Monhegan Island is a portrait of resilience. Artists have captured it for 2 centuries.
| Brunswick, Maine
Monhegan Island has captivated visitors like me for centuries.
Located 10 miles off Maine鈥檚 coast, the remote island鈥檚 natural beauty strikes awe at every turn of its scant 1-square-mile size.
I first went with my mother, who loved off-the-beaten-path adventures. I returned later as a reporter for the Monitor, interviewing the only lobster-woman on the island and sleuthing out a chef鈥檚 secret stew recipe.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onMaine鈥檚 Monhegan Island is a scant square mile in size. But don鈥檛 underestimate it. The island has a thing or two to teach the world about mistletoe 鈥� and resilience.
But most day-trippers and adventurists are probably completely unaware of an important backstory of the charming island: its history of environmental renewal.
A new exhibition, 鈥淎rt, Ecology, and the Resilience of a Maine Island: The Monhegan Wildlands,鈥� is changing that. The show illuminates the island鈥檚 ecological journey from the last ice age to modern times.
Indigenous artifacts, maps, scientific research, and the creations of a range of artists help tell the story. Works include those by Edward Hopper, Robert Henri, Jamie Wyeth, printmaker Barbara Putnam, and Lynne Drexler. The show is on view at Bowdoin College Museum of Art until June 1 and then moves to the island to summer, so to speak, at the Monhegan Museum of Art & History. There, viewers will be encouraged to pair their art experience with the nature that inspired it.
That connection between environment and canvas is how Bowdoin biology professor Barry Logan came to be involved. Dr. Logan has been traveling to Monhegan for 20 years to study the island鈥檚 forest landscape, often with his students in tow.
Of particular interest to him has been the dwarf mistletoe plant, which has wreaked havoc on the island鈥檚 white spruce trees. (The parasite is known to glom onto its host鈥檚 branches, siphoning off water and nutrients to survive.)
Those spruce trees had colonized fields once used for sheep farming. But since the decline of white spruce forests, deciduous trees, such as birch, aspen, and maple, have replaced them.
This natural phenomenon, Professor Logan found, can be evidenced in artworks by some of the island鈥檚 most illustrious painters, who depicted its effects, likely unknowingly, on their canvases. For example, in Hopper鈥檚 鈥淢onhegan Landscape,鈥� from the early 20th century, a scrawny, lifeless white spruce tree is prominently painted against the mighty, deep-blue ocean. Other works, Dr. Logan observed, also bear witness to the changing landscape.
He says in an interview that he was struck by what he鈥檇 noticed, and he approached directors at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and Monhegan Museum of Art & History. Together they decided to curate an exhibition that would tell the story of Monhegan鈥檚 environmental evolution.
鈥淲e have two centuries of artists who have been painting this place, and we realized they can help us understand its ecology,鈥� says Frank Goodyear, co-director of the Bowdoin museum. 鈥淭hese artists are keen observers, and I have been impressed how the scientific data matches what they depicted.鈥�
Dr. Goodyear points to Rockwell Kent鈥檚 鈥淪un, Manana, Monhegan,鈥� which the artist painted from his island home on Horn鈥檚 Hill in 1907. He revisited the spot 43 years later to include the young forest that had grown up in what was originally open pastureland.
The theme of ecological resilience spoke loudly to the curatorial team. 鈥淭he word 鈥榬esilience,鈥� which we placed in the title with great intention,鈥� says Dr. Logan, 鈥渋s meant to convey that if one can place a forest in conservation, whatever its condition, it will likely return and take on a beautiful trajectory.鈥�
They give heaps of credit to Monhegan Associates, a land trust organization. It was founded in 1954 by Ted Edison, one of inventor Thomas Edison鈥檚 sons, who led an effort to acquire and steward land outside the town鈥檚 historic village. The hard work to preserve the wildlands was done back in the 1950s and 1960s, and now the group maintains them for the enjoyment of all.
鈥淭he actions of motivated individuals like Ted Edison can make a huge difference,鈥� says Dr. Logan, 鈥渂ut he didn鈥檛 do it alone. It took a community.鈥�
The wildlands make up about four-fifths of the island, close to 400 acres, including forests and 9 miles of trails.
鈥淚 sometimes feel like I鈥檓 walking through a painting here, and now others will experience that,鈥� says Jennifer Pye, director of the Monhegan Museum of Art & History. This summer, she says, the trails will get their close-up, as viewers of the exhibit will be encouraged to wander in the nearby wildlands.
For example, one might view George Bellows鈥� 鈥淐athedral Woods,鈥� painted in 1913, and then step out onto that same treasured trail. 鈥淭his work was a late addition to the exhibit, and it鈥檚 such a gem,鈥� says Ms. Pye. 鈥淏ellows is better known for his crashing surf scenes, but this painting perfectly captures the dark, quiet, still feeling of being in Cathedral Woods.鈥�
There will be some changes from the Bowdoin show, she adds. For example, the student-produced audio-and-visual effects will no longer be needed, since viewers will be immersed in the place where those artworks originated. Also, the Monhegan venue is smaller, so not all of the artworks and artifacts will make the trip.
One islander says the exhibit has changed the way he sees his home. Doug Boynton, who has lived on Monhegan for 55 years (one of about 40 year-round residents) and lobstered there for almost as long, says the show taught him a few things, particularly about the island鈥檚 early history. It also changed the way he looks at art.
鈥淵ou see art everywhere here, but you don鈥檛 really think of it as a scientific tool for documenting ecological changes,鈥� says Mr. Boynton, who contributed a chapter to the exhibit catalog. 鈥淣ow I realize what a beautiful tool it is!鈥�
鈥淎rt, Ecology, and the Resilience of a Maine Island: The Monhegan Wildlands,鈥� runs through June 1 at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. On July 1, it opens at the Monhegan Museum of Art & History.
