Rockwell Kent lives

at least in Plattsburgh, New York.

When I was planning my trip to North America and found that I could take a train to and from Montreal to visit my sister and brother-in-law in Burlington, Vermont, I saw that one of the stops was in a place called Plattsburgh, New York, and when I looked it up, I discovered that one of its main claims to fame was a room at the local university’s library devoted to Rockwell Kent, an artist I had never heard of. When I read about him at wikipedia I was truly fascinated and decided to make a visit to the room. Kent was a well-known artist and illustrator in the first half of the 20th century before running into trouble with crazy Joe McCarthy and had quite a remarkable life that combined an active involvement in a wide range of socialist and environmental causes with artistic expression of various kinds. He also wrote and illustrated books based on journeys to Alaska, Greenland, and other places that are still well worth reading. My kind of guy, in other words. Do check him out. Here’s a sampling of some of his art that was on display in Plattsburgh.

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Don’t miss our upcoming 10th anniversary celebration with concerts on Wednesday and Thursday and a party on Sunday. Should be fun. For details go to “bookstore events”.