Artist, musicians to be featured at First Friday event
PRESQUE ISLE — The First Friday event on July 1 at Wintergreen Arts Center in Presque Isle will feature artist Dolores Dumont from Fort Kent, as well as musicians and Aroostook County natives Frank Grant, Mel Smith and Doug Drew. The event will be held from 7-9 p.m. Dumont will present her paintings and will speak at approximately 7:30 p.m. Music will be played throughout the evening.
A native of Fort Kent, Dumont earned a bachelor’s degree in education from the Fort Kent Teachers’ College. During her college years, with the assistance of art teacher Lillian Michaud, she developed a life-long passion for painting. She did not specifically train for art but went into elementary education and taught at the Fort Kent Elementary School for 37 years. She also offered private painting lessons in her home and taught adult education classes and for an art studio in Madawaska.
Photo courtesy of Dusty Brown
PETER PARKER, of Presque Isle, right, was recently honored with a plaque commemorating his more than 50 years performing country music as Aroostook County’s seventh grand master of country music. The presentation, made by Dusty Brown, was held May 8 during a short ceremony at Dusty’s Jamboree at the Mapleton Lions Hall.
When she married in 1964, her husband, Larry, presented her with a gift of an oil painting kit complete with brushes of all sizes. With his encouragement, she took a few painting courses from well-known Canadian artist Claude Picard, who was instrumental in helping her develop her own style. From him, she learned to carefully observe nature’s array of colors and the changes that happen to these colors throughout the day or season. This can be observed in her New Sweden abandoned homestead paintings, with the scene always changing during the day and season.
A farming background has influenced her choices of subject matter. Working primarily with acrylics and oils, from her own photos, the subjects tend to be mostly northern Maine landmarks, landscapes, flowers, animals and portraits. Her style is realistic and she loves to paint detail.
Dumont’s work has been exhibited in the lobby of the Northern Door Inn for several years, as well as in various Madawaska, Caribou and Presque Isle locations. They are scattered all over the U.S., Australia and Europe. Samples of her work have been featured for the past two years on covers of “Memories of Maine.” Much of her free time is spent doing commissioned artwork.
Musicians Grant and Smith have been playing original compositions, folk music and covers of their favorite songs for 40-plus years. Recently, Drew played his fiddle with them at a private party and a new sound was created. With Grant’s sensitive interpretations, Smith’s energy, and Drew’s versatility, one never really knows what is coming, so come and enjoy the great music.
