East Boothbay artist Andrea Peters has quietly joined the ranks of Maine's most recognized and respected artists. Peters' paintings are in dozens of collections, both private and public. Museum and gallery directors own her paintings, as do well-known artists, such as Jamie Wyeth and Henry Isaacs.

Peters' most recent feather in her cap was a complete surprise to her. One day last month she received a book mailed to her by the Bates College Museum of Art: "An Adventurous Spirit: The Jane Costello Wellehan Collection." Opening the book, Peters saw that it announced Jane Wellehan's donation of her entire collection of art, most of it by contemporary Maine artists, to Wellehan's alma mater, Bates College, in Lewiston. And there on page 89, was Andrea's sumptuous oil titled “Spring Spectacle--Monhegan,” painted in 2005.

“Spring Spectacle” blazes with color: red tulips command the foreground, while yellow and white tulips are scattered among all manner of lush vegetation; a fiery stand of forsythia announces that the season is indeed spring. A group of Peters' famously scraggly spruce trees reaches up to the sky, where puffy white clouds edged in yellow float by. It's a powerful painting, a joyous declaration that spring is here in Maine.

The Wellehan collection is the largest gift of art Bates College has ever received. Wellehan, a member of the large shoe manufacturing and selling family, collected broadly but astutely. Her gift also includes examples by Alan Bray, Lois Dodd, Lonnie Sisson, Dahlov Ipcar, and many, many more. Even in such grand company, Andrea Peters' exuberant "Spring Spectacle" holds its own.

The show accompanying the publication of "An Adventurous Spirit" has ended, but the college is committed to including examples from the Wellehan collection whenever possible. The book is available through the Bates College Museum of Art bookstore.

For more information on Andrea Peters, and to see her paintings, visit her gallery, Gleason Fine Art, 31 Townsend Ave., Boothbay Harbor; call 207-633-6849 or email the gallery at info@gleasonfineart.com.

To see all of Andrea's paintings, visit the gallery website: gleasonfineart.com. Spring hours at Gleason Fine Art are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.