Meet Our Makers

ARTS IN THE PARK CELEBRATES ITS 25TH ANNIVERSARY AND A LONG TRADITION OF CRAFTSMANSHIP AND COMMUNITY IN WALDO COUNTY.

JP Studio Pottery

JP Studio Pottery

Glassblowing Studio at Waterfall Arts

Launched in 1995 and run by the Belfast Parks and Recreation Department and the Belfast Area Chamber of Commerce, Arts in the Park has grown into a marquee event for the city, and a kickoff to its busy summer arts season, as well as a beloved annual gathering for the region’s artists. More than 100 artists typically participate in the two-day juried show, which is held on Steamboat Landing downtown.

Waterfall Arts, which is based at the Governor Hugh Anderson School near downtown, reaches nearly 8,000 people each year, offers more than 50 classes and workshops, and holds dozens of events and exhibits. Members of the public can rent time in its wet darkroom or its clay and printmaking studios. Last year, it opened a state-of-the-art glassblowing studio — the only such public studio in the state. On Fridays from June to September, Waterfall Arts hosts the Belfast Farmers’ Market and brings in a rotating cast of local artists to show their work.

Waterfall Arts

Pamela Hitchcock, Goldsmith

Timberstone Rustic Arts

In the early weeks of summer in downtown Belfast, locals can always count on a few sure signs that peak season is about to get underway. Daylight starts stretching until 9 p.m., the Passagassawakeag River starts to bustle with sailboats, kayaks, and the six-person pilot gigs from Come Boating, and Steamboat Landing, the grassy park that sprawls to the water’s edge, starts filling up with painters potters sculptors, goldsmiths, and other artists for Arts in the Park, a local tradition for 25 years.

“It’s the kick-off event for the season,” says Belfast goldsmith Pamela Hitchcock. “The region has such an incredible community of artists, and this is a great opportunity to connect.”

Arts in the Park, started in 1995 as a fundraising project by Friends of Belfast Parks, has grown over the years and raised monies that have helped fund a variety of park amenities for the community to enjoy. Now, the event is co-hosted by the Belfast Area Chamber of Commerce, as well as the City of Belfast’s Parks and Recreation Department. This partnership works to connect and promote a wide array of Maine artists to strengthen the local creative economy. regular happenings around Belfast that galvanize the region’s considerable creative community and provide a wide array of makers a chance to connect with clientele and one another. Waterfall Arts provides year-round workshops, gallery shows, open studios, classes, and other events for all ages, and hosts the farmers’ markets each Friday in the summer. At Fourth Friday Art Walks during the summer, locals and visitors can peruse the galleries and studios of local artists.

Each Labor Day weekend, thousands of quilters, knitters, weavers, rug hookers, and other artisans from around the country gather at Searsport Shores Ocean Campground for Fiber Arts College workshops, classes, and demonstrations. The Common Ground Country Fair, the annual celebration of rural living held since 1977, draws hundreds of artisans to nearby Unity.

Artists have gravitated to the region for decades, attracted by its stunning landscape and the warm, welcoming group of other creative types who put down roots here. In the 1980s and 1990s, many were drawn to the area by Artfellows, a cooperative gallery launched as a hub for contemporary art in the Odd Fellows Hall on Main Street. More than 50 artists showed their work there, including some of Maine’s best-known artists, like Neil Welliver and Alex Katz.

“So many artists found that Belfast and the surrounding towns had this element of beauty, a sense of community, and other artists to collaborate with and support, and it was incredibly inexpensive to live,” says Kim Fleming, executive director of Waterfall Arts. “There’s this critical mass of people who understand how important art and creativity is, and how it brings this energy to the entire area.”

Potters Cory and Adam Bogosian visited Waldo County from Massachusetts in 2015 to check out the studios of local potters. While they were here, they had lunch at Chase’s Daily, a beer at Three Tides Bar & Restaurant, and immediately started looking for an apartment. Two years later, they opened Belfast Clay Studio, which offers classes, private lessons, open studios, and workshops, just across the street from the Belfast Co-op.

“I’ve met more working artists per capita than anywhere else I’ve lived,” Cory says. “Young and old, the arts scene here is unbeatable. We’re supported year-round by the community’s healthy desire to learn a new craft, or to hone skills in the studio. The tourist season is always a great influx but honestly we love the long, cold winter when we can enjoy the studio with the locals.” •