HALLOWELL — Hallowell’s historic powderhouse cannon was the inspiration for this year’s Old Hallowell Day poster, which celebrates the landscape and architecture of Maine’s smallest city.

The Old Hallowell Day Committee chose Juanita Longwell of West Gardiner as the artist of 2008’s Old Hallowell Day poster. The daylong event will be July 19.

An award-winning artist who has traveled across the country and world with her art, Longwell said she was “humbled and pleased” to be selected as this year’s artist to create the event poster.

“I took a day to explore Hallowell and absorb everything,” Longwell said. “I wanted to capture different points of interest people would see in everyday Hallowell.”

Longwell said she came across the historic cannon on High Street and knew it would serve as the perfect central focus for a poster.

“It was a beautiful view from up there,” she said. “The cannon looked like the guardian of the Kennebec (River).”

The process to complete the poster was a lengthy one for Longwell. She took photos of the cannon and other architecturally beautiful points of Maine in the winter, then painted them in the spring.

Roy Stottler, owner of Renaissance Gallery in Farmingdale and member of the Old Hallowell Day Committee with his wife, Kirsty Stottler, said the decision to select the winning poster design took just as long.

“We ask the artists to submit their images, then we discuss what we think would be the best image,” Stottler said. “The image used on the poster is also a fundraiser, so that is something we have to take into consideration with our selections.”

The themes in the posters vary every year, Stottler said, because the committee looks for different things annually. The only constant is the artists must submit their “personal interpretation of Hallowell.”

Jane Orbeton, who chairs the committee, said Longwell’s painting “captures scenes from around the city and serves as a reminder of the character of the community.”

Longwell’s love for art was something that started when she was young.

“(A love for art) is something, I think, that starts when you’re a child, when you’re tiny,” she said. “I have always enjoyed creating things. There has been no beginning to it, and hopefully, no end to it.”

Longwell has traveled the globe to Greece, Turkey and the Amazon jungle, as well as across the United States for the sake of art. “Inspiration is all around us wherever we look,” she said. “To capture someone’s expression or the view in front of me, I love it.”

For Longwell, who teaches art at Gardiner Area High School, art is more than a career, it’s therapy.

“When I’m creating something, be it painting or carving, it’s something I can just get lost in,” Longwell said.
“Everything else in the world just kind of slips away.”

The posters went on sale Wednesday, Stottler said. A limited edition of 300 were printed and can be purchased for $20 from the following locations: Renaissance Gallery, Hallowell City Hall, Paper Kicks, Bonyton’s Market and Hubbard Free Library.

Meghan V. Malloy — 623-3811 Ext. 431

mmalloy@centralmaine.com