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This is a letter of appreciation and honor, hopefully one of many, to an old and dear friend, David Attwood McLaughlin of Liberty, who passed away unexpectedly on Friday, May 7, 2010. He was 68 years old, a graduate in Fine Arts from Yale University in the 1960's. He moved to Maine in 1971 and into the Liberty Cannery in 1972.
Beloved by his many friends, he was generous with his time, energy and expertise. When he believed in a cause, he was present, loyal and essential.
David was known for years as the Rigger. He could move, fix or weld anything and was known far and wide for his capacity to perform any technical feat, the more challenging the better. His technical expertise regarding buildings, design and construction was actually legendary. He was like an encyclopedia of knowledge, aesthetics and good sense when it came to understanding the process of making anything, from solid lasting foundations to simple and exquisite details of finish.
He regularly and steadily expressed a deep love of poetry, rust, many beauties of limitless varieties, workable and unworkable tools of all kinds and ages, joinery in all media, technologies ancient and modern, hard work, ingenuity, tool placement and other mindful work practices, every job supremely conceived and thoroughly carried out, high drama and low desires, mischief, risking and winning, elegant fits and impossible feats, the flowers of youth, careful organization and clear vision, pleasure, parties, good food, friends and laughter, the ocean, islands and architectures of Maine.
He was a generous resource for so many people on so many levels, from welding broken snowplows and axles to fixing the spillway of Lake St. George for the Town of Liberty to co-designing, with Svea Tullberg, the tower gate at the new Bucksport bridge. His art is a wonderful combination of superior craftsmanship and quirky vision where every technical and aesthetic move is evidence of consideration, choice and effect. He understood how materials, particularly ancient steel, could be the carrier of many harmonics: time and age as well as presage of the future.
A magnificent and complex man, David was a phenomenon, a Town Uncle, twice Planning Board Chair and occasional Town Meeting Moderator, meticulous recorder of significant histories and random minutiae, whose fugue of buildings at the old Corn Factory in Liberty are a legend of wood, air, fire, steel and water for an adventurous core of makers, assemblers and admirers across the universe. He was intimately involved with Waterfall Arts as well, as an active board member for 9 years.
There is so much more to say, and it is certain that all who knew him have similar reflections, appreciations, great stories and images of McLaughlin over the years. It would be wonderful if any readers, writers, photographers or visual artists so moved would send them to Waterfall Arts, 256 High St, Belfast or to me at
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so that we could collect and share them.
An event to celebrate his life will be held at Waterfall Arts Montville in the Kingdom on Saturday, May 29 at 1 pm. All are welcome to attend.
He will be deeply and very sorely missed by all who knew, admired and loved him.
Sincerely,
Alan Crichton, Waterfall Arts
Photo by Eric Hovermale
link to article on David in Bangor Metro 2009
link to David's Davistown Museum writeup
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