If one were to go out to Monhegan Island in the summer or fall, it’s quite common to see groups of artists gathered on Fish Beach or other shoreline outcroppings with their easels and canvases painting the seascape or lobster boats. While this scene is replicated all along the Maine coast, Monhegan island is a hotspot. The dramatic light on the water and the beautiful, ragged shoreline of the Maine coast have lured artists here for more than a century.
In the 1980s, Belfast stood in stark contrast to the state’s more idyllic stretches of coastline. That’s what makes the photograph of Rackstraw Downes included here so unusual and interesting. Rather than facing out to the ocean (or river mouth, in this case), he has his back to it, facing a gritty working waterfront.
He stands in front of the railroad tracks, now a walking/bike trail, with junk piled on the other side. You can see what was the Penobscot Frozen Food factory building, which processed potatoes, on his canvas and the footbridge (formerly the Route 1 bridge) behind it.
Belfast was a different town than it is now.
Belfast was a different town than it is now. The sardine factory was still operating and the poultry industry, while winding down, still had a presence. A saying that was popular in this time was “Camden by the sea, Rockland by the smell, but if you want to go to hell fast, then go to Belfast.” This unflattering description did not, however, deter artists from coming.
It didn’t hurt that rent and properties were cheap, but the allure of the place was more than mere economics. Artists like Downes saw beauty in the aged and run-down infrastructure. There is a patina in the peeling paint and rusted metal. It represented lifetimes of hard, dirty work and basic survival by the men and women who made their livings in these old factories.
Peggy McKenna, who made the photograph included here, was one of the artists who was drawn to this part of the state in the 1970s. She settled in Montville along with other artists and “back to the landers” and worked as a photojournalist for The Republican Journal and then The Waldo Independent. Her specialty was portraiture.
McKenna had the technical chops, but she also had a unique ability to connect with her subjects; she disarmed them and inspired trust.This was not an act or front, but a sincere interest that McKenna had in people and an empathy that was palpable to them.
An exhibition of her artist portraits, including the one featured here, will be on display this summer at Waterfall Arts at 256 High Street in Belfast: “McKenna and Her Camera: The Midcoast Maine Art Scene: 1987–2002” opens on Thursday, June 27 and runs through Labor Day Weekend.
Kevin Johnson is photo archivist for the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, whose photograph archives include more than 300,000 images which can be searched at its website, penobscotmarinemuseum.org.
This season the museum, whose campus is on Route 1, is featuring: “Powering Up: The Evolution of the Maine Lobster Boat,” “Jim Steele Peapod Shop,” “Music in Our Lives,” “If You Give a Girl a Camera,” and “Faithfully Yours, Joanna C. Colcord.”
