Following a series of life changes, Truscott left her position at Spurwink Services, a nonprofit that provides behavioral health and education services, to pursue a new opportunity at Spindleworks, of Brunswick, a nonprofit art center for adults with disabilities. Her new job led her to discover Harpswell in 2010.
“When I saw this house, I was like, ‘I’m here!’” said Truscott, who immediately fell in love with an Arts and Crafts-style cottage built by Maine architect Rob Whitten in the woods along the New Meadows River. “I’m living in a treehouse!”
Since finding her way to Harpswell, Truscott has divided her time between pursuing her own craft as an artist and supporting approximately 40 artists at Spindleworks in a mentorship position. She encourages her mentees to center their voices as artists through the medium of their choice, which can include fiber arts, theater and improvisation, mixed media, painting and printmaking.
“From five minutes to an hour there (at Spindleworks), it’s never the same! It’s like a big family,” said Truscott, who is currently running a weekly improv theater workshop. “It’s pretty wild!”
With time, Truscott has found that she is not just drawn to wild improv sessions, but also to the wild spirit of her surroundings on the coast. She has noticed a shift in her work toward the abstract while living and working in Harpswell, which has driven her to develop a style similar to that of Mark Rothko’s field paintings.
“When I go to any museum, I’m like, ‘I gotta find him!’ You get swallowed up. The color pulls you in,” said Truscott, in reference to Rothko. “I just enjoy using color in atmospheric settings that aren’t really defined as landscapes, but, because they have this horizontal aspect to them, they’re like landscapes.”
“If something catches my eye, like the light, I’m there and I’m soaking it in. I’m studying it,” said Truscott, who often finds herself making mental and written notes about specific colors needed to depict passing scenes. “When I’m going by in the car, I catch the blur of the colors out of the corner of my eye with that motion behind it. I smudge and pull that color out and call it that. I’ve done a fair amount of work that is on the blurry side for that reason.”