In the 1960s, an artist originally from Old Town fled the capricious New York City art scene for a rural home on the midcoast. The son of a carpenter, he set about constructing massive wooden sculptures around the ponds, fields, and forest on his rolling tract. At one point, more than 100 of the monumental works were scattered about. The artist died in 1977, and when his wife died, in 2010, the artist’s estate — including the midcoast property — transferred to Colby College. In 2017, after some real-estate maneuvering and conservation work, a local land trust opened the property to the public, with a graveled quarter-mile path winding past the dozen remaining big sculptures, among them an elephant, a cow, a disgraced former president striking an iconic pose, and a Wyeth muse striking another iconic pose. The artist’s studio, in an old barn, is full of tools and material — plus some works that were actually small enough to fit indoors.
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