Sunday,
June 18, 2006
BOOK
REVIEW by Hannah Merker
Normand
Chartier's "bent toward art" began when he was a young boy traveling
with his parents and his 11 brothers and sisters on the rugged coasts of Maine,
Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and the Gaspe Peninsula.
He
fondly recalls these camping trips and the art lessons an eccentric elderly
aunt dispersed to gatherings of cousins.
Perhaps
it was this intimate association with a water world that led him to choose
watercolor as the language that so vividly portrays his love of Maine, its
coastline and its people in "My Maine: The Coastal Watercolors of Normand
Chartier."
"I
remember being enthralled with the trees, the rocks, the sea, and the native
wildlife . . . the little village enclaves, and the people - from the fishermen
to the friendly, hardworking women selling their crafts and stone-oven-baked
bread by the side of the road," he writes,
Indeed,
Maine - its very essence of shoreside homes, cluttered yards or just a clouded
sky beyond a high outcropping of granite - is right before you in these 75
evocative watercolors.
There
are places in our lives that become part of who we are - not simply a visit
remembered. To Chartier, "the sounds and smells of the coast are instantly
retrievable."
Chartier
took many summer trips to Maine with one of his brothers during his teens and
college years.
"We'd
go for a day or two at a time just to soak up the atmosphere, the scenery, the
art galleries, and - of course - a boiIed-lobster dinner."
In the
'70s, as his career as a freelance artist illustrating mostly children's books
was getting started, Chartier spent 12- to 14-hour days working from his
Connecticut home. As an adult establishing himself in a trade, he needed a
place to keep his vision fresh. He rented a cottage on Southport Island with
his wife and daughter.
"I
had an uncontrollable urge to start painting the tremendous beauty, atmosphere,
and bucolic way of life that surrounded us there. . . . Painting without
constraints or deadlines led to a freedom in my artwork that has expanded over
the years."
Chartier
has since returned to Southport every year for either a few days or a month at
a time "just to paint and soak in that aspect of Maine's way of
life."
These
watercolors - houses shadowed in late afternoon light, a wrecked small craft or
two overwhelmed with weeds, a shoreside scene with a rainstorm approaching,
wild roses, lobster boats asea or ashore, a marshy field or hidden stream
surrounded by Maine's ever-present pines - are washed in the subtle browns and
vibrant blues. They are filled with presence, as if you were there, standing on
a rock, part of place and time. Each painting evokes a deja vu feeling -
"I am sure I have been there," you will mutter to yourself.
Chartier
describes his painting process: "I start early and draw and paint for as
long as I can. Sometimes I'll spend hours laboring in vain on a composition in
front of me only to turn around and find what I really wanted to paint was
right behind me the whole time."
How
often such moments occur in whatever language the creative person is immersed
in! Chartier calls such happenings "humbling and rare time that overwhelms
me emotionally and makes all the effort worthwhile."
Chartier
works at a local school teaching art to youngsters with learning disabilities,
an aspect of his career he is very much enjoying.
The
pages of "My Maine" are vibrantly alive, expressing the mood of the
moment, the time of day, the seasons.
"The
key for me," he writes, "is just to paint and paint and paint some
more. It's during these marathon sessions that the moments of emotional
fullfillment happen. And this occurs in Maine more than anywhere else."
Small
wonder "My Maine" is a book you will keep near and open often,
engulfed by a feeling of being at home - perchance amazed that one artist has
found the language to impart, without reticence, the near-clairvoyant sense of
"place" that is also your own.
Hannah
Merker is author of the memoir "Listening" and has freelanced for The
New York Times, Newsday and several maritime magazines. She is a former
librarian and bookstore owner who lives in Bristol.
Copyright
© 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.