PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — A prolific Presque Isle and Stonington painter will help inspire others at an Aroostook County arts haven.
A Presque Isle resident most of the year, watercolor artist Evelyn Kok ran the Gallery of the Purple Fish in Stonington for 53 summers. She and her husband, Jan, a music professor at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, were fixtures in Aroostook County, wherever art and music brought people together.
A new partnership between the Presque Isle Public Library and Morningstar Art & Framing will create the Evelyn Kok Room at the library’s Griffiths House cultural center. Library officials hope visitors will find inspiration when they are surrounded by local creators’ works. It’s part of the arts community’s efforts to make Aroostook County a cultural hub, similar to that found on the coast.
The County has a chance to build itself up as an arts spot, said Morningstar owner Jim Carroll, and he is more than happy to contribute some of Kok’s work from his own collection to help.
“Some of the smaller communities down state are fading, but Presque Isle is still alive and maintaining its identity,” Carroll said. “We have an opportunity to really sell ourselves.”
The library will host workshops and other gatherings at the Griffiths house. To enhance the creative atmosphere, three specially named rooms will accommodate visiting writers or artists.
The rooms will be dedicated to local authors and artists who have contributed significantly to the area’s culture, Library Director Sonja Eyler said.
Two other rooms will be named after writer and longtime University of Maine at Presque Isle English professor Nan Amodeo and Presque Isle author, artist and teacher Glenna Smith, who wrote the “Old Maine Woman” books.
Evelyn Kok’s painting, drawing and calligraphy are known both Down East and in The County, where the couple lived for decades. Eyler knew Carroll had a collection of Kok’s work, so she talked to him about how to make the room reflect the artist.
The Kok room overlooks a garden, and the botanical paintings already in the room, on long-term loan from Morningstar, are of the artist’s aunt’s gardens. Carroll will help hang the artwork, while the Koks’ niece, Christina Shipps, will visit to add personal touches, Eyler said.
When Carroll took over Morningstar from its founders, Brian Brissette and his wife, Jane Caulfield, in 2020, he was captivated by an Evelyn Kok painting he found out back.
“In my mind, it’s the universe putting some of these pieces together,” Carroll said. “The idea of inspiring other artists by immersing them in Evelyn’s work — that’s what it’s all about.”
He has been working with Shipps, who continues with the Stonington gallery and has helped Carroll acquire some of Kok’s pieces for display and for sale in his Presque Isle store.
Shipps said with her aunt, art flowed effortlessly, but she especially loved engaging with people.
“My aunt was a watercolorist, a medical illustrator, a poet, a composer, a glass blower, a photographer, she did everything. And that is my message. That artists can flourish in many media without being constrained to one,” Shipps said.
Her aunt said when you become really proficient at something, it’s better to stop and reinvent yourself and learn something totally new, so you keep learning and growing, one of Shipps’ favorite “pearls of wisdom.”
The fact that Kok and Amodeo will both have rooms named after them in the Griffiths house is ironic, because the two were best friends, Carroll said. When the Koks came to Presque Isle in 1951 for Jan to interview at the local university, a terrible snowstorm hit. Amodeo happened to see the couple waiting for the bus from her apartment, and knowing the bus was stranded, she invited them in to keep warm. Thus began a long friendship.
Carroll has lent six paintings to the Griffiths house and has more available if they are needed.
Carroll is glad more of Kok’s work will be seen, and said her depictions of Aroostook County, its flora and spots on the Maine coast evoke a sense of being in the perfect place.
“I’ve seen a lot of artists dream about other places. But what I loved about Evelyn was she wasn’t just dreaming about other places, she was celebrating where she was,” Carroll said.
The Griffiths house has already hosted several author talks and book signings. On Nov. 18, Caribou author M.L. Bell will discuss her book, “The Coffee Gets Cold Quick,” and staff are planning events for the coming holiday season.
