About Robert Pollien

Rob Pollien is a painter based on Mount Desert Island, Maine. His practice, based on painting outdoors, is a decades-long study of Acadia National Park, where he was the park’s first Artist in Residence in 1994.

“Pollien’s work has an edge to it that is in keeping with the raw forces of nature his paintings capture. They are full of inner drama. None of the paintings seem to have come easily to Pollien, which I consider the hallmark of a deeply self-reflective and utterly serious artist. These paintings introduce us to a kind of beauty that goes far beyond what is visible to the eye.”
–from a review by Britta Konau in The Free Press

Pollien studied painting at the University of Pennsylvania under noted painter Neil Welliver, then attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture before settling permanently in Maine. Pollien taught for many years at the University of Maine, the University of Southern Maine and the Maine Maritime Academy. He has exhibited widely throughout the Northeast, including exhibitions at The Farnsworth Museum, Dowling Walsh Gallery, Page Gallery, and Artemis Gallery. His work is represented in the collections of the Farnsworth Art Museum, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, and the U.S. Department of the Interior, among others.
He is a two‑time Artist‑in‑Residence at Acadia National Park and a recipient of grants from the Maine Arts Commission and the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation.