mimi gregoire carpenter


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about mimi

- born in waterville, maine june 29, 1947
  mom emilia born in belgium
dad henry born in saskatchewan
(an only child)

- graduated from mount mercy academy in 1965

- and usm gorham in 1969

- married to james carpenter in 1968

- art teacher until 1975.

- daughter fontessa romania gregoire carpenter born in 1975 - an artist, who married jonathan schwartz - a film maker - on goose rocks beach in 2001.

- toured with the maine arts commission's artist in residency program until 2011

- grandson henry levi schwartz born in 2009

- full time painter & problem solver - forever

what do you need to be an artist?

a passion - for mimi it is painting

a muse - love of the sea and marine

and a work ethic

mimi gregoire carpenter

is a maine artist and a treasure hunter who combs the shoreline of goose rocks (cape porpoise) and fortune rocks (biddeford pool) every season of the year, looking for "seashore treasures".

Her muse is the ordinary scarred, stoic, maine seashell - food for the gulls.

Imagine a moment on the beach, a childhood experience, a recent walk, and respond to this rugged yet vulnerable environment, appreciating how magnificent the most humble shell can be.

Nothing is too lowly for her to notice, not the knobby seaweed, not the humble razor clam, not the ubiquitous barnacle .....she singles them out, and through her eyes they reveal their poetry.

mimi's passion is her surroundings and her desire to make us pay attention.

Her detailed opaque watercolor paintings offer delicate portraits of marine seashells, as well as seals, mermaids and other various creatures, gathered from the beach, brought to her nearby home, studied and given center stage in her studio.

mimi's private collection

(click on a thumbnail below to view a larger image)


"Treasure Island"


"Periwinkle Beach"


"Crab Out"


"Cushing Scallops"


"So Many Moons"


"Dead Man's Fingersh"


"Dry Ledge Crab"


"Seagull Skull"


"Dock Square Pink"


"Cormorant Skeleton"


"Mermais's Lucky Pebble Tail"


"Colander Weed Fish"


"Shellfish"


"Hills Beach Driftwood"


"Mimimer"

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