YARMOUTH – The line outside the sanctuary space of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church began forming half an hour before the doors opened. 

“I learned that if I came an hour later, things I want are gone,” said Mary Ann McLean, 76, who came from Cumberland to get first pick at the Yarmouth Art Festival. She had her eye on an acrylic painting of an egret standing on a buoy.

Now in its 17th year, the Yarmouth Art Festival began as members of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church brainstormed how to better share the multi-use sanctuary space with the town. After connecting with local artists both in the congregation and not, the vestry learned that a juried show was needed by the artistic community.  St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church put on the first Yarmouth Art Festival, a juried show with entries from all over Maine. 

Locals like McLean have come to the festival for over a decade, both admiring the overall show and building up their personal collections of work by Maine artists. 

“I can go through my house and point at things I bought here,” she said. 

In order to get entries from across the state, the Yarmouth Art Festival accepted digital submissions so artists would not have to drive to Yarmouth to enter. Getting online photos was much more of a feat in 2009 than today, said Joe Michaud, an organizer of the event since its debut.

“I hate to admit this, but I went to artist’s houses to take pictures of their artwork. They didn’t have digital cameras. Obviously, iPhones had just come out,” said Michaud. 

In the early years, about 150 artworks were submitted. For this year’s show, the jury had to select 169 pieces from 140 artists out of 698 submissions. Pieces must meet the liking of jurors Peggy Greenhut, the former owner of a Portland gallery, editorial director at Colby College and former arts reporter for the Maine Sunday Telegram Bob Keyes, and freelance curator Wes LaFountain.

All selected pieces can be viewed online, and it’s first come, first served for in-person purchases between Oct. 15-18. Then, it transitions to online sales until the end of October. About half the the artworks, which is priced by the artists ranging from about $100 to over $1,000, typically sells by the end of the show, said Michaud. 

Painter Anita Poulin’s, “A School of Fish,” depicts colorful fish in watercolor, their bodies overlapping and aligning to give the impression of a stained glass window. The painting, selected for inclusion in the Yarmouth Art Festival, was inspired by a day of fishing with her grandson in Rangeley. 

“I get inspiration everywhere. I go for walks, I see things,” said Poulin, 77, who lives in Auburn. 

A lifelong artist, she has submitted to the Yarmouth Art Festival for about a decade and gotten accepted half of the years. Once painting what she thought the jury would like best – “landscapes, mostly” – she has let her own creative inspiration drive her submissions more recently. 

“For the last five years, which have been more successful, I’ve basically painted what I want to paint. It seems to be working,” she said. 

Artists receive 70% of the money from the sales, with the church donating the remainder as well as entry fees to charities of the congregation’s choice. Raising about $15,000 over the past several years, organizers expect to donate the same amount this year between the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine, EqualityMaine and New Mainers Assistance Program. 

Attending the Yarmouth Art Festival for several years, amateur photographer Andy Cadigan submitted his work to the jury this year. Of the three black and white photographs he sent in, two were selected: a bird perched on a sign at Falmouth’s Gilsland Farm and a tree hanging over water at Littlejohn Island Preserve in Yarmouth. 

“I’m a pharmacist by trade, so (photography) was kind of almost an offshoot of just me getting out on the trail to decompress from my job,” said Cadigan, who lives in Falmouth. 

It was the first time Cadigan submitted any of his photographs to a show and the first time his work is for sale. In addition to the encouragement of his wife and friends to display his work, Cadigan was motivated to apply this year by Yarmouth Art Festival’s donations to organizations supporting immigrants and refugees, families, the LBGTQ+ community. 

“This year specifically, it seems like those are groups that are more and more being attacked across the country. And I just felt like that’s a good cause. I can’t think of any better times than now to help support that,” said Cadigan. 

Poulin said she can find it expensive to submit to shows, and difficult to transport her artwork to juries throughout New England in recent years following her husband’s passing. The Yarmouth Art Festival remains geographically and financially accessible, with submission fees starting at $25 for the first piece and $10 for the second and $5 for additional works. 

Like Cadigan, Poulin was also encouraged to participate in the show by the fees and commissions supporting local nonprofits. 

“I know they are helping people with the money, and I like that,” she said.