We're excited to welcome the return of porcelain ceramic artist Tim Christensen for 2023 Full Moon Sgraffito and Raku workshops! Click image above for details.
Events // Workshops
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January 31, 2023
Tim Christensen Ceramic Workshops
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August 06, 2022
Celebrating Our 10th Anniversary!
Whale Club 2022 is a gift we wanted to give ourselves and our community after a decade of building The Good Supply dream! The images below were taken by Katya Martin and showcase some of the highlights of our afternoon. We hope you enjoy!
Hosting an annual Summer "Art Party" is our pride and joy and keeps the season fun for us. We love events where neighbors can meet neighbors and folks from out of town can make new friends. It helps when the Maine weather cooperates like it did for our early August garden party.
We invited Whale of A Good Time artist Cindy Pease Roe of UpSculpt back to inspire a season of beach clean-ups as inspiration reimagine the fate of trash, raise awareness of plastics in the ocean and the roles we play in putting them there. Cindy Pease Roe is pictured in the middle along with The Good Supply founder Catherine McLetchie (left) and artist Jessie Renew.
It was alarming to see how much beach trash and coastal debris could be collected by our local community. This photo shows what was LEFT OVER after Cindy created the "whale" in "Whale Club 2022." What was most striking to us was the beautiful colors represented in such a collection.
The number one category of coastal debris in the Gulf of Maine is lost or discarded gear from fishing. We all see a lot of debris that looks like the lobster buoy above, but also see beach toys, flip flops, and sunscreen bottles that end up on our coastline.
Cindy wanted to use elements true to Midcoast. For example, the black screen used to enclose the whale's form in the photo above comes from oyster farming.
The black netting gave Cindy the right texture and minimalism she needed to create a sculpture of substance that could also be relatively light as to function as a moveable and accessible artwork. She spent a week at The Good Supply selecting materials from our collection to create a work of beauty.
Introducing: Corazon Valiente (Valiente Heart)
She is a North Atlantic Right Whale that measures 98" x 37" x 36". Made of miscellaneous marine debris: rope, buoys, aquaculture seeding bags, lobster traps, fabric, bait bags, tennis ball, golf ball, tool bag, and shuttlecock
Corazon Valiente is absolutely stunning, and it is a treat to have an artwork of this scale on view at The Good Supply. The body of the whale is transparent, and pieces of the whole (intact debris that represents fishing, boating, play, consuming, and entertainment) "float" in a line up in the interior of the whale.
We set up a sculpture garden with Cindy's smaller works on the back lawn. Along the other side of the barn were some very important guests!
The Darling Marine Center is UMaine's Marine Biology lab. It's a great program that brings young people interested in marine sciences to our peninsula. We are always interested in the students, professors, and programs that make the organization such an asset to Midcoast and to Maine as a whole. We asked them to come table at the party to share their work with those who attended.
Bigelow Laboratory of Ocean Sciences from East Boothbay also accepted our invitation to share information at "Whale Club 2022." Their Gulf of Maine EcoArts "Magestic Fragility" exhibition from 2021 featured a North Atlantic Right Whale so their efforts to raise awareness aligned with ours.
This nonprofit really inspired it all! Cindy Pease Roe introduced us to the Rozalia Project in 2016. They travel by sailboat and clean up and monitor debris in the Gulf of Maine. They've given Cindy materials for her artwork, and they've encouraged her message. We love them very much and encourage you to check out their programming! Please contribute if you can.
As if our guest list could not be more impressive, we hosted Thirsty Science by Perrin Ireland! She shared facts about behaviors of marine animals to the rhythm of her weighted hoola hoop! It was such a dream to have her as a neighbor for a Summer - especially as she completed an artist residency with The Carpenter's Boat Shop! Interesting things really do happen in our rural neighborhood, we promise and hope you'll come find out for yourself.
What would a community event be without kids represented? Hearty Roots was also present sharing their message to get kids off the grid and into their hearts. An Earth Day clean-up with students from their program helped us get the bulk of our debris to make Corazon Valiente! For anyone who has kids and spends time in Midcoast, we encourage you to check out programming for this very special nonprofit.
The vibes were fine with our friend DJ J-NYCE in control of music. We'd never had so many people at an event, and it was a dream come true to have a friend from way back keeping the mood right! Big thanks to you, J-NYCE!
We call our parties "Art Parties" for a reason. This event was particularly special because when we invited Cindy Pease Roe back to hang her giant Right Whale, we had the dream that our new friend Alec Madoff would help with the occasion! His work is with the Museum of Natural History in NYC. Thanks to a lifetime of visiting New Harbor in the summers, he found our venue.
As his hobby developed into a second career, we had the pleasure to represent his assemblages. A lifetime collector, Alec has the skills to secure collections in a way that can be permanently enjoyed like the piece above, which was added to a special local art collection.
If you have yet to figure it out, we must self-identify as wholesome! We think Alec Madoff is a fantastic human, and the fact that he brought his family to celebrate his work is yet another dream come true. We are so grateful to know these folks.
"We" means Catherine, Karl, and Lil primarily. Lil wasn't around in the beginning, but thanks to some amazing mentors and role models, Catherine and Karl have held and developed the idea of The Good Supply for the decade.
"We" also means Catherine and Liz Bannon! Liz was formerly Liz Martone, the founder of EFM Studio; however, she was married this year and has changed her name. What hasn't changed is Catherine's love and appreciation for Liz's partnership in the business and her beautiful contribution as an artist in the barn.
When Liz heard that Cindy Pease Roe was going to be headlining our 10th Anniversary show with a giant whale installation "floating" in the barn, she had the idea to make Disco Bubbles for the whale to swim among. She made 24 individual pieces using coastal debris and sometimes papier-mache as a base. They were displayed around the event and created a very fun party atmosphere!
Not all of the fun was announced ahead of time! While party planning was taking place, Maine contemporary oil painter Jessica Ives finished new work for the Summer. As our first studio artist, we are always interested in new iterations of her work and asked if there could be a pop-up element to our event that could include her! She said yes, and the outdoor display of her pieces will not soon be forgotten.
Another thing to remember was how much fun the kids had! We always love when families - including sweet dogs - come to the barn. Pictured here is a good friend of The Good Supply Mafalda. These bubbles came from a site specific light installation from visiting artist Jessie Renew.
This is a close-up of the light installation at dusk. Jessie Renew acted as support for Cindy Pease Roe just as she as always acted as support for The Good Supply. When she wasn't offering her talents to her friends, she was working on this individual piece titled "It's Complicated," which was made from free materials entwined onto The Good Supply's chandelier garden sculptures. The installation was bright in color and gripping in meaning - we all really do have a lot of stuff! What actually matters is the question.
One thing that matters without argument is food! Friends sourced and made all of the complimentary refreshments. There was a sudden heat wave, and big thanks must be given to Kathi and Renee who spent time in the kitchen crisping up crunchy chickpeas. It takes a little work making food that is gluten-free, protein-rich, and able to sit in the sun for an hour or so!
Barn Door Bakery and Walpole Barn were our first stops for yummy treats! We are so lucky to have the "go to" places in town to find just what we need. Barn Door makes great treats gluten free and with flour - and Walpole Barn is THE place for wine around here!
Souvenirs by Mermaid Meadow were offered up to folks. Catherine put in a call to the Maine Department of Marine Resources and found a whale biologist at the end of the line! The biologist made a list of all the whales found in Maine, and Bevin Holmberg, an artist who always wanted to be a marine biologist, depicted the beautiful whales in a series of limited edition plates. At the time of this writing, a handful of plates were still available.
Whale Club 2022 really was a dreamy night! The weather cooperated, and our friends showed up from near and far. If we could live this night over and over again, we would!
Great friends from Maine like the talented metalsmith Kate Mess and her beautiful daughter Stella showed up!
As did artist illustrator Allison McKeen and manager at Maine Crafts Association Whitney Gill! Truth be told, these ladies have been attending our parties for years, and it was their reputations in the field that helped encourage us to where we are. When you surround yourself with creative people, good things are bound to happen.
We could not have hoped for a better event with better people. August 6, 2022 "Whale Club 2022" was the best way we could have celebrated a decade in business. It's support from people like you that keeps us going. You made this happen, and we are so grateful! Cheers to 10 years of The Good Supply! Thank you, dear friends.