Over East, an Artist's Journal

Artist Robert Beck returns to Maine each year to paint from life in the fishing and boatbuilding communities of the coast. Drawn by the aroma of wood in a boatbuilder's shop, the activity on a lobster wharf, the ghosts in a spar shed, or the easy conversation of a group of women picking crab, Beck has produced a large body of work he considers his best, and closest to his heart.

These images of the working life and landscape from Maine coastal towns have been brought together for the first time at Maine Maritime Museum to form a "visual essay" about today's maritime community.

This exhibition of more than 40 paintings is a close and personal look at how life is lived in working villages along the coast, as seen through the eyes and words of an accomplished painter. It is a celebration of the spirit, the character, and the reality still to be found Over East.