Penobscot Marine Museum photography exhibits at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center

Belfast, Maine — Penobscot Marine Museum’s historic photography exhibits “The Allure of the Lighthouse: The Postcard View” and “A Way of Life: The Fishing Families of Stonington” will be at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center Fernald Gallery November 9, 2017, through January 19, 2018.

The exhibit is open to the public and is free of charge. The H. Alan and Sally Fernald Art Gallery is open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.- 7 p.m.

“The Allure of the Lighthouse: The Postcard View” features Maine’s nearly 3500 miles of predominantly rocky coastline, deeply cut bays, harbors and river mouths, and more than 4600 off-shore islands.

The U.S. Government created the Lighthouse Establishment in 1789 and Portland Head became Maine’s first light station in 1791. In 1998, the Maine Lights Program began restoration of many of the state’s lighthouses, which had been turned over to towns, non-profit organizations, and government agencies.  Today Maine has 57 active lights.

It is no surprise that lighthouses were and still are popular subjects for postcards. This exhibit is drawn from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection, a Belfast based company that produced “real photo” postcards from 1909-1950’s. Captions for this exhibit were researched and authored by PMM volunteer, Liz Fitzsimmons.

“A Way of Life: The Fishing Families of Stonington” features the work of Jeff Dworsky who, as a teen, moved to Maine in 1971. He lived briefly on an island in Muscongus Bay before settling in Stonington. Like many young men living in coastal communities, Dworsky began to make his living from the sea and, intermittently, photography.

In 1990, Dworsky’s images came to the attention of Peter Ralston, the Rockport photographer and co-founder of the Island Institute. This opened the door for his photojournalism career. He freelanced for various magazines, including Downeast and National Geographic Traveler.

The 1980s real estate boom in Maine began to dissolve the traditional fabric of life in coastal towns. Dworsky undertook an extensive photographic survey of the people in Maine’s coastal communities as “…an ode to the loss of the place I chose to live, that I loved…the old Downeast coast.”

Dworsky’s photography documents fishing communities from an insider’s perspective.

For more information or to request a disability accommodation, contact Nancy Bergerson, 207.338.8049.

 

About the University of Maine: The University of Maine, founded in Orono in 1865, is the state’s premier public university. It is among the most comprehensive higher education institutions in the Northeast and attracts students from across the U.S. and more than 67 countries. It currently enrolls 10,900 total undergraduate and graduate students who can directly participate in groundbreaking research working with world-class scholars. The University of Maine offers doctoral degrees in 35 fields, representing the humanities, sciences, engineering, and education; master’s degrees in roughly 70 disciplines; 90 undergraduate majors and academic programs; and one of the oldest and most prestigious honors programs in the U.S. The university promotes environmental stewardship on its campus, with substantial efforts aimed at conserving energy, recycling and adhering to green building standards in new construction. For more information about UMaine, visit umaine.edu.