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Home/What's New > About the Museum > Staff and Board > Director’s Message 2011

My Lunch with Ron Crusan
In which we talk about recent successes of the Museum, eat the best fish sandwich ever, and I get to make the Perkins Cove bridge go up and down.

by Bill Paarlberg

OMMA Director Ron Crusan

The other day I stopped by the Ogunquit Museum of American Art to see the new Question of Drawing show and to meet Museum Director Ron Crusan for lunch. It was one of those very hot mid-July days we had, the thermometer flirting with 100 degrees, so the cool Museum interior was especially pleasant. I was thrilled to find about two dozen visitors enjoying the artwork and the coolness as well.

The Question of Drawing: A Show of New Directions

First, I spent some time with the new Drawing show. It’s a refreshing and eclectic selection of lively work, and I’ve spoken to several visitors who are very excited about it. If you tend to think of the OMAA as a bit old-school -- or you think of a show of drawings as just more marks on paper -- this provocative exhibit will change your mind. I’ve got to say that some of the alleged “drawing” on display doesn’t look a whole lot like drawing to me. But, hey, that’s art for you. And that’s the (minorly) subversive idea of the show: What the heck is drawing, anyway?

Dahlov Ipcar’s The Cat at Night

A Visit to the Shop at OMAA

I stopped in at the Shop at OMAA, where the selection of art, books, and gifts just keeps getting bigger. They now have beautiful cozy quilts made with images from Dahlov Ipcar’s popular The Cat at Night book. And I always love the graphic intricacy of Tim Christensen’s engraved porcelain pieces. Shop Director Susan Sager says business has been very good this year, and this day was no exception: The phone was ringing and customers were lined up at the register. She was so busy I could hardly get a word in.

To the Lobster Shack for Lunch: The Best Fish Sandwich Ever

The Lobster Shack at Perkins Cove

Ron suggested Perkins Cove for lunch, so we walked up Woodbury Lane and he pointed out Charles Woodbury’s old studio, the place with the BIG north-facing windows. Woodbury started summering in Ogunquit in 1888, helping to found the art colony here well before tourists made Maine the vacationland it is now. I wonder what he would think of the view out his windows today?

We ate at The Lobster Shack, where they serve up a spectacular fish sandwich with a huge local haddock fillet. Very different in taste and texture from the deep fried mystery fish so commonly served elsewhere. Without a doubt the best fish sandwich I’ve ever had.

OMAA Attendance is Up, and A Sneak Preview of the New Landscape Plans

The big news this year is that Museum attendance is way up. This, says Ron, is partly the result of opening in May instead of June. But he also revealed that the Museum has launched an aggressive new campaign to reach vacationers and visitors from away. It's obviously been very effective at bringing them in the door.

Another thing Ron is very excited about are plans for reorganizing the grounds of the Museum. As you may be aware, last year OMAA landed a big grant from the Quimby Family Foundation, part of which is going toward improving the sculpure gardens and parking. Plans are still very rough, so nothing’s official or even ready for public view. But I can tell you that several alternative and rather artistic parking layouts are under consideration. “Parking that doesn’t look like Market Basket,” to quote Ron. He and designer Stephanie Hubbard of SiteCreative Landscape Architecture are working on weaving some trees and sculptures in and around the parking, maybe using some cobblestones or other interesting pavement. Maybe even a drive up to the Museum entrance. So at the opening receptions you can have your limo drop you right at the door.

We talked about local painter DeWitt Hardy, who will be speaking (along with Kate Doyle) at the Museum’s Tuesday Night at the Museum series coming up on August 16th. Dewitt has a show of watercolors of local scenes that just opened at Mary Harding’s Marshal Store Gallery on the river in York. His show is downstairs, and is a fine selection of DeWitt’s inimitable watercolor style. Upstairs is Part 2 of the very successful From the Garden to the Kitchen show.

The Bridge Goes Up, the Bridge Goes Down

Perkiins Cove Bridge

When lunch was over we walked back over the Perkins Cove bridge. A sailboat was coming in from the ocean and Ron invited me to push the button to raise the bridge. I was as thrilled as any ten year-old to make that bridge go up and then down again after the boat motored through. In fact, I might have to go back there and hang out for a while just so I can push that button a few more times.

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