Maine's Woods
Maine’s Woods: Observations by Bert Lincoln Call and Henry David Thoreau
Observations in Bronze by Forest Hart
September 5 – October 20, 2012
(above image: Bert Lincoln Call, Making Camp, 1926)
The Atrium Art Gallery at USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College presents an exhibition of large-format photographs by Bert Lincoln Call and a selection of bronze sculptures by acclaimed artist Forest Hart.
The exhibition features 35 large-format black and white photographs taken by Bert Lincoln Call during the early 1900s accompanied by quotes from Henry David Thoreau’s The Maine Woods. The images reveal an exploration of Maine’s natural and human landscape that was then, and continues to be, in rapid transition. The exhibit is touring under the auspices of the Dexter Historical Society.
Early in its existence, the Dexter Historical Society received a donation of negatives and photos from Bert Lincoln Call, a photographer in Dexter, Maine, from 1886 until the early 1940s. Call’s stock-in-trade was portraiture of local citizens, but his passion was for the woods, lakes, and rivers of northern Maine, which he visited annually. By age 70, Call had traveled to the peak of Mount Katahdin no less than 16 times, lugging the heavy photographic equipment common at the time. His photographic excursions often lasted for many weeks.
Bert Call’s images provide an extraordinary photographic record of the North Woods, often of specific places Thoreau described in his book. Though begun by Call 120 years ago, most of his work has remained unseen. In order to bring this collection to the public, Frank Spizuoco, exhibition curator, contacted photographer Todd Watts in 2007 with the idea of restoring Bert Call’s original negatives and then producing the large scale prints that comprise this exhibition. Watts is in internationally recognized photographer also known for his restoration work including all of Berenice Abbott’s photographs.
The website for the exhibit is www.callthoreauexhibit.com
The exhibit installation includes bronze sculpture by Forest Hart, of Monroe, Maine, who specializes in realistic bronzes of wildlife. His work is included in museums, educational institutions, public gardens, parks, zoos and private collections around the country.
From a childhood interest in drawing animals to an early career in advanced taxidermy, Hart eventually settled on exploring cast bronze as a more expressive medium. He has produced an impressive list of animals from moose, deer, and bear, to otters, chipmunks, and birds – often in dramatic action. Though his work includes exotic animals from around the world, the exhibition will include those that are indigenous to the Maine woods.
Forest Hart’s website is www.foresthart.com
The “Maine’s Woods” exhibition is supported in part by L.L. Bean.