we already have volunteers to deliver the collected goods to the Fridge, which is just down the road from The Dance Hall.
4 - There are lots of other ways to give lots of other items to the Fridge, but please consider this food will be sitting in our space through the program for a couple hours before it is taken to the Fridge. So, please do not bring to this event anything that needs to be refrigerated or frozen! (However, if you'd like to donate refrigerated/frozen items, we encourage you to do so and bring them directly to the Fridge when you are able - Whitney will share more about this during her talk!)

As always, we are massively grateful for this community. And massively grateful to our partners in this event - The Dance Hall, Kittery, Lil's Cafe, LANEY & LU, Fast Girl Productions, Southport Printing Company, Kevin Edge Photography, and Make A Mixtape with Zac Little.  

We can't wait to see you on Friday!  

ALL THE HUGS, ALL THE HIGH-FIVES!

To our CreativeMornings PKX (CMPKX) Community:

The Music Hall has been a generous partner to CMPKX for over nine years and for that we are grateful. However, their recent cancellation of the Lovering Health Center event has sent ripples through the community. To prevent these ripples from detracting from the purpose of CMPKX, we have decided to change venues for our future events.

In this time of uncertainty, we are certain of this: What’s most important is that we, as a chapter, continue to show up for and do good work in our community. We feel compelled to double-down on our purpose, articulated best in our CreativeMornings Manifesto and our statement on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice.

We invite you to join us for the final CMPKX program of our 10th year on November 7th at The Dance Hall in Kittery, ME. At this event, we’ll come together for collective action and mutual aid to support the Kittery Community Fridge at a time when it is desperately needed.

We believe in the power of community, we believe in face-to-face connections, and we believe in giving a damn.

For more details on our next event and how to participate, visit this link. Registration will open on Monday, November 3rd at 9:00AM ET.

All the hugs and all the high fives,
Jen Scumaci, CMPKX Host/Organizer + the CreativeMornings PKX Team