Nelligan, Emily

Emily Nelligan was an artist who worked and summered on Cranberry Island for more than 50 years. She was born in 1924, and attended the Cooper Union School of Art. Along with her artist husband, Marvin Bilek, she drew inspiration from the island’s geography in her work. Below is an excerpt from the booklet ‘Artists of the Cranberry Isles’ by Wini Smart.

“[...] you’d often see Emily walking briskly out at dusk, with her pad and drawing supplies. She liked to catch the effect of the last light, the sunsets, the black spruces dissolving into the darkness. Maine's long twilight gave her ample working time for a small drawing. Her layers of tone and soft edges capture the masses of cloud and incoming fogs. She tried to express the feel of color with her shades of grays and rich blacks. Wolf Kahn said of her work, ‘It is evident that black and white, when its full potential is realized, renders all other colors unnecessary.’ Many of her works are done at the sea’s edge. Some are merely compositions of sea and sky. Her proficient use of charcoal contributes to her ability to capture the feel of damp fog and subtle sea foam.

“Alison Ferris, Curator of Bowdoin College Museum of Art, where Emily had a show in 2000, writes: ‘She represents the sea in its complex simplicity, as a powerful component of nature that is a world unto itself. The emotion we observe in Nelligan's work is authentic. She pours months of anticipation and longing for the sea into her drawings which result in profound and contemplative works of art. The strength of Nelligan’s drawings, despite their modest size, lies in their lyrical abstract descriptions of the sea, rocks, coastline, and sky.... There is no color in any of her drawing, but one can imagine the flamboyant reds, oranges, and pinks, Nelligan saw in those clouds.’

“The New York Times writes that ‘Maine and its moods have challenged artists from Winslow Homer to Alex Katz. But it's probably safe to say that none has responded as obsessively as Emily Nelligan. [...] Using only charcoal and eraser on ordinary letter paper, Ms. Nelligan has produced an extraordinary account of the islands, distilling coastlines, rocks, trees, sea, skies and weather almost to abstraction, while restricting her palette to the blacks, grays and whites that seem perfectly keyed to Cranberry's reticent Maine character’ (“Art In Review; Emily Nelligan Marvin Bileck – ‘Cranberry Island Drawings’” at New York Times ( https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/27/arts/art-in-review-emily-nelligan-marvin-bileck-cranberry-island-drawings.html : accessed 20 December 2025).

Bilek and Nelligan’s works were displayed at the Alexandre Gallery in New York under the exhibit title "Cranberry Island: Drawings and Prints." They wrote of Nelligan that “The attachment she feels to the island is evident in her work, lovingly crafted in devotion to the land and sea” (“Emily Nelligan” at Alexandre (  : accessed 20 December 2025). Nelligan, who passed in 2018, and her husband, who died in 2005, are both remembered as great artists and beloved community members. To learn more about Emily Nelligan, take a look at our related archival materials.