It’s not easy painting green Sochor’s frogs keep visitors hopping at Maine Discovery Museum

Used to be a pollywog, and then I must have blinked.

Now I don’t know what I am. My tail has gone extinct.

Legs are sticking out all over. Got a humpy back.

Not a lot to grin about – GRAAAAAAAAAK!

Kurt Cyrus

Frogs will be jumping up, down and all around the Maine Discovery Museum in Bangor this month. Fat bullfrogs will glare down at running children. Resting ranas will hop off their lily pads only when the most patient children peer around a corner.

That showoff brown frog is the one to watch. Its long spotted legs will point straight to the sky as its head breaks the surface of the pond – a tiny splash the only evidence that it dove by.

They are not real frogs, of course. These amphibians fill the paintings of Lesia Sochor and are on display at the museum this month. The Brooks artist will conduct two workshops – Froggy Flip Books and Frog Prints – on Saturday, May 11, at the museum.

“It is the season of peepers and frogs, so we’re doing a lot of activities all month,” said Andrea Stark, director of education and exhibits. “Her paintings are a great addition to the museum visually and the activities tie in with our nature trails.”

Sochor, who is on the Maine Arts Commission’s Artist Roster, has been painting frogs for the past three years. The painter said she understands why children of all ages are attracted to the amphibians. She rediscovered frogs through her own children’s fascination with the amphibians.

“I think we’re drawn to them because of the whole cyclical thing,” she said. “When my kids were younger, they’d discover eggs in gelatinous clusters at the pond near our house. They’d see these tapioca things get clearer and clearer, until they’d see black pearls inside.

“They’d collect them in tubs to watch them hatch into pollywogs. So, we can actually watch the metamorphosis of this creature with little effort. It all starts when we first hear the peepers, and as the summer season comes on, that sound becomes a symphony of bullfrogs.”

The painter knows firsthand the healing power released in that cacophony of sound each spring.

Sochor’s only sister, Zenia, died in the winter of 1998. As winter deepened, her despondency grew more acute and she found herself unable to sleep. As spring approached, she feared going to bed because she knew she would toss and turn until dawn.

“I dreaded going to bed, night after night, and this went on for a couple of months,” she recalled. “Then one night that spring I went to bed, laid down and suddenly heard the peepers. It was so soothing. I completely, totally, peacefully fell asleep for the first time in a long time.”

When she awoke, she decided that the peepers had always been with her and helped revive her to the promise of life. Just as spring revives the landscape, the peepers reawakened her appreciation of life and beauty.

“I thought it was such an omen. I knew I was meant to paint these things,” she recalled. “They made me feel the cycle. Here I am in my despair, and when I heard these peepers, I realized how beautiful life is. I was completely inspired and I just love it. I’ve become consumed by these creatures, consumed by these amphibians.”

Parents who’ve spent time exploring Maine’s ponds, lakes and streams know the allure the creatures hold for children.

Ingrid Alquist of Bangor has spent her summers on Jacob Buck Pond since she was 5 years old. Family and friends consider the 13-year-old a frog catcher extrordinaire. She stalks pollywogs and full-fledged frogs with equal skill and stealth. Alquist theorized that the amphibians fascinate humans because “they are one of the few wild animals that you can actually catch.”

Children who can’t wait to get their hands on real frogs can create their own with Sochor while parents stroll through the museum and contemplate her paintings. They’ll surely trigger memories of frogs captured or nearly captured in their own childhood days.

Froggy Flip Books will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 11. Children will make a flip book to tell a story about frogs. Recommended for children over the age of 8. Frog Prints will be held from 1:30-3:30 p.m. and will allow children of all ages to explore printmaking using sponges, soaps, vegetables and other materials. For information, call 262-7200 or visit the museum’s Web site at www.mainediscoverymuseum.org.