Eastport artist, songwriter and musician Shana Barry was almost born on an island, Peaks Island to be exact. Then she was almost born on the Portland fireboat.
But, she says, even though it was a windy March day in 1975 the fireboat “made it to Maine Med in Portland just in time.”
Barry may not have been born on Peaks Island, but she spent most of her childhood there and that experience has shaped and influenced most of her creative life, with a notable exception-her Barack and Michelle Obama dolls.
Just before President Obama’s inauguration in January, the Bangor Daily News published an article about Obama art, and put Barry and her dolls on page one with a photo inside of the artist at work. To say that the dolls have become popular is something of an understatement. Barry has received orders from as far away as Ohio. And at this writing she was continuing to make the dolls to meet the demand.
Barry says that one night early in December she “was sitting by the wood stove, listening to music and putting the finishing touches on a new doll. Giving the face a final coat of paint, she realized that she recognized the doll.
“It looked a lot like President Obama,” she said. “And it was totally by accident. He’s been on my mind lately, so it makes sense. His election was really inspiring.”
The rest, as the saying goes, is history.
Barry describes her childhood on Peaks Island as “great, I have a lot of wonderful memories, mostly having to do with an incredible sense of freedom.”
She continued, “I spent a great deal of time outside, either on the beach or in the woods. Island life is unique; not many people get to experience it as a child with eyes wide open. I really was very, very lucky. And I remember my first job, when I was eight years old, picking wildflowers to make bouquets for the tables of a restaurant on the island.”
Barry’s odyssey from Casco Bay to Passamaquoddy Bay has taken her across the United States to Oregon and California-“where I learned to surf”-to the Greek Islands, and hitchhiking across Nova Scotia and Cape Breton.”¨ In 2001, she met performance artist and writer, Chris “Crash” Barry, in Portland and shortly after they moved to Peaks Island.
“It was a winter rental,” she says, “and that gave him some perspective on what my childhood was like. I showed him all my special places; it was a great experience to have him see all that.”
Barry and husband Crash, moved to Eastport because “We had a feeling this was the right place for us.” They keep food on the table by house-sitting “with a spectacular view of Passamaquoddy Bay” and doing odd jobs, from snow shoveling to hauling wood to cleaning restaurants.
Barry’s joy over island life is best expressed on one of the many songs she’s written, “Around the Island.”
In part the lyrics read: “We’re in the meadow but not for long because we’re headed for the seashore. I hop from rock to rock and peer into tide pools, wade into the water up to my waist, dive underneath, a new world surrounds me, starfish and sea urchins, lobsters and mussels, hermit crabs and barnacles, rockweed and periwinkles, limpets and jellyfish, anemones and sand dollars. In the ocean, we’re in the ocean but not for long because the water’s really cold here. We’ve been through the forest, We’ve been in the meadow. We’ve swum in the ocean.”
It should be noted that this particular island is one of Barry’s own creation-the Island of Fof. “There’s no story behind the name Fof,” she says. “I simply like the way it sounds.” The island and its inhabitants, the Fofers, figure in much of her music and art.
“The Fofers are kind and gentle multi-colored furry creatures who live on a special secret island called Fof. A land of boats and bicycles,” Barry explains. “Of tall trees and wondrous plants and animals. Fof is an idealized version of the islands I’ve lived on. It’s mostly my imagination with some Peaks and a touch of Shackford Head State park in Eastport.” Fofers can be found in her workshop in the form of three-foot tall figures.
Barry has also composed, performed and produced two CDs: “A Pink Whale and a Very Tall Tree” and “Overdreaming.”
She says that “Pink Whale” was intended as an album for children, but she discovered that “people from age 3 to 93” were enjoying it so it’s now a “family” album. “Overdreaming,” on the other hand is a grown-up offering. One cut, “Jewell Island” is “the story of Crash and my honeymoon, taking our 14-foot skiff out to an uninhabited Casco Bay Island in rough seas.”
Not content to rest on their artistic laurels, Barry and Crash plan to embark on a performance tour beginning in July and ending in October. Their goal is to perform in every Maine county and then take the tour into other parts of New England.
“We’re going to perform ‘The Lunatic’s Crumbling Castle and other stories from the real Down East Maine’ several times in each Maine county so we can visit the small towns that rarely get traveling entertainment,” Barry says. The storytelling will be shared between them, and Barry will also perform songs from her CDs.
And at this writing Barry was recording yet another album. She can be reached through her web site: theshaggallery.com.