By Dominik Lobkowicz
Anne Heywood stands with some of her artwork at her new gallery’s opening May 23. (D. Lobkowicz photo) |
Pastel artist Anne Heywood opened her new Heywood Gallery at 921 Main St. in Waldoboro over the weekend, and she and her husband, Bob, have launched a history project to collect
stories about the building the gallery is located in.
Heywood, a professional artist since 1990, prefers to paint still-lifes and landscapes using both soft pastels and occasionally oil pastels. Pastels, essentially
sticks of pigment, offer “immediate gratification” when used to create a painting, instead of having to mix colors on a palette like other paints, she said.
Heywood bought some paper and her first set of pastels at age 21 using some money she received as a gift. Her efforts did not go as well as she would have liked, and
the pastel set got put away for years.
Later in life and while working full-time, Heywood pursued a college degree with a major in biology and a minor in art.
Heywood said she painted for fun, and when some of the courses she needed to complete her biology degree were not offered at night, she flipped her studies and
majored in art instead.
One day, Heywood took out the box of pastels and paper she had put away years before and found they worked much better the second time around, she said.
“Colline II,” pastel, Anne Heywood. |
Now, after 25 years as a professional artist, Heywood has won multiple awards for her work; has a published book, “Pastels Made Easy;” and even has a set of pastels bearing her
name produced by Great American Art Works.
On May 23, Heywood held her first of several 2015 openings in her new gallery, which is located in the building known as the Governors’ Mansion or the Payne House.
The opening kicked off the gallery’s first season, though Heywood did hold an opening in the new gallery’s location last fall in tandem with Tidemark Gallery and the
Philippe Guillerm Gallery.
At least 100 people came to see her work at the fall opening, she said.
“I was very encouraged to have so many people come in,” she said.
Heywood used to have her gallery at a property she and Bob own on North Nobleboro Road, but is now only holding workshops at that location.
The Heywoods split their time between Waldoboro and Massachusetts, and aim to retire in the Payne House, Heywood said.
Since the couple bought the home five years ago, they began to learn more about several notable prior residents of the home through hearing stories from locals and
research and are now pursuing a project to preserve some of that history.
Heywood Gallery, located at 921 Main St. in Waldoboro. (D. Lobkowicz photo) |
According to Heywood, the home was built in the 1830s by William Sproul for his daughter, Elzira.
Elzira’s daughter, Harriet Newell Haskell, went on to become a famous educator, Heywood said.
Haskell served as a principal in Maine and in Boston, later became the first female principal at Castleton Seminary in Vermont, and made a name for herself as the
principal of Monticello Seminary in Vermont, Heywood said.
When Monticello Seminary’s building burned to the ground one year, Haskell donated $1,000 and headed the plans to put up a temporary structure. Classes resumed in
just eight weeks, Heywood said.
The Governors’ Mansion was also home to two Maine governors: Gov. Sebastian Marble, who retired in Waldoboro, and Gov. Frederick Payne, who also represented Maine in
the United States Senate.
The Heywoods have seen pictures of Payne and President Dwight Eisenhower in front of the home.
The stories go beyond the famous, though. Heywood has learned from locals that Frederick Payne’s wife, Ella, operated a beauty salon out of the home after Frederick
died.
“Hearing those kind of stories and things really got me going,” Heywood said. Now, she and Bob aim to collect and preserve more of those stories.
“I know they’re out there,” she said.
The Heywoods are looking for people who are willing to share true, first-hand stories about the Governors’ Mansion, which will be recorded and hopefully transcribed
in the future.
Open hours at the gallery for 2015 will be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 20 for Waldoboro Day, and from 4 to 7 p.m. on July 11, Aug. 8, Sept. 12, and Oct. 10 for
ArtWalk Waldoboro.
For more information on the gallery or the history project, call 832-6684 or email anne@anneheywood.com. Heywood’s website
