BRYANT POND – They are hard to miss: A giant metal woodpecker on a maple tree, huge geometric shapes that seem to defy the principles of physics.

The sculptures were moved from Route 1 in Edgecomb when master metal artist Gil Whitman and his wife, Liz, decided it was time to downsize their business and move to the town that his ancestors helped settle. The couple had owned land in Bryant Pond for many years.

Inside their home, a room houses dozens of bronze Maine wildflowers complete with botanical detail. A bronze eagle gazes around the room, created for the 200th anniversary of the eagle being named the national bird. Another spot shows a bronze statue of a young girl commissioned as a memorial for a daughter lost at sea.

There are also weathervanes, and Whitman is preparing to write a book that will chronicle the history of weathervanes. One weathervane under construction will depict the ship Wiscasset.

There is also memorabilia from his terms as Maine state representative from 1959 through 1962.

In the home, there are displays of the vast family heritage of artists: Oil paintings that decorate each wall created by late ancestors and current siblings.

Whitman said he didn’t start out to be an artist, he was always putting things together as a child but lacked the artistic drive of his parents and siblings.

He majored in ornamental and flora horticulture in college and attended Essex Agricultural and Technical Institute. After college he worked as a carpenter.

When he turned 40, he said he decided that was not what he wanted out of life. He said he he knew he had something to offer to the artistic world. Eventually he and his wife opened the arts business in Edgecomb and spent 40 years there.

The Whitmans show the art works by appointment. They may be reached at 665-2017.

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