The Bangor Daily News
Monday, June 22, 1998
The Bangor Daily News
Monday, June 22, 1998
New Wyeth gallery reshapes Rockland
By Walter Griffin, Of the NEWS Staff -- ROCKLAND - Artist Jamie Wyeth climbed the granite steps of a former church Sunday and opened the door to a new art gallery - and a new Rockland.
It was Father's Day, and the third generation of Wyeth painters was in town to celebrate the work of Jamie Wyeth's father and grandfather, and the new gallery created in the family's honor: the Farnsworth Art Museum's Center for the Wyeth Family in Maine.
"My father's not here," said the son of the 80-year-old artist who was conspicuously absent from the proceedings. Jamie added with a smile, "It's Father's Day. Hopefully, he's out painting."
Three generations of Wyeths are celebrated at the center: noted painter and illustrator N.C.; his son Andrew, perhaps America's most famous living painter; and Andrew's son Jamie, renowned in his own right.
The $10 million Wyeth Center contains more than 4,500 works of art and objects made available to the Farnsworth by the families of Andrew and Jamie Wyeth. Maine and its people have been treasured subjects of the family for nearly a century.
Wyeth paintings have been the focus of many Farnsworth shows over the years. Before the Farnsworth opened its doors 50 years ago, the trustees who formed its collection bought four watercolors from an emerging young artist named Andrew Wyeth.
The Center for the Wyeth Family in Maine is located in the former Pratt Memorial Methodist Church, a 125-year-old structure that has been completely renovated. The museum also constructed a new wing to house its Wyeth Family study center where scholars can view materials associated with the creation of Wyeth art.
Traffic was routed around Union Street to allow hundreds of art lovers and Wyeth fans to attend the grand opening of the center and get their first look at the magnificent new gallery.
"We love Maine, and we love the Wyeths," said Mary and Bob Balint of Fonthill, Ontario. "We come to Rockland and the Farnsworth every year, visit the islands and the Olson house," the Cushing home that is the subject of many of Andrew Wyeth's paintings, including the masterpiece "Christina's World." "The people here are wonderful," they said.
Natives and visitors alike agree that the Farnsworth and Wyeth Center are destined to change forever the feel and look of Rockland. This once-raucous fishing port already boasts a dozen art galleries. Pleasure boats line docks where just a decade ago fishing boats strained against their hawsers.
"I think this is fantastic," said Rockland native and antique dealer Reed McKinney. "This is one of the biggest things to happen to Rockland in the last 50 years. This will mean great things for the city."
A few yards up the street from the Wyeth Center is the Crews Quarters Lounge at the Wayfarer East Hotel. Although it was early Sunday morning, a few of the regulars were hanging out in the bar having coffee or other eye-openers. It is the kind of place where a few years ago anyone mentioning art would have been laughed out the door.
"I think it's gorgeous what the Farnsworth has done. It's going to be outstanding for Rockland," Joanie "Ghob" Tupper said while puffing a cigarette. With a twinkle in her eye she chuckled, "My only question is: When are they going to rename the town Wyeth, Maine?"
Bartender Gene Staples has seen it all since leaving Rockland in the early 1960s for a career in the Navy. He returned to his hometown 20 years later and has watched the city shed its rough-and-tumble image.
"This is as rough as I want it to be," Staples said as his patrons discussed the merits of the new gallery. "We've still got a good mixture here, there's still some fishermen but it's nothing like the old days. Rockland has changed and I think it's changed for the better."
Not only change, but inspiration is what Jamie Wyeth hopes the Wyeth Center will someday bring. He recalled that as a boy of 10 he experienced problems and actually left school for a time. He spoke of spending hours in his grandfather's studio gazing at the stacks of paintings and being moved forever.
"I really caught fire," he said. "I hope someday someone from Millinocket or Brunswick or Monhegan Island or Manhattan Island comes in here and looks at the paintings and catches fire. That's what this building is all about."
Send e-mail to The Bangor Daily News
Copyright © 1998, Bangor Daily News Inc.