Puppet-maker, Damariscotta Pumpkinfest and Regetta pumpkin decorator, and nature enthusiast Melissa Glendinning sits in her studio overlooking The Gut in South Bristol with her dog, Pedro, on Sunday, Feb. 11. Glendinning is always on the lookout for her next art project and loves the process of creating work and teaching art as a means of connection. (Johnathan Riley photo)
The process of making art is almost as important as the product. For local artist, pumpkin decorator, and puppet-maker Melissa Glendenning, of South Bristol, the art of storytelling and creating is a way to connect children and adults with the magic that lives all around us.
Glendinning, whom originally hails from Atlantic Highlands, N.J., has been making art for as long as she can remember.
“I always just loved to color and draw and I went to art school because I loved it, I loved creating,” she said.
When Glendinning moved out of her parents’ home at the age of 18, she attended the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. “The school ended up not being a great fit,” Glendinning said, and she moved to Rhode Island and took a brief hiatus from pursuing a degree. At the age of 25, she returned to New Jersey and immersed herself in art courses at a local community college.
“I took every art class available,” she said.
Glendinning and her family moved to Chamberlain in 1993 from New Jersey because her husband had family in the area and they couple wanted to be around more nature.
She loves many different forms of art, but in 2002 she started making puppets because it was a way she was able to create something out of the things she likes most: fiber, nature, story, and connecting with others.
“I found that I liked working with kids making puppets and adults because it’s something where you can still play, and play is so important,” Glendinning said. “And I refuse to grow up.”
Glendinning makes her puppets from basswood, wool, clay, and other materials she finds in nature.
When she’s not making them herself, she’s holding workshops to teach others how to make puppets.
Glendinning also performs puppet shows at local libraries, special events, and at The Common Ground Fair in Unity with her puppet troupe called Faery Tail Puppet. She also belongs to Songdog Puppeteers, a marionette puppet troupe focusing on original stories about coyotes in Maine.
Glendinning’s artwork takes a seasonal seat every fall during the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta, the county’s largest festival. She, along with dozens of other local artists, decorates the oversized pumpkins that growers work all year on and turn them into fantasies, ghouls, pop-culture references, and advertisements.
Glendinning has made a pumpkin every year for the last 12 years, turning the giant gourds into everything from enormous snails and dragons to scenes from the “Harry Potter” series.
Her work is also suspended in the atrium of the Skidompha Public Library in Damariscotta. Glendinning and another artist, Erica Qualey, built Migaloo, a 20-foot-long white whale named after the only documented albino whale in the 20th century. Made from PVC, wood, and fabric, Migaloo was installed at the library in September 2022.
For Glendinning, making art and learning new skills like puppet-making, basket weaving, and carving with basswood aren’t just hobbies, they’re creative skills that feed the opportunities of art. Each new skill, itself, is a tributary, heading towards magic.
“Even on my worse days, I can just step outside and pick up a stone and it’ll make things better,” she said.
Glendinning said she draws a lot of inspiration from nature and that she loves making trolls, gnomes, and adores any story with a witch.
She’s working on a rendition of the classic “Hansel and Gretel,” a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm-except the protagonists are mice, and the witch is a cat.
She said started making puppets as a way to connect her love of story, the myriad of art talents she has, and with the kids.
Stored in the nooks and along the shelves of her studio are the materials she collects on her walks through the woods and along the shoreline and eventually incorporates into her art.
Glendinning said she’s always keeping an eye out for materials to help her bring her visions to life.
“I always have projects going, and I may not use something for years and then suddenly I know I have the perfect piece for that project,” she said.
Glendinning also loves thrifting items and keeping a lookout for items friends and family may need.
“I love finding things, and if someone needs something, I’ll find it,” Glendinning said.
When she’s not collecting pieces along the trails for another art project or friend, she’s painting signs around South Bristol for businesses like Osier’s Wharf, Harborside Cafe and Market, and the fire department.
“I like doing signs, it’s meditative,” Glendinning said.
Glendinning and her husband, Jay, have lived in South Bristol for the last 23 years where they raised their three kids – Fin, Rohan, and Nuala – who attended South Bristol School and Lincoln Academy.
She said SBS is near the family’s home and the kids used to walk through the woods to go to school and grew up riding their bikes around South Bristol, much like Glendinning’s own childhood in Atlantic Highlands, N.J.
The neighbors and folks who live in South Bristol are all characters, according to Glendinning.
“We have a special community down here in South Bristol,” Glendinning said.
When she’s not at work on a new project, Glendinning and her husband love taking their aluminum boat out and exploring the islands around South Bristol together.
“We love it here in Maine,” Glendinning said. “It’s perfect.”
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