Ian White, a California painter, was invited to come to Maine and paint during the campaign to raise the funds to purchase Katahdin Lake and add it to Baxter State Park. Ian wrote to me last year, to tell me that he had been told that a story in the New York Times showing me painting on the shore of Katahdin Lake was critical in completing fund-raising of $14million dollars in private money for the campaign. He was interested in seeing the painting and hearing the story about

i've just be asked to donate a painting for a fund-raising project with Natural Resource Council of Maine. I am delighted to participate in this project as I've been a member of NRCM for many years. One of the proudest moments of my career was being awarded the "People's Choice Award" in recognition of my contribution to the Katahdin Lake Campaign. Like many of us, I could not write a large check to support a cause that I was passionate about; but I realized that I could use

I am known as an #ArtVocate - that is - an artist, activist and educator and I have often been asked to explain just what the artist as activist role means. The most obvious answer is typically "donate some artwork and the proceeds support a cause" but that isn't quite enough anymore, not for the causes, nor for the artists involved. My friend and business strategy mentor Keith Spiro often talks about building communities around important concepts and organizations, I have do