When the outside door of the Victorian-era Engine House on Main Street in Vinalhaven is open, it is an invitation to enter. You climb a steep and narrow wooden staircase, creaking underfoot, to the second floor, where you come into a high-ceiling workroom filled with light. The windows all around it invite perusing the world from this vantage point; you can easily observe Carver’s Harbor, the town parking lot, and all the downstreet businesses. Yet the view one will most likely find compelling is looking at the walls and the art they hold. Many are etchings of Vinalhaven landscapes. You’re in the studio of their artist, master printer Chris Clarke, and the Engine House Press, a collaborative of 13 members.
Founded in September 2006, the group includes Clarke, Elaine Crossman, Esther Garcia Eder, Michael Eder, Lynn Krauss, Alison Hildreth, Aviva Rahmani, Roz Sanders, Peter Codella, Pat Nick, Rich Entel, Ruth Ripnitz and Pat Kennan.
The weathered and worn building it is housed in, no longer an active fire station, is still owned by the town. The visiting veterinarian uses part of the studio on the days he sees island pets, and the town band practices here as well. They stay out of each other’s way; imagine any two of those activities coexisting there at the same time. Wet paint and flying fur? Tubas and tomcats? Chris Clarke expresses no frustration with that implied collision of worlds. Instead, he seems comfortable at the center of a vortex, calm amid the tumult of the various goings-on around him.
Members’ dues provide the funds to cover rent, some supplies and access to the press. Clarke is on hand for advice and to work the press. His own work is done in etching. Using copper plates, he sketches onto them the fine lines of an image, which later is corroded into the metal by applying a mordant — a chemical acid. Clarke savors his link to a long tradition with venerable artists including Durer, Goya and Rembrandt. He says the methods he uses haven’t changed over hundreds of years.
The collaborative’s other artists are not primarily printmakers. Using a different medium allows them to explore new expressions of their work and push it in different directions. Images may be painted on plywood, plexiglass or plastic film. This summer’s activity at the studio has been leading up to the collaborative’s first group show, “Prints from the Engine House Press,” running from Sept. 1 to September 26, at Elaine Crossman’s New Era Gallery on Main Street, Vinalhaven.
Clarke is humble about his own artistry. He likes being referred to as “master printer” because it connotes his technical expertise. He relishes his role as helpmate, serving as a kind of midwife while inking plates, preparing paper and running prints. He watches artists “see something come out of them they never knew existed.” He enjoys the supportive role of understanding where an artist wants to go and making sure they are comfortable in the medium. In guiding all these efforts, Clarke has created a community centered on printmaking.
While all the associated artists call Vinalhaven home a great deal of, if not all of the time, Chris Clarke is the one who quite literally grew up here, in front of everyone; “up” both in stature- he stands at 6’4″, and also in years. His visits to the island began as a child, thirty-some years ago. His paternal grandparents were both island institutions; grandmother, Barbara Morton, was respected as an artist and craftsperson, and grandfather John was a fine cook who started the still-thriving restaurant, the Harbor Gawker. Clarke’s parents didn’t stay summers, but Chris had extended family everywhere on the island who hosted him. It was, one could say, the first of his collaborative experiences.
The second would have been his apprenticeship at the Vinalhaven Press, founded in 1985 by Pat Nick. Clarke had been encouraged to apply for an internship by Pop artist Robert Indiana (most famous for his iconic “LOVE” sculpture), who had relocated to Vinalhaven. Master printers and artists of renown, both international and regional, visited the island and worked collaboratively in the medium. It provided Clarke with a first-class education, which he then built on with work experience in New York City. His etchings from that time, in exquisitely drawn fine lines, are landscapes featuring some of the monumental structures of the city. Upon closer look, one realizes many are built of stone; specifically, Vinalhaven granite. It seems to be a way Clarke managed, through art, to merge two very different worlds into one.
Today, his studio has windows facing those of Indiana’s residence across Main Street. The Harbor Gawker is several doors down in one direction. Crossman’s gallery is equidistant in the other. Located at the geographic center of Vinalhaven’s Main Street, Clarke is also central amid the artists gathered there to work. It is another merger he has managed, finding common ground.
“Prints from the Engine House Press” will run from September 1-26 at the New Era Gallery, Main Street, Vinalhaven. The opening is Sept. 1, 4-7 PM. The Engine House Press welcomes visitors when it is open; its door is located in the alley next to The Haven restaurant.