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FIFTY PLUS ONE! The First Artist Residency of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway

I am very excited to announce that my new one-person show at Gleason Fine Art Gallery in Boothbay Harbor, Maine will open this summer on August 6th, 2021. Last year readers and editors shared their picks for Maine's best everything and Gleason Fine Art Gallery was voted Best Art Gallery of Maine in DownEast Magazine and I couldn't agree more or be more honored to be having a one-person show of my new Allagash Wilderness Waterway paintings. Owners Dennis and Marty Gleason and their staff Andrew Gleason and Diana Kerr are wonderfully accommodating in making the best gallery experiences for their clients and anyone visiting their showrooms of art in the beautiful Boothbay Harbor, Maine setting. 

The show they have agreed to feature my work in is called: FIFTY PLUS ONE; The First Artist Residency of The Allagash Wilderness Waterway. "Fifty", stands for July, 2020, which is the year the Natural Resources Council of Maine celebrated its 50th anniversary of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway as a federal designation and as a wild and scenic river. It was also the number of small plein air paintings that I set a goal to paint in different locations of the 92- mile national waterway treasure. Fifty also represents one painting to commemorate each year plus one more to represent the year 2021, the summer I would actually have my final open show at Gleason Fine Art and the year I would hand the button over to a newly selected artist. 

One of the subjects that became the most important images of the residency for me and what might be considered the "painting of the year" was the idea I ran with of a pair of paddlers shooting Chase rapids after the flood gates were opened up at Churchill Dam. The idea came from a James Fitzgerald painting that I own of two paddlers shooting the rapids down the Penobscot river, that I have always related to as lumbermen. The following is an unedited except from the book I am writing for the show that describes what that faithful day was like for my professional photographer friend Troy Sands and myself back in August 21st, 2020, as we captured the images, a plein air painting study and GoPro video for the painting above, "Shooting Chase Rapids, Allagash".

Friday August 21st, 2020: The Painting Of The Year.

Instinctively I awoke that morning at 4:30am wanting to get an early start. But I forced myself to sleep a half hour longer because it was going to be a long day and I would need the rest. I finally got up and went to the outhouse which is a few hundred feet from the Lock Dam cabin. On my way back I heard a rustling in the woods to my right that sounded like it came from a large animal, who gave me a loud guttural warning and poping sound that I felt came from a bear. After talking with Superintendent Matt Laroache later that day, he told me that it very well could have been a black Bear because Lock Dam Cabin is situated between Chamberlain Lake, the 3rd largest lake in Maine, and Eagle Lake. This makes Lock Dam a major thoroughfare for animals who migrate between these two lakes. 

I never lost my nerve, I had a very bright lantern and just kept walking slowly until I reached the safety of the cabin. Then I had breakfast by 5:30am as the skies opened up and poured heavily down on the cabin roof. The national forecast report that was printed out for me by Ranger Jay Young earlier that week called for a 60% chance of rain before 10 am, and it was already coming down hard. I was hoping that it would stop by 6:30 am because this day was the day I would venture out to meet my good friend and professional photographer Troy Sands. The artist residency program allows you to have one guest. So I asked him if he might like to come out and stay a few nights at Lock Dam Cabin and take photographs. He had agreed and the plan was to meet up with me at the intersection of Indian Point Road, that leads you into Lock Dam, and the Telos Road in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. 

The design for the day was to meet up with Troy and we both would travel to Churchill Dam on the Churchill Dam Road to meet up with Superintendent Matthew Laroache and one of his 4-year rangers, Bob Johnson, a 37 year Maine Geological Surveyor whom I have heard of through the Maine Youth Wilderness Leadership program through the Friends of Baxter State Park, but I never met him in person. Two weeks prior I asked Matt if he would do me a favor as a resident artist. I asked him if he might shoot Chase rapids with one of his rangers so that Troy and I could capture them both paddling through using photography and video media. He agreed, and we made a commitment to meet each other at Churchill Dam between 11 am and noon. My plan was to use the video footage, high quality still photographs, and a plein air oil study to paint a larger final oil in my studio later in the year.

So you can imagine how nervous I was waiting for Troy to arrive since all of this day would depend on the circumstances timing out perfectly. Furthermore, both Troy and I had never traveled to Churchill Dam before and the roads are not always clearly marked. But as it were, Troy got up early in Bangor just as I did. He arrived right on time at 8:40 am. He parked his car over to the side shoulder, since they were logging on Indian point road that day and he needed to be safely out of the way of the forestry operation. Then we quickly loaded up all of his gear into my truck, plugged in his Garmond GPS into the lighter of my truck and off we went on the adventure of our lives. 

After getting turned around only once on John's Bridge Road, a narrow road that almost took out my muffler pipe, we quickly back tracked and eventually arrived by 10:30 am. We went right to the ranger station and found no one around. So we hiked out back on a small trail to see Chase Rapids but discovered that it would be a better viewed on the other side of the Allagash River. So we drove back over Churchill Dam and parked the truck on the other side and decided to explore that riverbank a little. Soon after, when we returned to my truck we met up with Ranger Bob and then Superintendent Matt, as all four of us stood on Churchill Dam and made a plan for capturing "the painting of the day."

Matt and Bob pinpointed exactly were they would be paddling and approximately where we needed to be set up to get the best shots. Then we were guided by Matt to the left side of the Allagash River on a path that took us past an old bunk house used by lumbermen as their living quarters in their heyday in Allagash history. He shared about the rich tradition this place holds as we continued into the woods where we followed a trail that led us through a tall thick bushwhack of brush. We eventually broke through and it opened up into a wooded area where the river became clear and the trail more recognizable. It was an excellent view that Matt led us to where they would attempt to capture their pass-by with their canoe and we would be ready with our cameras. By then Bob had opened up the flood gates that held back the water at the Dam and soon the exposed rocks became completely submerged in the torrent just as he did every day at noon all summer long.

Almost a half hour had passed since Matt left to rejoin Bob at the Dam where they would choose their canoe, gear up and begin their paddling Down Allagash River through the rough Chase Rapids. Although it was overcast, the rain had stopped and Troy and I took off our boots and waded into the water up to our knees for an even better viewing angle. Troy stood about a hundred feet up river and I just below. He would take photo stills with his $3000.00 camera and I would capture video with my new digital GoPro8 camera that was completely waterproof. 

Then, suddenly, Troy turned to me and signaled me that they were coming. From far away they looked very small against the fast moving torrent. We were able to get about 6 or 8 photographs of them negotiating the rapids and even some some dramatic shots as they quickly passed us. Matt was in the front and Bob was in the stern. And even though they were hit from both sides with the raging waves, they never flipped and remained steady. They were clearly skilled paddlers. I filmed with my GoPro 8 as they came into my shot and followed them until they landed the canoe below me on the bank. Troy with his wide angle lens kept shooting one photo after another. We then reviewed our images to see if we captured the shot.

Meanwhile Matt and Bob dragged the canoe up over the lower bank and portaged the canoe through the woods and up the trail where we were. We also took pictures of them portaging through the woods as well. Based on what we captured we all agreed that they should do it one more time because we were caught a little off guard in the timing, and now we were more familiar with the route they would be taking. We felt we would be better prepared this time and they were very gracious to do this again. It took them another half hour or so before they came down again but this time we were ready.

When they passed by us we noticed that they changed positions in the Canoe and Bob was now in the bow and Matt at the stern. It somehow made better sense and a more effective composition. This time Troy and I were both more confident. We were able to preplan our viewing angles better and could judge the settings on our cameras to increase our odds. As they came through that second time, standing in the icy current rushing by our knees, we got took even more photos because we felt this was our last opportunity. This time when we reviewed our footage and shots we were excited that we captured what we came for and it was better than we could even imagined it would be. 

I often told Superintendent Matt that I had a stretched 38 x 48 inch linen canvas waiting in my studio to paint this very subject when I returned. For two weeks I wondered if they would actually fulfill my request and for a while it was a little touch and go because Matt came out on his week of vacation to do this special favor for me. In the end we all very grateful, a little worn for wear, and all very excited to capture this experience because we got the shot! In fact we got more than what we needed and I got so much more than I expected for future painting subjects.

In the hours that followed Troy helped the rangers with the canoe and took more photos of them portaging back to Churchill Dam. I stayed and set up to paint a small 8 x 10 inch oil study of Chase Rapids. By the time I completed most of the two-hour study Troy had returned and proceeded to take pictures of me painting the rapids en plein air. We were amazed at how low the water level had receded. Ranger Bob had closed the flood gates of Churchill Dam once again as he did so many times before, and we were so grateful to capture Chase Rapids at its best. Also we were expecting other paddlers to also shoot the rapids that day but they never showed. As it turned out Matt and Bob would be the only ones to shoot Chase Rapids that day. The river now revealed the boulders that hours ago were completely submerged. But I completed the study before it changed too dramatically and moved on to paint another in the area, making my way to the top of Churchill Dam feeling accomplished and absolutely blessed.

If you would like to get an idea of what this residency was like you can also view a 4-minute video of a conversation with me made by Jim Britt of the Maine Department of Agricultural Conservation & Forestry, just CLICK HERE.

If you would like to apply for this residency for the 2021 Summer season you can go to the DACF webpage by clicking/or going to: https://www.maine.gov/dacf/parks/water_activities/aww-river-conditions.shtml

NEWS UPDATE...

On February the 2nd the President of the Board of Directors of the New England Watercolor Society just informed me that my watercolor, "Hitching The Team" has won the Bronze Medal in the Signature Member Show 2021! You can view my painting in person at the Guild Of Boston Artists in Boston, MA by appointment. The show opened on January 30th and ends on February 28th, 2021. DUE TO COVID-19 THERE WILL BE NO WORKSHOP, DEMOS OR GALLERY TALKS.
THERE WILL BE A VIRTUAL AWARDS RECEPTION on SUN, FEB. 7 AT 3:00 PM. Further details will be posted as they become available. Instead, a virtual awards ceremony will be recorded and posted on the website. They expect that to be posted by next Tuesday, February 9th. A notice will be posted in the text message area of the website banner with a link to the video once it's gone live. I am Thankful for being a part of this show. To view this year's award winners CLICK HERE!

Congratulations to everyone who participated for such a great showing of watercolors paintings!

Have an adventurously creative week Everyone,

Michael E. Vermette

AWW resident artist 2020