Andy Gelinas: Maine Island Poet and Artist

Today I have with me in the studio Andy Linus, who is an artist and poet who comes to us all the way from North Haven. Thanks for coming in today. Thank you. It was quite a journey to get here, wasn't it? Not too bad. A boat ride and a little car ride. Well, I mean you say that because probably kind of used to it, but for most of us who just get on the car and got in the car and then go up by a 95, it's a little bit more of an issue for you. It goes with living on an island. How long have you lived on North Haven? 15 years. And what was the original draw for you? Pretty much the beauty of it, lobstering, I just fell in love with it. It's a wonderful community, very supportive. It's a wonderful place to call home. Yeah. Where are you originally from? I grew up in Athens, Maine, which is a little north of SC Hagan. Okay, alright. So that's a very different kind of feel to it, the Skowhegan area versus the North Haven area. Yeah. Central Maine has its upsides and downsides, I guess you'd say. It's certainly a change, that's for sure. But I like it. I like it. We've already said that you're a poet and you have with you so many poems, which I'm amazed by because I think poetry is incredibly difficult to write. Thank you. And I'm wondering if you'd be willing to read one of your poems for me. Sure. So I'll read, this was from a quarterly that I got published in 2014. It's called Unbroken. Unbroken. If I should break myself today, unchained from every bird and bear determined unafraid to say that I shall find the strength to wear whatever fortune, great or small my maker has bestowed on me by chance. Wherever I may fall, I forge alone my destiny, then I may find the eyes to see beyond the trembling darkness. My will shall not yet conquer me until I have shown my greatness. I will not yet abandon you. My heart, my soul, my memory. I will struggle and stagger through until it lasts. I shall be free. That's an amazing poem. Thank you. What was the inspiration for that? Sort of just something to remind myself of, I guess. Inner strength. Yeah. And what about your life has caused you to really need to draw upon inner strength? I was born with cerebral palsy. That might be a little underlying note to it, but I've always been imaginative and I've always, ever since I can remember sort of did rhymes in my head and it took a while, but once I figured out what to do it, it's become really fun. It's a good outlet and release to get stuff down and to get it out. For you, what has it meant to live with cerebral palsy? I don't really see it as an obstacle anymore. I've a really determined person and it might take a little bit longer to do some things, but I find a way to get them done. So it sounds like the inner strength that you are describing in the poem is something that you've been practicing, you've been cultivating over years. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. It sounds like you were a child when you started creating rhymes in your head and poetry in your head. Yeah. What were some of the things that you would write poetry about or create rhymes in your head about? What were some of the subjects that caught your interest? Well, nature was one of them. Obviously love, once I got old enough to realize what that was all about. And then I like to write about the passing seasons stuff that I see in my daily life that I could sort of put in little metaphors and sort of make memories for myself that I can go back and read. And I don't know, sometimes when it's there, it just comes right out and sometimes it's hard to get it out, but I'm ready for it when it comes. And sometimes it comes in spurts. I'll write a whole bunch and then I'll go stagnant for a few months. But I think that's part of the creative process. So tell me about your writing process specifically. I know everybody does it a little bit different. And so do you get up in the morning and write? Do you write in between your other work obligations? Is there a specific time that you write or don't write? I mean, I'm just always fascinated to understand this. I keep journals or notebooks or whatever and I'm constantly adding stuff to it. Nothing is usually ever dated, but I have, and I'll go back to stuff and finish stuff and then start stuff over. And it keeps me going as far as something's always there that I can go and draw from to finish. There's always a few ideas that are already down. Maybe the last ideas I was thinking about. So for me, I like to just jot stuff down and then when I have time or if inspiration comes, then I'll sit down and write. But typically in the morning, yeah, I think that's when most people are at their most tuned in time. So this looks like a kind of old fashioned kind of composition notebook. Yeah. So for you, putting something down on paper sounds like it has some strength to it? I think so, yeah. I mean, I've grown to see the digital age happen. Having a touchscreen was a dream of mine going through school and it's so it took me a while to even learn how to navigate a pencil. I used to break the pencil lead all the time and it was frustrating, but I kept going. And writing is a very important life skill. I think people don't do it enough. It reinforces your ideas. When you put it down on paper, there's something to that. Your intention goes into something. And once you do that, it changes it. Yeah, that's actually a really good point. I mean, there's a lot of times where I'm sitting and thinking about things and I think there's an idea here I'd like to come back to and I will, I'll pick up a piece of paper and a pen and I'll put it out there and there's something about it that kind of just, I don't know, it creates a little pathway in my brain. It's right there. I'm going to come back later. I'm going to kind of play that out and see where it goes. Yep. I think it's important. It is how thoughts can become powerful, but you have to sort of reinforce that. And writing it down is one of the ways you can reinforce a thought. So it does help. In addition to being an artist of words, you're also an artist of other sorts. And you've brought some of your works here today, specifically some of your paintings. Yes. So talk to me about that. How did you get into painting? I've been painting for 25 years at least. I just started one day with some pastels and started drawing and wanted to keep going on it and just figured it out. And one thing led to another. I had a couple good coaches along the way. And yeah, 25 years later, I'm doing pretty good And pastels are not always easy to use. Gave me a good base of what to do as far as drawing with color as opposed to just drawing with shades of black and gray. It trained me a little bit, I think for the next things that I would get into watercolor and then oil paints and stuff like that. So the piece that you brought here today, what medium did you use for that? That is an oil painting and it's on canvas board. And it's actually a scene from North Haven Crabtree's Point, looking down towards town. Andy, would you be willing to read another poem for us? Sure. So this is a sonnet. It's called flowers. I try to tell myself that it's okay. Tangled up, dust floating in the sunbeam. Nothing fancy about an old bouquet falling apart, like a broken down dream casting long shadows in the morning sun, beautiful and bright swaying in the breeze, gracefully gathered up there one by one in a field near to some old spruce trees. I see the seasons now come part in an old summer cottage tucked away where I'm no closer to finding your heart in a chipped crystal vase of green and gray of flowers fading like a memory forgotten, like a love lost out at sea. That's intense. Thank you. Was it inspired by a love interest perhaps? Obviously there's metaphors in there, but I actually think I was trying to describe something that I'd seen in a little cottage. One of the first places I painted when I got to North Haven was a little cottage on the shore of Banks cove, and it reminded me of that time passing by and a bouquet of flowers just watching it. So it sounds like more kind of a theoretical love that may have existed in this cottage That Inspired you. Yeah, I think that's more accurate. Yeah. So why the sonnet as a form and why do you choose any particular form for your poetry? I have always been fond of rhyme schemes and structure. I think it's a game for me to sort of fit things into a pattern. And I've actually, it's easy for me to write in iic pentameter. It just comes out that way. Sometimes the rhymes not so much, but that's easy for me to just sort of nail out. So you said that you had people that maybe mentored you or worked with you or maybe taught you, I mean that when you had an early interest in poetry, there must've been somebody who sat down and said, this is I Aic pentameter. This is a sonet. Yes. All my teachers, most of them still follow me on social media. Mrs. Blazedale at Madison High School was integral. I had a professor at the University of Maine, Constance Hunting. She was wonderful. I think I was one of her last classes. She passed away two or three years after I'd gone there. She was wonderful. And I have people that give me good feedback that I can always send something to, no matter if it's something that I might've just wrote, I can send it to someone and I know it'll get read and I'll get some honest feedback and that's sort of good. And then sometimes I'll make changes, sometimes I won't. But it's, that for me is a nice release too, as far as getting stuff off my chest or whatever the thought is. It's nice to get it away and have it appreciated too. Yeah, I think having somebody who's giving you the gift of reading your work, I Think that's really powerful. It is. On the off days when you're not painting, you're not creating, not writing your poetry. What do you do for work? I work at the golf course on North Haven, little nine Hole course since 1916. There's just a couple of us that work there, so it, it's pretty time consuming in the summertime, but I couldn't have asked for a better day job. It's wonderful. I get to be outside all the time. Mowing the grass this summer was quite a bit of mowing, but the course stayed green for the first time and memory for most people. And I get to play golf, which is great exercise and it keeps me active and yeah, it's wonderful. I have other hobbies too, but golf, it's become a nice side job. Were you playing golf before you got this job? Yeah, I played golf in high school and it just worked out that they were looking for someone, and this is eight years later, I'll be there again next summer. I mean, it sounds like a perfect job for somebody who likes to play golf. It is. Yeah, it is. And also somebody who likes to think up rhymes in his head. Well, I've got plenty of time on a lawnmower or a tractor just to think. And it is sort of a blessing to have that free time just to, it is monotonous, but it does give me a lot of time to think about things. Yeah. So when you were growing up and you were interested in poetry, did you ever think someday I am going to be a poet someday I am going to be an artist? I think so. Yeah. I think I will to happen. But it took a lot of time, the art thing, 25 years of doing it, and I'm just getting to the point where I'm comfortable writing. Yeah, I mean, you don't necessarily know that you're where you're going to end up when you start, I should say. And yeah, I think the whole way through it, I was pushing myself to become a good writer and a good artist. And did you have anybody in your family who was an artist of any sort or a writer of any sort? My grandmother was an oil painter. She didn't paint very many paintings. She taught herself with paint by number, but her paintings were beautiful. And so yeah, I grew up looking at artwork for sure. And that helped. During the winter when you're not working for the golf course, is that a time where you find yourself writing more or creating more? Yes. Yes. Yep. I try to get as much work done in the winter as I can, especially if I know I'm going to have a show or something like that the following summer, and it's a great time to do it. Everything's slowing down and it's peaceful. Yeah, it's a nice end of the season to just kick back and relax a little bit and then get back into painting. So I know you've had your poetry published and obviously people could buy your poetry in publications, but it sounds like you're also out selling your art. I actually have work in Portland right now at Uncharted Tea, and it's at 6 62 Congress Street. And next summer I'll have another show on North Haven. People can find me on Instagram, Andy JOAs art. It's pretty easy to search that, but I'm in a good situation where I'm almost out of inventory and it's a wonderful feeling to know that when I do something, it goes and it goes to appreciative places. The success side of it is just a bonus. I basically, it's good to know that they're going away. I am lucky to be able to say that I paint pretty paintings that people like to have. There's a lot of good art out there, but it's hard to have customers for them sometimes. And I just found the perfect niche on North Haven. So the people who buy your art are these people who visit North Haven, people who live on North Haven. What would one of your art buyers look like? Friends, family? Yeah. The many summer residents, many local residents. The whole community is a very, very supportive place for any sort of creative process. We have a community center that anyone can write a play and put their in the one act play contest that they do in the Spring Community Center. And that was the first place that I had a show on North Haven, and it was if friends saw that I was getting a little bit better and get asked and had a show. And it wasn't the first time I'd had a show. I'd had showings before, but it was the first time on North Haven. And slowly over time, I got to know just about everyone on the island and the summer community as well as all the year rounders. And I have a lot of fans out there that really support me and it's a wonderful feeling to have. But I'm trying to get work in other places. Like I said, I'm trying to get stuff down in more places in Portland, maybe Rockland Camdens, but it's a slow process. And do the pieces that you do, I mean, you've described one of these as sort of a place, a very specific place that's actually on North Haven. Are they all in that same kind of vein? Some of them are. I can paint the Camden Hills without thinking about it. There's certain scenes that I just have in my ingrained in my memory. So for people that see what I've done, they recognize it as something, oh, and they'll tell me, oh, is that this place here? Or is that what it might be? But for the most part, I just pull it out of my mind and sometimes I have a directive what I want to do, or if I want to paint pulpit rock or if I'm going to do this or that. I'll do paintings from photographs once in a while if it's a commission, but I have more fun just winging it. I know that at least one of our artists, I believe, has a North Haven connection. Do you have friends on North Haven who are also artists? Yeah. I mean, I know Eric Hopkins, David Wilson. There's a few of us. As far as in my little friend group, not so much, but in the summertime there's a lot more going on and there's more people that take part in that. There's an annual fundraising event that the North Haven Library Association does, and I'm always big about trying to make sure that I get a painting for that. We have an elder care place that is wonderful and they have a silent auction. I always try to put something to donate forward and those get gobbled up real quick. So that's a good feeling as well. It's a double whammy because you're raising some money and it's going to a good home. Have you ever seen any of your pieces in anybody's house that you've been to? You said friends and family, so I'm assuming your family members must have some, but what about other people that maybe you don't know as well? It's always exciting when I walk into a house and see something I've done. I hadn't remembered or remember doing it. And yeah, I always get a kick out of it. It's wonderful. I think probably I 300, maybe more than that. So they're out there and many homes on North Haven have my paintings hanging in them, so it's a nice feeling. So it's probably more often than not that you walk into a house and you see one of your pieces out there. Yeah, that's pretty cool actually. It is cool. Yeah. How far is it from the mainland to North Haven on the ferry? It's 12 and a half miles. It's about an hour and 20 minute ride. So when you're on the ferry, are you creating, are you thinking, what do you use the time to do? Depends on what I'm doing that day. If I'm going to go run errands, sometimes I'll go through my notes, shopping lists, stuff like that. But yeah, I mean, obviously could, if it's a nice enough day, you could take a nap. I mean, there's certain things you could do, but if I'm in the creative mind, yeah, I will totally jot notes down and do some writing. Yeah, I think it's such an interesting notion that there's really, you couldn't do anything other than be on this ferry. It is absolutely the only way, unless you have a boat, I guess, or I guess you could take the plane, but this is most of the time, this is mostly the way that you're going to get back and forth to the island, and you just have to be patient because it's going to take what it's going to take to get back and forth. That's right. And once you're out there and say there's a storm and the ferry doesn't go for a couple days or a couple runs, that's when you realize you're really in a good community because everyone sticks together. Everyone's looking out for each other, and it's great in that respect. Do you still get back to Athens? Yeah, I do once in a while. Yeah. Do you still have family over there? My folks live in Skowhegan. Yeah. Yeah. And my father is my framer, so I see him very regularly. So it's a whole family business. Yes. I'm very, very, very lucky to have my father to help me with the frames. I get handed a three pack and then he'll give me the canvases to go with 'em. So I'm in a good spot as far as that goes. I just got to keep busy. So it sounds like you feel like you have a very supportive group around you that's encouraged you to continue to do your art and your poetry. Most definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Andy, I'm really thrilled that you took the time to get off the island. Take your very long ferry ride and then drive all the way down here and sit with me today and read your poetry and bring your art artwork. It's really been a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I've been speaking with artist and poet Andy Linus, who you can find on social media, on the websites that he has described, and also we will put his information up on our website so that you have access to that information. I encourage you to learn a little bit more about the work that he does and his beautiful poetry. Thank you for joining us, and thank you for joining me today, Andy. Thank you. It was a pleasure meeting you.