Artist Arline Thomson shows 7 decades of landscapes

ORONO – Drawings and watercolors created throughout the past seven decades in venues from Great Britain to Grand Manan will be on display May 18-30 in the Presidents’ Room on the second floor of the Fogler Library at the University of Maine.

An exhibit, reception and sale of the work of artist Arline K. Thomson will be held 1-3 p.m. Sunday, May 18, in the Fogler Library’s Thomas Lynch University Club. The sale will benefit the Fogler Library. The events is sponsored by the nonprofit group Friends of Fogler Library.

The more than 200 drawings and paintings by Thomson in the exhibit, titled “From Great Britain to Grand Manan,” will offer a lifetime perspective of the artist. The earliest pieces date from when Thomson was a student at the Massachusetts School of Art, where she graduated with a degree in design in 1934. The show also will include her most recent works, completed at the age of 90.

Thomson, a native of Methuen, Mass., has had a long love of landscapes from both sides of the Atlantic. During her more than 30-year career in graphic design at the University of Maine, Thomson captured the character of the campus and the state. Beginning in 1974, she took trips to London to sketch the historic cityscape.

Thomson began her professional career at the Massachusetts School of Art. She worked in advertising in Boston and New York City before moving to Maine in 1953. Thomson designed and illustrated 10 children’s books over the course of a decade.

In 1962, she became the University of Maine’s first graphic designer. She “officially” retired from UMaine in 1985, but continued working part time for the university until 1992. Through the years, her art was exhibited at the University of Maine Museum of Art and throughout the state. Her 1994 book, “Discovering Elizabethan London: Diary and Sketches,” is based on the 16th-century survey of London by John Stow.

Thomson, a longtime resident of Old Town, now lives in Orono and Port Clyde. She was married to the late Robert Thomson, longtime political science professor at UM. The Honors Center at the university was named for him.

“From Great Britain to Grand Manan” is open to the public. Beginning May 17, Fogler Library hours will be 8 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday; and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.