Throughout the month of July 2013, the Northeast Harbor Library will exhibit drawings by Stanley Ira Hallet from his book Sketches of Mount Desert Island.
The pencil and pen sketches in this book document his time sitting on a rock deconstructing the landscape in front of him. Part meditation, part observation, the drawings record that special zone where water and land meet as well as the structures that were built nearby. Regardless of the outcome, Hallet believes the effort of putting pencil to paper is always a rewarding experience.
Of the drawing process, he says, “The process of drawing is not terribly difficult, but it does take time. Time to examine the setting, closely inspecting all the marks left by wind, rain, freeze and thaw that eventually transform an outcropping of rock and earth into an entirely alive sense of place. From a single vantage point, an unlimited set of drawings can be found by just turning my head. And when looking either into the distance — or just below my feet — the entire scale of the setting changes, a new set of rules is presented and another world can be commented upon.”
Stanley Hallet is the former Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, DC. And is a Professor Emeritus of Architecture at CUA. He teaches undergraduate and graduate studios and seminars exploring the historic and contemporary relationships between culture, urban design, landscape and architecture. Given his early experiences in Tunisia as a Peace Corps Volunteer (1964-66) and in Afghanistan as a Fulbright-Hayes Lecturer at the University of Kabul (1972), his studio work and lectures often explore issues of landscape, urban fabric and sacred space. Since 1980 he often sought refuge to draw along the coast of Mt. Desert Island in Maine.
There will be an opening reception at the library on Tuesday, July 2 at 5pm. Copies of the book and prints will be available for purchase during the show.
