10/29/2026
The Speers Gallery at Kennebunk Free Library presents "A Year of Paper Plates: Putting a Face on the Turkeys We Eat” by Cheryl Miller. The exhibit will run November 2-30, 2026, with an opening reception on Saturday, November 7 from 1-4 pm. The reception will be catered by Frinklepod Farm and Planted.
While earning her B.A. in Art, Cheryl Miller became interested in animal rights. At the time, traditional art instruction emphasized the human figure or still life as the hallmarks of serious subject matter. Animals, by contrast, were often dismissed as sentimental or relegated to wildlife art. While she initially followed convention, she was searching for a deeper connection in her work. That connection revealed itself when she began working at a farm sanctuary and began to merge her art with her passion for animal advocacy.
Cheryl soon began a tradition of painting a turkey portrait each Thanksgiving as a tribute to these living, sentient beings. Over time, this practice evolved into a larger artistic mission and in 2013 she launched 46 Million Turkeys, a community-driven project with the goal of visually representing the estimated 46 million turkeys consumed in the U.S. on Thanksgiving Day. The project invites people of all ages, artistic skill levels, and perspectives to contribute a turkey portrait. To date, thousands of individuals have participated with each of the one-of-a-kind representations of a turkey as unique as the person who created it. Through this work, Cheryl hopes to inspire a deeper appreciation for remarkable, often overlooked, animals—one portrait, one story, and one connection at a time.
The public is invited to view the exhibit in the library’s Speers Gallery from November 2-30, 2026, at 112 Main St., Kennebunk, Maine during regular library hours when the gallery is not in use for library programs. Please check the library website for current hours and gallery access, www.kennebunklibrary.org.
