L OCATED about a mile and a half out to sea from one grammar school and impromptu performances in the island - Mount Desert and a short hop across a library and at his home, he has borne the printed word off watery thoroughfare from another - Great Cranberry the page, and made of poetry and art vital enterprises - - Little Cranberry is a mere slip of an vital island enterprises. As he has in cities island, 375 or SO acres of ledgy hillocks, salt across the country, Bryan has broadened his marshes, and rocky shoreline. Narrow roads, Piper island listeners' cultural horizons to in- some paved, more not, crisscross it. Modest, clude the lore of the West Indies (his parents well-kempt homes front the sea, along with were originally from Antigua) and the wis- several turn-of-the-century summer cot- dom of African folk tales. tages. From June to August, the island's And at Christmastime, he gives the population swells to around 400. But come winter, that population drops to Prince children of Little Cranberry the gift of magic. Every December, he invites his fewer than 100 souls, a tight little com- island neighbors to stop by his gray- munity made up mostly of lobstermen, shingled home. to view his crèche, an boatbuilders, and their young families. It also includes of awe-inspiring collection of several hundred figures Ashley Bryan, internationally renowned storyteller, gathered during the course of his world travels. award-winning children's book illustrator, painter, Others, friends and admirers, may arrive on the Dartmouth College professor, world traveler, and one mailboat from Northeast Harbor, braving rough of Little Cranberry's most ardent longtime resi- seas and bitter winds just to gaze upon this extraor- dents. the dinary scene. Folk-art Marys, Josephs, and baby First and foremost, Bryan's bond with the Jesuses from France and Germany, Africa and the island is with the sea which surrounds it. "The West Indies share a multi-tiered platform with ocean speaks to me," he says simply. "That's exquisite toys, small dolls, puppets, and all man- what brought me here" -that, ner of creatures great and small. In a setting where and the simultaneous sense of Cranberry neighboring homes are deco- privacy and community that rated with Christmas trees and island living affords. "People holiday lights, all eyes are drawn here," he adds, "have always indoors to the sight of this multi- been supportive of my work." cultural gathering, a veritable Some contend that the trials and tribula- tions of small-town living are doubled when one lives on a Maine island, and uninformed Isles "Family of Man" bathed in the low light of a wintry Maine island afternoon. outsiders might imagine the lot of a A LTHOUGH Ashley Bryan black man in such a community would With his engaging smile, turned sixty-eight this year- be tough at best. They would be wrong. he was born in Harlem in 1923 Bryan credits his closeness to the people easy-going manner, and raised in the Bronx, the second of of Little Cranberry to his lifelong and gift for storytelling, six children visitors to his Isleford involvement with small commu- Ashley Bryan has enchanted home who try to guess his age would nities. The law of survival on the probably shave at least ten years off island - "people do what they can to his young neighbors that figure. Tall and trim, sporting a tie- meet the needs of the community," on Little Cranberry Island. dyed shirt and bell bottoms, Bryan states Bryan, "in order to get by" has the step and spirit of a man half is the same law that shaped the church- Article by Carl Little. his age. Yes, there's gray in his hair centered Bronx neighborhood of his youth. and mustache, but his bearing, and his Ashley Bryan's contribution to the fishing village he vibrant voice, bespeak an individual just beginning to lives in centers on its children. Through visits to the small pursue his dreams - which are many, and marvelous. P52-56 Photographs by Kip Brundage DOWN East DECEMBER 1991 53 Those dreams began early, as a student at a WPA- and Sculpture during the first year of the prestigious administered school in the Bronx, where, he says, he art institution's existence. On weekends, Bryan learned not to be afraid of being creative. Later, he traveled the coast with friends, and it was on one of won an art scholarship to Cooper Union in New York, these trips that he discovered the Cranberry Isles. but his studies there were interrupted by the outbreak His love for this quintet of spruce-clad islands was of World War II. Bryan served in a black battalion of immediate and all-encompassing. Later, traveling the then-segregated U.S. Army, and was eventually with friends through the spectacular scenery of assigned to a transportation corps that took part in the Switzerland and Spain, he would tell them, "You Normandy invasion. After the war, he completed his think this is beautiful? Just wait until you see the degree at Cooper Union and promptly enrolled at Cranberry Isles." Columbia University on the GI Bill as a philosophy At first, Bryan rented the house of the late Gretna major, "trying," he once remarked, "to understand Campbell, a New York painter who maintained a why man chooses war." studio overlooking "The Pool" on Great Cranberry Upon graduation in 1950, Bryan returned to Island. In the late fifties he moved to Little Cranberry, Europe on a Fulbright scholarship, to further his art where he rented a room in a fisherman's house studies in France and Germany. His travels have since which also had a large barn studio. There he began to taken him all over the United States and Europe, and create his first masks and puppets, constructed of to Israel, Kenya, Uganda, and the Ivory Coast. But for odds and ends scavenged on the island shores - all his sojourns hither and yon, Bryan always tells the mussel shells, bones, sea glass. He bought his own children he meets that some of the best traveling to be home on the island about twelve years ago; had is in the library. and although he's frequently off on speaking tours, Bryan owes his career as an illustrator of Little Cranberry remains his favorite domain. children's books to a chance meeting with a New "When I'm here," Bryan simply states, "I'm just York book editor. Charmed by the handmade books here." Bryan had made for himself, she commissioned him Bryan has recently enlarged his home, finding he to provide the artwork for an illustrated edition of required more space to contain what is, for all Moon, For What Do You Wait? by the Nobel-Prize- intents and purposes, a museum. The rooms are SO winning Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. Since then, wonder-filled as to remind one of the palaces of fairy Bryan has written and illustrated more than fifteen tales or, better, Santa's workshop. Toys abound: there books: children's stories such as What a Morning, are clowns, rocking horses, whirligigs, mobiles, Turtle Knows Your Name, and Beat the Story-Drum, model airplanes, vintage games, and wind-up cars. Pum-Pum; compendiums of African folk tales Several glass cases house more precious objects. For including The Ox of the Wonderful Horns; and young and old alike, the temptation to touch is strong, collections of African-American spirituals such as but there's always a selection of less fragile Walk Together Children and I'n Going to Sing. In playthings to satisfy roving hands. On any visit, it's 1990 Bryan was the recipient of one of the highest not long before children and grown-ups - including honors in children's literature, the Arbuthnot Prize, Bryan himself - are setting tops spinning across the an international award given once a year in floor or looking through an old-fashioned recognition of lifetime achievement. And from 1973 stereoscopic viewer. to 1985, he also found time to teach art at New bookshelves hold Bryan's wide-ranging Dartmouth College, serving as chairman of the library, where three monographs on Degas department for a year as well. share a shelf with a book on the Masai. Colorful fabrics, photographs of family, and some of Bryan's M AINE has nurtured Bryan's aspirations as an garden canvases fill the walls. In a small room off the artist since the summer of 1946, when he kitchen hangs a framed Doctor of Fine Arts Degree attended the Skowhegan School of Painting conferred on Bryan in 1989 by the Massachusetts 54 DOWN EAST College of Art, one of many honors bestowed upon him. In the same room are the large leaded window panels Bryan makes out of sea glass. With considerable ingenuity he has transformed the shards of smooth bottles into beautifully rendered scenes from the Bible, a rich source for his art over the years. Recently Bryan contributed a design for one of the windows in his childhood church in the Bronx, which had been damaged by a fire. While beachcombing is a favorite pastime, Bryan also enjoys simply OLLAR CORSETS looking out across the ocean. Has he ever painted marine motifs? In the earlier days, he says, he worked all over Little Cranberry, but for the past fifteen years or so, he's rarely ventured beyond his own garden for subjects to paint. Every time he sets out with easel, paints, and brushes for a distant view, he is stopped in his tracks by a clump of irises or lilies, by the bright autumnal visages of sunflowers. The example of Claude Monet comes to mind, and how the French painter increasingly focused his attention on his beloved plantings at Giverny to the exclusion of the rest of the world. B UT the world is very much with Ashley Bryan these days. Because of his fame as a storyteller, children's book illustrator, and champion of African-American spirituals, Bryan is in great demand, with a formidable yearly itinerary. Libraries, schools, A collector as well as a multifaceted artist, churches, and other organizations throughout Bryan turns debris he finds on island beaches into the United States request his presence, to read, exotic puppets with captivating personalities. He also is talk, and perform, with youngsters taking up most an award-winning author and illustrator of children's books of the seats at his packed appearances. Bryan's and an accomplished painter. Over the years his island presentations of the verse of black American poets home has become a place of wonder for children who like Paul Laurence Dunbar and Gwendolyn show up to ogle his treasures and hear his tales. DECEMBER 1991 55 Brooks, along with his readings of African and West Indian folk tales, are electrifying events. Expressive gestures and singular vocal leaps delight and amaze the audience. Before one's eyes, Bryan transforms himself into Spider Ananse, the "trickster" figure in the tale The Dancing Granny, or into the grand- mother in the story Turtle Knows Your Name who teaches her grandson how to pronounce, syllable by syllable, his extraordinary name, Upsilimana Tum- palerado. Bryan has also been the subject of Wrap your own package. several video documentaries. National Geographic released a portrait of the artist and storyteller in 1987; and Ameri- We offer the most complete building packages in the log home can School Publishers sent a crew out to business, with more than 20 designs to choose from. But you don't have to stop there. You can customize a Maine Pine Log Home with your own Little Cranberry this past June to shoot personal touch and preferences. Our designers will work with you to footage for a new video on the artist. create exactly the home you want. When we deliver it to your site, it will already have part of you in it. Walking the coast, painting, reciting poems and stories to island children, Free brochure, or send $8 for complete color catalogue & floor plans. Bryan fits the title of "Piper-Prince" Maine Pine given him by his friend, Great Cranberry Toll free in Maine: poet Charles Wadsworth. 1-800-439-3276 Watching a rough cut of the new film, LOG HOMES Local or out-of-state: (207)778-3518 Bryan chuckles at some of the antics the Route 2, Farmington ME 04938 by Hammond Lumber Company film crew put him through. "I wouldn't normally pop up out of a field of lupines Experience to build on. to read a poem,' Bryan confesses. Yet he was truly engaged by the playful spirit of the film makers, and SO went along with the fun. He adds that he's never done any SUBSCRIBER acting, "but give me a poem or a song, Down East SERVICE and I can do anything." But wherever he may roam, Bryan's 1-800-727-7422 favorite audiences are his Little Cran- berry Island neighbors, including Daniel 1. Change of Address and Katherine Fernald, and their chil- Please allow six weeks and include both your old address (include mailing dren, Erin and Malcolm. Their friend- label if possible) and your new address. The post office will forward your ship is a living example of the island magazine for 60 days at no charge while the change takes effect. For fastest camaraderie that Bryan describes. Ashley service call toll-free at the number above. gives Dan, who is a fisherman by profes- 2. Orders sion, art lessons; Kate counsels Ashley New Subscription - 1 year $19.95 on the format of a book he's working on; Renewal - 1 year $19.95 Ashley tries out a new poem on Erin and Malcolm, to whom he has dedicated Gift Subscription. To order a gift subscription ($19.95 for first subscription, $17.50 for each additional), send your name and address along with your previous books. A dinner at Dan and Kate's, with recipient's name and address on a separate sheet. We will mail you an acknowl- "Ash," as his friends call him, in edgment and a gift card, SO you can announce your gift personally. attendance, is a time of grand cheer. 3. Binders & Slipcases Lobsters pulled that day are passed Please mail your order with check payable to Jesse Jones Industries to: around; the escapades of a local free Jesse Jones Industries/Down East, Dept. DOE, 499 East Erie Ave., Philadel- spirit are amusingly retold; an aspect phia, PA 19134. Prices include postage: of painting technique is discussed. The Slipcases 1-$8.95 3-$24.95 6-$45.95 wine is poured, and the table and its Binders 1-$10.95 3-$30.95 6-$58.95 charmed company come alive in con- versation. Watching this scene, it is 4. Subscription Problems clear why the people of Little Cranberry For missed issues, duplicate issues, expiration questions, or any other con- have taken Ashley Bryan to heart, and cerns, please write or call us. clear as well why this man who has traveled SO many worlds real and imag- Down East P.O. Box 871 Camden, ME 04843 ined is happy to call a Maine island home. 56 DOWN EAST