Maine Stories

Travelers have always been drawn to the beauty of Maine’s rugged granite coastline and granite-topped mountains. Now, an international art event on the downeast coast is attracting the world’s top sculptors to create granite works of art for public spaces.

The 2009 Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium (SISS) takes place July 25-September 12 on the campus of the Schoodic Education and Research Center in the town of Winter Harbor. This year’s biennial event will welcome six sculptors from Egypt, France, the Republic of Georgia, Germany, Turkey and the United States to create and educate with the medium of Maine granite.

The symposium is organized by sculptor and Machias, Maine, native Jesse Salisbury, 37, who has participated in juried international sculpture symposiums in Japan and New Zealand. Over the course of six weeks, visitors can watch daily sculpture work for free at the Schoodic Education and Research Center. There will be a public slide presentation and talk with the participating artists on Friday, August 7 at Hammond Hall in Winter Harbor. And a second opportunity to meet the sculptors will happen during a potluck supper at Hammond Hall on Tuesday, September 1.

The completed sculptures will be permanently installed at public spaces in the downeast coastal towns of Franklin, Gouldsboro, Machias, Deer Isle/Stonington, Bar Harbor and Lamoine.

The seven sculptures created at the first symposium in 2007 are on display in other towns and cities along Routes 1 and 3, on Mount Desert Island, and on the Schoodic peninsula. A driving tour of those locations is accessible on the SISS Web site. For more information about the 2009 Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium visit Schoodic Sculpture.