Susan Powell Fine Art | 10/4-11/16 | Madison, CT

Memories of Maine

Susan Powell Fine Art showcases artists inspired by Maine’s scenic beauty

Maine’s scenic vistas have inspired artists for centuries, captivating America’s most prominent painters, among them Thomas Cole, Frederic Edwin Church, Andrew Wyeth, Winslow Homer and Marsden Hartley. A new show at Susan Powell Fine Art celebrates Maine’s enduring appeal by showcasing new works by Thomas Adkins, Del-Bourree Bach, Paul Beebe, Zufar Bikbov, Ken DeWaard, Tom Glover, Neal Hughes, Tom Hughes, Eric Jacobsen, Andrew Lattimore, Jim Laurino, Jonathan McPhillips, Stan Moeller and others.

Tom Hughes, Pemaquid Beach Roses, oil, 20 x 16"

Although her gallery is in Connecticut, Susan Powell has been traveling to Maine since she was born, and hosting a show featuring Maine painters and paintings is close to her heart. “I grew up with the art of Maine,” says Powell. “My grandparents painted there. My father was a painter in the Ogunquit Maine Art Colony. My mother, a museum docent and art historian, studied with Maine painter Charles Woodbury. I have always dreamed of bringing that unique Maine experience and creative, inspired energy back into the gallery. Now it’s a reality.”

Tom Glover, Buoys of Blue, oil, 40 x 30"

Maine artist DeWaard jumped in to help “bend” some sails on a schooner in Camden this past summer and found the inspiration for Laying out the Sail. “My admiration for the work of Joaquín Sorolla led to the painting of this scene,” explains the artist. “The sunlight upon the sail along with the soft cast shadows and all of their reflective complexity was too strong for me to pass up.”

McPhillips' Backlit Break highlights the untamed nature of Maine's coastal patterns. "I was very intent not to include a sky or horizon in order to emphasize the focus of that energy," says the artist. "If I can convey the feeling and emotion of the scene as much as the literal depiction, then I can be pleased with the process as well as the results." Winter in Maine can be equally evocative, as seen in Adkins’ painting Below Zero, New Harbor.“When you paint there year-round, Maine offers many different moods and atmospheric conditions along with a very diverse subject matter,” says Adkins. This work was based on a study painted on location in mid-February. “It was close to zero degrees with a fresh morning snowfall, and the lobstermen were still out gathering their catch,” Adkins explains. “What intrigued me here was the warm morning light filtering through the pines and the clean, crisp air along with the snow that draped all the fishing gear and fish house.”

Ken DeWaard, Laying out the Sail, oil, 18 x 24"

A serene scene by Bach, Taking a Day Off, depicts a lobster boat in one of the many small coves that define Maine’s coastline. “I have often painted the cove with many boats in, or heading out for the day, but on this particular afternoon, the boats were all out and the lobstermen were busy hauling traps, all except this one resting at its mooring. Perhaps its owner is enjoying a day at home, maybe had an extra-big haul the day before, and needed some R and R. There are many possible stories here.”

Stan Moeller, Sunbather on the Rocks, oil, 14 x 11"

Moeller, who has been painting on Monhegan Island for close to 25 years, introduces a figure into the Maine seascape in Sunbather on the Rocks. While leading a painting demonstration near the oft-depicted Red House, he noticed a young woman sunbathing on the rocks below, and found the perspective and contorted angles both interesting, and challenging.

Thomas Adkins, Below Zero, New Harbor, oil, 30 x 40"

Tom Glover’s vibrant Buoys of Blue has a modernist aesthetic. “The buoy painting is an accumulation of experience and study along the docks, piers and shorelines of Maine, brought together in a semi-abstract image of color, line and form,” he says. “It is not based on a single story but rather the layering and intersecting of years of prowling and observing the activities, ruggedness and beauty of Maine’s coves, inlets, ports and bays.”

Del-Bourree Bach, Taking a Day Off, acrylic, 18 x 18"

Hughes’ Pemaquid Beach Roses is tied to memories of visiting his grandmother at her house in New Harbor, Maine, when he was a little boy; and the disappearance of his father after his parents divorced when he was 7. “I was always fascinated by the coastal elements—the rocks, the mud, the docks, the gorgeous lobster boats...,” he says. In his 20s, already an artist, Hughes discovered the whereabouts of his father: He was in Maine, painting. “I forced my way into his world (only fair in retrospect) and we would paint together,” he shares. One of the places they went was Pemaquid Point. “It’s a go-to painting location for me now.” For this painting, Hughes didn’t clamber around on the rocks as he usually does, but stood on the side of the road to capture the pink blossoms.

These works and many more will be featured in Maine Stories, which opens on October 4 with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m., and runs through November 16. —