Title:  What Once Was
Artist: Kathie Pratt
Contact: Kathie.pratt@bassharborlibrary.com
This work was inspired by the novels Second Growth and Speak to the Winds in which Ruth Moore talks about abandoned farms and quarries, dying island communities; the ravages of time on forgotten places or practises.  I always get a pang of sorrow when I see a choked orchard or decaying barn.  In Speak to the Winds, the character Elbridge is worried about his island town’s sustainability.  His forefathers had established a thriving granite quarry, now long defunct.  He thinks, “The feeling, he knew, was all mixed up with the past and with old MacKechnie’s dreams- a feeling almost as strong as grief, over something worthwhile wasted, lost; although why it should be kept he couldn’t say, now that the world had gone on and passed it by.”

Artist Bio: For Kathie, making art in various forms has been a lifetime occupation. She attended New England School of Art & Design and The Museum of Fine Arts School, both in Boston. She lives in the area of Tremont once known as Center, the same locale where her great-grandmother’s family settled centuries ago. She finds constant inspiration in the natural beauty of the area. Her artistic endeavors over the years include a handmade lampshade business, working in the art department of Harris-Strong in Trenton, and directing an Art and Nature Camp for children at the Bass Harbor Library in Bernard.  Kathie has participated in art shows around the island. She likes a variety of media with a special fondness for sculpture.

Title: Charlotte Rhoades garden
Artist: Beverly Bono
Contact: bevbono@yahoo.com, 207-664-3533, Instagram: bev3445
For Sale: $200 oil on panel, 12” x 20”, framed 15 1/2” x 23 1/2”

Charlotte Rhoades Garden in Southwest Harbor – a spot so typical of Ruth Moore’s vivid descriptions of the beautiful flowers and gardens around Maine.

Artist Bio: As a painter, I am largely self-taught, learning from books, workshops and following other artists online. But by far my biggest influence came from Emile Gruppe of the Cape Ann artist colony! I had the privilege of meeting him and was fortunate to purchase one of his paintings! Last year, I won 2nd place among 75 non-juried artists in the Quick Draw event at the Cape Ann Plein Air Festival. About 10 years ago, one of my artist friends invited me to go plein air painting (painting outside) and I was hooked! Nothing can compare to painting from life! Now that I am retired, I can go painting every day! Living in Bar Harbor, near Acadia National Park provides boundless stimulation for my oil paintings. It is a wonderfully endless journey trying to capture the beautiful scenery of the island!

Artist: Linda Rowell-Kelley
Contact: lrowell51@gmail.com, Facebook: Linda Rowell-Kelley Art, and in coastal galleries, restaurants, local inns and businesses, or by appointment at the studio on Crooked Road, Bar Harbor.
For Sale: Abstract, 9×12 oil on canvas $200; Seascape, 11×14 oil on linen $280

Both paintings are inspired by the lines from The Ballad of the Night Charley Tended Weir, by Ruth Moore.
“He could see across the bay
Calm and still and wide,
It was full daylight,
And it was high tide.”

Linda Rowell-Kelley is a lifelong student of art, studied drawing, painting, sculpture and print making at the Portland School of Art (MECA) in Portland, Maine.  A plein air painter and Reiki practitioner, gives the work a healing quality, a mixture of what is seen and unseen.  I walk the line between realistic art, impressionism and abstraction and enjoy many mediums, but predominantly work in oils.