NORWAY — The December Clothesline Project at Shepard’s Farm Preserve features artist Kristin Roy. Amidst strong winds and the season’s first accumulation of snow, Otisfield artist Kristin (KiKi) Roy hung the final Clothesline Project exhibit of 2019 at Shepard’s Farm Preserve in Norway. The exhibit, which will be up for the whole month, pays homage to the unique industrial history and mill workers of Maine’s western foothills.

Hanging from the line are five felted pieces which from a distance look like articles of everyday clothing. They are actually felted silhouettes of workers clothing that would have been seen drying on a Maine family’s clothesline: bib overalls, stockings, a girl’s smock, an apron, a pair of boy’s knickers. KiKi said of her process, “the silhouettes of workers clothes are made with wool fabric from the Robinson Woolen Mill of Oxford. On them I needle-felted and nuno-felted text and images inspired from old catalogs and advertisements. My focus was on the Penley Mill of West Paris
(clothespins) and the Snocraft (snowshoe) industry of Norway.”

The Clothesline Project at Western Foothills Land Trust’s Shepard’s Farm Preserve in Norway provides a new opportunity for temporary exhibits to be hung outdoors and on- site along the universally accessible Detert trail. The Preserve is located at 121 Crockett Ridge Road, Norway and is one of six preserves with trail systems managed by the Trust. This new installation adds to the Trust’s six large sculptures by Bernard Langlais which were installed in 2015 at the Preserve.

Funded by a grant from the Onion Foundation, The Clothesline Project reminds us of local industrial heritage: the wooden clothespin industries of western Maine, in particular the Penley Corporation of West Paris. The clothesline Project also encourages us to use solar energy whenever possible in our day to day lives, and to enjoy the inherent beauty of clotheslines in our urban and rural landscapes.

The Folk Arts and Crafts Center at Fiber & Vine oversaw the application and selection process for the Trust.  Four local artists were selected by a remote juror from a range of applicants to hang their works on the line, one artist per month, October- December. Georgina Grenier, Judy Schneider, Kristin Roy, and Don Best were selected.  Don Best’s sculpted bear cub will remain behind keeping Bernard Langlais’ cat and birds sculptures company. Anyone with an idea for a future exhibit on the clothesline should submit their idea to staff@wfltmaine.org. For more information about Western Foothills Land Trust’s program and how you can support their conservation efforts in western Maine visit: www.wfltmaine.org or call (207) 739-2124.

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