It was a little hairy on the water that day in May 2014. The group of 乐播传媒 students led by Professor of Geology Dykstra 鈥淒yk鈥� Eusden 鈥�80 had set out in their kayaks from Southwest Harbor, bound for Baker Island via the Gut between Little and Great Cranberry islands.
The goal was to camp on at the Baker Island Lighthouse for five days, from May 7 through May 11, jaunting around to map the volcanics in and around the islands, a typical project for Eusden’s legendary Short Term course, “Geology of the Maine Coast by Sea Kayak.鈥�
鈥淏ut we ran into really challenging southeast winds that forced us to bivvy on Islesford,” aka Little Cranberry, Eusden recalls. Grace Kenney 鈥�16 remembers it as the 鈥渃rash landing.鈥� A few people sat on the beach to catch their breath after the hard work of getting there.
鈥淲e were all relieved,鈥� remembers Graham Oxman ’15. Then came the adaptation to being blown off the path they鈥檇 planned. Which, in a way, fit right in with the course goals, to teach them not just about geology, but about weather, tides, navigation, group dynamics, and living in situations they鈥檇 likely never experienced before.
In this situation, they needed to figure out an alternative plan for the night. A group, including Eusden and Ian Hillenbrand 鈥�17, set out on a reconnaissance mission. Hillenbrand is from Ohio but had vacationed in Maine with his family, including trips to Little Cranberry because his father, Will Hillenbrand, a children鈥檚 book author and illustrator, had an artist friend there. 鈥淚 said, 鈥楬ey, I know this guy,鈥欌�� Hillenbrand remembers. And that was artist, author, and children鈥檚 book illustrator Ashley Bryan.
That spring Bryan was 90 years old and had already published many books, including the popular 2011 children鈥檚 book Beautiful Blackbird. The local elementary school on Little Cranberry had recently been named for him, but even in his adopted state of Maine he had not yet become quite so widely known as he would in the coming years. (In 2020, Maine Gov. Janet Mills proclaimed his birthday, July 13, “Ashley Frederick Bryan Day” in Maine). 鈥淚 knew Ashley would probably know everyone, or at least put us in touch with someone we could talk to,鈥� said Hillenbrand.
Kenney had never heard of Ashley Bryan, but she was game, even if she was still in a full wetsuit, including the booties.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 even think we took those off,鈥� Kenney says. But the artist welcomed the damp and disheveled 乐播传媒 group into his cottage-studio.
鈥淭here was like a layer of embarrassment that we were in our wetsuits,鈥� Kenney remembers. She may even still have been wearing the sea kayaking skirt that keeps the inside of the kayak dry in rough waters. 鈥淎nd I remember being really nervous about not knocking things over. It was like being in a toy store, or a museum.鈥�
But Bryan was unphased. After a quick visit, he recommended checking in with the proprietor of the general store. The 乐播传媒 group made a plan to return later that day, then walked to the general store, where the woman who ran it extended hospitality as well, offering to let them camp on a point of land looking out to sea. Little Cranberry would be their home for the next four days.
In all, various members of the group made four trips to Bryan鈥檚 studio. In Hillenbrand鈥檚 photos, Noel Potter 鈥�17 has a huge grin on his face. Like most of the students, Potter had never heard of Bryan, but he went along anyway. 鈥淢ostly my motivation was just that I didn鈥檛 want to miss anything. I wanted to soak in the whole experience.鈥�
Potter wasn鈥檛 disappointed. And there was a lot to soak up in Bryan鈥檚 home and studio. 鈥淓very horizontal surface and most vertical surfaces had something of interest that was probably made by Ashley Bryan, and if not by him, probably made by a friend of his, that were beautiful. And pretty much every single one had a great story behind it.鈥�
The visits were deeply moving to the students, so much so that this week, as they were wishing a happy birthday via group text to one of the friends they鈥檇 made during that Short Term, Jackie Ordemann ’15, it turned into an impromptu memorial for Ashley Bryan, who died Feb. 4.
For Oxman, who went on to get a master鈥檚 in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from Colorado School of Mines, Bryan鈥檚 jam-packed studio, an explosion of color and natural materials and projects underway, had a familiar feeling. His grandmother was an artist, and her studio was similarly both overflowing and carefully curated.
鈥淵ou have tchotchkes everywhere,鈥� Oxman says, items that speak to the artist as both inspiration and maybe, he says, 鈥渁 reflection of 鈥業 see myself in this in some way.鈥欌��
鈥淚t was sort of like we stepped into his brain when we got there,鈥� he adds. 鈥淎nd I got the strong impression that he had just the biggest heart and a childlike excitement to just share it with people.鈥�
Hillenbrand, who completed a master鈥檚 degree in geology from the University of Massachusetts鈥揂mherst and is now working as a research scientist for the United States Geological Survey, had known Bryan so long he didn鈥檛 remember the first time they鈥檇 met. Bryan and his father met when Will Hillenbrand was volunteering at a school in Cincinnati and Bryan was a visiting speaker, and Ian remembers that Bryan visited his elementary school. In a sense, he鈥檇 just always known Bryan. He was not surprised by the impression the artist left on his classmates during those visits in May 2014.
Bryan was also deeply curious about what the 乐播传媒 students were doing, mapping the bedrock of the island (these students traveled with sketchbooks). The studio was filled with his stained glass made from sea glass he鈥檇 collected from nearby shores. This was exactly the kind of immersion in Maine ocean communities Eusden always hoped for in these trips. 鈥淚 saw so much use of natural materials in Bryan鈥檚 art that it really connected to our trip and experiences,鈥� says Eusden, who is retiring this year as the Whitehouse Professor of Earth and Climate Sciences.
While they visited, Bryan pulled out his marionettes, all handmade from found materials. 鈥淗is ability to move them, making the characters come alive, was pretty incredible,鈥� Eusden remembers.
鈥淚t was almost like conversational play,鈥� Kenney says.
Bryan told them about his own career arc, which had included teaching art at the Dalton School in New York (Oxman, a graduate, was excited by this connection), and about his experiences in World War II. It was eye opening for the group. 鈥淣one of us have ever been drafted,鈥� Oxman says. 鈥淚 was sort of self-absorbed at that time in my life, but halfway through I remember thinking, 鈥楾his man was trying to get into art school at a time when segregation was not that far in the rear view.鈥欌��
Those visits felt all the more precious this week. Potter reflected on how he fell hard for Maine island communities on that trip, with their sense of joyous eccentricity and welcome, as embodied by Bryan, and feels fortunate to regularly encounter it through his work with Portland-based Rippleffect. At the outdoors youth program he leads sea kayaking trips, among other skills building adventures.
Kenney, who teaches at Slate School in North Haven, Conn., an environmentally-oriented elementary school, reflected on how it continued to resonate with her. For Christmas, she gave her mother a book of photographs of Bryan鈥檚 marionettes. And last year, after Kenney told the school librarian at Slate about how incredible it was to meet him, they added some of Bryan鈥檚 books to our school library. 鈥淚t made me think about how that is one of the wonderful ways in which he can and will be remembered.鈥�
After learning about the 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art鈥檚 exhibition, Let鈥檚 Celebrate Ashley Bryan! in late 2020, Kenney was inspired to write to Bryan to thank him for his hospitality. The whole experience had been so meaningful, she said, and she wanted him to know. She didn鈥檛 know quite how to reach him (he was living with a niece in Texas during the pandemic) so she sent a letter to the Ashley Bryan Center. She was well aware that the man she鈥檇 met when she was a sophomore at 乐播传媒 was well into his 90s. 鈥淚 remember telling myself, 鈥榊ou have to do this now, because who knows? You will be so angry with yourself if you miss this opportunity.鈥欌��
For Museum of Art director Daniel Mills, the story of the 乐播传媒 Short Term encounter with Bryan fits exactly with the man he knew. 鈥淚’m not surprised to hear this. Ashley was such a wonderful man, a bright light and generous soul who had such an impact on the many people he met.鈥� The two spoke frequently during the development of the 2020鈥�2021 Let’s Celebrate Ashley Bryan! exhibition in the museum. 鈥淓ach call ended with an outpouring of Ashley’s love for me and the museum staff, and for the students at 乐播传媒.鈥�
