LETER FROM MH+D-April 2009
by Susan Grisanti Kelley
Last September, I went to listen to author Elizabeth Gilbert speak to a sold-out crowd at Portland’s Merrill Auditorium. The event benefited and was hosted by The Telling Room, a non-profit writing center in Portland that supports the burgeoning talents of our area’s young storytellers.

Gilbert spoke that night on the “wondrous conversation, the peculiar collaboration” that happens between an artist and his genius. She argued that the perception of creative talent has changed over time—and that before the Renaissance, it was widely believed that genius was something that lived outside of the artist: a spirit that lived in the walls, so to speak, who would enter and inspire the artist to create their work together. Gilbert believes deeply in this notion and the conclusion that when the artist—whether a writer, painter, sculptor, or dancer—is visited by the creative spirit, she is lit up by divinity and therefore gives her audience a peek at the divine.

What inspires an artist to create is likely as varied as what moves those who are the audience of the art. You will find the work of more than eighty Maine artists throughout this issue—each of them with something exquisite to pass along.

It all begins with this month’s cover, photographed by Irvin Serrano, which highlights the work of venerated artists Frederick Lynch and Alice Spencer and local furniture maker Rafael Adams. Our special thanks to longtime benefactress of the arts, Pat Nick, for opening her Congress Street loft to our shoot.

I hope that you are touched by the artistry of those doing the work that they love, and that you are given—even for a moment—a glimpse into a tantalizing mystery.

Susan Grisanti Kelley
Editor
[email protected]