Faulkner to hold signing Friday at newspaper office
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
HOULTON — Esther Orr Faulkner’s skill at putting paint to canvas has been celebrated many times throughout her lifetime. Her works showing scenes of the Shiretown have become synonymous with the town of Houlton.
Now, the Houlton resident will once again have an opportunity to showcase her artistic creations with a new 18-month calendar. A limited number of 500 calendars have been printed, and will be sold for $16, with proceeds from the sales benefiting the Southern Aroostook Cultural Arts Program (SACAP).
An open house/calendar signing for Faulkner will be held Friday from 2-4 p.m. at the Houlton Pioneer Times office. Calendars will also be sold at Visions Art Gallery on Main Street and North Country Gifts in Market Square.
The new calendar, printed in Presque Isle by PrintWorks, marks many years of collaboration between Faulkner and SACAP.
“SACAP’s mission is to foster a flourishing arts community in northern Maine, creating an exciting cultural environment and a voice for art and artists,” said Iva Sussman, spokesperson for SACAP. “Our vision is a future where our children, youth and adults alike recognize the importance of art and cultural activities to education and community life, and devote talent, careers, energy, and financial resources to a lively creative economy. SACAP is committed to enhancing our presence in the community and the proceeds from the sales of the calendar will help SACAP to accomplish these goals.”
Sussman has been involved with SACAP since 1999 and Faulkner has been involved with the organization since 2004 with the opening of the Visions Art Gallery. For both, the importance of art in one’s life is not to be questioned.
Sussman initiated the idea for this project and for SACAP to partner with the Pioneer Times. The concept was shared with Faulkner and with enthusiasm and commitment the two began to move forward with the project. With conversations beginning last June and with the support and endorsement from Mark Putnam, managing editor for Northeast Publishing, the SACAP board fully supported the project, Sussman said.
In 2007 a keepsake calendar featuring the artwork of Esther Orr Faulkner was printed in celebration of Houlton’s Bicentennial and was a partnership between the Aroostook Historical & Art Museum and the Pioneer Times. The proceeds from the sale of that Bicentennial calendar went to support the Aroostook Historical and Art Museum.
Contributed photo
CALENDAR SIGNING — Esther Orr Faulkner has paired with SACAP to produce a 2014-15 calendar featuring her works of art. Faulkner will sign copies of her calendar at The Houlton Pioneer Times on Friday, from 2-4 p.m.
“The arts have the power to connect us as individuals and alter our perceptions of the world around us and our place in it,” Sussman said. “Esther has a unique way of looking at the world around us with her ideas and creativity the beauty of the world unfolds through her art. Her art often times captures the details of the life, the gifts of nature, and the images that surround us. Esther Orr Faulkner’s art and her teaching inspires us as individuals and challenges us to see the meaning of her art beyond the image.”
“With dedication and commitment many hours have gone into working on this wonderful project and it has been a privilege to work with and partner with the Pioneer Times and PrintWorks,” Faulkner and Sussman said in a press release. “With patience, guidance and paying attention to details a sincere thank-you to Lisa Nadeau and the staff of PrintWorks. A sincere thank-you to our sponsors as without their support this project would not have come to fruition.”
“This project would not have been possible without Esther,” Sussman added. “A sincere thank-you to Esther Orr Faulkner the artist, who has so graciously shared her art, enriching our lives.”
Faulkner’s mother was a teacher and her father was an accomplished artist, so it seems only natural that Esther Faulkner became a well-known local artist and art teacher.
“I started when I was very young because my dad was an artist,” she said. “He had a studio at home and he had a studio in Boston. So, it was just sort of natural for me to go in and see all these interesting things and think I’d want to try them out.”
Her father, Forrest Orr (1896-1972), created advertising art and illustrations for his day job, but he was a “weekend watercolorist” who took his daughter on trips around the countryside to practice painting.
“That’s sort of the way I learned — he’d tell me to go over there and paint,” she remembers. “After we were done, we’d put them (the paintings) together and he really didn’t have to say too much because I could tell where I went wrong. That was always the challenge to me: how do I get mine to look like his? I just kept trying and it took me many years to get where I am today.”
Portions of this story were taken from a 2007 article written by former Houlton Pioneer Times staff writer Sarah Berthiaume.
