University of New England

Art Gallery presents 'A Season under the Sun: Photographs from Maxwell's Farm' Oct. 4 through Nov. 25

PORTLAND - The Art Gallery at the University of New England presents "A Season under the Sun: Photographs from Maxwell's Farm" on display Oct. 4 - Nov. 25, 2007 on the Westbrook College Campus in Portland.

This exhibit of traditional process, black and white photographs by Susan Porter depicts the 2005 growing season of the Cape Elizabeth family vegetable farm and market, which has been farmed by the Maxwells for nearly six generations. 

During many visits to the farm market, Porter, a  Peaks Island photographer, fell in love with the surrounding, gently rolling fields, watching them change with the seasons, and approached the family with a request to photograph the farm.  The result is a documentary project that amassed over 2,500 negatives and spanned nearly 10 months – from the fields resting under late winter snows, through greenhouse seedlings, planting, harvesting and putting the fields to sleep again for the next winter.

In that oasis in the midst of suburban Cape Elizabeth and South Portland, she recorded a story of extraordinary people who live by, and care about, the rhythms of the earth in ways that many of us can’t imagine. 

Continuity
It is a story of continuity and responsibility – not only by the Maxwell and Bamford families, but also the Puerto Rican staff that returns season after season, generation after generation, to tend the fields and nurture the crops.  Theirs is a labor of love that endures drenching rains, long hours, heat and chill; mixed with joy and beauty. Their attachment to the earth and Maxwell’s Farm is palpable.

Porter states, “In the day to day workings of a family vegetable farm, work and family blend seamlessly, while time moves in a dimension dictated by the whims of nature and the vicissitudes of the earth.  Because of this, I wanted this project to take on a kind of vintage timelessness; where there continues to be something that remains real, pure and sane in a world that seems spinning out of control.  Maxwell’s Farm became a place, for me, to again plant one’s feet firmly on the earth and feel what life and living is meant to be.”

After several years of unfavorable weather, the Maxwell family made the difficult decision to close the market in 2007.  The farm continues to be productive – selling wholesale and retaining their “Pick Your Own Strawberries” season. 

Susan Porter
Susan Porter is a photographer and writer living on Peaks Island, Maine.  She holds a master of arts in interdisciplinary studies from the University at Buffalo, SUNY, and an undergraduate degree from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., her home town.  Her silver gelatin photographs have been exhibited in Baton Rouge, La..; Buffalo, N.Y.; and Portland, Maine.                                           
 
(Press release posted Sept. 18, 2007)