The Carts
Joan and Rod Cart are both from Massachusetts; Rod from Marblehead and Springfield, where he was graduated from Wilbraham Academy; Joan, born and raised in Northhampton.
Both artists fell in love with coastal Maine as children. It is a place where they chose to settle in the 1970’s with their three children, after 25 years located in several New England states where Rod was formerly a clergyman and educator.
Rod has been involved in drawing and painting for much of his life and is largely self-taught, although he studied art at Yale, Coker College and the University of Washington. He has also attended numerous workshops.
Joan’s interest in art also started as a child and she majored in art at Smith College. After 30 years of working as a jeweler, first a silversmith and later making porcelain jewelry, she left that business in 2001 and began creating miniature watercolors, her medium and size of choice.
Rod paints in watercolor, acrylic and oils and not only creates some of the miniatures, but also paints work as large as full sized watercolor paper. Much of his larger work, often acrylic is commissioned.
The Carts have traveled extensively; in Europe when their children were small and they lived for 6 years in Guadalajara, Mexico. Then came several years in Seattle, Washington and then a return to Maine in the late 1980’s, to Phippsburg, where they built their own house. In 1992 they visited Ireland for the first time and have returned for frequent visits, adding Irish scenes to the ones they paint of Maine.
The Carts founded “The Peddler’s Cart” in 1979 as the third gift shop they had owned. They now continue to use the same name, as a pun on their own, for their current art business.
Their original work may be found in many galleries around the state of Maine. You can see a list here. Or please feel free to contact the artists about purchasing originals. Rod and Joan wholesale prints of their miniature work to various shops in New England.
An up-to-date list of these shops and galleries may be seen here or can be obtained by contacting The Peddler’s Cart:
- 6 Spruce Lane, Phippsburg, Maine, 04562
- 207 443-9329
Or drop us a note on our contact page and we will get back to you via email. >>>
