Attendees at the opening of Walter’s Café in Brunswick converse while surrounded by Christine Covert’s artwork Saturday, Sept. 28. Paul Bagnall / The Times Record

Maine restauranteur Walter C. Loeman Jr. and his co-creator Dorian Lewis paired food and art for the Saturday opening of their new café in Brunswick featuring work by Maine artists.

The menu at Walter’s Café focuses on fresh and healthy foods locally sourced from seven established farms, including Morning Dew, Whatley, Six Rivers, Goranson and Two Farmers. The café supports local artists and farmers in the Midcoast area with the aim to help build a sense of community for people walking into the restaurant. The farms, mostly in the Kennebec area, dictate the menu based on what is available for the season.

“We have a dream, and the dream is to provide excellent, fun, informed food,” Lewis said. “In a place where Merrymeeting Bay is very close, it is one of the most fertile places in the United States, and we are so lucky to have the farms around us that we do, and we are taking full advantage of those farms.”

Grand opening puts spotlight on artist Christine Covert

Christine Covert, 74, has always made art but didn’t take herself seriously until she pursued it more aggressively in the past seven to eight years. Her figurative and abstract artwork hangs on the café’s walls during the Abstractions and Other Interpretations art show, marking the first time she has been featured in a restaurant since she moved from the Hancock area in Maine to Warren.

“We made our move fairly quickly, and there was a lot of not saying goodbye that happened,” Covert said. “So there was a part of me that kind of needed to do some work that had to do with being at the edge of change.”

Covert said it takes time to hone your skills and how you want to work, reflecting on a phase she went through painting various landscapes. Covert got her landscapes to a point where she was satisfied with them but did not pursue it professionally because she felt everyone else was already doing landscape painting. Covert wanted to do something more personal.

Some of Colvert’s figurative work does not look like other people’s figurative work, which was her goal. Her work shows the theme of being at the edge of something, with the figurative people at the edge of water.

“Despite the fact of my age, I still consider myself still to be an emerging artist at the beginning of my career,” Covert said. “I decided I would take advantage of the opportunity to show my work in Brunswick because I had already done a show here.”

Around 2014 and 2015, Covert decided it was now or never to pursue becoming a capital ‘A’ artist full time. She took art classes to brush up on her oil painting skills while winding down her pottery business.

Previously, Covert did not pursue her artwork as a business but had some paintings at farmers markets.

Christine Covert’s figurative style is on display at Walter’s Café in Brunswick for a limited time, with one of her pieces on the walls being “Young Explorers.” Paul Bagnall / The Times Record

Walter’s Café art curator DeDe Wilder met Covert at the Brunswick Art Fair in August and wanted to see more of her artwork. After seeing more at Covert’s home studio, Wilder wanted to show it in a space where everyone could enjoy it.

The transition process for Covert has been challenging, and it has been hard work for her to stick with it until she is satisfied. However, getting people to see her artwork is the hardest part. Covert said her artwork isn’t complete until others look at it and have takeaways based on their experiences.

“I have been fortunate enough to follow my interests,” Covert said.

Covert had an iteration of showing African textile artwork during the second half of the 1990s and into the early 2000s, but she also showed her artwork in restaurants in the Blue Hill and Ellsworth areas. Afterward, Covert started her second pottery career, making and selling her craftwork while doing a little bit of fine art along the way as a creative outlet.

When she attended Boston University’s art school in the 1970s, Covert was a member of a group that met weekly to do life drawing. During this time, people would show up in Covert’s work. Fast-forward to the figurative work that lines the hallway walls of Walter’s Café, which is more recent artwork Covert started doing about five years ago.

Covert said whatever is going on in her life comes into her artwork.

Curating a creative space for Brunswick

Wilder said a café is a social environment where people share experiences, and having beautiful artwork in that setting enriches the environment.

“I think it’s a fabulous thing and fosters the creative community in our town,” Wilder said. “I am a big believer that the arts help build towns and make them cool places.”

Wilder attended Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, in the Five College Community of the Pioneer Valley, where she witnessed how artwork changed the town’s nature to make it a desirable place to visit and a powerful force for building community. Wilder doesn’t want tourist-style artwork but wants artwork that aligns with Brunswick’s identity.

Wilder will call for art to feature new Midcoast artists after Covert’s work has been featured for two to three months. The art show featuring Covert’s work for Walter’s Café’s grand opening took about six weeks to assemble.

“Maine is about sitting down with people you don’t know, getting to know them and having a friend for life,” Lewis said.