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Log inPreserving Monhegan's arts legacy
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Preserving Monhegan's arts legacy
by Outspoken on Fri Jul 04, 2008 8:15 am
Preserving Monhegan's arts legacy
By BOB KEYES
Portland Press Herald
Ed Deci is grateful. No question about it.
But those wonderful gifts that the Monhegan Historical & Cultural Museum Association have received over the years are starting to add up.
The fabled Monhegan light tower that the association received in 1998 brings a crucial historical element to the island museum's collection, but comes with a cost. The tower is in deplorable condition -- rusty, covered with lead paint and missing large chunks of mortar.
And the Rockwell Kent home and studio, which came as a gift four years ago, are also in need of critical repairs.
"We had an architectural specialist go over all of our buildings, and he made pages and pages of things that need to be done, from a crumbling foundation at the Kent house to overall safety of the light tower," said Deci, president of the association.
"We have a long report of what needs to be done, how it needs to be done and so forth. We have a lot of issues in relation to the light tower. We have hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars of work to do before we can open it to the public."
Toward that end, the Monhegan Museum launched a capital campaign in hopes of raising $1.5 million. The money would pay for repairs to the association's historic structures and also create an endowment to help ensure their future upkeep.
The campaign began with a fund-raising auction in May at the Portland Museum of Art, netting a cool $20,000 or so.
"We're off to a very nice start," Deci said.
Monhegan enjoys high-church status in Maine art. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Monhegan Art Colony, when New Hampshire painter Aaron Draper Shattuck arrived and began interpreting the island community.
It's been 40 years since the museum opened at the light station, and a decade since the museum opened new galleries in the replicated assistant lightkeeper's house.
In the century and a half since the birth of the Art Colony, giants of American art have come to Monhegan to paint, from Kent and Edward Hopper to Andrew and Jamie Wyeth.
It has been said that Maine's image in the world has been shaped largely by the paintings completed on Monhegan over the decades, and that may well be true.
FOR INFORMATION visit: www.monheganmuseum.org.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=196465&ac=Audience
By BOB KEYES
Portland Press Herald
Ed Deci is grateful. No question about it.
But those wonderful gifts that the Monhegan Historical & Cultural Museum Association have received over the years are starting to add up.
The fabled Monhegan light tower that the association received in 1998 brings a crucial historical element to the island museum's collection, but comes with a cost. The tower is in deplorable condition -- rusty, covered with lead paint and missing large chunks of mortar.
And the Rockwell Kent home and studio, which came as a gift four years ago, are also in need of critical repairs.
"We had an architectural specialist go over all of our buildings, and he made pages and pages of things that need to be done, from a crumbling foundation at the Kent house to overall safety of the light tower," said Deci, president of the association.
"We have a long report of what needs to be done, how it needs to be done and so forth. We have a lot of issues in relation to the light tower. We have hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars of work to do before we can open it to the public."
Toward that end, the Monhegan Museum launched a capital campaign in hopes of raising $1.5 million. The money would pay for repairs to the association's historic structures and also create an endowment to help ensure their future upkeep.
The campaign began with a fund-raising auction in May at the Portland Museum of Art, netting a cool $20,000 or so.
"We're off to a very nice start," Deci said.
Monhegan enjoys high-church status in Maine art. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Monhegan Art Colony, when New Hampshire painter Aaron Draper Shattuck arrived and began interpreting the island community.
It's been 40 years since the museum opened at the light station, and a decade since the museum opened new galleries in the replicated assistant lightkeeper's house.
In the century and a half since the birth of the Art Colony, giants of American art have come to Monhegan to paint, from Kent and Edward Hopper to Andrew and Jamie Wyeth.
It has been said that Maine's image in the world has been shaped largely by the paintings completed on Monhegan over the decades, and that may well be true.
FOR INFORMATION visit: www.monheganmuseum.org.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=196465&ac=Audience
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
