Franklin Delano Roosevelt was happiest on Campobello Island, which straddles the border between Maine and Canada. The 50th anniversary of Roosevelt-Campobello International Park, the centerpiece of which is the former first family’s 34-room, red-shingled summer “cottage,” was in 2014.
World-famous photographer Eliot Porter honed his eye in Maine on a Penobscot Bay island owned by his family. His book, Summer Island: Penobscot Country, was published 50 years ago, but the essays and images remain incredibly relevant today.
Maine may not be the first place that comes to mind when thinking of African-American artists. Yet a number of eminent black artists have found a home and inspiration here, including David Driskell.
A rug-hooking project organized by the Maine Sea Coast Mission and one of its employees provided extra income for Maine fishermen’s wives in the 1920s, as well as producing some extraordinarily beautiful rugs.
Artist Sally Brun has met and befriended legendary figures in literature and art. At the same time, she represents that artist one finds in so many corners of Maine. Personal renown is less important than friends and family.
Inspired by a love of Maine and the outdoors, painter Jessica Ives records outdoor experiences—swimmers cutting across the water, a surfer bearing his board toward the waves, snowboarders resting on the slopes, a man casting a fly over a river.
In an era of YouTube music videos and dwindling public school arts budgets, Farmington, Maine, teenagers are lining up — and auditioning — to play the jigs and reels heard at 19th century barn dances. Part of the credit goes to a rural tradition of family and friends playing music together. The catalyst, though, is Steve Muise, the orchestra teacher at Mt. Blue High School.
