Bringing Art Outside
If you’ve taken a walk through the Evergreen Woods recently, you might have happened upon something rather unusual: a series of museum-quality paintings. Is that an N.C. Wyeth artwork…on a trail?
Well, it’s a replica of an N.C. Wyeth painting, and paintings of four other artists, displayed along the sides of our Improved Access Loop.
N.C. Wyeth’s Dark Harbor Fisherman
This installation in Evergreen Woods is part of the Portland Museum of Art’s (PMA) ongoing initiative Art Outside and on the Trail. Each painting is printed on canvas with extreme attention to detail. If it weren’t for “REPRODUCTION” stamped on the sides, you might think someone took the art off the wall at the museum and hung it from a post in the woods.
Since 2023, the PMA has partnered with parks and land trusts to bring art from the gallery outside into public spaces. This year, these artworks can also be found at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Pineland Farms, and Range Pond State Park.
Making art accessible is at the heart of this initiative. “We wanted to provide access to the museum’s collection in a unique, low barrier way where we’re meeting people where they are and creating a connection,” says Ashleigh McKown, the museum’s Head of Philanthropy.
Twilight at Stroudwater by Charles Frederick Kimball
We worked with Ashleigh and others at the PMA to select the improved access trail in the Evergreen Woods as the location for this installation. Because the trail is wide, flat, and smooth, many of our community members are able to access the artwork, regardless of their mobility.
However, Ashleigh illuminates another way this initiative is about accessibility. “There’s a perception that a museum can be intimidating,” she says. “But outside, the art is there, it’s non-intrusive, and you can come upon it. You can scan the QR code to learn more if you want to, or you can simply spend a moment with the art and continue on your way. You can choose your experience.”
L’Estaque by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
When “inside” art makes its way outside, the way someone experiences the art is different than how they might in a museum. Lisa H., a near-daily visitor of the Evergreen Woods, loves the way sunlight and shadows on the paintings change the artwork — much different from the way light is curated in a museum. “I have so many photos of these paintings on my phone just because the light was doing something cool,” she says. Lisa holds up her hand to create a shadow on the N.C. Wyeth painting Dark Harbor Fishermen, emphasizing how the light affects the art.
“They change with the seasons. They look different in the fall than they did in the summer, and I’m sure they’ll look different in the winter,” she says.
Blue Savanna by Dahlov Ipcar beneath orange foliage
Ashleigh says that collaborating with organizations to select their art is her favorite part of this initiative. “Groups have been really involved in curating the art featured at each site,” she says.
The paintings you’ll find in the Evergreen Woods were chosen to represent a mix of old and new art, with an emphasis on nature scenes and artists with connections to Maine. The Portland Trails staff hand-selected the five paintings on display. To decide, we taped photos of twenty options on the walls of our meeting room and each voted on our five favorites. (Afterward, we kept the photos on the wall for a while as a mini art gallery.)
Ashley Bryan’s colorful painting Turtle Knows Your Name
If you take a photo of yourself with the art you find outside — at any of the Art on the Trail locations — you’ll get free admission to the museum. And if you go to all four locations, you’ll get a free family membership for a year!
Thank you to Evergreen Credit Union, a sponsor of both Portland Trails and the PMA, for making this one-of-a-kind collaboration possible. Next year, the museum is hoping to continue expanding the program beyond southern Maine and into other parts of the state, including Northern Maine and York County.