Inside the Ogunquit Museum of Art. Paintings pictured are by Lincoln Perry who was featured in a summer 2007 solo exhibition.
Artists & Performing Arts
Museum by the Sea
The Ogunquit Museum of American Art Celebrates 55 years of Art, History, and Beauty
BY
Melissa Wood
PHOTOGRAPHY
Kim Case

The museum’s founder, Henry Strater, painting in Ogunquit. Photo courtesy of Ogunquit Museum of American Art
Sculpture Girl with Towel by Dorothea Greenbaum in front of the museum’s logo.
Looking toward the back entrance of the museum where a wall of glass overlooks lush gardens and the ocean. Photo courtesy of Ogunquit Museum of American Art
Sculpture can be found throughout the gardens outside the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, including  Victory by William Zorach.
Morning by John Flannagan
To Visit:
From July 1 to October 31 the Ogunquit Museum of American Art is open from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 2 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for seniors, $4 for students with members, and children under 12 admitted free.

2008 Exhibitions
July 1–August 19
In celebration of its 55th anniversary the museum presents Selections from the OMAA Permanent Collection.

August 25–October 31
• Dorothy Eisner: Paintings
1951-1983
• The New Hope School: Pennsylvania Impressionists
• The Watercolors of
Robert Eric Moore
One hundred and twenty years ago, a young Boston artist visiting his wife’s family in York Beach took a horse carriage ride to Ogunquit. He stopped his horse as he came upon a view across cornfields and cow pasture of fishermen pulling up nets from vibrantly colored dories in Perkins Cove.

Its name meaning “a beautiful place by the sea,” Ogunquit captivated that artist, Charles Woodbury, who founded a school of painting ten years later in 1898, and other painters and sculptors who formed an art colony inspired by the small fishing village’s picturesque scenes of fishing shacks, rural life, quiet coves, and dramatic ocean views.

The Ogunquit art colony flourished through the first half of the 20th century, but today those shacks in Perkins Cove are shops and boutiques for the tourists who followed the artists and eventually became the town’s main industry.

But one of those artists drawn to Ogunquit made sure that art will never leave. His legacy, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, not only celebrates the town’s artistic heritage but continues to enrich the lives of those who walk through its doors. Each visitor is greeted by a gallery of world-class American art that leads to a wall of glass overlooking beautiful sculpture gardens and stunning ocean views beyond.

The museum’s founder, Henry Strater, was a member of the “Lost Generation” and spent years in Paris with friends who included James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, and William Carlos Williams, Strater first arrived in Ogunquit in 1919 to study painting at Hamilton Easter Fields’ art school and settled there permanently in 1925.

“As you examine Strater’s life, you begin to see that this was one of those rare instances where an individual was at the right place at the right time,” says Dr. Michael Culver, the museum’s curator and executive director.

Strater was not just an artist, but a philanthropist and collector. Wanting to create a place where art could be shared in a wider or universal scope, Strater bought land on Narrow’s Cove in 1951. Once part of Charles Woodbury’s property, the spot overlooks the ocean and has drawn many artists to bring paintbrushes and canvases, including Edward Hopper.

Strater began the museum with 13 pieces of his own art collection. This summer, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art celebrates its 55th anniversary and has a collection of more than 1,600 pieces.
“It’s a little island of art, history and beauty with a great permanent collection” says Michael. “A small hidden gem of peace and serenity.”

The diverse artwork ranges from renowned treasures to unexpected finds. The collection includes seven works by Marsden Hartley, one of the largest collections of ceramic sculpture by Carl Walters, watercolors by Eliot O’Hara, sculpture by Isabella Howland as well as a complete set of the graphics work by Jack Levine. Artists who were part of the Ogunquit arts colony are also represented including Charles Woodbury, Edward Betts, Hamilton Easter Field, Robert Laurent, and Henry Strater.

“Henry was fond of saying it was the only art museum in the country run by an artist,” says Michael.

An artist continues to run the museum today. Michael, an abstract painter who joined the museum in 1983, says he feels that he owes it to Strater to continue the founder’s vision for the museum.

The museum hosts approximately six different shows each summer, which have included Ansel Adams, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O’Keefe, Lincoln Perry, and Jamie Wyeth. But big names are not the only goal.

“My objective as curator is to surprise visitors, so that they do not know what to expect when they walk in the front door,” he explains. “It’s easy to get people in the museum to see Ansel Adams, Jamie Wyeth, Lincoln Perry; the fun for me is to help people discover for themselves a young artist or an older artist who isn’t recognized.”

Many first-time visitors are drawn by what’s on the outside of the building. Large wooden animals, created by Maine sculptor Bernard Langlais, first catch a visitor’s eye, but they are just the tip of the iceberg of the almost three acres of gardens filled with art surrounding the museum.

Michael worked with landscape artists Carol Woodman and John Prendergast of Art and Soil to create sculpture gardens throughout the grounds. “John and Carol have been instrumental in shaping the gardens,” he said. “They really are artists in their own right.”

Though the scope of the museum’s artwork—both inside and out—is large, the museum’s small size, friendly staff and volunteers, and intimate settings with benches inside and out create a personal experience for each visitor.

“That’s the wonderful quality of this museum,” explains Michael. “The benches allow people to linger awhile in the museum and on the grounds. We want visitors to feel comfortable during their visit.  And, the staff and volunteers make every attempt to speak to people.”

Sometimes he gets proof that the museum is making those connections.  One woman told him, “You saved my marriage,” and explained that though she loved abstract art, her husband dragged his feet every time they visited a museum. But during a trip to Ogunquit the previous summer, the couple had stopped by the museum and joined a tour that Michael was giving about an abstract exhibition. She said her husband gained an understanding and appreciation for the medium and the two have been able to enjoy viewing it together ever since.
The museum’s season begins each year on July 1 and now runs through October with a kids program sponsored by Kennebunk Savings Bank during the fall months, where 500 to 600 schoolchildren visit the museum each year.

Michael says they try to teach the kids that there’s no right or wrong with art. “With adults one of the things they’re most uncomfortable about is they’re not sure if they should like it,” says Michael. He advises to walk straight down the middle, look left and right, and if you see something go toward it. “If you don’t like it then don’t spend that much time with it,” he says. “Go look at something else.”

Art’s power can’t be underestimated. He adds, “Every time you go in a museum you might have an epiphany. That’s really something to aim for.”