Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
PHOTO: “Paddlers on Martin Stream,” by Michael Vermette, the 2020 AWW visiting artist.
AUGUSTA – The application period for the 2023 Allagash Wilderness Waterway Visiting Artist Program is open, the state Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry announced.
The program invites visual artists to the remote wilderness of Maine for two weeks of solitude. One artist and a guest get lodging at the AWW Lock Dam Camp for two weeks of the artist’s choosing during August and an orientation and regular visits from AWW Rangers.
Visual artists may apply on the AWW webpage. The application period ends Monday, Feb. 6.
“Each year, we invite artists to the Allagash Wilderness Waterway with the hope that the unique experience in a place of such natural beauty will propel their careers forward while contributing to the enduring legacy of the Allagash,” DACF Commissioner Amanda Beal said.
AWW Superintendent Mark Deroche said that the waterway is spectacular. “The opportunity to spend time there as an artist is as unique an experience as you can find. The rangers and I look forward to this opportunity and work to make the artist comfortable and confident in this endeavor.”
Michael Vermette of Indian Island, the first artist in the program, in 2020, used the experience to further his skills and connected the journey to his mission to “reveal the currents and energy of his surroundings.”
“There is no better adventure, no greater teacher, and no inspiring awakening that is more profound than to find yourself isolated and able to create on 92 miles of Maine’s wildest lake and river system,” Vermette said. “The Allagash Wilderness Waterway Visiting Artist Program gives the artist that unique opportunity to be immersed in a raw beauty that will not only cause any painter to evolve productively but to have their soul washed, as Henry David Thoreau’s writings continue to wash our spirits, even today.”
The AWW, which stretches 92 miles, was established by the Maine State Legislature in 1966 and designated by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1970 as the first state-administered component of the National Wild and Scenic River System.
