Art teacher Sally Wattles retired to Whitefield with a few goals in mind: recover her own creative talent, help people learn to appreciate their artistic talents, and support a community of artists.
After more than 25 years as an educator in Boston, Mass. public schools, Wattles was ready to move out of the city. Now, she thinks she should have always lived in the country. Wattles said while it is a huge change, she loves every minute.
“I love living in a beautiful place. I love being around people who are community oriented and friendly,” she said. “I’m a sensitive person, so I really had to have a big armor on to live in the city and function that way. I’m sort of disarming myself now and it feels really good.”
Wattles grew up outside Boston in Canton, Mass. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design, majoring in illustration. She then returned to Boston and began teaching art in public schools.
Wattles has long been familiar with the way life should be. Her husband, Rob Dwyer, grew up in Damariscotta and his family has a camp in Bristol. Wattles said she spent every summer in the tiny cabin, as it was the only time she had for her own painting.
Back in Boston, both Wattles and her daughter struggled with city life. When Wattles was teaching art and raising her daughter, she did not have time to create her own work.
“I would participate in the arts as much as I could, but I was so busy,” she said, “It was just hard.”
Wattles did not feel supported as an art teacher; she said public schools focus on test scores at the expense of art education.
“Art is not being valued, and then COVID hit and things got worse,” she said, “Concern for the arts got less and less.”
However, it was during the pandemic that Wattles began to rediscover her passion and learn a new way to share her joy.
While restrictions were in place during the pandemic, Wattles taught art classes online. She said one of the good things that came out of the pandemic is the ability to more easily connect with so many people all over the world.
Then, her daughter’s school closed and the transition to a new school did not go well.
The family purchased their Whitefield home in 2022 in part so their daughter could move to a school that was a better fit. Her daughter attended Whitefield Elementary School for a year before enrolling in the Montessori school in Chelsea.
Wattles commuted to her Boston job on the train from Brunswick.
“It was crazy,” she said.
In July 2023, Wattles attended a week long painting workshop at Coastal Maine Art Workshops in Rockland. Wattles said she was especially impressed with the caliber of the teachers and the lifelong relationships engendered among students.
For decades, Coastal Maine Art Workshops offered en plein air watercolor and oil painting workshops in waterside areas around Rockland and Belfast. The classes were led by artists from all over the world and geared toward tourists traveling to Maine.
In 2022, the owner listed the business for sale. Wattles purchased it in September 2023.
In 2024, Wattles mostly ran the business online and maintained its existing class schedule, but there was one exception. Instead of going to areas just around Rockland, Wattles scheduled a day trip to Pemaquid Point, a place she was familiar with from all those Bristol summers.
This summer, Coastal Maine Art Workshops will host four workshops at Hotel Pemaquid.
“You can walk to so many beautiful spots there,” she said. “In Rockland, we have to travel.”
The workshop teachers plan their own classes while Wattles acts as a “camp counselor” supporting the teachers and attendees. She brings in lunch daily so everyone can focus on their art.
“It’s really fun, it’s like adult camp. People make new friends, the teachers are amazing, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Wattles.
Wattles will teach the first workshop from Sunday, June 15 to Thursday, June 19.
The first workshop, “Creative Recovery,” is a refresher course on the basics of painting, giving attendees a stronger foundation for more advanced work in subsequent workshops.
“I love working with people in their creativity,” she said. “That feels like my thing, why I’m here.”
Seeing the excitement of adults and their little inner child shining through gives her a lot of joy, she said.
All workshop attendees have some experience, Wattles said, and the teachers meet people at their skill levels. A lot of people who attend the workshops are like Wattles, she said, having retired without the opportunity for creativity during their careers.
“People who gave so much of themselves – mothers, (caregivers) – have done so much in their lives, but haven’t had time for themselves,” Wattles said. “Finally, they get older and have time for themselves. I want to support people feeling validated in their art making.”
Wattles said some people come for vacation, some come because they are professional painters, and some just come for the community. Wattles said she is trying to build a stronger, year-round artist community so those connections are not lost after the workshops.
“Most people don’t have a lot of time to do their own art,” she said. “They have a whole life. They don’t always make it a priority, so they have this chance to do one week. That’s what I would do, and then put it away for months. I’m trying to help people understand that it’s for their mental health, they should keep it going.”
Wattles said she feels art is not supported, so she wants to “bolster” the arts and get people to appreciate them more. To that end, Wattles has several other ideas for expanding Coastal Maine Art Workshops; she wants to offer kid classes, a painting club, and pop-up workshops at local studios.
Wattles said she is trying to create more of a “local vibe” at Coastal Maine Art Workshops. She has begun to recruit local artists to lead workshops; this summer, Damariscotta’s Lyn Asselta will lead one of the Pemaquid workshops. Wattles said she wants the workshops to be for everybody, especially local residents.
One of Wattles’ efforts is to create an online community of artists. On March 19, Wattles emailed her newsletter subscribers and invited them to a pop-up “Paint with Me” session on Zoom. About 10 people showed up, some local, but others in Illinois and Florida.
“We just worked on whatever we wanted to work on, then we shared our work,” Wattles said. “I felt really good about it. To be able to create community with people all over the place is so cool. I want to support people in creating some joy and positive stuff in their life.”
Wattles said she believes unused creativity is not good for one’s mental health. Creativity needs to be something people do, and she said she wants to encourage and support people to keep their creativity alive.
“Stay creative, it’s important,” said Wattles.
For more information, go to cmaworkshops.org or find Coastal Maine Art Workshops on Facebook and Instagram.
