Oceanfront property in York to become a retreat for artists and writers
Courtesy / Surf Point Foundation
Work is underway to transform an oceanfront property in York called Surf Point into a residency program for visual artists and writers. The Colonial revival house is called Wild Knoll; poet May Sarton lived there from 1974 to 1995. It then became the dual residence of arts patron Mary-Leigh Call Smart, who died last year, and artist Beverly Hallam, who died in 2013.
Work is underway to transform an oceanfront property in York called Surf Point into a residency program for visual artists and writers.
Seacoastonline.com reported that Yael Reinharz, executive director of the Surf Point Foundation, and the foundation’s board are establishing parameters for how the program will work on the property, which includes a duplex and house.
“We are defining how we want to set up the application process, the nominating process, the jury, the seasons people are there,” Reinharz told the newspaper.
According to the foundation’s website, Surf Point is the former dual residence of arts patron Mary-Leigh Call Smart, who died last year, and artist Beverly Hallam. It is set on 46 acres of land on the York coast.
The duplex is known as Surf Point, the Colonial revival house is called Wild Knoll; poet May Sarton lived there from 1974 to 1995. Smart (1917-2017) was a supporter of the arts, devoted to strengthening the Maine arts community. Her affiliations included the Barn Gallery, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Farnsworth Museum, Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Portland Museum of Art, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, University of New England, University of New Hampshire, Wellesley College and others.
Hallam (1923-2013) had a teaching career at the Massachusetts College of Art, then moved to Maine to work as an artist. Her archives are housed in the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art.
The two envisioned that the site, on which they lived for nearly 50 years, would become a residency for visual artists and writers to focus on the creation or completion of significant projects, and to share their work with the public in Maine.
Last January, Artforum reported that Reinharz was stepping down as executive director of Artis in order to take the position of founding director at the Surf Point Foundation in order to launch the new residency program. Reinharz had been at Artis, a nonprofit organization devoted to supporting contemporary Israeli artists who address social and political issues in their work, for nearly 11 years.
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