2024 Show Poster Design

The producers of the 2024 Maine Boat & Home Show have unveiled the new poster design for the annual celebration of boats and life on the coast. The poster features a painting by downeast Maine artist Philip Frey, who is known for his colorful and light-filled images of the coast.

Produced by Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine, the Maine Boat & Home Show will take place this year from Aug. 9-11 on the waterfront in Rockland, Maine. The painting featured in this year’s poster depicts the red-trimmed dockhouse at Rockport Marine, sail and power boats on the dock, and the misty harbor beyond.

©Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors

“It’s a quintessential Maine waterfront scene,” said Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors Publisher Ted Ruegg, “which is the life we promote at our annual show.”

The annual boat and home show shines a spotlight on boats, marine products, art, furniture, and other fine hand-made crafts, and celebrates makers and artists like Frey, Ruegg said.

Frey, who has exhibited widely in Maine and beyond, is best known for his bold paintings of Maine. His primary focus is color and light, and the forms found in nature, interiors, and figures. He paints on site, preferring the dynamic quality, richness, and challenges of working from life.

Frey said he painted this image while wandering along the coast a few years ago. “I had seen some other images of the area and never done this view before,” he said. “I was drawn by the depth and the sense of light.”

Frey studied at Columbus College of Art and Design and graduated with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Painting from Syracuse University in 1990. He lives in Sullivan, Maine, where he maintains a full-time studio nestled in the woods.

“I make paintings that are inspired by the landscape, architecture, interior spaces, and the figure. In my daily experience, I pay close attention to the ephemeral qualities of light, color, and pattern that often go unnoticed,” he said. “I like to look for areas that have a sense of depth where there are multiple things happening, in the foreground, middle, and background, and a way to create interest and depth with objects.”

His painting process involves the use of brushes, palette knives, and squeegees to develop a rich paint surface and abstractions that evoke a sense of momentariness.

Frey’s work has been highlighted in several books, including Philip Frey: Here and Now, by Carl Little and Daniel Kany, and in numerous publications, and is held in private and corporate collections both nationally and internationally.

He is represented in Maine by Courthouse Gallery Fine Art in Ellsworth, which will feature his work in a solo show this summer June 7-July 5; Greenhut Galleries in Portland; and Carver Hill Gallery in Camden, as well as in Vermont by the Edgewater Gallery in Middlebury.

The show will feature boats in the water and boats on land, plus music, art, food, furniture, and fun. The show was founded in 2003 by Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine. or more information about the show and to purchase tickets, head to the Boat Show Section of the maineboats.com website.

Photo Credits: Philip Frey standing in front of some of his paintings courtesy Philip Frey; Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine booth at the 2023 Maine Boat & Home Show, photo by Peach Frederick.