Vague imageries, from a once upon a time in Casco Bay, Maine are brought into focus to create a genre painting of the several island      communities. Maritime sagas and grapevine gossip give us an up-front and personal view of the lives and times of a unique social unit that held fast through history's   finest and worst hours. An    immigrant family moved across the stage with the Long Island natives, crossed paths with the arctic explorer, Robert E. Peary, and along with the   entire community, the Gomez family held fast to the rigging when the island became the refueling depot for the US Navy's North Atlantic Fleet in WWII.  This is a slice of Americana that bears revisiting.

The author/artist, Roberta (Gomez) Ricker, picked up the literary paint-brush to create a historical portrait of Casco Bay, a period that extends from the 1700s up to 1960, the very year that she and her peers left the island to make their way.  Epochal best describes a     childhood on Long Island in the 1940s and 50s; therefore she brings the story to an end just     before she steps off into adulthood, though she points out that   throughout the many years since, it is her island self that has remained an entertaining, constant, and very dependable mainstay with which to do life. 

SUZANNE RICKER

Growing up in Maine is a special and unique experience.  I come from a small island community in Casco Bay, which is filled with rich  history and remarkable beauty.  It was here, on “the island” that I began my interest in photography.  I wanted to preserve the beauty that was around me, setting the foundation for what was to come…..

My mother is well-known local artist/author, Roberta Ricker. My father, Robert, has been a captain and merchant marine beginning on the old ferry boats of Casco Bay.  My immediate and extended families hail from two of the islands in Casco Bay and it is with their support and  encouragement that I’ve been able to develop and expand my abilities; thus bringing a new perspecitive on what we almost take for granted every day…  the beautiful Maine coast.

Through Maine Dezign, I have created a line of prints and products that allow me to share my visions.  Along with photographs, “Giclées” and panoramas, I have developed a technique to “sculpt” and “design”   photos into Nature’s Mandalas, Maine Kaleidoscopes and other unique designs.  It’s Maine photography, with a twist!