A guest at the 2018 COA Champlain Institute takes a selfie with Senator George Mitchell, one of t...A guest at the 2018 COA Champlain Institute takes a selfie with Senator George Mitchell, one of the featured speakers.

Painter and social activist Robert Shetterly joins the college for the first Coffee & Conversation of the season. Shetterly shares the stage with COA educational studies director Dr. Bonnie Tai to discuss his American’s Who Tell the Truth (AWTT) portraits, which use words and images to highlight citizens who courageously address issues of social, environmental, and economic fairness.

Coffee and Conversation continues the following week with author Roxanna Robinson discussing her latest work, “Dawson’s Fall” (Sarah Crichton Books, 2019), with COA Lisa Stewart Chair in Literature and Women’s Studies Karen Paintings from artist Robert Shetterly's Americans Who Tell the Truth series are on display i...Paintings from artist Robert Shetterly's Americans Who Tell the Truth series are on display in the College of the Atlantic Ethel H. Blum gallery during the summer of 2019.Waldron. Other featured series guests include Smithsonian Museum curator Helen Bechtel, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frances FitzGerald, and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts assistant object conservator Casey Mallinckrodt.

At the center of the 2019 COA summer series is the College of the Atlantic Champlain Institute—Art: Dissent and Democracy, which explores the ways art challenges, promotes, undermines, and advances political, social, religious, and cultural norms. The free program includes lectures, books signings and guest receptions. Registration is required.

“Mount Desert Island has long attracted some of the brightest, most creative thinkers and doers, and College of the Atlantic is pleased to support this tradition with our community-oriented programming,” said COA president Darron Collins ’92. “The events are free, open to everyone, and feature a rich palette of speakers that will compliment time on the water, atop our mountains, and among our families and friends.”

Shetterly’s AWTT began in 2002 as his personal portrait project. It has morphed into a broad-based, not-for-profit arts and education organization, the mission of New York Times bestselling authors Imbolo Mbue, pictured, and Christina Baker Kline discuss the...New York Times bestselling authors Imbolo Mbue, pictured, and Christina Baker Kline discuss their work at the College of the Atlantic 2019 Champlain Institute.which is “to foster and inspire ‘a profound sense of citizenship’ by exposing students at all levels to portraits, quotes, biographies and related resources built around these ‘Models of Courageous Citizenship,’” according to the AWTT website.

Paintings from Shetterly’s AWTT series comprise the feature exhibit this summer in COA’s Ethel H. Blum Gallery. The exhibit is on display July 2-August 31, with a closing reception on Aug. 22. 

Shetterly graduated from Harvard College with a degree in English literature and after moving to Maine in 1970 taught himself drawing, printmaking, and painting. He has engaged in a wide variety of political and humanitarian work with many of the people whose portraits he has painted. Much of his current work focuses on honoring and working with the activists trying to bring an end to the practice of mountaintop removal in Appalachia, on climate change, and on the continuation of systemic racism in the U.S.

Photorealist painter Richard Estes is the subject of “Actually, Iconic: Richard Estes,” a new...Photorealist painter Richard Estes is the subject of “Actually, Iconic: Richard Estes,” a new documentary by Olympia Stone screening at College of the Atlantic. Above, “Brooklyn Bridge” (1991, oil on canvas), is one of Estes largest works, measuring at 93 3/4 x 93 3/4 inches. Credit: Adam Shankar

For more information about COA’s summer event schedule, and to register for the 2019 Champlain Institute, visit coa.edu/summerevents. Please note, all Coffee and Conversation events are in Deering Common Community Center. The Champlain Institute is held at the Katherine W. Davis International Center. Click for a detailed map.