Take a ride to Schoodic!
Schoodic Peninsula is one of my most favorite places in the world! It doesn’t matter what season I travel to Schoodic, it is a beautiful treasure. If you’ve never been, now is a GREAT time to visit. Even during the height of tourist season, I’ve never seen many people at Schoodic. I know this is probably a mistake, letting everyone know how wonderful it it s there. What can I say… I like to share….
So, why is now such a great time to visit? The Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium is taking place. I wrote a blog post on August 2nd featuring Miles Chapin, the student from College of the Atlantic, who is doing an internship with sculptor Jesse Salisbury and working on the symposium. The juried process selected the following sculptors to participate this summer:
- Ahmed Karaly: Egypt
- Attila Rath Geber: France
- Jhon Gogaberishville: Republic of Georgia
- Mark Herrington: United States
- Roland Mayer: Germany
- Songul Telek: Turkey
You can view a selection of their work at the Schoodic site.
I visited last week and thoroughly enjoyed watching them creating their impressive work. During the time we were there we could begin to see the artists personalities implied in the stone. We were lucky to chat with Mark Herrington from Franklin. His sculpture, when complete, will be installed in his hometown. Mark is available for residency’s so please contact him if you are interested. You can view some of his work by clicking here.
The symposium is a biennial event and will take place over a ten year period. This is the second in the series. The purpose is to bring together artists, visitors, and communities to create a Public Sculpture Collection in eastern Maine. This is a fun and educational way to see how large scale sculpture is made from granite. The artists will work for a total of 6 weeks until September 12th and their sculptures will be installed in towns close by. About 50 sculptures will be created by the year 2015.
There is no cost to visit the symposium and there is a small visitors tent where you can learn more. Volunteers are available to answer your questions.
On August 23rd at 7PM at Hammond Hall in Winter Harbor a documentary created by Richard Kane on the symposium will be shown.
I look forward to returning in September to see their progress and to enjoy another lunch on the rocks which is in walking distance of where the artists are working. I hope you will have a chance to make the drive to this beautiful part of the state. And please post your comments about the symposium and beautiful Schoodic Peninsula!
me arts ed 