Noted Landscape Artists Paint For Katahdin Lake (ME)

Brunswick, ME, 10/25/2006 – Landscape artists have painted at Katahdin Lake for over a century. Following a working gathering of artists at the lake earlier this month, Evelyn Dunphy is the first to exhibit new Katahdin Lake paintings at a show this evening at Bowdoin College. The event is a fundraising reception to benefit the campaign to preserve Katahdin Lake. Former Governor Angus King will be the program’s host.

A deal is pending to add the privately-owned lake, and the old-growth forest surrounding it, to Baxter State Park. The Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit conservation organization, is working to raise the $14 million cost of purchasing the lake. TPL has until December 15, 2006 to complete the fundraising and exercise its option to purchase the land from the Gardner Land company. As of today, TPL has assembled gifts and pledges totaling $10.4 million.

Sam Hodder, Senior Project Manager at TPL, said, “Governor Baxter had a longstanding vision of including Katahdin Lake in the park, but he was not able to acquire it in his lifetime. To anyone who’s seen this extraordinary place, its inclusion in the park becomes imperative. We want to thank all the project’s supporters, especially the artists, who have helped us come so far in the project. With $3.6 million left to raise by mid-December, we’re hopeful that those who loves Maine’s wilderness will help make Baxter’s vision complete.”

Evelyn Dunphy, of West Bath, Maine, has exhibited and received awards for her watercolors in many national and international juried exhibitions. Mount Katahdin and the area surrounding Katahdin Lake have been the focus of Dunphy’s work since she began painting there ten years ago, and she has spent the past year creating a collection of paintings of Katahdin Lake.

According to Dunphy, these paintings are her response to the beauty and wildness of Katahdin. “There are places in our world that are rare and precious, and must be saved. Katahdin Lake is definitely one of those. The experience of being in a place where the noises of the world are absent is a powerful one, and I treasure the time I spend there. To be able to use my work in the service of a project such as this is the greatest honor of my career.”

Katahdin Lake is a breathtaking locale with views across the lake to Maine’s highest peak, Mount Katahdin. The lake and mountain have been painted by some of the most important landscape artists in American history, most notably Frederic Church in the 1850’s and Marsden Hartley in the 1940’s. Other artists who have painted at Katahdin Lake this month to benefit the conservation project include Clyde Aspevig, considered the West’s leading landscape painter, Carol Guzman, Chris Huntington, Tim Lawson, David Little, Caren-Marie Michel, Chris Polson, and Michael Vermette.

Artist Ian White, who also was at the lake this month doing oil studies for a painting he has contributed to the campaign, said, “We all were excited by the experience and we have wonderful images to work from. It is an inspirational site and I now understand at first hand the enormous value of adding the Katahdin Lake area to Baxter Park.”

Contributions to the Katahdin Lake Campaign are tax-deductible and can be sent to The Trust for Public Land, 377 Fore Street, Third Floor, Portland, ME 04101 or donate online at www.katahdinlakecampaign.org. Thanks to a generous matching grant from Sweet Water Trust, tax-deductible donations received by December 15, 2006 will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $100,000 total.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving land for people to enjoy as parks, gardens, and natural areas. Since its founding in 1972, TPL has helped to protect more than 2.2 million acres nationwide, including nearly 94,000 acres in Maine.