Set against the dramatic coastlines of Monhegan Island, Maine, this evocative documentary—originally aired on PBS around 2012—spotlights a fierce and vibrant collective: the Women Artists of Monhegan Island (WAMI).
Founded in 1990 by painters Elena Jahn and Frances Kornbluth, WAMI offered women artists a long-overdue platform in a male-dominated art world. The island itself—wild, weathered, and whispering with history—has long been a haven for artists. But this film shifts the gaze to the women who carved their own legacy into Monhegan's rocky soul.
Artists Featured
The documentary showcases a wide range of artists connected through their love of the island and their diverse approaches to visual storytelling. Key figures include:
- Elena Jahn – A co-founder of WAMI, known for bold figurative work and vivid landscapes, with decades of island summers behind her brush.
- Frances Kornbluth – Abstract expressionist powerhouse, whose work captures the raw energy of Monhegan’s terrain and sky.
- Sylvia Alberts – Blended realism and surrealism with island themes, including seascapes that verge on the mystical.
- Nancy Thompson Brown – Created dynamic mixed-media collages that reflect the textures and rhythms of island life.
- Ruth Boynton – Poet with a paintbrush, whose watercolors immortalized shells, seaweed, and seaside stillness.
- Joanne Scott and Joan Rappaport – Known for delicate, contemplative works, often in watercolor, evoking the quiet heart of the island.
- Evelyn Davis, Yolanda Fusco, Susan Rosenthal, Arline Simon, Natalie Minewski, Frankie Odom, Lucia Taylor Miller, and Beth Van Houten – Each brought a distinct voice, style, and medium to the table, ranging from impressionistic oils to sculpture, collage, and printmaking.
Altogether, the film reflects the original 16-member collective, a sisterhood forged not only in shared geography but in creative courage.
The Heart of It All
More than just a historical record, the documentary is a love letter—to Monhegan Island, to the act of creation, and to the quiet revolution of women making space for themselves in the arts. It’s about carving out room for intuition, emotion, and collaboration in a world that often demanded women paint quietly in the margins.
These artists didn’t just paint landscapes. They captured a place. They captured each other. And they captured a truth: art made in communion, with nature and with one another, is a force to be reckoned with.
