People often wonder about the inspiration behind a painting. Sometimes it’s very simple: a pretty scene. Other times the motif has incubated, grown and gone through transformations that may have taken years. This journey would describe my painting for this year’s Britt poster. It began with my early childhood memory of a sculpture in the Grotto in Portland. I knew it wasn’t a real person; it felt cold, but made me feel warm; a new experience. Hold that image and add 6 years when I saw a movie about a statue that comes to life. These two events merged and fostered my interest in sculpture. Thirty years later in an Art History class that included a slide lecture, the instructor began talking about Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux’s sculpture, “The Dance.” The slide was magnificent, radiating excitement. “The Dance” was sculpted for the facade of the Paris Opera House in 1869 as a tribute to music. It stayed there until it was brought inside for preservation in the Musee d’Orsay. The image stayed in my mind.
Twenty-five years later, I found myself standing awestruck in front of the actual 15-foot-high stone group of merry-makers in the midst of their dance. They project beauty and joy; one can feel the music. I have returned to stand before the sculpture many times and it never fails to thrill me.
Later still, The Portland Art Museum arranged an exhibit, “Paris Comes to Portland,” featuring one figure from “The Dance,” a fine replica of the tambourine player. Even the tambourine is a dear symbol of music to me as I had played drums growing up. In the museum, I drew a small study feeling connected and happy to see an old friend.
I have drawn and painted many different sculptures and eventually made a preliminary painting of “The Dance.” It became quite personal to me on many levels; the message proclaims Music to be a blessing that unites and brings joy. I was thrilled to be asked to paint the Britt Festival poster for 2015 and went to work on a new painting interpreting this favorite sculpture in the bold and free expression of watercolor. To create our magical festival setting, I fashioned the woodland trees, and of course the moon and stars above. My desire was to retain and respect the spirit of the sculpture but free the white marble figures to take on color—and dance into contemporary life of musical celebration on the Britt Hill!
For me this pursuit has been a pleasurable odyssey.