Wealth of Art State program, donations enable Deer Isle-Stonington school to acquire works

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Ask the pupils at Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School what an artist uses to create art, and you may wind up with an eclectic array of answers.

Oils. Acrylics. Film gels. Felt. Wood. Plastic tops from squirt bottles. Computer keys. Chess pieces.

All those materials, and more, show up in the Percent for Art pieces placed throughout the new school, which opened in February. Percent for Art is a state program that allows schools to use up to 1 percent of the construction cost – up to a maximum of $40,000 – to add art to the new building. The purchases have to be approved by the local school board.

The Percent for Art committee for Deer Isle-Stonington managed to come up with works by seven artists on its budget, and then additional private funding enabled the school to acquire pieces by two others.

A colorful relief hanging outside the school’s main office, near the entrance to the K-2 wing, boasts a variety of fish, a sea gull, lobster, crab, sea urchin and, if you look closely, an engagement ring.

The artist is Rebekah Raye of East Blue Hill, says Barrett Brewer, chairman of both the school board and the Percent for Art committee.

“Did you see the ring?” Brewer often asks visitors, guiding them through the school. “The artist says, ‘My love runs deep for creatures of the sea.'”

The hallway of another wing in the school offers a far different piece of art enclosed in a rectangular opening in the wall.

“The City of Dreams,” crafted by sculptor Wally Warren of Bangor and Harmony, is a small city in itself, complete with river and bridges. It was put together with a mind-boggling variety of “found objects,” bottle tops, computer keys, barrettes, trifles and gizmos of all descriptions.

The school’s pupils “just spend hours looking at those,” Brewer said.

At Deer Isle-Stonington, even the stairwells have art – long, hanging sculptures in translucent hues of green, blue, pink and yellow.

The pieces, which catch the sun peeking through windows on the second floor, were created from film gels by Elizabeth Busch, a Glenburn artist also known for another medium – art quilts such as those that were part of the Stanley Marcus collection on guild.com last Christmas.

Busch cuts the film gels into strips, attaches gold leaf to some of them, and weaves the strips through netting to create pieces that may be long and straight, or wavy like ribbon candy. Seven of her works hang in an arc in the school library, their curving shapes suggesting the flow of the space. Together, the seven sculptures here and the two in the stairwells are titled “Over the Waves.”

The artist acknowledges that her art is a bit abstract, but she points out that when the pieces move, pupils looking up “might see a lobster boat, a sailboat or a farm with horses and cows.”

Busch has done other landscapes and seascapes, but these are special because Deer Isle means so much to her. She lived there for awhile some years ago, and also has studied and taught at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts on Deer Isle.

“It’s just such a nurturing community,” Busch said of the island, “and I wanted to say something about that connection.”

The artist said she hopes to have the opportunity to go to the school and talk to the youngsters, “so they know a person has gone into a hardware store and fallen in love with berry netting, and done something with it. That gives them permission to play and experiment and have fun.”

Mia Kanazawa’s art, also hanging in the library, is a whole other animal – or bird, actually.

The heron, crafted from felt, is suspended from the ceiling so that it moves. Kanazawa also is known for her puppets.

Even the cafeteria is a gallery of sorts. A colorful wooden relief on one wall, made by Phil Barter of Sullivan, shows the Deer Isle bridge and the mainland.

It’s an example of what Principal Mark Hurvitt says about the new school.

“In a public space, it’s important to represent the community, and artists are a big part of that,” he explained, especially with so many artists having local connections.

Hurvitt is also pleased that the quantity of pieces enabled the committee to place art “all over the school, not just in the lobby.”

With art in front of them on a daily basis, the school’s 325 pupils can “see, and aspire to, what can be done,” he said.

In galleries, art is generally of the “don’t touch” variety, but officials hope that pupils will actually sit on one piece of art.

Brewer straddled the chess bench, crafted of wood, and demonstrated how youngsters would use the artwork as a game table. Deftly she slid to one side a piece of the bench, made by Deer Isle carver Bruce Bulger, revealing a storage space for chess pieces.

Deer Isle-Stonington is a school system, it should be noted, with more than a casual interest in chess. Youngsters there have won state chess championships on the elementary, junior high and high school levels, and have done well in national competitions over the years.

The cafeteria also has 20 chessboards built into its tables, and a giant-size chess table in the floor.

Even the pupils have contributed art to the new school. One hallway upstairs holds four large murals made by last year’s sixth-grade class. The pieces displaying a rock on the shore, the new school with its auditorium, a shore scene and a sunrise were created during a workshop with artist Chris Baker.

The kids also were involved in the choice of one of Baker’s works for the school, a large oil of Stonington Harbor.

The new school was actually a 20-year project, Brewer explained, one which was in the planning long before she and husband Sebert Brewer, chairman of the building committee, moved to the island full time in 1992. They have two daughters who graduated from the high school.

The Percent for Art committee, whose members included two pupils and artist Robert Shetterly, looked at slides from 90 to 100 individuals, Brewer explained.

“Then a dozen finalists did presentations,” she said. Asked about the number of works the school purchased, she said, “We’re good shoppers,” adding that some of the artists also charged less than their usual prices for their work.

Private funding enabled the school to also acquire pieces by two Deer Isle artists, Peter Beerits and Doug Wilson.

After the $8 million school was completed, Brewer said, a local person commented that the cupola on top of the building really needed a weathervane.

The piece was crafted by Wilson, who has a daughter in kindergarten.

“The crossbar is the Deer Isle bridge,” Brewer said, “and the directional markings are the sun, the moon and the stars.”

Beerits’ art, on the other hand, graces the walls of what Hurvitt calls “a piece of art in itself,” the school’s auditorium.

“We’ve never had one before,” Brewer said of the spacious room.

The auditorium – and the Beerits art – were both paid for with private funds.

“People have been very generous,” Brewer pointed out. “I’m just so tickled.”

The new school is located on a road behind the high school on Route 15.

There were differing opinions about which community should be the site of the new school, Beerits said. “That’s why I wanted to make sure everybody got represented.”

One of the Beerits pieces depicts a soldier and horse in the Fourth of July parade held in Deer Isle Village, the other a colorful scene in Stonington Harbor of a boat returning from fishing.

“The two panels, approximately 9 by 12 feet each, are made of native pine with metal details and found objects,” Beerits said. In fact, the art pieces serve as acoustical baffles for the auditorium.

Beerits is very pleased to have his art in the space, which he called “a fabulous auditorium. At the first event, I sat in the back row, and you could see the entire stage.”

He has never been one to pursue public commissions, but is glad he got involved in this project.

The school’s second-graders recently visited Beerits at his business on Sunshine Road, Nervous Nellie’s Jams and Jellies.

“They watched jam being made, and I talked to them about sculpture. It was neat,” he said.

At Deer Isle-Stonington, the art is in the midst of the students – and so are the artists.