An artist’s canvas takes many shapes and sizes, from the circular paintings – rondelles – of the Renaissance to the painted carpenter saws of Jacob Kass (which this writer remembers viewing in a SoHo gallery back in 1988). Choosing an unusual format can create technical challenges, but it also may offer special aesthetic rewards. Case in point: the 41 artists’ canoe paddles that will be auctioned off on Aug. 12 to benefit the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor.

When considering the potential for transforming a paddle into a work of art, painting a landscape on the attenuated oval of the blade might come to mind first. That’s the route a number of the contributing artists took, from Sidney Salvatore’s handsome vista of Bass Harbor Marsh on Mount Desert Island to Jamie Wyeth’s striking view of Southern Island with a fierce seagull in the foreground.

A number of artists drew on their personal fortes to decorate their paddles. Gillyin Gatto, one of Maine’s finest woodblock printers, used her signature technique to create a stunning two-sided tribute to the great blue heron, which she encounters while paddling the waterways of Washington County. Likewise, stained glass artist Ann Maske turned to her medium to create a memorable eagle.

The imagery ranges widely, from a carved map of the Allagash River by Lucien Jandreau to Rebecca Goodale’s homage to some of Maine’s rare freshwater plants and animals. Many paddles fittingly feature canoes, among them is a depiction of a Wabanaki man paddling his grandmother to Little Cranberry Island to gather sweet grass by Gail Grandgent and a view of Mount Katahdin by Barry Dana, chief of the Penobscot Nation.

The Abbe Museum and its collection inspired a number of artists. Employing a transfer technique, Amy Pollien based her rendering of the weave of an American Indian basket on examples from the museum. Arlyss Becker, an artist who has volunteered at the Abbe, incorporates images of root clubs. Lee Thompson depicts the historic Abbe Museum building at Sieur de Monts Spring on her paddle.

Many artists chose to add material. Wayne Mitchell used a range of natural materials, including two deer jawbones, the ribs of a rattlesnake and the teeth of a cow to create a mask-like visage. California artist James Luna turned his paddle into a musical instrument by way of a turtle shell, a bone and strings.

Not all of the artists are as well known as Luna or the North Haven island painter Eric Hopkins, who offers an evocation of the Earth on his paddle. Cookie Horner is a school nurse – fans of fly-fishing will love her paddle. While Mark McCullough, who painted an aurora borealis on his paddle, is a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A number of the contributors are art teachers.

The “ringer” in the group is Aaron York, an Abenaki artist from Lachine, Quebec, whose livelihood includes carving paddles. His offering, an exquisite rendering of a sturgeon (symbol of cultural survival among Native peoples), belongs in a museum. York also contributed a 16-foot handcrafted birch bark canoe, which will be auctioned off along with arts and crafts from other tribes.

While a few artists, including York, provided their own “canvases,” many chose to work with the 57-inch-long white ash beaver tail paddle provided by the museum. In several cases, the sculptural possibilities of the paddle were exploited to remarkable effect. Outstanding among these are treatments by Nancy Manter, Sam Shaw, Emily Sawyer and Dave G. Hall, whose “Walking Paddle Man” takes the prize for humor and inventiveness.

Some of these paddles will offer display challenges, especially the two-sided ones (although you can flip the paddle from time to time for a different image). The horizontal ones will fit perfectly over a doorway or a mantel, while the vertical ones are custom-made for that space between windows.

Sarah Ruef-Lindquist, a member of the Abbe Museum’s event committee and chair of its development committee, came up with the paddle art idea. One of her motives was to draw on the vibrancy of the artist community in Hancock County and beyond. She also remembered the success of the Belfast Bears, lobster sculptures in Rockland, lighthouses in Portland and the children’s chairs painted by artists to benefit the Maine Discovery Museum in Bangor.

Business sponsors have been exhibiting individual paddles in their offices, but the pieces will be returned to the Abbe Museum before the auction. Those unable to attend can still bid by registering ahead of time and providing a phone number where they can be reached during the auction, which begins at 7 p.m. on Aug. 12.

The auction is by invitation only. Reservations are $75 per person, which includes a tax-deductible contribution to the Abbe Museum. For more information, call the museum at 288-3519 or visit www.abbemuseum.org and click on “Paddle Art!”

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