Art & Soul

Drew Hodges and Peter Kukielski restored an historic Maine farmhouse, paying homage to its striking setting and filling its rooms with eclectic artwork

- Emma J Page

Among the tall grasses, rocky ledges and moody waters of Maine’s coastal town of Cushing, art and nature collide. This picturesque landscape has long been famed not only for its rich haul of fish and lobster, but also for its thriving artistic community, attracted to the area’s quality of light. It was that creative spirit that first beckoned Drew Hodges to tiny Monhegan Island, 12 miles off the coast, as he searched for a place where he, too, might roll up his sleeves and get painting.

‘The island was favoured by American painters Rockwell Kent and George Bellows, among many others,’ he says. ‘It was too remote for winter living, however, so I began searching for a traditional clapboard house on the mainland. I was prepared to wait years for the right place, but it took only a few months for an historic gem to present itself.’