Robert Pollien

Bio

Robert Pollien (b. 1960) is a graduate of Trinity College and the University of Pennsylvania. He also attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. A long time resident of Mount Desert Island, painting at the water's edge is central to his practice as an artist. He has served twice as Artist in Residence at Acadia National Park at the invitation of the National Park Service. 

Pollien paints in the spirit of turning to nature. He uses subtle value shifts to capture tide pools, granite outcroppings, and forest edges in changing seasons and shifting weather. He often paints in the soft diffused light of early morning fog, overcast skies, or twilight, enabling his compositions to simplify into refined tonal relationships. These stylistic choices lend both an abstraction and a spiritual mood to his landscapes. In making closely observed images of the island landscape, he demonstrates a deep appreciation of this place.

 "The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)