SOUTHWEST HARBOR — The Southwest Harbor Public Library will host an exhibition during February of Susan Stanwood Clark’s paintings and Hilde
Clark’s collection is called, “Sometimes Dreams Come True: Susan Stanwood Clark’s Art of a Lifetime.” She has shown her watercolors at libraries on Mount Desert Island and in Ellsworth for over 20 years. This exhibition includes works from her time in the Southwest as well as pieces from her retirement in Southwest Harbor. All artwork in the show is either acrylic or watercolor.
“I grew up in a second-floor apartment in Winchester, Mass., dreaming of being a cowboy in the wide-open, spectacular West, and seeing places like the Grand Canyon and Grand Tetons firsthand. I never got to be a cowboy, but I did marry Bill, and he became a National Park Service ranger. We lived at Wind Cave, South Dakota; Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, Md.; Death Valley, Calif.; and the Grand Canyon, Ariz., and we visited so many other special places. Sometimes dreams come true,” Clark said.
Bensheimer is a semi-retired gardener/landscaper by profession who has been interested in fiber arts since an early age, starting with knitting and sewing. When not gardening or attending her seasonal shop, Pure Maine, in Southwest Harbor, she spends much of her time working with fiber, either knitting, dyeing, or felting.
Hilde Bensheimer’s vintage cast iron Auto Knitter sock-knitting machine. PHOTO COURTESY OF HILDE BENSHEIMER
She discovered the Auto Knitter 25-plus years ago. It is a cast-iron vintage hand-crank circular sock knitting machine, first manufactured in the 19th century.
Her socks, Black Sheep Woolens, are made using mostly Bartlett Yarn Inc. wool or a wool/alpaca blend yarn and can be found at the Common Ground Fair, in local shops and co-ops, and online at www.puremaine.com.
