Arrive Magazine - July/August, 2009

imagery. More folks are going with the tried and true.”

At the Maine Maritime Museum, 30 miles north of Portland, next to the Bath Iron Works’ naval shipyard, the historic boat-building exhibitions have been tailored to reflect contemporary interests.

This spring, the museum hosted an exhibit on maritime fashion that included a collection of tattoos submitted to the museum via e-mail, and its summer exhibit looks at the legacy of the state’s fin fishing industry and the craft of building wooden ships.

“It’s an effort to move beyond strictly artifacts,” says Chris Hall, the museum’s assistant curator. “We’ve got a whole group of vintage advertisements from newspapers and magazines that are using maritime-themed ideas. We wanted to display all these things we generally collect, to show what they mean now.”

Endless Inspiration Around Maine, the sea’s enduring influence also appears in the work of contemporary and emerging artists. At a recent show at Rockland’s Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Portland artist Anna Hepler formed Gyre, an intricate web of sewn plastic reminiscent of the

In a state not
generally
known for its
cutting-edge
designs, visitors
may be surprised
to discover
fashionable
finds not seen
in the latest L.L.
Bean catalog.

floating tangle of garbage in the Pacific Ocean. Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick featured an 11-minute silent film reinterpreting Moby-Dick. And this summer, the Portland Museum of Art hosts a show of modernist paintings from numerous art colonies of New England, including Ogunquit and Monhegan Island.

Many younger illustrators and designers in Portland’s small, craft-oriented community also appear to be taking note of the state’s seafaring legacy. “People are making incredibly elaborate things,” says Diane Toepfer, the owner of Ferdinand Home Store in Portland. “The standards are higher for craftsmanship. Part of that, I think, is the history of boat building.”

One illustrator, Eric Hou of Salty Kiss Press, draws fish dressed up in the distinctive orange overalls favored by lobstermen. He says his drawings represent new imagery drawn from old material. “It’s just kind of what’s around there,” he says. “It’s either you notice it’s here or you ignore it.”

Last year, Hou also drew a political ad for one Democratic candidate in the race for one of Maine’s two congressional seats. The image depicted a series of posters in support of Chellie Pingree, held by a group of tough-looking fish.