BRIDGTON — The Rufus Porter Museum of Art and Ingenuity at 121 Main St. has added a new interactive map on the museum’s website. This map, developed by 2022 Dorothy W. Sanborn Summer Intern, Grace Acton, was designed as a companion to the museum’s current temporary exhibit on the travels of early 19th-century itinerant artists, including Rufus Porter and his nephew, Jonathan D. Poor, on view through Oct. 8.
According to a news release from the museum, map users have the option of filtering their search by Artwork, which visualizes the locations of all Rufus Porter school murals and portraits, complete with photos of the artwork, attribution details, and information about where the art can be viewed now, or by Motifs, providing an innovative interface for folk art enthusiasts to learn more about the stylistic elements of Porter School murals. Users can select a motif and see the location of each mural that features that motif, as well as an image of the motif.
The goal of this tool, according to Acton, is to encourage people to think more deeply about who painted the more than 100 unsigned Rufus Porter School murals scattered throughout New England. “There has historically been a tendency to attribute any Porter School mural to Rufus Porter himself, but that discounts the work of other artists, like Jonathan Poor. We hope that by exploring motifs, we’ll be more able to distinguish each artist’s style and properly attribute these still unidentified works,” said Acton.
The interactive map can be viewed at rufusportermuseum.org. To navigate to the page from the museum website, hover over the “Learn” tab at the top of the screen and select “Interactive Map” from the dropdown menu.
The Rufus Porter Museum of Art and Ingenuity is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday through Oct. 8.
For more information, contact 207-647-2828 or staff@rufusportermuseum.org.
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