On Matinicus, even summer sea breezes can be cool. But one day last summer 12 island women not only took off their clothes, they let a photographer record their images for a 2007 calendar, now selling like, well, hotcakes.
The full-color, 12-month calendar reveals no more than you’d see on a trip to a public beach, but you can tell that woman on the beach with a guitar isn’t wearing anything but sunblock. As one of the island models put it, there is the mystique; “you wonder what’s behind there.” An island baker strategically holds a loaf of bread, another woman lets lobster buoys preserve her modesty.
The calendar is titled, “So, What do you women do out there all day?” They do a lot of things, but their answer here is, “Anything we want!”
Risqué? None of the women, from a frisky 40 to an elegant 80, seem to think so. Neither do the husbands or just about anyone else. And it’s for a good cause. The women devised the scheme after watching the British film “Calendar Girls,” in which middle-aged women found they could raise funds for a hospital by simply undressing and rather discreetly posing for the camera. The calendar is being sold aboard the SUNBEAM, the island-hopping vessel of the Maine Seacoast Mission.
In these photos, there are no very young women, no one wearing make-up other than lipstick, no imminent danger of achieving that emaciated, burned out look of glossy magazine models. These women look healthy and happy, and as actor Suzanne Rankin said, “we all just had the best time.” She is Miss June and posed in a bed of rugosa roses because she loves them.
Fortunately, the day of the photo shoot was gloriously sunny and photographer Sarah Sutter of Wiscasset jumped at the chance to help out, posing her subjects au naturel at Condon Cove.
“It seemed to take Biscuit Ames a long time to haul his three traps in the Cove,” joked Rankin, who said the whole experience was liberating. “We’re strong women and by God, we’re not dead yet.” The oldest living Matinicus resident, Harriet Williams, heard about the calendar and said, “Where can I get one?”
So far, the ladies of Matinicus have netted $7,000 to install running water at their century-old Congregational Church (WWF July 06). Through mainland stores and by mail, these Maine `calendar girls’ have sold all but a couple hundred of the 1,000 calendars they had printed in May. The church welcomes all islanders regardless of faith, and the building is available for meetings, concerts, farmers’ markets and receptions.
So who cooked up the calendar idea? Rankin said it all began when about 20 island women got together to watch the “Calendar Girls” movie at Ava Clough’s house and Peggy Murray said why not try it. “We had a little glass of wine and we laughed and said, we can do this,” Rankin recalled. “The goal was just to have some fun with it and raise money for the church. God created us without clothing.”
Two of the women have had breast cancer; one of them underwent a double mastectomy. The group hopes to make a donation to breast cancer research after putting running water in the church kitchen.
“We’re all beautiful and we’re all strong,” said Rankin. “When we want to do something, we can do it.”
Is there a downside to making this tasteful yet titillating calendar? “None,” said Megan Cafferata, a soap maker who manages her family’s island rental properties. She said husband Keith and their two daughters urged her on. “It was great. It was so much fun and brought the women together to do something for the church, for the community.”
And for 2008? The women say this is it. No more. Unless the men of Matinicus want to take it all off.
For more information email kdesigns@midcoast.com, or sistersoap@verizon.net. Or call 207-366-3990.