Working Waterfront

On the record with… Kaja Veilleux of Thomaston Place Auction Galleries

By the time Kaja Veilleux, owner of Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, was 15 years old, he had already spent half his life tramping across Maine and Canada with his father and grandfather examining, assessing, buying, and reselling a wide variety of objects of varying value. But he’d never acted as… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Jane Crosen’s new, old Hancock County atlas

As far as I’m concerned, every map is a treasure map. In our first years in Maine, there were many Saturday mornings in which I’d pore over the Maine Atlas and Gazetteer, scoping out a minor road that might offer views of a bay or ocean. Later, I collected hand-drawn maps of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

An affectionate history of Maine

However dimmed, deferred, or deleted by the coronavirus, Maine’s bicentennial marches on. The milestone is providing an opportunity to claim pride and/or acknowledge failings in our history, to draw lessons from our past, to highlight the ups and downs and in-betweens. For journalist-historian Earl Brechlin, the 200th birthday is also… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Stonington small business ramps up ‘Owl’ production

In 2009, Stonington fine furniture maker Geoffrey Warner began carving a comfortable wooden stool for himself. It had two prominent holes that looked like eyes, making the seat look like an owl head. Warner called it the Owl Stool and commissioned a 2013 analysis by U.S. Ergonomics, which showed that… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Patricia Smith Ranzoni’s ‘folk art’ poetry

Bucksport’s poet laureate has lived there nearly all her life. And from her corner of Maine, she’s also one of the state’s best-known poets, with a plaque recognizing her accomplishments set in a step of the University of Maine’s Fogler Library, and invitations to read and talk about her poetry… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lives and homes of the artistic and famous

While we wait for Maine’s art venues to re-open—and it will happen soon—museums, community art centers, and galleries are helping to fill the visual void with virtual tours, special talks, and Zoom gatherings. First Fridays are now online as are many openings, art courses, and art camps. In Belfast, Waterfall… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

History road trip—see how Maine became a state

On March 16, 1820, cannons boomed and a glamorous ball (attended by the state’s then-acting governor, William King) was held at Portland’s Union Hall to celebrate Maine finally—after more than 30 years of trying—becoming a state. The many celebrations that were planned this year to celebrate the bicentennial have largely… SEE MORE

Arts

Working Waterfront

Small business survival means building lifeboats

As a small business owner, particularly one whose business resides on an island overlooking the great Atlantic Ocean, thoughts about sinking ships are probably unavoidable just now. I find myself often comparing my efforts to keep New Era Gallery here on Vinalhaven open to those of the musicians on the Titanic—doing… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘Plague! Plague! Cholera! Go back!’

By Tom Walsh Like moths drawn to flame, artists of all stripes—painters, writers, sculptors—have been swarming coastal Maine for more than 100 years. Among painters, think Winslow Homer at Prout’s Neck, John Marin at Small Point, Andrew Wyeth at Cushing, and son Jamie on Monhegan Island. Among Jamie Wyeth’s fellow… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Carolyn Chute returns with character-rich new novel

Review by Tina Cohen In the world of contemporary Maine literature, Carolyn Chute is a prolific and highly original author. Best known for her first novel, subsequently made into a movie, The Beans of Egypt, Maine (1985), she has written six more since then. Born in Portland in 1947, she… SEE MORE