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Monhegan Light at dusk |
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Barnacles and granite |
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Monhegan School and Peggy's easel |
About now fifteen years ago, we spent three nights on
Monhegan Island, a lobstering community and luminous art colony just ten miles
by ferry off the Maine Coast at Point Clyde. A more memorable visual feast you
will not find. The state of Maine, more broadly, is the place we consider the
other best place. Taos is the reigning champion. So far.
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Lawn chairs in falling light |
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Lobsterman's shack at the magic hour |
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Side Light. Monhegan Light House |
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Island House at dusk |
At the 2024 La Luz de Taos Biennial Gala and Art Sale at the
El Monte Sagrado Hotel Saturday night we fell into a conversation with one of
the featured artists John Lintott and his wife Emily whose daughter had just
graduated from art school in Portland, Maine. We gushed over Portland proclaiming
it our favorite small city in the country. John extolled the seafood, and I
responded that the compact city of 75,000 is one the great food towns in the
county, maybe top ten. The other Portland makes the list as well. What’s in a
name?
Peggy commented that Maine’s light rivaled that of our
little art mecca, Taos.
The light is particularly pure and crystalline on Monhegan
Island, an art magnet which like Taos dates back to the end of the nineteenth
century. Famed artists Robert Henri, George Bellows, and Rockwell Kent worked
together on Monhegan . They were followed by Louise Nevelson and three
generations of Wyeths.
I can tell you this. We need a Maine fix stat. Salty air, lobster
rolls and surf crashing on granite headlands are calling my name.
1 comment:
Monhegan Light at dusk and the lawn chairs demonstrate how wonderfully elegant and subtle the light at sea level - enhanced by particulates of moisture - can be. Nothing like it. The light in the Southwest is bold and dramatic and completely different. Both are amazing. But there is, indeed, only one place where the "sea" food is fresh, and that is by the sea or ocean. So it does sound like you are in need of a Maine fix, stat. Hope you are able to have one soon. Thanks for the blog. It will be forwarded to a friend who spent a great deal of time in Maine. She will appreciate it too!
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