Arts Growing in Passamaquoddy Region

Chris weaving at our Earth Loom

I was speaking with Jude Valentine the other day about a project that she has been working on. Jude is an artist who is also the editor of a weekly online arts publication called “Culture Pass”, a project of the Tides Institute and Museum of Art. I mentioned to Jude how it was such a struggle for me, as an artist, to move to Lubec, a remote area, and not be fully immersed in the arts. Lubec, at the time, felt like a sleepy little town with very few cultural opportunities. I suppose, to someone living in New York, L.A., or even Portland, Maine, that would still feel the case today. And relatively speaking, it is.

However, the past maybe three or four years, I have felt as though there is a real renaissance taking place in our area. Admittedly, it has taken me time to get to know the people, the culture, and the ins and outs of how people entertain themselves. But it really does feel like there is a shift occurring; A shift that is bringing the artists and local talents into the spotlight.

I don’t think the artists just showed up overnight. I attribute my new awareness to Jude’s work with “Culture Pass.” A few years ago, a survey was distributed in the towns around Passamaquoddy Bay, including both sides of the U.S. and Canadian Border. Artists began to register themselves and a list grew. I bet it was a shock for Jude at first to see just how many artists were eager to let themselves be known. Soon a database was created and later a weekly listserve that subscribers receive every Sunday. Thanks to this listserve, we now see the richness of this area, the traditional folks arts of the natives who have lived here thousands of years and the merging of the newer blood and a more modern approach to art. There are music and art festivals, theatrical performances, contradances, art workshops, lectures, concerts, and gallery openings. And it isn’t a rare thing. These types of events are occurring every week, all year long, throughout our area.

I urge folks who live in this area or who are thinking of visiting or moving here, to subscribe to the Culture Pass listserve. It’s easy. Follow the link and click on “subscribe.” You’ll be amazed at the offerings. If you don’t want to subscribe, but are curious, you can go to the site and just browse, either artists, events, or organizations.

Culture Pass

I thought I might just toss out a sample list of the things I know are coming up in August or early September:

A Listing of Upcoming Arts Events on Culture Pass
A comprehensive list of upcoming events in the arts.

Lubec Arts Alive
A Downeast Community Art Event, August 17-22
This is my pet-project this summer. A bunch of super neat artists form all over Maine will come to Lubec for a week as Artists-in-residence, and work with local community to create murals, sculptures, installations, and a portrait project. Be sure to check out my other blog specifically for that event.

Summer Keys Concerts and Summer Brushes Art Workshops
Classical Concerts every Wednesday night in the summer at the Congregational Church in Lubec, renown adult music camp, and art workshops

Jazz Week Lubec
Greg Abate performances in early August to benefit the Lubec Memorial Library. This is wild, fun, upbeat, toe-tapping music!

Tides Institute Museum
Local art and history museum/collection located in Eastport, Maine

Parrish Map Project
Sue Clifford of Common ground (England) brings the community map program to our area. Lubec: Sunday, Aug. 9, 2:00 pm at Lubec Memorial Library

Two Countries One Bay Artist Studio Tour
A weekend open-studio tour (in September) of Passamaquoddy Bay area artists, including those living in New Brunswick, Canada (Deer Island, Campobello Island, St. Stephen, St. Andrews), and Maine (Calais, Eastport, Pembroke, Edmunds, Robbinston, Whiting, Trescott, Eastport, and Lubec). Yep, I (Cobscook Pottery) am part of the tour! This awesome art studio tour is the result of the cooperative partnership of The Tides Institute and Museum of Art, Culture Pass, Bertha Day Fine Art Gallery and Michael Chesley Johnson.

Fundy Art
A guide to artists in the Bay of Fundy area.

Cobscook Community Learning Center
An organization that offers workshops in the arts and music (including traditional folk arts/music) and environmental education experiences.

Eastport Arts Center
Celebrates the local arts with theater, music, and arts workshops. I have loved watching this organization grow over the last few years.

These are just a few of what I consider key events that I am either attending or participating in. Check out Culture Pass to see a more comprehensive listing. Beyond this, there are numerous galleries, art openings, workshops, outdoor recreational opportunities, the best and most beautiful hiking trails, and incredible hospitality at the local inns. The wildlife is stunning: eagles, whales, moose and bear. All these arts in a true downeast locale, where the forests are unfettered, no traffic lights (at least for 50 miles from Lubec!), and each cultural finding is a treasure to be savored. Rugged coastline, foggy bays, lighthouses, and the true Maine accent that Stephen King movies have yet to get right!

Construction Moving Along

Top: The new studio space with packs of insulation ready for us to install
Below: Bello using a window as his personal scratching post

Construction continues to move along here. I am still overwhelmed at times that this is finally happening. I was clearing out papers from an overgrown pile in a drawer (yes, I am a major paper collector!) and found drawings for this addition that date back at least five years. It is almost humorous to see how the plans changed, how much bigger the space got, and the reasons why we felt we needed an enlarged home.

Hindsight, I am glad that this didn't happen five years ago. Now we have clear, precise reasons/uses for the new studio and had we built five years ago, it would not have been as well thought out.

That being said, the process has been interesting (stressful, joyful, shocking, exciting!). No blueprints, only my drawings. As the actual building occurred, the plans were re-written on a daily basis it seemed. A month before construction, the builder felt we needed to add 4 feet width in order to "not look strange" next to our house. Then, the addition needed to be shifted 2 feet not to affect our existing bulkhead. The stairway was completely rearranged (but I love it!) and the closet moved twice before going back to my original plan. Upstairs, chris' office shifted twice, windows moved to different walls, and two extra windows were ordered. A ceiling was completely restructured, and we added a railing instead of a half wall. Every decision seems to be on the fly, but somehow, it is working out. It looks nothing like I imagined, and each day is a new surprise. We can't wait to move-in and make use. Already, we have planned a gathering in August - so whether it is done or not - the space is being put to use.

Perhaps more happy than me (could this be possible?) is Bello. He thinks this new space is all for him. He has been playing in the huge piles of excavated dirt and running up and down the stairs, in the rafters, and through the framed walls. He scratches at the posts, hangs out in the windows, and stares at us from the existing windows (soon to be covered over with sheetrock). I was upstairs yesterday and could hear a ruckus "next door". I peeked through the curtain into the new space to see Bello running form corner to corner, as if chasing a mouse, but he was alone! He would stop at a post or corner, scratch, go to the window and peer out, then jump into a nook and crawl around. Pure delight. Barley on the other hand, seems unaffected, or at the least, annoyed that there are people and things invading his space. He chooses to sleep all day, as usual, on the futon in the green room.

No excitement today with the addition. Instead, I am going to tackle boxes full of art curriculum that I have been wanting to re-organize. This summer is about getting things in in order and organized. The organization bug has hit me bad! I want to be ready when school begins in the fall - for teaching, artwork, the "Two Countries One Bay Studio Tour", and fall open studio sale that I do with my sister here in Lubec. The next year ahead is expected to be busier than ever, so I am prepping in advance, as much as I can. A big change for a recovering procrastinator such as me!

Enjoying the Quiet

I know that some of you may not understand that. How can someone even find "the quiet" on a holiday weekend when there are fireworks sounding off , loud sirens in parades, hordes of people walking the street, stopping by to check out vendors' goods. But for me, it is a peaceful respite from the sounds of weekday construction: hammering, sawing, calling, dropping, tossing. My yard has been taken over by V-8 trucks, lumber, shingles, and equipment. Summer is usually my time to sit on the deck, immerse myself in art, enjoy the solitude and sounds of nature. It's difficult to rejuvenate myself after a hectic school year when my surroundings are in such disarray. But I know that the end result will be worth it.

My sister Kristin is visiting for the weekend. It's been a low-key relaxed-pace so far. Yesterday we spent a littler time walking around the village of Lubec then we drove over to Eastport, just across the bay, but 45 minutes by car! (I really must get the ferry schedule that runs in summer.) We enjoyed the steel band music and checking out the shops. I had heard about The Commons and finally got a chance to check it out. A gift shop with Maine-made items, cooperatively owned by a group of interesting women. It had a great feel.

We also ventured upon an eclectic, wildly-eccentric shop that I do not even know the name of, but it basically looked like an old diner space (still housing a booth and swivel seats at a counter) but was chock-full of artwork, handpainted clothing, ceramics, and scrimshaw. I thought it was some sort of bizarre artists collective, but turned out to be work all done by one man, Jim Levendosky, who was in the shop at the time of our arrival. I was of course most drawn to the ceramic work which was full of texture. I ended up buying a small, simply and beautifully carved vessel.

Kristin and I spent the this morning kayaking at Indian Lake in Whiting. Chris and I call it "Loon Lake" because we always see a loon out there on the water. Today was no exception. First kayak adventure of the season, the loon was there calling with her ghostly cry. The water always relaxes me, and being somewhat high-strung with all my projects, it has been a great addition to our lives. If Pam and Jonathan had not given us that otter kayak three summers ago, I don't know that we would have ever found out how much we would enjoy kayaking. We now have two kayaks and in the summer, get to the water as much as we can.

I will enjoy the rest of this day. The sun is starting to peek through after weeks of rain, and I have told myself no work! I do have the shop open in case a passerby wants to stop in, but it seems to me that the afternoon will remain somewhat quiet. Maybe some sitting time on the deck will do the soul good.

I will relish the moment, because tomorrow the banging begins; roof shingling at 6:45 a.m.

Planning for Lubec Arts Alive 2009

Lubecartsalive2009.blogspot.com
lubecartsalive@yahoo.com

My work as a volunteer began when I seventeen. I helped the local chapter of the U.S. Jaycees with our high school project graduation fundraiser: a Halloween haunted house. From there, I joined the Jaycees and worked on other charitable events. In 1989 I began a three year stint of organizing the Old Hallowell Days Parade, and a few years later took on publicity for the UMA Mile of Art event and did that for two years running. After becoming a teacher, my work became more focused on the school community and left little or no time for anything outside of that.

I have always enjoyed organizing and volunteering, and living in a small town such as Lubec, there are more committees and needs than there are people available to do the tasks. Overwhelmed with my full-time teaching job, running a business, being an artist, and keeping self, family connections, and relationships healthy, I have had to say "no" more times than I like.

In January, Maine artist Natasha Mayers sent me an email about the UMVA (Union of Maine Visual Artists) and the possibility of "arting-up" a town. My excitement at the thought of Lubec as a possibility for this project put me right back into full-swing organizer mode. Before I had a chance to think logically about how much work this would require, I was deep into planning and networking. So here we are, five months later, with an incredible event being planned. What is different for me this time, though, is that I am not in charge of only one aspect of a proeject, but I am involved with all aspects of this one. I am increibly excited about the event this summer, and have decided to put a lot of things on hold in my life for the next couple months so that the project will be a success.

The basic idea is that a bunch of accomplished Maine artists will visit our town as "artists-in residence" for one week in August. Along with local community, we will paint a mural, sculpt, create installations, paint iconic images on signs, share artwork, feast, and enjoy the energy of a group of of artistic visionaries working together for a common cause.

This is most exciting for me because I get to work with artists whose work I admire: Natasha Mayers, Robert Shetterly, Karen Adrienne, Rose Marasco, Kenny Cole, Diane Dahlke, Barbara Sullivan, Alan Crichton, Richard Brown Lethem. What is doubly amazing is that the grant that was applied for to do this project is unlikely to happen as expected, and, these artists are, in the true spirit of artistic community, still coming to our town! I am so heartened by this.

So, we have town support and a super duper committee in Lubec that is organizing housing and food for the artists, publicity, schedules, and fundraising. We need donors and volunteers and the search is on! I have begun a blog dedicated solely to the Lubec Arts Alive 2009 event and will start updating that with solid information: who, what, when, where, how, etc. as the planning develops. I expect to have that information posted within two weeks, or most of it anyway! There is also an email address for folks to use if they have questions or ideas. So, if you are reading this blog, be sure to check-in and follow the Lubec Arts Alive 2009 blogsite as well.

Lubecartsalive2009.blogspot.com
lubecartsalive@yahoo.com

My Favorite Writer

I woke this morning (after a beautiful restful eight entire hours of sleep!) to the sounds wind whipping the trees and rattling windows. The rain seems to have moved on, but the grey sky and breeze remain. It's one of those mornings where you just don't want to get out of bed. So, I didn't!

Well, I admit that I did go downstairs briefly to fix me up a cup of hot cocoa, but other than that, here I am, snug and warm, listening to the awesome sounds of nature. And Bello. That frisky cat is clawing at anything he can find, asking me to PLEASE let him out. But he will have to wait. For now, I am feeling in a...poetic mood. So, I thought that instead of my usual self-indulgent blog (okay, I admit, I did start out that way) I will share a few poems with you by my favorite writer, Chris Crittenden.

He has written, literally, thousands of poems since I have known him, and published hundreds. When we first met he was teaching ethics (feminist and environmental) and primarily writing articles for philosophical journals. That influence is evident in his poetry and novel writing. I will share three poems here, all of which are some of my all-time favorites. If you were to research his poetry, you would find that his work spans themes too many to mention. If I had to sum-up his work, though, I would see him as a writer of nature, politics, and the human condition. That covers a lot!

Chris can be reached at: ccritten@gwi.net

Exile of the Loons
night came
like a violin without a bow,
seeking my murmurs,
for silence had cursed its
ebony since the exile
of the loons. stars watched
with their trivial, infinite gaze
as my cheeks offered wet
glissandos, my lips wavered
between fever and howl, my
fingers scurried, plucking
strings of mist.

i waltzed with a willow
while moonbeams splashed her hair,
stomped silver trickles, accosted a
snoring crow, but still night
was not pleased

until i sobbed a strange rapture
over the lake where ghosts
once flew, skinny-dipped,
amphibious as a duck,
toward the liquid center.

there my throat learned
how to woo a marsh.
it memorized the vibration,
the heat, the solitude. finally
the night smiled, hearing
its cold stage haunted once again.

-from the chapbook Opals of the Opened Soul


The Gods Reflect on Creation
we gibbered and gabbled
in the null onyx,
afraid that heat might seethe.
one of us quacked too loud
and light erupted, birthing awe
alongside violence and waste.

after eons of reptiles
prayer wafted up. it was far better
than mindless solar pageantry.
our new toadies prattled
more efficiently than we,
collapsing truth
into a few apt equations.

soon they had a stash
of nuclear kicks,
enough to freckle plains
with poisonous craters.
it wasn’t enough for them
to gnaw the crust. life itself
made them salivate, the urge
to splice it into freaks,
to distill tints and recombine piths—

like evolution but more wanton,
even slutty; an orgy to harvest ambrosia,
so they could be immortal like us,
sit on pinnacles and shout in release—

to be as great
as the thrill that started it all—
that seminal yoctosecond
among the timeless idiocy
of our babbling.

-from the chapbook Gordian Butterflies

Song for a Forest
no one can tell me
the forest has no flesh.
my feet have tasted its roots,
licked across arteries
even as their spirals split
again and again
below a simmer of fallen leaves—
pumpkin, pale, russet—
and a dark brewing depth
of drunken earth.

why are leaves drumming
and oak limbs swaying to a beat
as ripe as a lover’s heart?
why are raindrops sad or joyous
on the eyelashes of pines?
ants are red cells in a greater blood,
sparrows breaths in a windy lung.
owls are nothing but the pupils of elves
half torn from fetal sleep,
deer nothing but caresses
of brown fingertip.

i kiss streams with my eyes
and they kiss back with pouts of sparkles;
or whisper into my ear, soft as sensual lips.
i follow them where they feed cushions of moss,
toes of alders, visions of blue pools sky-entranced.
i hear messages in warbles and whirs
that come together like bits of a thought.
i watch sunlight splinter into bright lines,
the outer edges of a smile.

-from the chapbook Opals of the Opened Soul

Is it really happening?

After five or more years of dreaming of a year-round space to create in, we are finally taking the plunge and diving head first into the world of home renovation. It's a project that is both stressful and exciting at the same time. Symbolically, it represents our commitment to settling-down in this area of the world. I will admit, it was touch and go for the first few years as to whether or not we would stay in Lubec. At first, we didn't think so, but about three or four years after living here, we started to become attached to the environment and to our new friends. It is only in the past couple years that I have grasped, on some level, what my role is in this community, and that has been a real turning-point for me.

About two weeks ago the big equipment made an appearance. Chris, in California visiting family and working on his class, is missing most of the excitement. Maybe that is a blessing in disguise, on some level anyway. But soon he will return to find that the earth has been turned inside out. In general, we try not to affect the landscape much beyond its own natural inclination, however, for me the artist, I need a space where I can do my clay work year-round. I couldn't imagine a lifetime of only creating six or seven months of the year. Artists know that it is a horrible feeling to have inspiration strike but to not be able to act. So, it is a joyous time indeed, knowing that this coming winter I will be sitting at the wheel, hands muddy, gazing out the window at drifting snow while feeling toasty and content. Chris is not left out of this either. He will be writing from a new space as well, with inspiring views and bookcase-lined walls, sitting at his great-grandfather's antique desk. Too long now, his books have been in storage - and finally, they will come out of the attic and into his hands once again.

We are fortunate, Chris and I, that we have so many generous and loving people around us, who believe in us, our vision, and support us as artists. We are truly blessed, and for that I am incredibly grateful, beyond what words can express. Without their help, none of this would be possible.

Sitting on the deck by the bay...

Peaceful Sunday afternoon, sitting on the deck, listening to the birds chirp near and in the distance. Sun drenched, warm, mild breeze rustling the leaves. Pink phlox blanketing the field, grass swaying, bees buzzing as they fly by, time and time again, their usual route. The water is extra blue today.

This moment is such a contrast to the usual hectic routine. I spent the last few days in a whirlwind of grading, graduation, travel, building, meetings, appointments, and hosting. Most all of it fabulous, but the pace is not one to be kept-up long term. This moment feels like a deep-breath after days of hyperventilating.

In a flurry of activity, my husband left for California, a new studio/office addition has begun to be built, I hosted a committee and dinner for the Lubec Arts Alive 2009 project, visited Heartwood College of Art, saw my family in central Maine, knocked off a couple medical appointments, and returned home late Friday night to prep for my artist friend Becky's visit with her almost-seven-year-old daughter. All this, on top of teaching.

I am not accustomed to a weekend of "just hanging out." Normally I would be in the studio working hours on end, but since we have begun a building project, the electrical line to the barn studio has been dislodged and there is no power at all out there. For how long? I don't know! My usual art-obsessed self is being forced to change the routine. It created a lot of stress for me, knowing that I would not have my studio for an unknown length of time, but I am actually starting to come to terms with that, and I feel okay!

It has given me an opportunity to focus on some other things that need attention. I also know, that for the first time in over ten years, I will have a studio space that I can work in through the winter. Yey! Extremely exciting. In summer, I usually feel the push to get all the clay work done that I can, knowing that winter will be just around the corner. I am curious how my work time will be divided now, knowing that I will have the flexibility to pace myself.

So, this past weekend was about reconnecting with my friend Becky. For the first time since she had children, we were able to spend a few hours just talking. It was awesome! Her daughter is amazing, a testament to how great she and her husband are as parents. We hiked the trail at West Quoddy, shopped at Northern Tides, Wags and Wools, and Monica's Chocolates, beach-combed for sea glass, had ice cream at Atlantic House, painted, weaved, and ate fresh fabulous meals. They were here just about 24 hours, a short visit for such a long drive, but we made every minute count.

The next week will be devoted almost entirely to school responsibilities. The end of the year is near, and there is plenty to do. We pack up our rooms for summer deep-cleaning, and I need to get student artwork ready for sale at the lighthouse gallery. I hope to meet up with my artist friend Diane at the Courthouse Gallery in Ellsworth next weekend, and look forward to my mom's later visit that same day.

As I blog this, hummingbird just visited the beautiful red geranium my mother gifted me two days ago. Perfection in this moment.