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Now in Historic Downtown
“The second week was a mad rush to get it all done. But it was a privilege to get sucked into it. It’s kind of like a hurricane.” After Skowhegan, Bisbee weathered what he describes as “a long period of beautiful struggle in my mid-twenties and into my thirties,” until he crossed paths with Wethli at the MacDowell art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, in the fall of 1995. Within the year, the greater-Boston– born and –bred Bisbee found himself coaxing and coaching Bowdoin students to express themselves through the sculpting of bamboo, newspaper, old shoes and whatever other medium worked for them. And he found a home for his own creative process at Brunswick’s Fort Andross Mill complex. In a tiny, groundfloor workshop, Bisbee reimagines and reincarnates bright common spikes. In a second-floor studio, he keeps pieces still waiting to find an audience. And on the fourth floor of the mill’s west wing, he arranges his exhibits in the wide-open space he shares with fellow artists and acolytes. “I’ve been blessed,” the wiry, John Brown–bearded Bisbee says. “This Bowdoin thing, it’s like a faucet on the Fountain of Youth. I only teach in the fall semester, so I’m fresh, and I can make art for nine months of the year. It’s the best of both worlds.” • EDITOR’S NOTE To see more of John Bisbee’s work, go to bowdoin.edu/faculty/j/jbisbee.
Chatham Across from the Chatham Squire Restaurant
Contemporary, Traditional or Transitional The sole provider of artwork for: • The 2008 • The 2009 Boston Concept Boston Home Home of Distinction
• The 2010 New • The 2012 England Design Boston Design Hall of Fame Home
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"Serving New England's Collectors and Designers since 1980" 572 Washington St., Wellesley Square 781-237-3434 492 Main Street, Downtown Chatham 508-945-0888 july–august 2013 New England Home 37
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