Belfast remains serious about art Galleries unite to stay open later

In the late 1980s, then-Maine Times art critic Edgar Allen Beam dubbed Belfast the “Art Capital of Maine.” It was a fitting appellation and was embraced by many as an improvement over the city’s former notoriety as “Broiler Capital of Maine.”

The cooperative gallery ArtFellows had just risen from the Main Street sidewalks on which the occasional clump of chicken feathers used to drift. Then, John Ames opened Gallery 68 in a 19th century granite and timber frame building, also on Main Street. The striking space and the crowds drawn for opening nights could have passed for the art scene of a city far larger than Belfast.

A few years later, transplanted Manhattan resident Rosemary Frick opened the Frick Gallery on High Street, and it seemed reasonable to say that Belfast was indeed an art Mecca in Maine.

Ames now runs a gallery in Camden, Frick’s gallery became a bed-and-breakfast, and ArtFellows disbanded, but nearly 20 years later, Belfast still boasts a vibrant arts scene, with everything from crafts and traditional marine paintings to more challenging work being shown and sold.

Susan Tobey White, who owns and operates High Street Studio & Gallery, which features her lively and colorful paintings along with other work, believes it’s time to tell the region the Belfast art scene is alive and well.

Gallery owners have stayed open late on the first Friday of the summer months, and locals have wandered from gallery to gallery to soak in the art and enjoy wine, cheese and the company of neighbors and friends. Now, the 14 galleries have committed to extending the festive Friday nights to the entire month of August, with owners pledging to be

open from 5:30 to as late as

8:30 p.m.

The galleries are all within easy walking distance of the city’s single downtown traffic light at the intersection of Main and High streets, and galleries will hand out maps to guide pedestrians to the next stop.

Though it might seem that White and her colleagues actively worked to reclaim art as part of the city’s identity, she said the resurgence was more gradual and organic. When a city of 6,300 finds itself with more than a dozen venues showing original art, it just makes sense to organize and market, White said.

Mayor Mike Hurley, himself a founding member of ArtFellows, is cheered by what he sees.

“It’s exciting to have a lot of people walking around the streets,” he said.

Artists “add color, perspective and excitement” to the community, Hurley added.

The participating galleries are: Phoenix Loft Gallery, Darby’s Restaurant, High Street Studio & Gallery, The Working Art Gallery, Art Alliance, Marvin Jacobs Gallery, The Clown, Sink Gallery, First Light Gallery, The Parent Gallery, Indigo Gallery, The Belfast Framer and William Ryan Gallery.

Tom Groening can be reached at 338-3034 and groening@

midcoast.com.