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V O L . X X I I I N O. X V I I J U LY 2 4 , 2 0 1 7 14 T he Dreadnought speeds through the waters off Port Clyde, cutting a path to Allen Island, where its owner, painter Jamie Wyeth, wants to be sure he reaches the dock to greet the visitors on the boats left in his wake. Perhaps aptly, the fi rst visible sign we see of the mist-shrouded island is the Weymouth Cross, erected in 1907 to commemorate the fi rst Anglican Church service held in the New World 300 years before. e two other boats reach the dock carrying a group of journalists and professors and students from Colby College, which along with Wyeth fam- ily foundation Up East, invited us to the private island on July 13, the day after the centennial cel- ebration of Andrew Wyeth, Jamie's father. Our mis- sion is to explore the learning and conservation that takes place on the island and see some of the Wyeth paintings less frequently shown to the public. After the 20-minute boat ride, Jamie greets us with a warm smile, salt and pepper hair swept back as he leans into the wind and looks intently at us and alternately at the horizon. He's garbed in black knick- ers, leggings showing from atop his rubber boots, a white artist's shirt and a beige raincoat to ward off the gusts and rain. His wife Phyllis, on her red scooter with family dog Iggy tucked under her skirt, sits next to him, egging him on to talk about the dream of his mother Betsy Wyeth to turn the 450-acre island into a living learning lab and working waterfront. He gestures enthusiastically, blue paint on his right hand cuticles, and talks of his boyhood love of the islands in Muscongus Bay, and how the Wyeths came to own Allen Island and neighboring Benner Island, where Betsy lives in the summer. "I grew up in Cushing, and saw Monhegan from there," Jamie says. "After my fi rst shows in New York, I moved to Monhegan." Later he and Phyllis bought Allen Island in 1979, and mother Betsy bought Benner. Art and science meet on Allen Island Up East Inc., a Wyeth family foundation estab- lished in the 1990s by Betsy, supports environmental and ecological research, preservation and education in mid-coast Maine. On this day, surrounded by Colby students and faculty, Jamie says his mother is proud to see her plan come to fruition. When Colby and Up East announced their 10-year collaboration last October to allow students and researchers to study on the island, Jamie said, "Since the time my mother, Betsy James Wyeth, formed Up East, it has been her goal to create opportunities for fi shermen to interact with marine scientists, for archeologists to interact with histori- ans, and to support the community and residents of the mid-coastal region of Maine. e relationship with Colby promises to do all that and more." THERE IS THERE IS A DIFFERENCE A DIFFERENCE THERE IS THERE IS Because Construction Management Design/Build General Contracting Engineering Construction Management Design/Build General Contracting Engineering Sheridan Sheridan Construction Construction www.sheridancorp.com www.sheridancorp.com Fairfield Fairfield Portland 207-453-9311 207-453-9311 207-774-6138 Black Dinah Chocolatiers, Westbrook ME P H O T O / DAV I D C L O U G H P H O T O / DAV I D C L O U G H Painter Jamie Wyeth of Up East Inc. foundation says his mother, Betsy Wyeth, is proud of how Allen Island has turned into a living learning lab and working waterfront. An inspiration for the Wyeths and now students Allen Island becomes a living lab B y L o r i V a l i g r a Jamie Wyeth (in raincoat at lower right) walks on the main thoroughfare of Allen Island, which reporters and Colby staff and students recently had a rare opportunity to explore.

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