70s Catalogue

Elliot Fishbein in his woodworking studio in Eastport, 1974. Photograph by Hugh French/The
Quoddy Tides.
Photography is represented here by the work of Christian Sunde who lives in Trescott. The
great curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in the 70’s, John
Szarkowski, divided art photographers into two camps. They were either “mirrors” looking
inward and expressing what they saw there, or they were “windows” capturing the truth of
the world outside as did Gary Winogrand, Diane Arbus, and Bruce Davidson, three of the
best practitioners of the period. Chris Sunde falls in the latter group. His work shows us an
alert and perceptive observer of that time and place.
And then there were the woodworkers, Jerry Young, Jim Blankman, and Allen Harris, who
made musical instruments. Also in this group of true craftspeople was Elliot Fishbein. Using
only hand tools (his incredible tool cabinet is illustrated here) he was commissioned by
photographer Sid Bahrt of Pembroke and created this refined and stately box that houses
a classic Bible which now resides in Husson University in Bangor. He made furniture and
hand carved signs for the many businesses in the area. His sign for the Quoddy Tides hangs
on Water Street.
Though all the above artists and craftspeople are a disparate group in terms of styles, media,
aesthetics, and backgrounds, in fact, they are a microcosm of the arts in that era making
manifest in the Passamaqoddy Bay area almost every major trend in modern art. Lest we
think that this was only in the past and that they are all gone let us remember that Blankman,
Bowman, Colemann, Good, the Kirschensteins, Klyver, Linden, Ostrander, Sunde, Suta, and
Van Buren are all still either full or part time residents. These are the warp threads of the recent
past interweaving now with the fibers of our current art scene creating a vibrant tapestry.
William Humphreys is an artist and was the Curator at Florida International University’s Art
Museum and Gallery Manager at the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami. His summer
home is in Perry, Maine.
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