The Monhegan Wildlands: Art, Ecology, and the Resilience of a Maine Island – Annual Ball Lecture

The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education Annual Ball Lecture

Join the Co-Curators of The Monhegan Wildlands: Art, Ecology, and the Resilience of a Maine Island (on display at the Bowdoin College of Art until June 1st) for an evening of learning and discussion. With its rugged shoreline, magnificent Cathedral Woods, and rustic fishing village, Monhegan Island in the Gulf of Maine has long been a haven for artists drawn to the splendor of its ocean vistas and picturesque wildlands and for ecologists fascinated by its complex natural history. Over the last two centuries, artists and photographers have observed pastureland recolonized by white spruce, those white spruce devastated by parasitic dwarf mistletoe infestation, and, today, deciduous trees—birch, aspen and maple—coming to dominate declining white spruce woodlands. Scientists, too, have documented change on Monhegan, drawing upon the methodologies of forest ecology to describe what came before and to elucidate mechanisms shaping the trajectories of forest succession.Monhegan’s history offers lessons for us all. This lecture, drawn from the exhibition, brings together artworks, objects and representations of ecological inquiry, and historical documents (including maps) and photographs to chart forest conversion and recovery on the island, and to document decades of remarkable conservation and stewardship.

Date & Time: Thursday, May 1st, 2025 from 4:45 PM to 6:45PM

Reception: 4:45pm-5:15pm (Light refreshments will be served)

Lecture and Q & A: 5:15pm-6:30pm

Location: Hannaford Hall, Abromson Center – University of Southern Maine (Portland Campus)

This event is FREE and all are welcome!

Speakers:

• Frank Goodyear, Co-Director, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, and Co-Curator of The Monhegan Wildlands exhibition
• Jenn Pye, Director, Monhegan Museum of Art & History, and Co-Curator of The Monhegan Wildlands exhibition
• Barry Logan, Samuel S. Butcher Professor in the Natural Sciences, Bowdoin College, and Co-Curator of The Monhegan Wildlands Exhibition.