Doug Frati, of Palmyra, has been selected as the 2024 Artist of the Year by The Belfast Area Chamber of Commerce and the Arts in the Park Event Committee.

Doug Frati was born in Maine in 1954. His youth was spent growing up in a small rural town located on the banks of the Sebasticook River.

“My grandmother had an old farm there, built by her grandfather, she lived alone and worked in the woolen mills,” said Frati, in a Chamber news release. “Her barn was full of cows, chickens, sheep, rodents and spiders. Wood was always the common denominator, we cooked on it, heated with it, built with it, fenced with it, hunted in it and tapped it for maple syrup in the spring.”

Frati attended art school, graduating with a degree in printmaking. His work was soon collected privately as well as publicly when the Portland Museum of Art included it in their permanent collection.

“I returned to my grandmother’s farm, which was vacant for years, in a sad state of collapse and rebuilt. I took it apart and put it all back together bonding with my family’s past in the process,” he said.

Frati’s current wood carving is a direct reflection of where and how he lives. Many of his carvings are made of old wood salvaged from antique objects, broken and lost to barns and attics. A neighbor runs a small sawmill where large white pine is turned to boards for carving. He creates his own stains to bring out the graphic and textural aspects of the carvings. History becomes an element for creating a new work of art. Layered time adds weight and depth, driving iconic imagery. The work brings to, and brings out, something in the viewer that is real and solid. Something old yet fresh.

Frati, a farmer as well as an artist, grows garlic on his family homestead for market and for his own home use. He has converted the old barn that once held animals and hay into a studio. The old building echoes its past and imparts some of its soul into each piece.

Come see Doug and all the great Maine artists this year at the 28th annual Arts in the Park on June 29 & 30, 2023 at Steamboat Landing Park in Belfast, presented by The Belfast Area Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Belfast Parks & Recreation Department. Major event sponsorship provided by KSW Federal Credit Union and RE/MAX Jaret & Cohn Real Estate. Over 100 Maine artists, great music and food! For more information, call the Chamber at 207-338-5900 or visit belfastmaine.org/arts-in-the-park