On the Harbor, Artists Take Over Bar Harbor. Again.
Three events showcase local artists and crafters
BAR HARBOR—Way back on September 3, 1844, the painter, Thomas Cole, came across the state of Maine and ended up at Lynam’s farmhouse on Schooner Head in Bar Harbor.
Bar Harbor wasn’t the first Maine stop for the founder of the Hudson River school of painting. He’d been to Penobscot Bay, Beech Mountain, and then finally came to Mount Desert Island’s northeast shore. Once here, looking out at the Atlantic and up at the hills, he pulled out his sketchbook and the future of Mount Desert Island, and Bar Harbor, was made.
When he left Maine, via Ellsworth of course, he went back to New York and spoke of the island’s praises. One year, he brought Frederick Edwin Church and eventually multiple leaders in the world of American Art. They all painted and drew on the Bar Harbor plain and along the craggy coastline. Their paintings of the island? They sold, which gave them another motive and a means to return. And those images tempted other rusticators, sportsmen, boaters, and scientists.
Shortly after the Civil War concluded, Bar Harbor began to grow again.
While Bryant wasn’t a fan of the village, others were. And the village of East Eden in 2023 now hold many trees and flowers.
That tradition of art and visitation continues today and was in full force this past weekend as Bar Harbor hosted a trio of art events and also unveiled the return of a painting by Rutherford Boyd to the island’s public viewing.
College of the Atlantic hosted the Guild Fine Craft Show for the weekend, an indoor/outdoor event.
On the grounds of the Bar Harbor Inn, the Bar Harbor Fine Arts festival occurred. Mount Desert artist and resident Marc Fink directs the duo of shows. The second will be held the weekend following Labor Day weekend, September 8 - 10.
Show hours are Friday noon to 7 pm, Saturday 9 am to 7 pm and Sunday 10 am to 5 pm.
The Bar Harbor Historical Society, with ArtWaves, featured its first Hudson to Harbor event, which was sponsored by Liz Cutler and the Cygnet Gallery.
Artists sat and stood on the back porch and lawns of La Rochelle on West Street or near the Shore Path creating. Some of those creations were displayed Friday night and Saturday. They can still be purchased via the link below. Half of the proceeds go to the artists. The other half of the sale price goes to ArtWaves and the Bar Harbor Historical Society.
The event was homage, and in the tradition of, the Hudson Valley artists despite the difference in styles. The Hudson River School was an art movement in the middle of the 19th Century that had been influenced by Romanticism and originally focused on Hudson River Valley, New York. The paintings tend to reflect the themes of settlement, discovery, and exploration, and are pastoral, realistic, detailed, and often idealized when illuminating nature.
RUTHERFORD BOYD UNVEILING
Also, during the Friday night event at La Rochelle, the home of the Bar Harbor Historical Society, the society’s Board President Richard “Dick” Cough and Executive Director Erin Cough unveiled “Sandy Beach,” a painting by Rutherford Boyd. The painting was signed in 1926.
“Lance and Patricia Mahaney donated the painting in late July. It will be accepted into our collection and eventually put on exhibit,” Erin Cough said.
Born in 1882, Boyd was a commercial illustrator in his Philadelphia birth place but was also an art director for multiple magazines and was one of the American Watercolor Society’s members, as well as a member of the Architectural League of New York and Salmagundi Club.
“Rutherford Boyd was a painter, illustrator, sculptor, and a successful commercial artist. He worked in pencil, charcoal, and watercolors. Despite the fact, his father was a woodworker, he used primary plastic and plaster in his sculptures. He visited the island several times between the late 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Rutherford drew his inspiration from the philosophy of the Sublime, similar to the Hudson River School, which studies light and the great sense of awe in the natural world,” Erin Cough said.
A HISTORY OF PAINTING ON MDI
On August 24, Carl Little will present a “History of Painters on MDI” at the Historical Society specifically talking about the Hudson River School Painters. A suggested donation is $10 a person. The event is at 4 p.m. at the Bar Harbor Historical Society.
WANT TO GIVE PLEIN AIR A TRY YOURSELF?
Join Christine Lafuente, ArtWaves’ August Guest Artist for this small group 3-day intensive workshop
Experience the magic of Mount Desert Island as you paint En Plein Air. A basic review of outdoor set-up, palette organization, composition, and atmospheric color theory will be covered; however, most of the time spent together will be “hands-on” in the field with individual instruction at four select locations on the Island’s beautiful coves and shores.
The half-day sessions provide you the opportunity to work in the mornings with the instructor, leaving you the afternoons to continue to work independently and process the day’s lesson.
All photos: Carrie Jones
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
How to buy art from Hudson to Harbor
Our story about Hudson to Harbor