A dozen influential Maine women in politics, the arts and other fields will be spotlighted in an exhibit opening this week in Ellsworth and running through Sept. 25.

“Twelve Maine Women: Portraits of Change” is a public art exhibit accompanied by a series of community programs celebrating the lives and contributions of female trailblazers. Among those who will be featured are Frances Perkins, the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet; historian Heather Cox Richardson; and U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, R-Maine, who died in 1995 at age 97. READ MORE