Working Waterfront

A year of teaching social justice

Life on North Haven can have an insular, sheltered feeling to it. This can be blissful—children roam free, parents confident in their safety, rides are freely asked for and given, and babysitters are abundant and trustworthy. The downside to our little Mayberry is that awareness of social injustice can be… SEE MORE

The cover art for the 2016 edition of The Island Reader was created by Islesboro student Cheyenne Houle.

Working Waterfront

The Island Reader celebrates homegrown art, literature

There is a side to island life that might be eclipsed by fishermen’s working lobster boats and pickup trucks, and tourists walking off ferries. Art and literature are alive and well in island communities, and the Maine Seacoast Mission believes they are worth celebrating and sharing. To that end, the… SEE MORE

Suzette McAvoy in a hallway at the new Center for Maine Contemporary Art.

Working Waterfront

High visibility for contemporary art in Rockland

The idea behind the new Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA) building on Winter Street just off Main Street in Rockland is to “turn a traditional museum inside out,” says executive director Suzette McAvoy. The building, which has been under construction and visible to much of Rockland’s downtown over the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘Post Card Day’ celebrated at Penobscot Marine Museum

While the centennial of the founding of Acadia National Park is being celebrated this year all across the greater Mount Desert Island region, the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport has chosen the 100th anniversary of another event as the focus for its summer’s exhibitions: Post Card Day. On April 19,… SEE MORE

Arts

Working Waterfront

A rock ‘n roll novel with a melancholy, humorous heart

Vexation Lullaby By Justin Tussing/Catapult, 2016 Mild-mannered and romantically abandoned doctor Peter Silver is not accustomed to mystery or adventure, but finds himself steeped in both when he trades in his hospital scrubs for a rock tour bus. Enigmatic Dylanesque superstar Jimmy Cross needs a house call (a hotel call,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Something old, something hewn…

The interior features new and old wood. “The great thing about something like this is that it solves any interior design issues, because it is the interior design,” said Tom Hitchins, the architect on the project. “The frame is the point.” From the exterior, the house, located in Winter Harbor… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

When art met science

Sometime back in January, Maine Audubon announced that the renowned entomologist, ultra-marathoner, University of Vermont emeritus biology professor and acclaimed author Bernd Heinrich would be speaking about “the nexus of art and science” at its Field Pond Center in Holden. A few weeks later, a follow-up email arrived: due to… SEE MORE

Tarah Waters working with children in Eastport.

Working Waterfront

Eastport asks the question, ‘What’s your art?’

Editor's note: Reflections is a monthly column written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in remote coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. Tarah Waters is working to support the growing arts community in Eastport. Being an… SEE MORE

One of the tubs Steve and Miranda Batiste craft at their Swan's Island business.

Working Waterfront

The lap of luxury is water in a wooden tub

In Steve and Miranda Batiste’s home in Vermont was an old claw-foot, cast iron bathtub. It was something to look at but when in use left much to be desired. The heat radiated right out of the cast iron. Tired of chilly baths, the couple decided to resurrect an idea… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Arts booster finds Eastport ‘stunning, mysterious’

In September, Tarah Waters began work in Eastport as an Island Fellow through the Island Institute (publisher of The Working Waterfront). Waters is a Colorado native and graduate of Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I. with a B.A. in international studies. SEE THE SLIDESHOW Her work is focused on Eastport’s… SEE MORE