Jun. 9—In the fall of 2022, a strong storm blew through Casco Bay and across Peaks Island, ripping trees out of the ground as it went. Two of the trees that fell were in front of Baba’s Cafe, which had been recently renovated by owner Natasha Markov-Riss.
“I watched as the two trees next to the house started wobbling, and I thought they would fall on the house,” Markov-Riss said in an interview on Saturday.
Instead, the trees fell sideways, saving the building but leaving felled trees in the yard.
While some would find the fallen trees a nuisance, illustrator Doug Smith saw them as an opportunity to create art.
Using a hammer and chisel, Smith began to turn one of the tree stumps outside of Baba’s into an octopus. He was dedicated to the project, even digging down into the earth to uncover the tentacle-like root system.
And on Sunday, after nearly three years of watching it be carved, Peaks Islanders got together for an Octopus Party to unveil the new piece of art.
“Doug was there like a full-time job every day with his hammer and chisel,” Markov-Riss said. “It was part of the soundscape of the cafe.”
Michele Coughlin, who owns a summer house on Peaks Island, said she could go “on and on” about the octopus and Smith himself.
“We love it,” Coughlin said. “He’s so talented and interesting.”
SOURCE OF INSPIRATION
Years earlier, Smith drove by a piece of tree art in Massachusetts. The carving, which depicted a human hand coming out of a tree trunk and reaching toward the sky, deeply moved him and inspired him to create his own tree art.
“It was one of the most powerful things I had ever seen,” he said. “I thought I might want to do this.”
While living in Massachusetts over two decades ago, Smith created a serpentine piece of tree art on a well-traveled road in his town. It was a labor of love that kick-started his interest in carving.
So when one of the trees outside of Baba’s Cafe was left mostly standing after the storm, Smith was inspired to carve something up high in the tree.
But while he was away from the island for a few days, an arborist came and cut the fallen tree down to a stump.
When Smith returned, he was disappointed.
“To me, it was just a big, disfigured, weird-looking stump,” he said.
Smith almost walked away from the idea, but as he walked around the area, a vision started to take shape.
“I started to see the roots as tentacles,” he said. “The shape on top could be the head of an octopus.”
That same day, he approached Markov-Riss with the idea to carve the stump into an octopus.
“It was an honor for Doug to think of me,” she said. “It just seemed like a wonderful way for Baba’s to become part of the Peaks Island spirit.”
A SOCIAL ACTIVITY
As an illustrator, Smith said he spends much of his time isolated while working in his home studio.
“It’s kind of a lonely life,” he said.
But while carving the octopus outside of Baba’s — which sits on the main street of Peaks Island and directly across from the only grocery store in town — Smith found himself constantly in conversation with people passing by.
They would often ask him the same questions about the art, but Smith said always he felt it was his responsibility, as an ambassador of public art, to answer.
“It was the most social thing I’ve ever done,” Smith said.
On Saturday, Oakley Duryea, who was visiting Peaks Island from out of town, stopped to admire the octopus.
“It’s so cool,” Duryea said. “What an amazing way to work with a tree stump.”
While Smith spends most of his time illustrating for books — including the 1995 novel “Wicked,” which was adapted into a musical and later a movie — he hopes to do more tree-carving projects whenever inspiration strikes.
He’s had his eye out for new projects since he finished the octopus. A Peaks Islander already offered another tree stump to Smith, but he said he’s particular about which stumps he works on. That one, Smith noted, is a little bit rotten and not in a public space.
So for now, Smith is happy with the work he did outside Baba’s Cafe.
But in the future, it’s possible that another Doug Smith original tree carving might take a spot on Peaks Island.
“People have followed the octopus’s progress,” Markov-Riss said. “Everyone is very excited it’s done.”
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