Cicely Aikman, Benny’s Rock: Spring Tide, oil

“From the first moment I entered Maine, in Stonington in the sixties, I fell in love with its incredible ocean and mountain landscapes, vigorous weather -even in summer it never gets too hot- as well as all the committed artists who have settled here.

We live on a tidal cove in Friendship. The physical changes that touch this landscape always astound me. Each morning a complete surprise awaits me as I walk around the corner of my studio down on the shore. What time, tide and weather have done to stun me once again.

In this exhibit of over fifty works executed between 1973 and the present, I want to show the powerful presence of this incessantly varying landscape and how living and working in Maine is a constant inspiration for me. This small dot of coastline; rocks, water, mudflats and islands floating in the pristine air, hold the essence of the world.”

The Kennebec – Cicely Aikman

In winter walking the railroad tracks bordering the Kennebec
I look for the bower of trees where we sat last spring
Feeling the primeval beat of germination
Shoots of new green, delicate pale leaves perfectly formed
Chirps and whistles of mating birds
High sun, dappled white clouds, weeping willows
The muddy Kennebec River
A humming bird diving into sweet spring flower
All are gone.
The pounding rites of spring are silent
Today’s temperature cracks 8 degrees
Diamonds sparkle on dead grass
The bower of bare trees covered by delicate crystal
A solitary crow flies off cawing at my approach
The icy Kennebec lies frozen
We walk briskly, Star prancing on her four feet
I, kicking at hard pebbles on the frozen ground
Solitude, aloneness, a bitter wind of stillness fills my body
Springs primeval throb lies buried under frozen ice.