 Project
Puffin Visitor Center opened a show of original watercolors this
past June of Maine Seabirds by Swedish artist Karl Mårtens.
The show features puffins, terns, gulls and other seabirds that
nest on Audubon sanctuaries in Maine. Mårtens paints in
a distinctive style, using his Zen training to produce brushstroke
images of the birds.
This show is Mårtens’ first exhibit in the United
States. Mårtens, a Stockholm resident, visited Rockland
from July 22-24 to speak at both the Puffin Project Visitor Center
and the Farnsworth Museum. Because so many of Maine’s seabirds
can also be found on Sweden’s coasts, says Mårtens, “Painting
Maine’s seabirds was very familiar and something that came
naturally.” Like the works of John James Audubon, the namesake
of the Audubon Society, Mårtens’ birds bring creative
expression to seabirds, in a manner beyond the narrow category
of bird illustrations.
Susan Schubel, art director for Project Puffin Visitor Center,
worked with Mårtens to bring the show to Rockland. She
said: “Karl’s style evokes the spirit of these
seabirds amazingly well, since many of the birds that nest on
the Audubon Islands, such as puffins, are black and white, with
small but intense areas of bright color, which is very Zen.”
The paintings in the show were all sold at an auction to provide
support for Project Puffin and its field internships on July
25th , but many of the new owners have agreed to continue showing
the art at PPVC until the end of October. The benefit auction
raised $25,000 to further the work of Project Puffin in Maine.
Project Puffin Visitor Center is open daily June 1 to October 31
from 10AM to 5PM and on Wednesdays until 7PM. The Center is a
joint endeavor of the National and Maine Audubon Societies. Several
of Mårtens lithographs are also on exhibit at the Firehouse
Gallery in Damariscotta.
For a preview of the original art
in the show, visit: http://www.formifunktion.com/Project_Puffin_2008/index_2.htm
To further support the work of Project
Puffin, Karl Mårtens created two dramatic lithographs. These
limited edition lithographs are now available at PPVC and at our
on-line store. For more details about the lithographs, just click
on either of the images below:
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