In the shade of a tree in front of a historic schoolhouse in Alna, artist Keith Plummer crafts a small face out of a disc of copper that is set in pitch, using a hammer and chisel to shape an eye socket.

“Who are you going to be?” he asks the emerging figure, as a small crowd watches his demonstration of repoussage, a metalsmithing technique, on Sunday.

Inside Puddle Dock Village School behind Plummer, the world changes from that of sun and the tapping of metal to that of dusk and the recorded sounds of frogs singing. In the illusion of nighttime sit Plummer’s sculptures, many of which he modeled as guardian angels. A protective grandmother carved in wood holds a small bird, while dancing figures cut from deer jawbones wear metal faces – much like the one Plummer crafted just outside – blow horns that ring with truth.

Born in 1954 and raised in Damariscotta, Plummer is a self-taught artist, and only recently identified as an artist at all. He began venturing into sculptural expression after the death of his nephew, who died of an overdose in 2006 after surviving sexual abuse at the hands of a family member. Seeking a way to hold his grief and speak up about the stigma of sexual assault and substance abuse, Plummer turned to creating 10 years ago, taking a silversmithing class at the Maine College of Art and Design.

“I had to go somewhere with this energy I had. I had never attempted any of this, ever,” said Plummer.

“These are all in my nephew’s honor. I’ve had all of this stuff come, and I’ve had to deal with it. And this is how I’ve dealt with it.”

Plummer’s show and metalsmithing demonstration mark the beginning of the Puddle Dock Village Festival, a showcase of three artists over a month at the Puddle Dock Village School from July 5 to Aug. 3. Exploring themes of addiction, incarceration and trauma in the context of community, the festival will also host 17 events in the Alna Meetinghouse and Village School.

While this is the first Puddle Dock Village Festival, it is not the first time festival organizers have worked in the community around substance abuse and art.

Organizer Peter Bruun moved to Damariscotta in 2019, after working as an artist in Baltimore for almost 30 years, where he was involved in using the arts for community engagement around substance abuse, mental health, incarceration and housing insecurity.

While having a longer history of doing workshops and events around social issues and ideas, the death of Bruun’s daughter of an overdose 11 years ago was a catalyst for using art to highlight this topic.

“That propelled me, initially in Baltimore, to really target my community energy around challenging stigma and building community amongst those affected by substance abuse,” he said.

Bruun headed events that centered experiences of substance abuse in Baltimore, which over the decade formed a strong community of connection, advocacy and public awareness about the issue.  After moving to Maine with his partner Leigh Perkins, they found the starting point of the conversation around substance abuse in Lincoln County was different than it had been in Baltimore, said Bruun.

“We saw that there was just as much silence and stigma around substance abuse in Maine as there had been in Baltimore a decade ago,” he said.

Bruun and Perkins formed Studio B, a nonprofit under which to work at the intersection of substance abuse awareness and community art. Two years ago, Studio B partnered with Healthy Lincoln County, an organization that works with food insecurity and substance abuse prevention, and held events in Lincoln County for International Overdose Awareness Day.

A year later, Studio B partnered with numerous health and social wellness organizations and held events in all 19 towns of Lincoln County for substance abuse awareness. Bruun said while the events themselves went well, the sparking of conversations about addiction held lasting impact, which inspired more events.

“Folks in Somerville or Dresden who had never had a conversation about this in their community suddenly were showing up to have a conversation about it,” said Bruun. “The art is absolutely important, but the art is also a means to something longer lasting.”

One of the events last year was in the Puddledock Village School, a space that struck Bruun as meaningful to the community, yet underutilized. With access to the Alna Meetinghouse down the road, the idea for a longer installation of arts and more opportunities to gather at a festival was born.

Other events throughout July include a youth resilience workshop, poetry and conversations about reentry from incarceration, exercises for healing, and numerous performances and presentations.

“It’s very cool to see artists at work, and to have this opportunity to actually watch them as they are creating,” said Allyce Pepin of Gardiner.

Margaret Rauenhorst heard about the festival from Keith himself, and made her way from Camden to see his practice on Sunday.

“He talked very compassionately about his work. I thought, what better way to see it than to come here,” she said.

While Plummer’s art has been in group shows from New York to Venice, the Puddle Dock Village School is his first solo exhibition. With his work on display so near the history that inspired it, Plummer hopes that its themes of guardianship and hope can spread throughout the local community over the course of the festival.

“My nephew was stigmatized all his life,” said Plummer. “I’d like to see young people that are at high risk of becoming addicted to substances, somehow find a way to reach them before they become addicted.”

“The other thing is to take shame away from the addicts that we have now, and not treat them as lepers. There is help.” he said.