For these Maine artists, creativity has no retirement age
Maine’s Living Masterpieces: Artists Turn 90 and Still Keep Painting
Maine’s art scene remains a vibrant tapestry of generations, and a handful of local and international painters are proving that age is merely a number. Alex Katz and Lois Dodd are one year shy of a century, William Irvine is 95, Richard Estes 94, while Argentine‑born Josefina Auslender and Portland‑based Alison “Wooly” Hildreth are both 92. All of them are continuing to paint, exhibit, and influence a new crop of artists.
A Century‑Old Legacy in the Making
Alex Katz – whose “Dancing with Reality” retrospective recently wrapped up at Germany’s Kunsthalle Tübingen – is also on display at Colby College in Waterville. The “Out of Sight: A Drawing Survey” show runs through October 11 and showcases the painter’s lifelong devotion to gesture and color. Katz, born in 1927, has made his mark on modern American art and remains a fixture in galleries across the country.
Lois Dodd – born in 1927 as well – closed a major show, “Framing the Ephemeral,” at the Kunsthalle in The Hague in April. She continues to exhibit in Maine’s Rockland gallery Caldbeck and in New York’s Alexandre Gallery, keeping her reputation for precise, narrative work alive.
William Irvine – 95 and a lifelong resident of Maine – displayed “William Irvine: Heading Home” at the Courthouse Gallery in Ellsworth, a show that concluded in early August. Irvine’s work, which blends landscape with an abstract sense of place, has earned him a reputation as one of the state’s most respected painters.
Richard Estes – 94 and a pioneer of photorealism – held exhibitions at his New York gallery, Schoelkopf, and at Dowling Walsh in Rockland in the last month. Estes’s meticulous still lifes and urban scenes continue to draw critical acclaim.
Josefina Auslender – 92, a native of Argentina who settled in Cape Elizabeth in the late 1980s, recently showed new work at Sarah Bouchard Gallery in Woolwich. A career retrospective, “Josefina Auslender: Drawing Myself Free,” closed in May at Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Auslender’s graphite and colored‑pencil pieces—particularly her “La Ciudad” and “Los Cuerpos” series—have earned international recognition.
Alison “Wooly” Hildreth – also 92, has finished a multi‑venue retrospective that concluded at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland. She had a solo show at Moss Galleries in Falmouth and has recently joined the roster at Cove Street Arts in Portland. Hildreth’s work spans painting, drawing, collage, and puppetry, with recent themes ranging from the swarm behavior of bats to the vastness of space.
Adapting to Physical Change
In interviews, the older artists revealed how aging has altered their creative practices. Auslender, who began experimenting with ink in her eighties, explained that her hand’s decreasing strength made graphite and colored pencils “difficult.” She said, “The image always changes, but always what shows up feels young and fresh.” Her switch to ink, she noted, allowed for more spontaneity and less restraint, giving her “intense freedom to play.”
Irvine, who began painting at 14, confessed that shoulder pain prompted a switch from paper‑towel application to larger brushes. “I like the sweeping strokes added to the expression,” he said, and sometimes reverts to his original method when his shoulder feels good.
Hildreth’s longevity is less a matter of technique and more a philosophical stance. “I’m always influenced by what I’m reading,” she said. Her recent work has turned to cosmology after an overload of books on space, and she has also responded to global events, such as the Gaza conflict, with collaged drawings.
The Spirit That Keeps Them Going
All six artists stressed that a persistent desire to create, not fame or fortune, drives them. Irvine reflected on a lifetime of painting that “has lasted all my life, from my childhood in Scotland, through sixty years in Maine,” and emphasized that “time has been on my side as an artist.” Auslender, on reaching 90, described the milestone as “a kind of turbulence inside me” but remained unfazed. Hildreth said, “If the work is good, it will stick around for a while. If it’s not, it won’t,” underscoring her focus on quality over legacy.
Their continued output also serves as inspiration for younger Maine artists. Hildreth advises that “you must have the work first, before you think about a gallery,” and Irvine encourages newcomers to study great art to understand the medium as a vehicle for the soul.
A Continuing Story
As the state’s art community celebrates these veteran artists, their recent exhibitions and personal adaptations to the challenges of aging remind us that creativity is a living, breathing practice. Whether through the bold gestures of Katz, the lyrical abstraction of Irvine, the photorealistic precision of Estes, or the dynamic, ever‑evolving works of Auslender and Hildreth, Maine’s elder painters prove that art does not age—it only deepens.
