Georgeann and Condon Kuhl were deciding where to go on vacation in the summer of 1981 when they reached a fork in the road.
The Des Moines artists arrived in Davenport, Iowa, unsure whether to go north or south.
“It’s damned hot here,” Condon remembers saying. “Let’s go to Maine.”
The couple spent two weeks camping in Acadia National Park and decided the Pine Tree State was where they wanted to spend the rest of their lives.
Since moving to Maine and opening their gallery at 31 Widgeon Cove Lane, off Harpswell Neck Road, the Kuhls have been a staple of the Harspwell art scene for 36 years.
To truly understand the Kuhls, one must walk into their gallery. While its official name is the Gallery at Widgeon Cove, the space could better be described as an immersive scrapbook.
Relics of their life together include a black-and-white photo of a young Condon in his early years of silversmithing and VHS copies of Georgeann’s 2008 appearance on an episode of the show “Incredible Maine.”
Georgeann’s signature pulp paintings bring life to her experience on Monhegan Island, while Condon’s pastel painting of Pompeii shares the married couple’s fascination with the lost city.
For the Kuhls, art and life are one and the same.
“Everywhere we went, we packed our art supplies and drew and sketched everywhere,” Condon said. “It and life, they didn’t separate.”
It was far from exaggeration — both Georgeann and Condon have been surrounded by art since childhood.
Georgeann grew up across from the Blanden Memorial Art Museum in Fort Dodge, Iowa. A lack of children to play with led her to spend afternoons in the museum’s halls.
“That was my playground,” Georgeann said, recounting where different paintings were located while sitting on a director’s chair in their gallery.
Georgeann, 87, was adorned in blue — the same shade as the Widgeon Cove waters quietly lapping behind her. She is soft-spoken — even yelling at her cat, Simba, to get out of the gallery came across as polite. Her earrings, which Condon made out of malachite, completed her outfit.
Condon, 90, wore glasses and a neatly tucked-in striped shirt. He was raised in central Kansas as the heir to his father’s grocery store business. However, the young creative pursued jewelry and silversmithing at the University of Kansas.
“I’ve just never looked back from that,” he said.
Among countless other works, Condon designed the presidential medallion for Drake University and forged a chalice now permanently displayed in the Columbus Museum of Art.
Condon became chair of the Drake University art department while Georgeann was assistant director of the Des Moines Art Center. The balancing act of administration and creation was onerous, as they would often work during the day before retiring to their studio until 3 a.m.
So Condon applied for early retirement in the ’80s, and the Kuhls went to find their future home. The first place the real estate agent showed them was in Harpswell, overlooking Widgeon Cove.
Georgeann instantly fell in love.
“As we started driving up to Bar Harbor and Acadia, we worked ourselves into a frenzy,” Condon said. “We got up there and gave her a call right away.”
It’s easy to see why. The property overlooking lapis lazuli waters could give even the most unimaginative person inspiration.
After the gallery opened in 1988, the Kuhls spent the first decade traveling from Baltimore to Saint Paul for art shows. The month prior to a show was full of preparation, and setup alone could take up to eight hours.
The couple elected to quit the show circuit to focus on their gallery.
“I think an artist’s success is when it isn’t around making money,” Georgeann said. “It’s because you love making art, and that’s the key.”
The couple’s artistic process begins with their travel. Finding inspiration in the ruins of Pompeii, the mountains of Japan, or the hills of Tuscany, the natural world is instrumental to kick-starting their creativity.
Georgeann begins with a watercolor study for her pulp paintings. This meticulous specialty art involves making handmade paper, adding color in the form of nonfading pigments, and layering wet paper.
These complex, beautiful arrangements must be seen in person to be appreciated. It is part of the reason the couple does not publish their work online.
The other reason is that they want to stick to the creative side of their art and not have to become a “machine,” as Condon put it. The couple still sells their art, but they also will create pieces just for display and for themselves.
Condon’s process is contemplative. While he has retired from silversmithing, he has continued to create jewelry.
“I’m a very slow worker,” Condon said. “Doug Bane teases me because he works so fast.”
Bane, who has owned a gallery on Orr’s Island since the late 2000s, is a friend of the Kuhls and said the couple is a “treasure to have here.”
“They’re inspirational because you can’t stop them. They’re continuing to go, no matter what,” Bane said. “The older they get, the more determined they are.”
However, Condon and Georgeann admit to slowing down with time. While the gallery used to be open six days a week, it is now open by appointment, or whenever the open flag is flying off Route 123.
“We need the flexibility now,” Condon said. “If something comes up for us to enjoy the summer here, we want to be able to do that.”
As for the future, Georgeann and Condon may return to Pompeii. A recent trip to the Grand Canyon might spark inspiration, but that’s “winter’s work,” Condon said. However, one thing is for certain: The gallery isn’t closing anytime soon.
“As long as we’re making art, and we want to make art, the gallery will be open and we’ll still be working,” Georgeann said. “That’s the whole key to this.”
