Philadelphia artists’ views of coastal Maine on display at COA

BAR HARBOR – Artists from the city of brotherly love have been coming to Maine since the 1830s. The Philadelphian Thomas Doughty (1793-1856) was among the first to paint the coast, choosing Mount Desert Rock as a subject. Among the notable Philadelphia painters to follow was American Impressionist Carroll Tyson (1878-1956), subject of a show currently at the Wendell Gilley Museum in Southwest Harbor.

On the evidence of the 35 pieces on display in the Ethel H. Blum Gallery at College of the Atlantic, the Philly-Maine art connections remain strong. The six featured artists – Stanley Bielen, Emily Brown, Patricia Ingersoll, Douglas Martenson, David Shevlino and Scott Wright – travel north and east to make art. (Five of the six studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; the sixth, Wright, attended the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Fine Arts.)

The “rocks” in the show’s title are most evident in the works of Ingersoll, Martenson and Shevlino, who join that rich continuum of artists drawn to coastal scenery. Among Ingersoll’s offerings are three handsome panoramas in pastel of bodies of water – Eagle Lake, the Tarn and Jordan Pond – tucked among the hills of Mound Desert Island. Less successful is a large Somes Sound sunset that seemed to overdo the luminescence in its flaming skies.

Among the landscapes by Martenson and Shevlino are several classic Maine seaside views. The former’s “Rocks, New Harbor, 2003,” is especially fine. He falls a bit flat in a non-Maine interior, “Corner of Room,” which owes something to Hopper’s “A Woman in the Sun.” Shevlino’s oil sketches are pleasantly familiar. The perspective for a view of Stonington, looking out over houses at the sea, is a cliche, but a res

onant one in his hands.

Scott Wright’s dizzying “Wing and Sunspot” takes its cue from fellow Maine painter Yvonne Jacquette’s aerial views (he even includes part of the plane’s wing as she did in several canvases from 1989-1990). Based on flyovers of the Hudson River, this painting and others in the show depict estuaries and channels in a painterly manner.

Almost miniatures, Stanley Beilen’s oil sketches pack a lot of paint into roughly 6 square inches. A standout among the seven displayed is “Church and Row Houses,” where dark facades stand out against a light sky.

Best in show goes to Emily Brown, who spends a part of each year in Searsmont in midcoast Maine. “Compost with Two Coffee Filters, 2004,” reminds us of the beauty of lemon and grapefruit rinds, a melon skin, an eggshell, all jumbled together in a rich organic mix. Also featured is one of Brown’s outstanding large Sumi ink studies, this one of a thicket of reeds.

David Baker, himself a fine Philadelphia painter now living in Hancock, and Susan Lerner, director of the Blum Gallery, co-curated “Philadelphia on the Rocks,” which runs through Aug. 7. Call 288-5015 or visit www.coa.edu for hours.

Carl Little can be reached at little@acadia.net.