Painters Bo Bartlett and Betsy Eby Find Peace and Inspiration On Wheaton Island

Andrew Wyeth, and his wife, Betsy, unwittingly led the couple to their 1905 home on the remote Penobscot Bay island.

Like yin and yang, realist painter Bo Bartlett and abstract painter Betsy Eby are opposites working in perfect harmony. But the dualism extends beyond their art, to the two paradoxical locations they choose to practice it — Bartlett’s native Columbus, Georgia, in winter, and, in summer, a tiny island 23 miles off the coast of Port Clyde, in Maine.

Wheaton Island is a 20-acre granite outcropping neighboring larger Matinicus Isle. For the couple, traveling there involves a 21-hour car ride to Rockland, then a 90-minute charter boat trip to their wharf. Bartlett says his mentor, artist Andrew Wyeth, and his wife, Betsy, unintentionally led him here. “We were on Benner Island visiting Andy and Betsy in 1995 and she started pointing out islands. I squinted and said, ‘Whoa, what’s that dot way out there?’ Betsy said, ‘Oh, that’s Matinicus — do NOT go out there!’” citing its remoteness, even as islands go.