Stephen Pace’s “Loading Bait No. 6,” (1996), oil on canvas, 46 x 68 inches. PHOTO: COURTESY DOWLING WALSH GALLERY

Working Waterfront

Stephen Pace visits the Stonington Co-op

Faced with a vibrant island world, this celebrated abstract expressionist shifted his sights from inner visions to coastal subjects without losing the drive of his previous work. Wielding a wide and swift brush, Pace captured Stonington scenes with gestural bravado, the paint seemingly swept across the surface. SEE MORE

The taped-fingers of sardine packers reveals the cost of the work.

Working Waterfront

‘Put your scissors where your mouth is!’

It was the summer of 1970 when Rita Willey won the first sardine packing contest at the Maine Lobster & Seafood Festival in Rockland. She was 31 years old and had been packing sardines for 14 years. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island quarry swimming as art

This book includes a quick nod to quarry history, with pictures of some quarrying era artifacts illustrating the once-industrial setting, when rock was removed to be used primarily as building material. SEE MORE

“Pine Trees, Monhegan Island, Maine,” by William Trost Richards (ca. 1902), oil on panel.

Working Waterfront

‘Monhegan Wildlands’ traces natural, artistic history

The exhibition delves into the island's evolving ecology, history, and artistic representation through various thematic lenses. The exhibition spans 12,000 years, highlighting the significance of Monhegan to the Wabanaki's fishing culture and showcasing the ancient Cathedral Woods that have inspired artists. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Of books and boats—Brooklin library to host maritime research center

Serendipitous timing and a simple request have combined to keep a large collection of nautical publications in Brooklin, preserving the library’s local roots. Last June, Jon Wilson gave visitors a tour of the WoodenBoat Library—a 6,700-volume “labor of love” he put together over decades of book and periodical collecting. Wilson… SEE MORE

Where To?, by Rebecca Goodale and Arlene Morris, 2024, edition of five, 17 x 15 x 2¼ inches. PHOTO: COURTESY OF ARTISTS

Working Waterfront

Rebecca Goodale, Arlene Morris ‘build’ a clam shack

Goodale and Morris invite the reader to assemble the panels “to create a specific place during this climate crisis.” The panels can be arranged, they note, “to suit [the reader’s] aesthetic preferences..." SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Preserving our island and coastal history

Ideally, you should be able to pick up an Island Journal from 15 years ago and find something interesting to read. Early in my tenure editing the magazine, I leaned too heavily on stories that were newsier, and I heard from some readers that this was not their preference. SEE MORE

Pauline Inman's “Fisherman’s Boots,” 1943, wood engraving, edition eight of 40. COURTESY TIDES INSTITUTE AND MUSEUM OF ART, EASTPORT

Working Waterfront

Pauline Inman engraves Downeast shore

Inman belongs to a diverse and exceptional line of printmakers who have found inspiration in Maine, from Frank Benson, Ernest Haskell, Rockwell Kent, Stow Wengenroth, Carroll Thayer Berry, and Peggy Bacon to Thomas Cornell, Marvin Bileck, Holly Meade, Alison Hildreth, Susan Groce, and Siri Beckman—to name (quite) a few. SEE MORE

Dave Brayton prepares to harpoon a swordfish on the Georges Bank. PHOTO: PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM

Working Waterfront

Capturing the kill

He used a polarizing filter to help lessen the glare on the surface so the swordfish could be clearly seen; those preparations, coupled with some savvy darkroom work, produced the cover shot. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Susan Webster and Stuart Kestenbaum harmonize

Kestenbaum has noted a sense of mortality in some of these poems. Two pieces titled “Eternity” address the end of life, “some pa/rt of me adrift/gone floating o/ver this sweet/and sad world." SEE MORE