Andrew M. Cook, the tall fellah behind "Lobstering Is An Art," has been drawing his entire life and more recently of a familiar local crustacean. Back in 2011, he left his corporate day job to pursue a more intimate lifestyle with his wife and two young children and quickly decided the Maine lobster needed a creative spin with a touch of wikud guwad humah. 

The Maine lobster is recognized and sought after worldwide. However, Andrew noticed a similar pattern when frequenting the many gift and souvenir shops sprinkled along the coast of Maine: many of the various lobster products were all red (cooked), too similar, too cartoony, or too clichéd. Andrew’s “outta the trap” creative mind started racing like a lobster boat in Stonington in mid-July. He started with an outline of a lobster, which quickly became a series, and, ultimately, a carefully considered obsession. Buoys, flowers, ice cream, and sea glass all made for a perfect lobster hybrid, and, in the early days, they did just what he had hoped they would: stop people, pull them in, and make them smile while reaching for their wallets. He knew he was onto something special.    

Over the past seven years, Andrew has produced over 200 unique and unusual lobster designs and illustrations. He has taken an idea and morphed it into a full-time business selling signed prints, calendars, and hundreds of thousands of note cards, which, like the Maine lobsters themselves, reach all corners of our planet. Andrew’s lobsters can be found in finer gift shops and galleries, including BIRCH in Wiscasset Village, up and down the coast of Maine.

Meet the artist and take a look at his unique view of Maine lobster during the Wiscasset Art Walk on Thursday, June 29, 5-8 p.m., at BIRCH, 72 Main St., Wiscasset.  For more information, contact Brad Sevaldson at BIRCH, 561-542-9407 or birchmaine@gmail.com.