An illustration by Tim Sample (Courtesy photo)
Renowned Maine humorist and storyteller Tim Sample will share some of his not-so-hidden other artistic talents this summer. An exhibit of his illustrations and art work opens on Friday, May 16 in the gallery at the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor. Guests will have the opportunity to see a broad spectrum of his work and speak with him in the upstairs gallery. Doors for the free reception open at 4 p.m.
Sample’s art will be on display throughout June at the gallery. Some pieces are available for sale.
Following his graduation from Boothbay Region High School in 1969, Sample studied art at what is now The Maine College of Art in Portland. Over the course of the next decade from 1970-1980 his prolific output as a professional artist and illustrator included, “The Mainers” a bestselling annual Maine humor calendar, several books of down east humor including regional bestsellers “How to Talk Yankee” written by Tim’s former BRHS English teacher Gerald Lewis, and “Stories Told in the Kitchen” by Maine storyteller Kendall Morse.
During this decade Sample also created several popular T-shirt designs, corporate logos, advertising art, and an original greeting card line, “Veg-O-Grams,” which sold nationwide.
With the release of his first album of Maine humor in 1980, Sample’s increasing success as a performing artist inevitably tended to overshadow his art projects, but he never stopped drawing. In the early 1980s he spent almost four months designing and executing a large, 12-foot-by-28-foot oil painting on the dome of the Pittsfield Public Library, in Pittsfield. The mural, entitled “Reading, the Gateway to Imagination,” continues to attract visitors to Pittsfield.
The artwork and illustrations in this show are primarily from the 1970s but also include work from the 1980s and beyond, including cover art and illustrations from Sample’s regional bestseller “Saturday Night at Moody’s Diner,” published in 1985.
The opera house gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and open for ticket holders during all May and June performances.
After 50-year career on the road, sharing his famous Maine stories, Sample is currently planning his final live performance at the opera house on Thursday, June 26.
