“A Visit With Ashley Bryan” Celebrates Renowned Artist’s Life and Work, Ashley Bryan Center Inaugural Show, Islesford, ME

 ISLESFORD, ME—Ashley Bryan, renowned artist, children’s book author, and humanitarian, has had libraries and schools named for him from Kenya to California. This summer, a celebration of his legacy opens on the Maine island Bryan calls home. Housed in Acadia National Park’s Islesford Historical Museum on Little Cranberry Island, the exhibit “A Visit With Ashley Bryan” is the inaugural event of the Ashley Bryan Center, established in 2013. The free summer show runs daily from June 25 to September 18, 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through August. September hours are 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sundays. The island is reached by a short ferry ride or water taxi from Mount Desert Island.

Or join us for an opening celebration on July 5 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.

“A Visit With Ashley Bryan” features the astonishing range of the 90-year-old artist’s work—from his drawings, book illustrations, and paintings, to stained glass windows created from sea glass, to puppets constructed from objects Bryan finds on island beaches. It encompasses Bryan’s life in art: his childhood in the Bronx, NY, his studies at Cooper Union, his years teaching at Dartmouth College, and his time in Maine. Tales of his many journeys are recounted, including his life-changing connection to world-famous cellist, Pablo Casals, and never-before-displayed drawings Bryan created during his World War II service in the segregated United States army. Even on D-Day, Bryan concealed a sketchbook in his gas mask to draw his fellow soldiers, seeking, he says, “to preserve my humanity.”

As author, artist, and storyteller, Bryan is known throughout the world; he has received many of the highest honors given to children’s book creators, including the New York Public Library’s Literary Lions award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, and numerous honorary degrees. In presenting the lifetime achievement award, committee chair Pauletta Brown Bracy said, “Ashley Bryan, author, folklorist, poet, and illustrator, couples a melodic voice to his brilliant artwork, transcending literary and artistic genres that leave readers unimaginably satisfied.” As touched as Bryan is by these tributes, he says his greatest honor is having the two-room school house on Islesford renamed “The Ashley Bryan School."

The show features several of Bryan’s more than 50 illustrated books, and coincides with the release of his latest effort, “Ashley Bryan’s Puppets: Making Something from Everything.” In giving it rare starred review, Kirkus Reviews calls the book “a stunning work of creative genius.” Several of the spectacular puppets depicted in the book are on display.

“A Visit With Ashley Bryan” is presented by the Ashley Bryan Center in partnership with the National Park Service and numerous sponsors. “This exhibit is the first of many projects of the Ashley Bryan Center, created to excite people about the astonishing expanse of Ashley Bryan’s talent and his extraordinary humanitarian message,” says board member Donna Isaacs. As part of its goal to continue Bryan’s efforts connecting people across cultural barriers through art, literature, and poetry, the center will be hosting events throughout the summer.

Islesford is easily accessible from Northeast Harbor via Beal and Bunker Mail Boat and Ferry and from Southwest Harbor via Cranberry Cove Boating Co. The museum is a short walk from Islesford’s town dock. For more information, visit www.ashleybryancenter.org, write info@ashleybryancenter.org, or call 207-244-7494.