On display in the Community Room July 6-August 28
Reception: Friday, July 17 from 5-7pm
Artist’s Statement:
Sometimes I worry that we float through life without every really lookin closely at our surroundings, be it the sun making flickering shadows on the wall, the remarkable geometry found in a flower, or the forest with its multitude of unique trees. There is so much beauty to observe in t he curve of a petal, a twisted root, or a loved one’s cheekbones. To me those various details and so many more are important parts of the richness of life. It sems almost criminal to miss them through inattention. You never know when you’ll get to see them again, if ever. Art for me is about looking, looking closely to see that richness — found int he fragile and fleeting details, sometimes complex and sometimes quite simple — and then trying to capture them. Perhaps through the resulting drawings, someone else will think later to look closely at the richness in their everyday environment.
Image: Detail from “Hydrangea.”
Artist Biography:
My education and work history has been varied, to say the least. My undergraduate degree was from the University of Michigan in Fine Arts, while my masters was in Historic Preservation from Eastern Michigan University and my doctorate in American Studies from Bowling Green State University. I worked as a bookkeeper during my undergraduate years, but was lucky enough to win assorted fellowships during my later degrees. As a historic-preservation consultant, I worked for the National Park Service in Colorado, as well as assorted small cities in Michigan and several communities in Maine, including Bath. I have taught at Eastern Michigan University, Bowling Green State University and Colby College in the fields of Cultural Geography, Historic Preservation, American Studies, and Art History, and served as a consultant to the Searsport Marine Museum. But I also painted houses for a while. From 2005 to 2020, I worked at Patten Free Library in the Sagadahoc History and Genealogy Room. From 2013 until retirement in 2020, I was the Manager of the History Room. During that time, I also researched, wrote, and found the illustrations for the Bath Historical Markers. But I have always tried to find time to draw and learn to see better.
