|
You had only to
look as far as Theophil Groell’s pant leg to see
how dedicated he was to his art. The very colors
gracing his paintings played out in a spatter of
colorful streaks on his well-worn trousers — a
tribute to the precision he and his tiny, delicate
brushes shared in his passion to create art along
the coasts of Maine and Greece.
Groell, 72, died
March 4 at Eastern
Maine Medical
Center in Bangor from complications of
acute pneumonia.
His longtime
fiancee Joan Weaver said his sudden death was a
shock to family and friends.
“He was at it
right up until the end,” she said on Monday
afternoon from her home in Stonington. (The two
met in Greece several years ago.) “We had dinner
with friends that night.” Later that evening, Theo
(known as Ted to his friends and family) wasn’t
feeling well, she said. He went to Blue Hill
Memorial Hospital and was later
flown by LifeFlight in a snowstorm to Bangor.
“We thought we’d
be coming home for leftovers,” Weaver said. “He
never got a chance to say his good-byes.”
But his art lives
on. And Weaver is determined to finish what she
and Groell started.
Weaver is going
through Groell’s vast collection of artwork to
pull together a retrospective exhibition that will
be shown first on the Aegean island of
Hydra and later in Maine. The
two also had been working on a book of Groell’s
work, which she hopes to finish and get published.
Through April, an
exhibition of 109 drawings on paper in various
graphic media, including silver point, is on view
at the Wine Cellar Art Gallery at John Edwards in
Ellsworth. A reception will be held in Groell’s
honor on April 2 from 5 to 7 p.m.
Groell was born in
Pittsburgh. He graduated from the Carnegie
Institute of Technology with a bachelor of fine
arts degree. He moved to New York City to pursue a
career as a painter.
Through the years,
his paintings and drawings of the figure, still
life and landscape have been featured in several
one-man exhibitions in New York,
Portland and Deer Isle, as well
as in several national touring exhibitions.
He began spending
summers in Deer Isle while teaching in New York.
Since his early retirement in 1987, he has divided
his residence between Greece and Deer Isle,
painting outdoors from April through November each
year.
Groell was also a
political activist, working on behalf of peace and
justice issues and Democratic candidates dating
back to Adlai Stevenson.
A celebration of
his life will be held in Deer Isle on Aug. 14.
Memorial donations may be made to Island Education
Foundation,
P.O. Box 232, Deer Isle, 04627
or to Island Peace and Justice, P.O. Box 14, Deer Isle. |
