We were heading out toward Jericho Bay and Eggemoggin Reach on a clear, chilly evening last fall, just before dusk, when our captain, the artist Jeffery Becton, announced that his wife was worried he had dementia. This was right after he’d revved the rigid inflatable boat’s twin 300 horsepower engines and had us skimming along at […]
On a gorgeous late-August morning, artist Jeffery Becton came off his boat Sculpin, a 53-foot Selene trawler, to meet this writer at his house in Deer Isle overlooking Southeast Harbor. As we talked, he shared stories of the sea—and art. An avid seafarer from early in his life, Becton continues to find the experience fascinating and […]
One of the all-time go-to Maine landscape painting subjects is the island seen at a distance, a poetic symbol of retreat and separation—and an image of great visual beauty. From Thomas Cole and John Marin to Tom Curry and Brita Holmquist, those islands take center stage, often spruce-topped, shifting and sublime. Maryland-based painter Philip Koch […]
Jenny Smick was traveling in Mexico when her mom’s ovarian cancer recurred. Smick was 30 years old and had only a few obligations to consider before flying home to be with her: a handful of material possessions, an already temporary job teaching English, and an uncertain relationship. Six months after Smick landed in Boston and […]
Everyone has seen those idyllic depictions of coastal Maine in paintings and photographs. Brilliantly colorful lighthouses, sturdy pine trees and perfectly timed waves spraying up against the rocks — the ideal thing to hang in a summer visitor’s dining room, back in their year-round home in New Jersey or Florida. And then there’s the work […]
In ancient times, blacksmiths were the go-to guys for everything from repairing spears and arrow tips to tweaking axes and knives. Mass production techniques replaced much of the blacksmith’s work, although the early 20th century saw a revival of ornamental ironwork, a market that then vanished with the Depression. But the craft is far from […]
The late, beloved American painter, Andrew Wyeth (1917–2006), once mused about his most famous work, Christina’s World (1948, collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York), that if he had been “any good” as an artist, he would have left Christina entirely out of the picture. He realized that idea fifteen years later with Her Room (1963), which […]
Running until 31 August 2022, Between Two Worlds is an evocative showcase of two photographic artists who have a strong connection to the poetics of coastal spaces. Jeffery Becton and Andrea Hamilton are both interested in the intersection of land and sea, memory and place. In this exhibition, the pair highlight the emotional potential of […]
Courthouse Gallery Fine Art is pleased to announce that Marshall Wilkes, a publisher of fine art books affiliated with the Gallery, has released their latest book—Mary Alice Treworgy: A Maine Painter by Carl Little. The Gallery will host an official book launch in the spring of 2022 (TBA). For more information please email karin@marshallwilkes.com. Mary […]
ELLSWORTH — In late fall, Courthouse Gallery Fine Art mounts an exhibit of artists’ small work in its lofty stairwell. Straddling Bridge Hill, the stately Greek Revival building, which once served as the Hancock County Courthouse and Registry of Deeds, becomes part of the show as patrons leisurely ascend the stairs and eye paintings, prints […]