Local arts center to present Bennett exhibit
PRESQUE ISLE — An opening reception for Wintergreen Arts Center’s upcoming exhibit, “Mable Mason Bennett: A Retrospective,” will be held Friday, Oct. 7 from 7-9 p.m. The public is invited to come and experience a selection of Bennett’s watercolor paintings from the collection of family members. Her work will be on display in the Barresi Financial Gallery at the Wintergreen Arts Center, located at 149 State St. in Presque Isle, from Oct. 7-31.
Mable Mason Bennett was born in 1912 in Rockwood, in the Moosehead Lake region. The daughter of Annie Dube Mason and Harry R. Mason, she spent her childhood in Eagle Lake and graduated from Fort Kent High School. She was married to Arthur M. Bennett and together they raised two children, Allan A. Bennett and Ann B. Wight. She had four grandchildren: Arthur (Chip) Bennett (deceased), Richard Bennett, Elizabeth Wight Higgins and Roland Wight, as well as three great-grandchildren.
Contributed photo
WATERCOLORS such as this by the late Mable Mason Bennett will be on display at the Wintergreen Arts Center from Oct. 7-31. An opening reception for “Mable Mason Bennett: A Retrospective” will be held Friday, Oct. 7 from 7-9 p.m. as part of the First Friday art celebration in Presque Isle. The public is invited to come and experience a selection of Bennett’s watercolor paintings from the collection of family members.
As her daughter Ann recalls, Bennett was always interested in art. She began seriously painting in the 1950s taking art lessons from Evelyn Kok and also at the Aroostook State Teachers College. She studied through the Famous Artists Program.
After her children left home, she vigorously pursued her painting and concentrated on watercolors.
Bennett had many “painter friends” including Bessie Higgins, Evelyn Powers, Evelyn Kok and others. She often declined social invitations because she “needed to paint” and was therefore very prolific.
She loved painting “plein air” and often spent long hours doing so on the coast. While her husband fished, she spent hours on the riverbanks and also painting while traveling throughout Europe. Bennett’s watercolors include scenes of Aroostook County; she especially loved painting old, rundown farm buildings, the Maine coast and floral arrangements.
Although she used many other mediums, watercolors were her favorite. Bennett died in 2007 after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.
Wintergreen Arts Center is especially pleased to host this collection of works by Bennett as its current space once housed R.W. Wight & Son owned by the Wight family.
Musical fare for the evening will be provided by New Sweden native, Stephen Boody, along with his student, Elyse Kiehn of Caribou High School.
Boody is a native of Wakefield, Mass. and has been living in New Sweden since 1984. He works for School Union 122 as a bus driver, C.B. Fisk, Inc., Organbuilder, as a pipe maker and also teaches violin and viola. He and his wife have two sons, Charles of Albany, New York and Philip of Presque Isle.
