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When Irony Becomes A Passion

It was about this time last year in April, around Earth Day that I received two emails from two of my closest friends who encouraged me to apply for the Allagash Wilderness Waterway Visiting Artist program. When I read their emails I chuckled and thought they were joking with me. After all, the Covid-19 pandemic was new upon us back then and we were being asked to wear a mask, wash our hands, practice social distancing, quarantine if necessary and operate for the most part, remotely. Many of us plein air painters saw one by one our plein air art auction events postponed, or become online experiences, not to mention cancelled workshop opportunities. So to get a notice that there was a visiting artist program offered that would give a painter a chance to become the inaugural Allagash Wilderness Waterway visiting artist seemed ironic in timing.

The hilarity of it was that we painters were already operating remotely en plein air on location; but now this was an opportunity to plunge yourself even more remotely by spending two weeks based at Dot Kidney's "amazing cabin" at Lock Dam on Chamberlain Lake. To experience the 92-mile wild river system that is the Allagash was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to say the least. Despite the warnings and the uncertainty of the pandemic the two-week residency stood out as a possibility that seemed contrary of what most plein air painters were expecting at the time. The residency came to me completely by surprise. It was hosted and designed by Maine's Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry, which established the residency program to mark its 50th anniversary of the creation of this spectacular scenic waterway. Even the State of Maine's 200 bicentennial celebration was being postponed for a year. But this inaugural program was not postponed and serve to challenged the artist to an even deeper level of immersion into nature at a time of such unrest and even fear.

So I laughed, because it was the last thing I would consider to do. But somewhere between Earth Day and the April 30th deadline my humorious dismissal of the thread of a wilderness painting idea of becoming more remote in Maine's wilderness, became an inspiring hawser that would tie me to the most remote and wild river of Maine forever. 

When I sat down at my computer to finally apply through the online application form, the ideas and possibilities flowed from my hand like the rising waters of the class I-II Chase Rapids after the floodgates of Churchill Dam were opened. In cooperation with the Spirit and the imperfect on-line application process I wrote it all down and sent it off with no way to copy what I had just written. I simply pressed "send" and forgot about it. Or at least until I got that infamous call weeks later from Superintendent Matt LaRoche informing me that I was selected as the first resident artist of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. Needless to say, I was utterly astounded, astonished that they would pick me out of hundreds of applicants as far away as Europe. After celebrating briefly with my family, the first thing I did was to ask for a copy of my application so that I could remember what I promised to accomplish. The following is the application form that I wrote for my residency.

Briefly describe your artistic plan during your stay and your intended accomplishments while in Allagash Wilderness Waterway:

ARTIST RESIDENCY 

If I was awarded this residency, first of all I would be over the moon excited. The Allagash Wilderness Waterway has always been an adventurous dream for me to paint en plein air ever since I talked with and viewed the landscape paintings and woodblock prints of Neil Welliver at the Portland Museum of Art. Although I admit his work, I also admire the productivity of Robert Henri when he conducted "The Race", a painter's challenge between George Bellows and Randall Davey. These painters looked at Monhegan Island as an opportunity to paint up to 4 to 5 small studies a day to capture the wilderness of the out-to-sea adventure. My plan would be to do just that. I would take on the "Race" challenge and use the Allagash Wilderness Waterway as the secluded natural place to pit my talent against in these two highly concentrated weeks of productivity. There are four things that I would do that would bring success as it did in Robert Henri's group on Monhegan Island. 

First I would prepare and paint small 8 x 10 inch oils with a vision of the end in sight. I would prepare up to 50 substrates with the goal of painting 3 to 4 paintings a day, each at a different location within 2-hour painting sessions. I would break the two weeks up from August 2nd to August 8th and paint the full moon, sunrises, sunsets, high noon on the water in my canoe and from the shore. My second week would be between August 16th and August 22nd. I would be very interested in working with the AWW Ranger in leading and advising me to outdoor painting subjects and adventurous locations that would offer the best views at a time of day when the subject is at its best. I would invite one artist friend of mine to paint with me for each week and to help me canoe and portage from one location to another. That would include up to two painters, one guest painter for each week who would paint in the same medium as I. They would also be helpful in bringing in supplies for the Open Studio. 

Secondly, I would focus on the Joy of painting. I would pretend I was dancing or singing a picture no matter what the circumstances or difficulties are that I might find myself in. I believe that the secret to painting with this level of conviction is to not allow obstacles and problems to discourage or steal the joy of painting found in the plein air painting process. If I don't enjoy my work, neither will the observer of my paintings. So I will come prepared with appropriate equipment and attitude to paint no matter what the weather or conditions. The only way to regard this secluded residency is that it is a privilege one has to be willing to pay for. That could mean a wilderness adventure involving rain, thunder storms, heat, bugs, and above all a deep respect for the river, its currents and its rapids. 

Thirdly, I would arise each day and paint with two hands on the present. Many plein air painters don't know to do this, but you have to release the paintings that you do after you paint them, even store them out-of-sight. This is because you can not have a hand on the past while trying to put two hands of the present. Being present to each painting session is paramount in painting an effective body of work. You can't have your thoughts distracted by past painting experiences or even future ones. So an attitude of being present and focused for each work will require the ability to release your grip on a painting and move on to a new experience. The artist must make a great draft on all his experiences and stores of knowledge and regulate them into the service of this present high state of order in which he's raised himself. The artist is immediate as he holds onto the meaning he has caught from nature. For this reason I would bring a storage rack that will put the paintings out of sight in my cabin until the open studio times that I could share then with the public, ideally at the end of each week. This would also create a wonderful flow of the works produced. 

Lastly, I would finish well. The most beautiful paintings have very little evidence that a perfect battle may have been fought in the making. In every marathon the runner will hit a wall and so it is true with the plein air painter with a goal to be productive. I know this wall because I have experienced it on my residency at Acadia National Park when I created 51 paintings in two weeks. The body feels tired and wants to quit and rest on the paintings already painted. But the fact is, at this wall the best paintings could be produced. This is because the painter is painting at his prime and at peak performance. Painting at the wall is more about responding to the landscape as a reflex. Once the artists begins, the flow of spirit and nature takes over in a wonderful way that is transferred into the painting that is refreshing and far from being overly contrived. There is a freedom from the constraints of imitative painting, to be bold enough to use pure colors and exaggerate impressions of light that give the painting its own logic. I will be forever grateful for the wisdom that was imparted to me by Ann Hubert on my Monhegan Residency. Her smile and laughter was infectious as she shared about the excitement of how the painter's life was more about responding to what "James Fitzgerald" called, "The Life Force" that surrounds us all. I will be that painter that captures the Life Force of the Allagash Wilderness Waterways. Within the year I will take these studies and paint large paintings in my studio away from the memory of the battle and focused on pure design. Then I will have a show at the Gleason Gallery where I currently have an exhibit of my Katahdin paintings presently. Later the paintings will travel to the Frame and Art Gallery that will include a gallery talk as well and reception. I am retiring from public school art teaching in the Spring of next year, and this would be an excellent beginning of my career as a full-time painter. As a inter-related member of the Penobscot tribe through marriage, I fully agree with the philosophy of my first nation wife that the River is more than what runs through a village, but it is its very "Life Source".

Briefly describe your proposed evening program(s) and open-studio session(s) to be provided to the public while in the AWW:

EVENING PROGRAM: The evening programs that I would offer by the end of each week of the painting is a showing of my work, where I would make myself available to conduct a gallery talk and share my paintings with the public at the cabin at a set time or even at another location designated by the park rangers. I would be literally open to share my paintings so that viewers can witnessed what I have accomplished each week and as a total body of work between both weeks. Each of the galleries that I have mentioned are willing to give me a gallery show and a gallery talk after the program is completed. What I have planned to do is to talk about the 4-steps it takes to paint a body of plein air work and I would use inspiring quotes from Robert Henri's book, "The Art Spirit". I would also research the books written about where I am staying so that I could comment on that aspect as well as the artists who painted in this region such as Maine's King of the Woods, Carl Springhorn, at Bates College; Maine's modernist painter and poet, Marsden Hartley; Frederic Edwin Church, the central figure of the Hudson River School; George H. Hallowell the landscape painter of the Boston Society of Watercolor painters; and James Fitzgerald the modern representational painter who painted images that stuck with him through his ensuring adventures across our beautiful country and ultimately in Maine, particularly the amazing paintings of guides shooting the rapids on the Penobscot River and enduring images of Katahdin. I would also weave in the writings of Henri David Thoreau who wrote about his adventure to Pillsbury Island on Eagle Lake in the mid-1800's. Then I would open it up for a time of questions from the visitors and guests. 

OPEN STUDIO For the open studio experience I would invite the public to join me for a plein air paint-out experience in watercolor. Over the years I have acquired 16 professional painting kits that include field easels, paints & palettes, brushes, and miscellaneous supplies such as field umbrellas and even the high quality cotton paper. I have used these kits that are a donation from various art supply companies and my own resources to teach plein air painting in a professional way to the Maine Youth Wilderness Leadership program students sponsored by the Friends of Baxter and also the Friends of Acadia with the Youth Acadia Conservation Corps Students. My plan is to utilize these quality kits to give a professional plein air painting experience to participants, young or old, in joining me for two sessions in watercolor painting in on day during each week as I continue to paint my own marathon of painting productivity. I am excited about the opportunity to have the public experience directly what I am doing as an artist in residence and to utilize my teaching expertise in demonstrating plein air watercolor painting. We would also follow the experience with a group sharing- style critique that would encourage them to participate in the largest painterly movement in the United States today, painting en plein air. And with what we are all going through with the recent pandemic, the one treasure we do have is the ability to set aside the cares of life and immerse ourselves in the beauty of Maine's most unique and secluded nature. Thank you for your time and for giving us who have worked so hard as artists and art educators to create a new normal during this pandemic, the opportunity to immerse ourselves into "the life source" of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

In hindsight, I now know that sometimes the most absurd ideas at the most inconvenient times can be the very promotion and breakthrough you are looking for, but in desguise. It was for me in this residency. And it is amazing how often these opportunities drop into our laps in our lives as artists. We first we chuckle and dismiss them; then think better upon them as their true inspiration grows into a passion within us, "A passion For Plein Air."

The following link is the recent article released about me in MaineBoats.com, the website of the Coast. Happy Earth Day everyone! Enjoy!

https://maineboats.com/print/issue-170/michael-vermette

Michael E. Vermette

AWW Artist-In-Residence 2020

SPRING ART SALE/AUCTION ON EBAY 

My Spring art sale and auction is continuing with nine more paintings all of Katahdin from Katahdin Lake in Baxter State park and some Crawford Notch in New Hampshire watercolors. I am going through my portfolio inventory and putting paintings on Ebay to raise money for the brochure/book, 50 PLUS ONE I am writing and publishing in time for my show on August 6th, 2021. The book will feature all 50 painting studies made on the Allagash residency plus paintings that followed in the studio after the visiting artist program. Check them out, enjoy and place a bid if you feel inclined. Thank you for your help.