Bass Harbor Memorial Library

Celebrate our community with books!

Bass Harbor Memorial Library
89 Bernard Rd. PO Box 99
Bernard, ME 04612
(207) 244-3798

Women’s History Month 2021 Gallery

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Lindsay Hopkins-Weld

Cold Spring
12″x12″  oil on birch panel
$900

“I find solace in nature and due to Covid, I have been spending more time walking and looking.  I have a BFA from the Museum School in Boston, MA. I am a seasonal resident on MDI and live in Scarborough, ME. ” www.lhweld.com

Linda Rowell-Kelley

Kelley Community Garden
16×16 oil on panel
$260

“Island quarantine meant using the resources available and MDI provided beautiful, luscious places to plein air paint. The community garden was ever changing and offered a bounty of shape and color. A local island artist, working in oil, watercolor and mixed medium. My home base and studio is in Hulls Cove and I am fortunate to be able to safely explore the island for inspiration.” Linda Rowell-Kelley Art on Facebook

Elizabeth Keenan

Loose Leaf Lips
14″X 18″ (framed) Watercolor
NFS

“I’ve been painting A LOT during the pandemic. It is helping me to pass the time. I live in Bass Harbor and have been teaching Drawing, Painting, and Ceramics at MDI high School for over 20 years.”

Vicky Smith

Peggy’s Cows
12″ x 14″ Oil Painting
$175

Outdoor activities are the best way to stay safe . Our Plein Air Group has been a gift. Painting and socializing!

I have come to painting in the second half of my life. Grateful for the inspiration and support of the painting women in PAPA, Plein Air Painting Artists.

Beverly Bono

Winter on Babson Creek
9” x 11” (framed) watercolor
$50

Plein air painting (in the open air) with friends ( masked and socially distant) has made this year bearable. Cold weather made it prohibitive to paint outside in oils so I started painting with watercolors on site, but in my warm car. This painting is one of my 1st “in car” paintings.
Although I’ve been painting all my life, about 10 years ago I began painting “en plein air”. Living in Bar Harbor, near Acadia National Park provides boundless stimulation for my oil paintings. I’m on a wonderfully endless journey trying to capture the beautiful scenery of this island! 

Jean Forbes

Sorrento Dinghies
10.25″ x 12.25″ matted and framed watercolor
$200

“The recent life changing circumstances have given me more focus to fine tune my craft. Sorrento Dinghies is the 2nd in a series of three paintings done to obtain desired harmony in the 3rd (larger) watercolor painting.”

Jean E. Forbes is a Fine Artist with over 50 years painting experience. She retired from teaching art in South Kingstown RI public schools in 2012. Jean lives with her husband Mike in Manset where they make their year round home. www.jeanforbesart.com

Sydney Roberts

Church Chair Woman
46” x 15” x 18”  multimedia
$250

“Although I submitted it last year, it was welcomed this year because it wasn’t “seen” by other than library staff.”

A NEH summer kid from Philadelphia from age 3 weeks, (year-round for 20 + years), graduate of Philadelphia College of Art (Now U Arts) ’66: painting/sculpture/graphics.

Kathie Pratt and Christine Parrish

Sweet Liberty
40″ x 25″  acrylic on foam core
NFS

“This sign is a collaboration by lifelong friends with a desire for social action.  Christine created the concept and Kathie executed it.  The goal was a sign that would be impactful, visible from near and far, and functional.  Christine carried it at the Black Lives Matter March in Augusta last summer.”

Kathie Pratt happily lives and works in Tremont. Art is her favorite thing. Christine Parrish is a writer, journalist, and natural resource conservation specialist who lives in Lincolnville.  Her connection to the island began as a teenager, when she and Kathie departed from their family homes to live a rustic lifestyle on the back side.  Decades later, she stays connected by hiking the hills of Acadia.


Women’s History Month Art Show-March 2021

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From March 6 through April 30, 2021, the Library will celebrate Women’s History Month with an art show featuring works from artists with a connection to Mount Desert Island. 10 artists will explore the theme of “Life Upended: Unexpected Inspiration.”

The show will also be displayed online for all to peruse HERE

Artists include: Sydney Roberts, Vicky Smith, Elizabeth Keenan, Debra Spressart, Jean Forbes, Linda Rowell-Kelley, Lindsay Hopkins-Weld, Kathie Pratt and Beverly Bono.

 

Who Is Ruth Moore?

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Ruth Moore was born and raised on Gott’s Island in the early 1900’s. Ruth was a best selling author from the 1940’s and on (and even had a book made into a movie “Deep Waters.”) She was called “New England’s answer to Faulkner” and if you like reading honest stories about Maine people in an authentic voice, you won’t be able to resist her novels, ballads and poetry. The issues she wrote about still resonate today. Each year we aim to introduce the works of Ruth Moore to a wider audience, while providing insightful conversation and programming to enrich our understanding of her life and work.

Every year, around July 21, the Bass Harbor Memorial Library celebrates Tremont’s iconic bestselling author. We host an art show featuring work inspired by Moore’s writing, and host explore Ruth’s impact, history and legacy through programs such as author talks, panel discussions and theatre. In the past we have toured her home on Gott’s Island and her home in Bass Harbor.

 

Who Is Ruth Moore?

A Tremont native, born in 1903 and raised on Great Gott Island, Ruth Moore was an important Maine author of the twentieth century. She is best known for her honest portrayals of Maine people and evocative descriptions of the state. Moore was a significant literary figure on the national stage during her career. Her second novel Spoonhandle spent fourteen weeks on the New York Times bestseller list in the company of George Orwell, W. Somerset Maugham and Robert Penn Warren. In her time, Moore was hailed by critics as “New England’s only answer to Faulkner”.

Author, poet and essayist of over 25 novels, collections, short fiction and essays, including  The Weir (1943), Spoonhandle (1946), Candlemas Bay (1950), Speak to the Winds (1956), Cold As a Dog and the Wind Northeast (1958), The Tired Apple Tree (1990), When Foley Craddock Tore Off My Grandfather’s Thumb: The Collected Stories of Ruth Moore and Eleanor Mayo (2004)

The Bass Harbor Memorial Library has a large collection of Ruth Moore novels, poetry and essays for you to check out, and many new and used copies of select titles to purchase. Call 244-3798, or stop by the Library at 89 Bernard Rd in Bernard for more information.

Click the links below to start your exploration.

 

Resources

“Ruth Moore Remembered” by Harry Gatwick in Working Waterfront
A more personal, in-depth introduction to Moore as relayed by her friends and family.

“Homesick For That Place: Ruth Moore Writes About Maine” by Jennifer Craig
This excellent article explores Moore’s unique voice, why she was and still is, an important literary figure, and her impact on not only Maine authors, but the larger cannon of place and character driven novels.

“Ruth Moore: Maine Coast Writer” by Donald Mortland, Colby Quarterly
Article written about Moore in 1979, at a time when she was still actively writing and publishing. “There are several ruinous rocks to be skirted in writing about the Maine coast. One is the danger of being sentimental. Another is the tendency to be folksy. A third is the danger of falling into ruts made by previous writers that lead into folksy stories about quaint people with hearts of gold who speak a peculiar dialect, mourn about the past, and spend their lives dealing with trivia over which the author makes them triumphant in some minuscule way. Ruth Moore avoids all of these.”

“A Literary Refuge: Ruth Moore and Eleanor Mayo” by Sven Davvison
Explores Ruth Moore and Eleanor Mayo’s history and life together in Maine and beyond, as partners and as authors in their own right.

Description of Ruth Moore and Eleanor Mayo’s home in Bass Harbor

Ruth Moore collection, 1917-1995 at UNE’s Maine Women Writer’s Collection
A brief biography with links to a catalog of UNE’s entire Ruth Moore collection

Tremont Historical Society
The Tremont Historical Society is dedicated to the preservation of the history of the towns of Tremont, Southwest Harbor, and the adjacent islands. The Society achieves this mission by gathering, cataloging, and making available to the public historical materials such as genealogies and information on the growth and development of the towns, as well as historical artifacts. The are hosting a full schedule of programming in Summer 2020.

Penobscot Marine Museum’s Panel Discussion of “Maine Women Authors Of The 1950’s”
Cathleen Miller, Curator of the Maine Women Writers Collection at UNE, Melissa Hays, Ruth Moore Days organizers, Muriel Davisson and devotee Jane O’Rouke discuss how the novels of Mary Ellen Chase, Elisabeth Ogilive, Ruth Moore, Miriam Colwell and Louise Dickinson Rich provide different portraits of the people and the state of Maine.

‘The Ballad of the Night Charley Tended Weir’ by Ruth Moore, read by former US Senator Dennis Damon

Review of the Stonington Opera House’s 2018 production of “I Have Seen Horizons: Ruth Moore’s Stories from Maine.”
The 2018 production of vignettes was based on seven of Ruth Moore’s short stories and poems and adapted for the stage by director Meg Taintor.

Watch Deep Waters on Youtube
“A troubled young orphan boy in Maine is taken in by a family and befriended by a lobsterman who shows him the ways of the world. Starring Dana Andrews, Jean Peters, Dean Stockwell, Cesar Romero, Ann Revere.” The 1948 film adaptation of Ruth Moore’s “Spoonhandle”, filmed on Vinalhaven took great liberties with her writing, but it had a big Hollywood budget and big Hollywood stars. The entire movie is available for free on Youtube split into 4 episodes.

 

Art Show

In 2020, we asked local artists to submit artwork inspired by Ruth Moore, the people and places she wrote about, or a particular piece of writing. Click HERE to view the slideshow.

 

Ruth’s Writing

Frenchboro native Dean Lunt started Islandport Press 20 years ago and has taken over the task of republishing and distributing Ruth Moore’s books from Blackberry Press. The press plans to release two novels a year for three or four years, starting with The Weir, Candlemas Bay and Spoonhandle, currently available now. In 2021, the press will release Voices off the Ocean, a new collection of excerpts and poems intended as an introduction to Ruth Moore’s work.

All selections are reprinted here with permission from Blackberry Books. Copies can be purchased at Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick Maine or at Islandport Press. Select new and used copies may be purchased at the Library at 89 Bernard Rd. in Bernard. Call or stop by for titles in stock.

Sunday, July 19,2020:   Prologue  to Cold as a Dog and the Wind Northeast

Monday, July 20, 2020:     The Barricades—1940, from Times Web

Tuesday, July 21, 2020:     Come All Ye Murderers, All—1971, from Times Web

Wednesday, July 22, 2020: July, from The Tired Apple Tree

Thursday, July 23, 2020:     Blue Ice and Green Water, from The Tired Apple Tree

Friday, July 24, 2020:     Old Sam, from The Tired Apple Tree

Saturday, July 25, 2020:     Reference List, from The Tired Apple Tree

 
 

 

Photographs of Gotts Island

  • Tour of the Moore Homestead, 2018
  • Tour of the Moore Homestead, 2018
  • Tour of the Moore Homestead, 2018
  • The Meadow
  • Tour of the Moore Homestead, 2018
  • Gotts Island Harbor
  • The Village road
  • Bass Harbor Head Light from the Meadow
  • The Meadow
  • The Village
  • Low tide in the harbor
  • The inner pool
  • Ram Island
  • The view of MDI
  • Rugosa Rose
  • Sunset at the cemetery
  • Meadow view of MDI
  • Village sign
  • The village and the cemetery
  • Storms on the east side of the island
  • The “box on the rocks”
  • Calico Rock looking out at MDI
  • Moon rising over Ram Island
  • The dock
All photos courtesy of Lisa and David Murray