Robert Shetterly is a self-taught artist whose work is in collections around the world. A former editorial page illustrator for The Maine Times and well-known for his series of 70 painted etchings based on William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell,” and over the past 20 years he has produced a series of more than 260 historical and contemporary portraits of Americans Who Tell the Truth. View the portrait gallery here.

The entire collection will be on exhibit at the Bates Mill Atrium from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15. This is only the second time the entire collection of these portraits of American figures – including teachers, activists, attorneys, veterans, poets, environmentalists and others who have faced enormous challenges in seeking and confronting truth – will be seen in one place.

Each of Robert’s portraits contains a quote from the subject of the painting, capturing the essence of that person’s truth-telling, including the necessity of dissent in a democracy, the obligations of citizenship, and “how democracy cannot function if politicians don’t tell the truth, if the media don’t report it, and if the people don’t demand it.”

In 2014, the U.S. Postal Service used Robert’s portrait of Shirley Chisholm, the first African American in Congress, on a Black Heritage Series postage stamp. His Americans Who Tell the Truth was named the 2024 Maine Art Education Association’s Art Advocate of the Year. Learn more about these incredible truth-tellers and their role in American history: Barbara Johns, Claudette Colvin, Samantha Smith and Woody Guthrie.

AWTT honored Samantha Smith with the Samantha Smith Challenge (SSC) – a compelling project-based educational program for middle and high school students designed as a dynamic service-learning project that builds a bridge between the classroom and the world. Middle-school and high-school students share their AWTT Samantha Smith Challenge projects in this video.

Robert lives with his partner Gail Page, a painter and children’s book writer and illustrator, in Brooksville, Maine.

Parking map for the Bates Mill Atrium: