EXHIBITIONS
Mary Howe:
Constructions That Tell Stories
OPENING RECEPTION — Sunday, August 10, 2025 | 2–5 pm
GALLERY OPEN — August 10–24, 2025 | 2–5 pm
Haystack Center for Community Programs
22 Church Street, Deer Isle, Maine
Mary Cameron Howe (1942-2024) was born in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, where she first met her future husband, Rich Howe, in a high school French class. After she graduated from Central Michigan University in 1964 with a BS in Biology, Art, and Music, she taught elementary school and was involved in teacher programs at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Mary pursued further studies at the DeCordova Museum School in Boston and was a docent and gallery instructor at the Museum of Fine Arts.
In 1992, Mary and Rich permanently moved to Stonington, Maine, and founded Penobscot Bay Provisions, a bakery and food provisions store renowned for its artisanal breads and desserts. Simultaneously, Mary continued to pursue her creative interests, first weaving and printmaking, before her main focus became Book Arts—she created unique, structured objects that tell stories. Her experiences as an instructor and artist in residence at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Penland School of Craft, and the University of Southern Maine Book Arts Program were important to her development as an artist. Mary was also a longtime mentor to high school students and adults interested in Book Arts through programming at Haystack and the Healthy Island Project.
Close friend and fellow Deer Isle artist Susan Webster shares, “As an artist, Mary was a visual creative force. Her sense of design, of color, of materials, was apparent in every aspect of her life.” Susan continues, “I admired how Mary approached her art practice. She loved research and would study a range of subjects: the lives of women artists, marine life, history, ecosystems, and the life of bees. With her engineering genius, she incorporated this research into one-of-a-kind boxes, groups of boxes, books, pop-ups, prints, and sculptures. She made kinetic elements that gave the work a playfulness, layering it with content and meaning.”
Mary’s works can be found in many private collections, as well as at Bowdoin College's Department of Special Collections and Archives and the Jaffe Collection at Florida Atlantic University's Wimberly Library. Mary’s work was also featured in solo exhibitions at North Main Gallery in Salem, New York; the Kendal Gallery at Oberlin College, Ohio; and Blue Heron Gallery in Deer Isle, Maine. Additionally, her art has been included in numerous galleries and group shows across North America.