See South Berwick Through a Muralist's Eyes
Meadow Rue Merrill
Gordon Carlisle
Gary Langley
Maine muralist Gordon Carlisle admits he was looking for a deal when he and his wife, Susan Poulin, were driven from their Portsmouth apartment nearly a decade ago by rising rents. But what they discovered in the nearby fields and farmlands of South Berwick was more than simply affordable. They found, as have many others, a rural haven in the midst of southern Maine’s disappearing countryside.
“We were apprehensive at first,” Carlisle confessed from his Civil War-era house outside the town center. “We thought we were leaving all our friends behind. As it turns out, most of our friends had fled across the river to Maine already.”
Carlisle, who grew up in suburban New Jersey, was originally drawn to the town, just north of Kittery, by its size.
“We don’t even have a traffic light,” he said. “In the rush hour we have a guard in the center of town directing traffic.”
For someone whose resume is filled with big city schools—from the Boston Museum School of Fine Art to the San Francisco Art Institute, from which he graduated—the move was dramatic, rather fitting for a visual artist who also writes music, plays guitar and performs satirical plays with his wife. Two decades ago, after opening his studio in Portsmouth’s historic Button Factory building, he also joined a local theater troupe, intending to make silk-screened posters and do publicity for its shows. Soon, however, he was acting. When Poulin joined the group, they married and formed their own company, Poolyle Productions.
Now the couple produces a handful of award winning shows, such as “Ida: Woman Who Runs with the Moose,” which they present around New England. They even held a winter series at the South Berwick town hall, which Carlisle laughingly called, “a cheap night out on the town.” But it is the artist’s larger-than-life murals, which he produces in his Portsmouth studio, that form the backbone of his business.
“It was accidental,” Carlisle said of how he became involved in public art in the early ‘80s. “I was asked to be part of a budding company in Portsmouth, doing a church redecorating. None of them had any experience with murals, and neither did I. But I had a lot of figurative painting experience, and they hired me as artistic director.”
Learning on the job, Carlisle spent the next decade pursuing additional large-scale work with three members of the original group. The largest, in downtown Manchester, NH, was just shy of 4,000 square feet. In 1994, he set off on his own. Since then Carlisle has completed a long list of commissions for public and private clients around New England, including the newest and nearest, “Proud Past, Bright Future”—a 1,500-square- foot series of pictures painted on the back brick wall of The Village Market in nearby Somersworth, NH. Although Carlisle usually paints with acrylics in his studio on modular panels that he can then install, this particular piece, showcasing the town’s industrial past and youth-oriented future, was drawn and painted—with latex house paint—on site.
In honor of Carlisle’s accomplishment, the town’s mayor officially named Sept. 27th, the day the mural was completed, “Gordon Carlisle Day.”
In Maine, Carlisle’s work can be seen in state at St. Peter’s Church in Portland, where four murals depict the life of Saint Peter—a project that took three-and-a-half years to complete—and at the Washington County Community College in Calais, with a series of paintings showcasing the local waterfront with an emphasis on learning. In his new hometown he’s completed just a handful of smaller projects including a T-shirt he designed for the now-closed favorite lunch spot, Flynn’s News.
“I bartered for a summer’s worth of sandwiches,” Carlisle said. “I thought it was a great deal.”
It was an adjustment, leaving the bright lights of Portsmouth for the rural countryside, but Carlisle claims he hasn’t looked back. One of the biggest benefits is being active in preserving the local landscape through the regional Great Works Regional Land Trust, of which he is a member. Over the past two decades, the group, with a mailing address in South Berwick, has conserved more than 4,000 acres in southern Maine. Most mornings, Carlisle can be found walking his dog, Bell, in nearby Vaughan Woods State Park. As far as he’s concerned, it’s a fair trade for no longer being able to walk to work.
“The idea of owning a dog in Portsmouth never would have occurred to us,” he said.
Where to eat:
In the center of South Berwick, Carlisle recommends the Pepperland Café, 279 Main St., 207-384-5535, which serves up a comforting combination of New England and southwestern cuisine with such specialties as crab cakes with succotash and Vidalia onion rings with hot mustard aioli. Located in the old Flynn’s Market, the three-year-old restaurant with a relaxed pub feel, has quickly become a local favorite for lunch or dinner, including the restaurant’s own homemade sauces, jams and jellies. Also open for Sunday brunch.
A local standby for generations, Fogarty’s Restaurant, 471 Main St., 207-384-8361, which began as a soft-serve ice cream shack, is now a full restaurant known for friendly service and hearty fair including fried clams, potato skins and homemade pies.
For a hot cup of coffee or specialty sandwich, Carlisle suggests driving across the bridge to Rollinsford, NH. It’s a bit of a cheat, seeing as it’s across the border, but since it’s less than a mile from the center of South Berwick, locals make the switch often to frequent the Black Bean Café, 20 Front St., 603-740-4555. Amid old brick mills, this eclectic sandwich shop, owned by chef and baker Phil Hughes, who got his start at Flynn’s, includes homemade pastries and muffins as well as espresso.
What to do:
Open on weekend afternoons through October, the Counting House Museum, run by The Old Berwick Historical Society, 207-384-0000, offers a fascinating glimpse of the town’s past with documents, artifacts and photographs in one of New England’s last remaining textile mill ballrooms. You’ll find it on the bank of the Salmon Falls River at the intersection of Maine Street (Route 4) and Liberty Street. Visit the society’s web site online at www.obhs.net, and you can also print guided walking tours for local town haunts including its historic cemeteries. The museum also runs a small gift shop with books and reproductions of local historic relics. For more local history, Carlisle recommends catching up on its schedule of guest lectures.
To enjoy the local outdoors, Vaughn Woods State Park, 28 Oldsfields Rd., 207-490-4079, provides easy walking trails and picnic areas through 250 acres of old growth pine and hemlock along the Salmon Falls River.
For more to explore, the Great Works Regional Land Trust, 610 Main St., Ogunquit, 207-646-3604, offers member-guided hikes including a trip up nearby Mount Agamenticus. The Bauneg Beg Mountain Conservation Area, managed by the trust in North Berwick, provides three moderate hikes including one that leads to a summit 866-feet higher than the famous mountain to the south. Full information can be found online at www.gwrlt.org.
For a glimpse at the local art scene, Carlisle suggests stopping in at Emporium Framing, 261 Main St., 207-384-5963, where the work of local artists is often on display
Places to wander:
To see Gordon Carlisle’s newest mural, follow Route 236 north to Berwick through the scenic countryside, then cross over the Salmon Falls River on Market Street to the city of Somersworth. The ten-minute drive will bring you to a thriving arts community in the renovated wool and shoe mills along the river. The mural is at 1 Constitutional Way. Full directions can be found on the artist’s web site, www.gordoncarlisle.com.
Posted on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 in Permalink
Reader Comments:
If you're looking for a great place to eat in South Berwick, also try Margaux on Main Street. It's a little white house about 20 feet from Fogarty's. The food is great and the owners are super nice.
PS. A sample menu can be found at www.margauxbistro.com