Teacher inspires students, self

By Gillian Graham
Staff Writer
    
Piper Bolduc is perfectly content to spend her spare time recreating the stunning scenery of coastal Maine.
“There is no finer place to paint than the state of Maine,” said the Saco resident and Old Orchard Beach High School art teacher. “With its breathtaking coastline and its signature architecture, I am with an abundance of subjects to paint.”
An exhibit of 18 of Bolduc’s paintings is on display at the University of New England in Biddeford through the end of the month. She said it is the first time she has displayed work in a solo exhibit. She often displays her work at sidewalk art festivals and Coastal Fine Arts Alliance of Maine events.
Bolduc, who this year moved to the high school after teaching for 32 years at Loranger Middle School, said her love of creating art began at a young age. One day, her fifth-grade teacher, Hermia Toothaker, pulled her parents aside for a talk about their daughter’s school performance.
“She said ‘she’s not a great student, but she’s really good at art,’” Bolduc said.
With that simple statement, Bolduc’s parents decided it was time for her to take lessons with an oil painter from Brunswick. She said her parents, Donald and Peggy Cheetham, always exposed her to art and kept plenty of supplies on hand for her to work with.
“They fed my passion,” Bolduc said. “It’s them I have to thank for where I am today.”
Bolduc, now 56, continued oil painting lessons throughout high school before she went on to study art education at the University of Maine in Orono.
“I had hopes of being an artist, but I decided the starving artist routine wasn’t for me,” she said. “I wanted to share my passion for art in the classroom.”
She also discovered oil paints were expensive and looked around for a new medium with which to work.
“I really loved the look of watercolors,” she said. “I like the challenge of them. Everyone says they’re not forgiving and they aren’t.”
Bolduc uses dry paint instead of wet, which allows her to create hard edges and more intense colors. She said she allows the paint to dry for several days before rewetting it to create thicker paint. She tends to paint coastal Maine scenes from photographs she takes at various locations, including her favorite spots in Stonington and Cape Porpoise.
“I love the reflections you get,” she said.
Bolduc’s favorite painting to date is “Stonington Sales,” which shows a box of vivid red geraniums in front of a window that displays a model sailboat. She sold the original painting, but a print hangs in the exhibit at the University of New England.
Bolduc said she tries to paint as often as possible in her home studio and occasionally brings smaller pieces to work on during art classes at school.
“I pretty much paint every time I have a moment,” she said. “I think the kids at school like to see that I practice what I preach.”
Bolduc said her teacher, Mrs. Toothaker, also was glad to see that she practices what she teaches her art students. Four years ago, when the former teacher was nearing the end of her life, she asked Bolduc to visit.
Bolduc said she found her first painting – an “ugly” chickadee perched on a branch – hanging over Toothaker’s bed.
“That was touching that she wanted to see me one last time,” she said. “I think it made her day that I am an art teacher.”
Bolduc said she plans to continue to paint scenes that challenge her to capture the beauty of working waterfronts and coastal vistas. She currently is working on a panoramic view of the Portland skyline as seen from a ferry to the islands.
“I just enjoy the process of painting,” Bolduc said. “I absolutely love having a paint brush in my hand.”