Category: Art

Working year-round from his Deer Isle studio, Jeffery Becton draws from a vast collection of photography of his natural surroundings, local homes, and personal imagery to create his striking compositions. His images, which he describes as digital montage, exist somewhere between photography, collage, and painting. Becton is one of the pioneers of the digital revolution, and his work spans the generations of Maine’s artistic tradition. SEE MORE

My project explores participatory art using the photographic technique known as “light painting.” My goal is to bring this public art work to all 15 of Maine’s unbridged, year-round island communities. For each island, the collaboration begins with islanders selecting a subject—a place, a landscape—that resonates most strongly within the community. A team of volunteer islanders then assembles at dusk wielding handheld flashlights to “paint” the iconic scene with light, while I create a long-exposure photograph. Each island’s shoot preparation is with the same general framework: scout the location months beforehand to determine the exact location and angle of the camera, previsualize the subjects and areas to light and others to remain in shadow, and consider where to hide people within the area (behind buildings, behind tress or rocks, and just out of the camera’s view). Each image is captured about 20 minutes after sunset coinciding with the “blue hour,” producing the vivid blue skies. SEE MORE

My eyes are brown. The eyes of my two brothers are pale blue. I see the world differently than they do, but that is a matter of gender and life’s experiences, not in the nature of our eyes. When I was a child, I attended Sunday School in the parsonage of a small Congregational church. I recall one day when sunlight through the tall windows struck dust motes in the air, turning the narrow room into a valley of white light. I was five years old, ensconced on the floor with a bevy of other small children, making the clumsy handicrafts of the very young. The light, however, drew my attention away. The windows and the room were full of brilliance and I was astonished and wordless. At that age, I had no voice for my perception. SEE MORE

These images, all shot on Long Island in Casco Bay, are without a doubt my favorite collection of work, and closest to my heart. It is important to me to provide a visual explanation of, and connection to, the place where I grew up. I am creating an ongoing body of work that not only documents the geography and culture of Long Island, but also provides insight into our community. Growing up here, I had multiple sets of parents and grandparents, and many brothers and sisters. Until I left for college, I had never spent more than a week or so without seeing any of my island family. Long Island is three miles long by one mile wide, and lies four miles off the coast. There are only five boats to the mainland a day, and just 230 people live here year-round. During the long winter months, isolated doesn’t begin to describe what that feels like. But this community is full of intimate connections between the people and the land, the island’s history, and with each other. Almost everyone is related, one way or another, and no one gets away with keeping any secrets. I have always feared change and the decline of this unique culture and society. SEE MORE

The painter David Vickery explores space: outdoor, indoor, around, above, across, beyond. He is equally expert at representing the parlor and the panorama, the intimate and the out there. Vickery also loves light. There is a remarkable array on display here, from the glow of candles during a power outage to the luminosity of the night sky. Vickery made his first trip to Monhegan in 1987 and in 1993 was awarded its Carina House artist residency. He has returned on numerous occasions, drawn to favorite motifs like Gull Rock, but also bent on exploring new subject matter. A pair of lawn mowers caught his attention during a 2011 stay. Turning away from the Rockwell Kent views of the island, the painter captured the handsome machines parked in a weedy lot on Monhegan. SEE MORE

Joel Woods Fisherman // Photographer My goal is not to make photography a career. Very simply put, I am a fisherman, a working man who has learned to use a camera to capture the world as he sees it. I have spent most of my life bobbing around the North… SEE MORE