Featured artist: Vaino Kola
When artist Vaino Kola describes the meditative walks that he takes nearly every day from his studio on Deer Isle, one senses immediately the powerful spirituality of this private and unassuming man. In his grand paintings or in his masterfully-detailed etchings, his relationship with the natural world around him is evident.
"Nearly all of the images that I have produced during my eleven years on Deer Isle are based upon observation of the immediate area near my home. I consider the various formal elements to be as important as the literal content of the image and try to create work in which all the parts exist in a harmonious tension," he explains.
Born in Finland, educated in the US, with a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and MFA from Yale, Vaino Kola retired from the Wheaton College faculty in 1994 to Deer Isle. His work is shown widely in US and European museums.