A HANCOCK COUNTY CULTURAL DIRECTORY A Guide to the Artists, Arts Organizations, and Services for Artists in Hancock County, Maine HANCOCK COUNTY CULTURAL DIRECTORY A GUIDE TO THE ARTISTS, ARTS ORGANIZATIONS, AND SERVICES FOR ARTISTS IN HANCOCK COUNTY, MAINE Edited for the The Maine Arts Commission by Leslie S. Moore Kathleen Mundell Marion K. Stocking Copyright 1997 by the Maine Arts Commission Funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Published by the Maine Arts Commission 55 Capitol Street 25 State House Station Augusta, Maine 04333-0025 207-287-2724 207-287-2335 Fax 207-287-6740 TTD Send all corrections and additions in writing to: The Community Arts Program The Maine Arts Commission 55 Capitol Street A Kind ofView Augusta, Maine 04333-0025 I look one way from the porch, as far As the summer light and the crowding trees- THE POEMS in this directory represent both the native writer - As much as a couple of hundred yards- Gotts Islander, novelist and poet Ruth Moore - and the summer resident whose poetry reflects his deep attachment to Hancock Allow the eye; though for all it sees County - Samuel French Morse. For more poems by Ruth Moore, see her Cold as a Dog and the Wind Northeast (Cam­ den, Maine: Gorden Bok, 1958/1973) and The Tired Apple Tree One way, straight forward, it misses much. (Nobleboro, Maine: Blackberry Books, 1990). “The Offshore Islands” is from The Tired Apple Tree. For more by Samuel But the eye can wander, unconfined, French Morse, see Collected Poems (Orono, Maine: National Poetry Foundation, 1995), where “A Kind of View” and “The And frame a view to satisfy Whiitethroat in July” appear. The longer sightings of the mind. Beyond the darkness of the trees The sunlight falling free suggests A landlocked bay. The eye perceives The light, at least, and there it rests Until, distracted, I can look Away. The air moves every leaf. The branches bend. The landscape stirs. Imagination, like belief, Transforms the world. I look again Down past the shadow. I can see The bay and all the land beyond. And I am where I ought to be. SAMUEL FRENCH MORSE TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction................................................................................................ 5 Map of Hancock County......................................................................... 6 Individual Artists, registry in alphabetical o rd er........................... 12 Organizations, registry in alphabetical order................................... 29 Directory of Schools............................................................................. 44 Individuals, Organizations, and Art Sites, Classified by Categories........................................................................ 46 Architecture & Landscape Design........................................... 46 A rt Sites........................................................................................ 46 Education....................................................................................... 47 Literature....................................................................................... 47 Media & Publication.................................................................... 48 Dance.............................................................................................. 48 Music...............................................................................................48 Theater........................................................................................... 49 Fiber, Jewelry & Wearables........................................................ 49 Furniture........................................................................................ 49 Glass & Ceramics........................................................................ 50 Drawing & Illustration.................................................................50 Graphic Design & Photography............................................... 50 Painting & Printmaking............................................................... 50 Paper, Collage & Book A rts.......................................................5 1 Sculpture, Woodworking & Puppets....................................... 51 Other...............................................................................................52 Opportunities Funding Resources....................................................................... 52 Maine Percent for Art Program............................................... 53 Maine Arts Commission............................................................ 54 M edia............................................................................................. 55 Useful Addresses..........................................................................56 3 THE OFFSHORE ISLANDS The offshore islands belong to themselves. Then time slipped by, as inheritance does. They stand in their own sea. They felt the mainland’s pull. They do not inherit; they leave no heirs. They abandoned their homes to rot away, They are no man’s legacy. And their cemeteries full. Blazing volcanoes, cooled and dead, Theirs was the time of history Marked nowhere a boundary line. And written records show The rise and fall of oceans left That their hold on the offshore islands began Not one no trespassing sign. Less than four hundred years ago. The money was never minted, Now comes the era of real estate, The clutch of its greed so strong Of the hundred thousand dollar lots, It could honor a deed: TO HAVE A N D TO HOLD, Of the condominiums, side by side, And keep these wild lands long. Along the shoreline choicest spots. The first summer people were Indians. What follows the time of developers For some five thousand years No human voice can tell. They built up shore-line shell heaps before But the silent offshore islands know, They lost to the pioneers. And they handle their mysteries well. The white man took what he wanted. They speak with a voice that is all their own, He had privilege, laws, and guns. And this is what they say: He made fast his own boundary lines That they talk in terms of a billion years And his property went to his sons. That their now is not today. And the ghosts they brought along with them From the west they sailed in Chebacco boats, Have never gone away. And the high-sterned pinkys, Essex-made. In harbors where water was deep enough, Their schooners carried a coast-wise trade. The homesteads they made were sturdy, RUTH MOORE But those who built near the shores Had to dig, if they didn’t want Indian shells All over their cellar floors. HANCOCK COUNTY: A CULTURAL DIRECTORY This Directory was compiled at the request of artists and arts organizations in Hancock Count/, Maine, for a handbook THE ORIGIN that would list the county’s cultural organiza­ TH E MAINE ARTS COMMISSION, after a series of state-wide tions and artists, together with facilities and ser­ public meetings and much creative brainstorming, completely vices they need. Thus it may serve the ceramicist reinvented itself in 1993. The aim was to increase service to seeking other potters to form a raku group, the painter the arts in a period of anticipated financial drought. Among in search of audiences and display areas, the educator planning the results were pioneer initiatives in Community Arts and for visiting artists in the schools, the dancer in charge of pub­ Arts in Education. The Community Arts Committee con­ licity for a recital, the person setting up a tour of galleries, the ceived its mission “as initiator and facilitator to provide meth­ reader seeking the address of a favorite poet, the librarian ods and models for arts communities throughout the state wanting to schedule a poetry reading, or the individual hop­ and - perhaps - the nation to enable these communities to ing to commission a work of art. find and develop their own cultural expression.” This directory lists any artist or organization wishing to Before we could “initiate and facilitate” we needed to be included. It is non-commercial, for distribution primarily to know more about the far-flung and widely different arts com­ the artists and arts organizations, as well as county schools, munities in Maine. We selected four as diverse as possible and libraries, and municipal organizations.There is no charge to be undertook in each a cultural assessment. These are Lewis- included and no charge for the directory. ton/Auburn, Rangeley, Presque Isle and environs, and - ambi­ This directory is drawn from a more inclusive data tiously - the whole of Hancock County. In this county we base, compatible with databases at the Maine Arts Commis­ engaged three experts to assess the existing state of the arts: sion and the National Endowment for the Arts. The aim is a Tina Bucuvalas for traditional arts, Tom Carroll for maritime living record, easily corrected and updated, from which future cultural resources, and Carol Gardien Trimble for arts in the editions may be drawn. We hope that the database and the public schools. Their extensive reports are available at the directory may provide useful models for other areas which Maine Arts Commission in Augusta and at major libraries in may want to record and publicize their cultural life. the county. INTRODUCTION 5 HANCOCK COUNTY 1,629 square miles 393 islands 1,666 miles of shoreline Population 48,836 in 1994 ro t - r „ % 10 15 2 0 m iles Hancock County Regional Planning Commission 6 HANCOCK COUNTY CULTURAL DIRECTORY The principles of the Community Arts discovery thia Thayer and Becky Thompson did ground