“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” ― Pablo Picasso

AUBURN — What do you do when you return from an overseas tour of museums, bursting with enthusiasm for the arts?

You might organize a club to share that enthusiasm.

In 1880, a local teacher named Hettie Bearce returned from abroad and gathered her friends for a lesson in the arts. The Auburn Art Club was born.

The aim of its founders was to become “better acquainted with works of modern and ancient art,” club President Kathryn Cutter said during a recent interview.

After 144 years, the club — said to be the first women’s club in the community — is still active. And according its history pamphlet, the club is the oldest “federated woman’s club” in the state.

The early focus was on classical works such as fine art, but members have broadened the definition of art over the years to include literature, music, biography, current events and world trends, according to its “History of the Auburn Art Club 1880-1955.”

What is art, anyway?

“When you try to define art, it’s like holding smoke in your hands,” club Secretary Sharon Beaudoin said. “Art is to be seen everywhere you look, if you look deep enough.”

The club is not a group of artists but “more a collection of women who appreciate and enjoy literary, visual and performing arts,” she said.

She and other members also see art in cuisine and fashion, quilting and woodworking, even gardening.

Beaudoin described it as “a product of the imagination and creative expression of one’s self that can be viewed as beautiful or elicits an emotional response from the observer.”

FROM RUG HOOKING TO RUSSIAN LITERATURE

Each club meeting nowadays includes a program, just as it did from the beginning. Guests are welcome to attend the programs, which are held at 2 p.m. the first Monday of the month except in January, February, July and August. There is no physical clubhouse; while members generally have been meeting at one Auburn location, they are currently looking for a new meeting place. For contact information and more details, see related story.

Recent presenters have included harpists and a rug-hooking demonstration, member Elizabeth Bell said.

Bell, a member of the club’s Program Committee, added that painters and chamber singers are scheduled for presentations. A program on the Underground Railroad and its Maine ties, such as safe homes, was offered April 1. About 60 people attended, Cutter said.

“The club is still committed to introducing the members to many aspects of art, including sewing, photography and even cooking, as well as the fine arts,” she said.

The club has 36 members with a capacity of 50, according to Cutter. New members are welcome. Dues are $20 a year. The money is used for administrative expenses, refreshments, and sometimes a gratuity for programs.

Initially, women were admitted by invitation only and they had to be residents of Auburn. The only requirement now is that you be a woman who lives in the Lewiston-Auburn area. Recent members include women from Turner, Minot and Lewiston.

Members in the early years met once a week on Monday evenings, and later twice a month (until recently). Annual dues were $2.50 in 1964 and $3 in 1974, according to “An Overview of the Auburn Art Club October 1955 — April 2009.”

The overview, stored in the Auburn Public Library archives, lists programs presented from October 1983 to April 1992, including:

“Faraway Places,” including Alaska, Israel, South Africa, a reindeer safari, Russian literature, Mexico and Iceland, among others.

“Maine,” including a novelist, poets, silversmiths, birds, the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Museum, jewelry, photography and architecture.

“Arts and Crafts,” including Christmas decorations, needlework, painted china, wood carvings, culinary and gardening.

Programs also were given on the subjects of “Memories” and “Musical.”

JAPAN AND A JAPANESE LUNCHEON

The focus has always been on educating members. “It’s almost like a college class,” Beaudoin said. “For example, if the topic is architecture, we would look at architecture and talk about the different types.”

Cutter has introduced programs on “Little-Known Women of Maine,” including Molly Ockett, the “Indian doctress,” and Chansonetta Stanley Emmons, the sister of the founders of the Stanley Steamer. Emmons was a pioneering photographer whose work recently was on display at the Portland Historical Society.

“I chose to research (these women) to focus attention on the contribution each brought to the state,” Cutter said.

She said she is now working on programs on first ladies of the United States, with a focus on the earliest wives of presidents.

“If I found a recipe, I would make it and bring it to share with the club,” she said. For example, she came across Martha Jefferson’s recipe for bread pudding, which had a little brandy in it.

The early club members did not work outside the home, Cutter said, but today’s members do, or are retired from jobs.

She said women in the club’s early days were identified only as “Mrs.” followed by their husband’s names. Some things have changed, but the love of art and culture is still what ties the members to the club and to each other.

“From the eighth to the 25th year, each year’s work was based on one country, city, or a particular class of art, making one intensive study possible,” Cutter said.

In 1905-06, Japan was the topic of study. The women read books on history, literature, education and customs, and shared what they had learned.

“Understanding of their subject was acquired in an original and happy way,” Georgina Lunt wrote in the history of the club.

At the end of that year, a Japanese luncheon was served at the home of the president, Mrs. W.B. Beckler. The menu was written in Japanese and members were asked to order three items to begin.

One woman learned that she had ordered tea, coffee and pickles, Lunt wrote. Another had sardines, figs and grapes. Beckler and her daughters served the food wearing kimonos and Japanese ornaments in their hair.

“The daughters, dressed in appropriate costumes, served also at the club’s Dutch luncheon, the wooden shoes causing them considerable difficulty,” according to the history.

A HISTORY OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT TOO

Throughout the years, members contributed from their own study and experience.

The longest-standing member in the years between 1880 and 1955 was Mrs. Edwin J. Marston, who shared papers including one on “Early Motion Pictures.”

Sometimes Marston presented book reviews, according to the history, and once shared a farce she had authored, a “lively adaptation from the ‘Story of the Thankful Spicers,’ the parts being taken by members as it was performed under her skilled direction.”

Civic engagement also has been important to the club members, none more important than its assistance given to the Auburn Public Library, Lunt wrote in her history of the club.

When the library was incorporated in 1890, its officers asked the Art Club for help. The club donated $500. Individual members canvassed the city for subscriptions.

Club records state, “It can be a source of pride to the club in the future that it was identified with this enterprise and contributed largely to its success … ”

The club in the 1900s made contributions to many other efforts, including helping to establish kindergartens in city schools. It also contributed to Central Maine General Hospital, Hebron Sanatorium, Maine Institute for the Blind, the American Red Cross, Opportunity Farm and the YWCA, among other organizations.

The club now holds an auction of items donated by members each year to raise money for scholarships for Edward Little High School seniors. The auction is held in November.

“We do not ask for an essay or application,” Cutter said. “We ask the Guidance Department to choose someone worthy.”

The club so far has awarded a half-dozen or so $1,000 scholarships to students intending to study the arts, she said.

The club also donates a book to the Auburn Public Library in memory of deceased members, Cutter said. “We try to find something that person was interested in, be it gardening, decorating, music or art.”

The club was “somewhat of an innovation at the time of its organization,” Lunt wrote in the history of the club 1880-1955.

“Its aim still is aesthetic, but it continues ‘in further search and progress,’” she wrote.

In that vein, member Donna Morin said she would like to see the club get involved in more community service projects, perhaps at a soup kitchen or a blood pressure clinic.

She said joining the club was “a nice opportunity to reconnect. I know about half of the members. All of us have had careers and raised children.”

Now it’s their time.

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