Gold LEAF Institute Course Catalogue

In-Person

The South Solon Meeting House (1 Meeting House Rd, Solon) deserves to be called the “Sistine Chapel of Maine”: between 1952 and 1956, courtesy of the nearby Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, its interior was completely covered in frescoes depicting Biblical subjects, along with a few secular depictions in the lobby. A dozen artists, many at the time in their twenties, participated. Most of them went on to become famous, often in other media, such as beloved writer and illustrator of children's books, Ashley Bryan. Come learn how this extraordinary place came about in the middle of rural Maine and discover the messages its frescoes convey. Please dress warmly for this lecture!

For more on the Meeting House: https://web.colby.edu/southsolonmeetinghouse/

Driving directions from Famington, ME  https://tinyurl.com/3ezefstc

October 9, 2025

10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Location: South Solon Meeting House

1 Meeting House Rd, Solon, ME 04979

Carpooling: TBD

Véronique Plesch is the James M. Gillespie Professor of Art at Colby College. Born in Argentina and raised in Switzerland, she holds advanced degrees from the University of Geneva and from Princeton University, where she received her Ph.D. in 1994, the year she joined the Colby faculty. Plesch is the author and editor of nine books and over 100 articles in English, French, Italian, and Spanish, among others, on the topic of religious fresco cycles. She is one of the editors of the Maine Arts Journal: Union of Maine Visual Arts Quarterly, to which she regularly contributes. In 2022, she taught a semester-long course on the South Solon Meeting House.