Guest host: Ron Beard
Studio Engineer: Amy Browne
Issue: Community concerns and opportunities
Program Topic: Conversation with William Irvine, painter, and Carl Little, writer
Key Discussion Points:
Bill grew up in the village of Troon, where it could be said he looked west, the sun setting over the Isle of Arran, and now he lives in Brooklin Maine, where it could be said that he looks east, with the sun rising over Tinker Island, in Blue Hill Bay. Bill tells a little about growing up in Scotland, eventually attending the Glasgow School of Art, and the world he encountered upon graduation.
Those of us who love the sea can be very thankful that Bill didn’t end up painting farms in Skowhegan… how did he come to Maine, and eventually to the Blue Hill area.
The sea seems to both inspire Bill and ground him: waves, boats, fishermen…
Some of Bill’s paintings set a place for us at the table… how does he decide what to serve up?
Small white houses, whether in Scotland, Cornwall or Maine… who lives in those houses?
Some background on the connection Carl made when reviewing Bill’s solo show at the University of Maine Museum of art in 2000—an approach to landscape that he shares with Marsden Hartley, John Marin and others.
Pick two or three paintings of Bill’s from your new book, and introduce them to listeners… what do we see, what do you see, what makes this painting one you would like in your home?
What was it like for Carl to research and write this book? Tell us about the publisher, Karin Marshall Wilkes and the Courthouse Gallery in Ellsworth.
Sometimes the world of art and artists seems removed from everyday life, though in paintings like Bills, everyday life is at the very core of his art. How do we help “everyman-everywoman” enjoy art, as producer and “consumer”?
Guests:
William Irvine, Painter, Brooklin, Maine
Carl Little, writer, Somesville Maine, author of
William Irvine: A Painter’s Journey, published by Marshall Wilkes, Ellsworth Maine
See also: : http://www.courthousegallery.com/_artists/irvine_william/_pdf/irvine_2014.pdf.