Bethel artist Mattie Rose Templeton illustrates importance of dark skies
Artist Mattie Rose Templeton of Bethel holds her 3-year-old son, Henry, on April 15. Growing up off-grid and “in the dark,” she is the illustrator of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s first children’s book, “If You Can See The Dark,” which teaches children the importance of dark skies for animals, plants and people. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen
BETHEL — Bethel artist Mattie Rose Templeton grew up off-grid “in the dark” and rather ironically is the illustrator for the Appalachian Mountain Club’s first children’s book, “If You Can See The Dark.”
The book teaches children about the importance of dark skies for animals, plants and people.
It is written by Timothy Mudie and AMC’s Jenny Ward, who contacted Templeton to ask her to illustrate it.
Templeton had just three months, March through May 2023, to create the 11 illustrations. She said the book, in part, promotes AMC’s Maine Woods International Dark Sky Park at the edge of the North Maine Woods. It’s an expanse of more than 14,000 square kilometers of largely uninhabited forest land that stretches from Monson, Maine, to the Canadian border.
According to the AMC website, the region is one of the darkest places remaining on the East Coast and has been identified as an area of exceptionally high habitat connectivity and climate change resilience.
The book’s first run sold out. It is featured on the Storybook Walk at Bethel’s Valentine Farm and one copy is available at every Maine library.
“I grew up off-grid, in the dark, Templeton said. “I remember hearing peepers on the pond at night … I grew up sleeping in pitch black and when I would be somewhere where there was any sort of light, I couldn’t sleep … I can imagine for animals (the dark sky) is really important.”
A Palermo native, she said her passion is art. “It’s all I wanted to do when I was a kid … I would go into the woods and make things out of sticks.
“When it comes to being a creative person, it doesn’t matter the medium, you will create something,” she said.
Bethel artist Mattie Rose Templeton created this illustration for “If You Can See The Dark,” the Appalachian Mountain Club’s first children’s book. Submitted photo
Templeton said her parents nurtured her interest, buying her the best art supplies when she was a child. As she grew older, she tried other careers like nursing and furniture restoration.
“‘Don’t worry about failing in the art world, just do what you love,'” she said her parents told her when she called crying.
“It blows my mind how many people recognize my art and don’t even know me. It’s a beautiful thing,” she said. “I have more work today then I have ever had in my life.”
She studied Spanish and Native American art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for 10 years before moving back to Maine about 11 years ago to be near family. She held a pen and ink show at Bethel’s Mill Hill Inn owned by Woody and Lee Hughes. Every piece sold.
She said, it was then that she knew she could make art a career. “I just had this realization at that show. I can do this.”
Bethel artist Mattie Rose Templeton created this illustration for “If You Can See The Dark,” the Appalachian Mountain Club’s first children’s book. submitted photo
Templeton’s art is unique and known throughout western Maine. Animals and nature come together in mystical creations. Color jumps from pen and ink backdrops. Sometimes faces are found in unexpected places.
She uses an old-fashioned inkwell, nib pens, similar to fountain pens, and holders, and sometimes a brush. Her watercolors are professional grade by Winsor & Newton. Giclee reproductions are done by Steven Traficonte at 100 Acre Wood in Norway. He cuts her mats and has equipped her with all the tools she needs to make her own frames.
Later this year, Templeton will get to work on another AMC book about clean waterways and fish.
Templeton and her husband, Spenser Williams, live off-grid in Bethel with their children, Henry, 3, and Ruth, 1.
She said she recognizes in her son a passion to take things apart and put things together. Appreciative of her parents’ guidance, Templeton said, “whatever your child really loves, it’s important to kindle that the best way you can.”
Art Fairs 2023!
Hello 2023! I cannot believe that summer is at our doorstep, how lucky are we! Here is a list of all the art events I will be participating in this coming season. Consider your self cordially invited:)
Line Up for Fairs 2022!
I am very excited to announce all the places me and my family will be taking art this year! Hopefully one of these spots is close to you! Come on out and say hello:)
Art Fairs 2022
June 11 - Market square day, Portsmouth NH
June 12 - Resurgam, Thompson's Point ME
June 25,26 - Belfast Art in the Park, Belfast ME
July 9 - Norway Art festival, Norway ME
July 15,16,17 - Yarmouth Clam Festival, Yarmouth ME
August 12,13,14 - Bar Harbor Art in the Park, Bar Harbor ME
August 20 - Lovell Arts and Artisans Fair, Lovell ME
September 10,11 - Laudholm, Wells ME
September 23,24,25 - Common Gound Fair, Unity ME
October 1,2 - North Conway Art Festival, North Conway NH
October 15,16 - North Conway Art Festival, North Conway NH
November 12,13 - USM Craft Show, Gorham ME
Henry and me at an art fair in Wells
A beautiful day on a small farm in New Gloucester Maine
SUMMER/FALL ART FAIRS
Hello Friends! It’s great to announce that I will be attending quite a few artisan fairs this season. Maybe one of these spots are in your neck of the woods, and you would like to come say hi! I look forward to seeing you there!
August 14 - Art in the park Portland, South Portland ME
August 21 - Lovell arts and artisan fair, Lovell ME
September 4,5,6 - Alton art fair, Laconia NH
September 11,12 - Summer Solstice craft fair, Wells ME
September 18 - Market square day, Portsmouth NH
September 24,25,26 - Common Ground Fair, Now online
September 25 - Harvest moon craft Fair, New Gloucester ME
October 9,10,11 - Canceled
October 2,3 - North Conway art fair, North Conway NH
October 16,17 - North conway art fair, North conway NH
November 6,7 - Wells holiday fair, Wells ME
Year 2020
I know I am not alone in saying that this year has been one of the craziest years yet! Between the election and a worldwide pandemic a lot has changed, and some things may not go back to the way they were.
Even though every art fair canceled and businesses who carry my work were closed for a while, I am still making art! I think the only reason this is the case, is because of you. I am humbled by all the people who contacted me about commissions and originals, as well as everyone who buys my prints and cards in shops and from my website. You have carried me through. You allow me to continue to do what I absolutely LOVE, make art. Thank you.
My wonderful partner and I decided to have a baby this year, we have about two weeks to go. While this has been a hard time to be pregnant, it has also been the very best time. Each day has been filled with hiking in the beautiful woods of Maine, cooking at home, creating, and getting a full night’s sleep. Basically all the richness of life. I am excited for this new chapter and look forward to continue to share what inspires me. Stay connected.
Mu Noi Mural
This summer during the pandemic I had the unique opportunity of creating a large piece of art at Mu Noi restaurant in Lewiston Maine. The head Chef, Sav, is from Laos. Not only is Sav’s food delicious, but it’s created in an artful way. In painting this mural, I was asked to incorporate various herbs used in Loacian cooking, they are held in a traditional mortar and pestle. It is colorful and vibrant, just like the food! GO EAT THERE:)!!
Art Fairs from the summer of 2019
I want to say thank you to all of the people who came and supported me through these fairs. My family, I simply could not have done it without you. Thank you to my partner, who spent many days moving art with the utmost tenderness and care. Thank you to my brother, who made us delicious salad dinner and who covered my booth for many bathroom breaks. Thank you to my sister who brought snacks and fresh flowers from her garden to make the booth space more beautiful! Thank you to my mom, who delivered prints on the fly, when we ran out. Thank you to Mena, who spent the weekend with us in Belfast, and who took care of us on Long Island. Thank you to all the people who attended these fairs and supported my art! I met so many wonderful, unique individuals. It was such an incredible experience
Portland, Maine
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Belfast, Maine
Bridgton, Maine
Unity, Maine
Lovell Mural Restoration
Up the ladder again this passed summer! I had the unique opportunity of restoring a mural painted in the 50’s. The old Pilsbury barn sits just across the street from the center Lovell post office, in Lovell Maine. The property is beautiful, the gardens are well cared for, and inside the farmhouse is fashioned from the erra, as though time has simply stood still. The mysterious mural was featured in reader’s digest as a prominent Lovell landmark, yet no one quite knows its origin. Nevertheless, It was in great need of a touch up, and I was the human to do it! The main subject matter is right out of a mother goose nursery rhyme. During my days there, I was reminded of my youth…. I spend all of my teenhood running around these woods and swimming in Kezar Lake.
I was honored to bring this artwork back to life!
Before
After
BIG ART!!
This year I worked on a new and exciting project. I moved to Bellingham Washington for the summer because I thought the giant mountains would inspire my art (they have). When I arrived, I didn’t know how to get involved in the art scene, so I did something I have never done, I wrote an add on craigslist for a mural proposal. I landed a project creating a mural for a wonderful family who wanted a mural that made people think about the world in a deeper way. I think most great wall art should do this! It is an opportunity to create something beautiful and moving at the same time:)! The finished mural is a depiction of two brown hands holding Mt. Baker. I think it’s important to feel connected to the land around you, that way you are more likely to advocate for its preservation. I had never created art this big before. From the materials used to the way you price a mural was all new to me. I have learned a lot, and want to make murals!!
Hands
Hands, if you watch them, they tell a more in depth story of an individual's life then words do. If you close your eyes and visualize your mothers hands, even if she is no longer here, you probably have a perfect image what they look like and feel like. I can remember exactly what my grandmothers hands were like, while the specific features of her face have become blurred with time. To me, the hands are the most aesthetically beautiful part of the human body, and I love to include them in my artwork. Because i need hands modeled in many different positions, I often use my own hands as my subjects. They are no longer mine when attached to a man sitting under a tree smoking, or are they?
Here are some categories your hands might fall into:
-the nervous nail biter
-the timid light toucher
-sand paper hands
-the bread kneader
-piano fingers
-knuckle horizon
-grow into hands
-ribbon vanes
-manicured hands
-Powdered glove hand
-Grandmas hands
-wedding ring tan line
-ring stuck hand
-baby hands
-hereditary hands
-hand model hands
-iron deficiency
-wrinkled hands
-deep palm hand lines
-hairy thick hands
-hairy thin hands
-huuuuuuuuge hands:)
Well, the list does go on, so if any come to you, please send them my way!
Paper cut-out stencil
Art from the past
I think when we create art, we critique ourselves, and are aware of features within the piece that someone else might not notice. For instance, sometimes the ink on the end of my pen will simply poor out onto the artwork, making a giant black blotch.... at which point, i yell "Balls!" and my cat Pippin's ears go back. But secretly, i like this spontaneous re-imagining. It adds a certain secret character to the art, i wonder if this is how the painters of Van Goghs era felt, when they painted over canvases, re-using them again and again.
During my lifetime, my art has changed a whole lot. I often find myself looking at art i have created only a few years ago, and thinking, wow! thats not very good.... The truth is, i am slowly finding my signature. In honor of the path that has led me too where i am today, i am going to post a VERY old piece of artwork from my childhood! perhaps the oldest piece of my art that exists, although i do believe my mother is hanging onto an archive of the VERY VERY oldest art. This Art was inspired by a game i would play with my sisters Lake and Juni called We-Whose. In this make believe realm of we-whose, we were fairies who lived in an Willy Wonka like wonderland, any delight at our very fingertips. We loved this game, it went on for years. In fact, i still sometimes call my sister Juni "We-Who" as a form of endearment.
