Jennifer Steen Booher
Late Summer, Long Pond
Jennifer Steen Booher lives on Mount Desert Island. She is fascinated by the life of the shoreline, and curious about everything she see, from the bedrock to the birds – from ‘what made the hole in this shell’ to ‘what are the old wooden posts just offshore?’ That curiosity evolved into her current project, the Coast Walk, which is a methodical, long-term exploration of Mount Desert Island’s shoreline. She is circumambulating the island, walking below the high tide line as much as possible, researching the natural and cultural history and interviewing biologists, boat captains, kayak guides, historians and other stakeholders as she goes. “Tidepool Research,” for example, shows Chris Petersen of the College of the Atlantic leading students in an inventory of seaweed species at Otter Cliffs in Acadia National Park. Booher publishes the interviews and photographs in a photo-essay blog, in which she also tries to communicate the physical challenges of scrambling along the shore, climbing over cliffs and sliding around on seaweed-covered boulders. “Moonrise” was taken on a bitterly cold February afternoon as the ebbing tide froze into thin layers along the shore. Most of the Coast Walk photos either attempt to document the flora and fauna she encounter or to communicate as directly as possible the experience of being in a particular place.
Born
USA, 1967
Education
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, 1989
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 1997
Resides
Bar Harbor, ME
Awards
2019 - Artist-in-Residence, Mount Desert Island Historical Society, Mount Desert, ME
2017 - Frenchman Bay Partners Environmental Stewardship Award, Bar Harbor, ME
2017 - Kindling Fund Grant, Portland, ME
2016 - Resident Artist, Acadia National Park, ME
2015 - Artist-in-Residence, Acadia National Park, ME
Publications & Articles
2019 - “Stained Glass Of Mount Desert Island,” Chebacco, Vol. XX
2018 - “An Artist in the Archives,” Chebacco Vol. XIX
2017 - “Healthcare Series,” Mount Desert Island Hospital Historic Journal
2016 - “The Coast Walk,” Chebacco, Vol. XVIII
Solo Exhibitions
2019 - “Stained Glass of Mount Desert Island,” MDI Historical Society, Somesville, ME
2016 - Island Artisans, Northeast Harbor, ME
2015 - “Selections from the Beachcombing Series,” Art Waves, Bar Harbor, ME
2015 - Maine Beaches Conference, Portland. ME
2013 - Jesup Library, Bar Harbor, ME
Group Exhibitions
2018 - “Beholding the Past,” Mount Desert Island Historical Society, Somesville, ME
2016 - “Designing Acadia,” Maine Historical Society, Portland, ME
2016 - “Art Meets Science,” Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME
2015 - “Archipelago,” Kinspoke, Portland, ME
2014 - Vanderbilt Carriage House Designer Showcase, Bar Harbor, ME
