Real Estate & Elegant Maine Living - The Way Life Should Be

Episod 17: The Art of Maine: Creativity, Community, and Collecting with Elizabeth Moss

• Elise Kiely • Season 1 • Episode 17

Share episode

Send us a text

Host: Elise Kiely
Guest: Elizabeth Moss, Founder & Owner of Elizabeth Moss Galleries in Falmouth and Portland, Maine
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | eliseKiely.com

Episode Overview:

In this episode of Elegant Maine Living, host Elise Kiely welcomes Elizabeth Moss, a central figure in Maine’s vibrant art scene and the visionary founder of Elizabeth Moss Galleries. With locations in Falmouth and Portland, Elizabeth has been curating and promoting both emerging and established artists—many with strong Maine connections—since 2004.

Together, Elise and Elizabeth explore the power of art as a reflection of community, history, and culture. From the spiritual pull of Monhegan Island to the rediscovery of underrepresented women artists like Lynn Drexler, this conversation is a testament to Maine’s enduring artistic legacy. They also reflect on the intersections of entrepreneurship, family, and female empowerment, sharing personal stories from the early days of their careers while building businesses.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

  • 🎨 The significance of Monhegan Island in American art history
  • 💡 How Provenance in art parallels the value of storytelling in real estate
  • 🖼️ The overlooked brilliance of mid-century female abstract artists
  • 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 How Maine’s creative community is uniquely collaborative and welcoming
  • 👩‍💼 The power of partnerships—from real estate to art and design—with Nicola Manganello
  • 👶 Balancing entrepreneurship and motherhood: lessons from Liz and Elise

Mentioned in the Episode:

Connect with Elise

🌐 Website & Listings: Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty
📸 Follow Elise on Social Media:

Have Questions or Topic Suggestions, e-mail Elise at

  • Elise@EliseKiely.com

Subscribe, share with a friend, and join Elise every other week to discover what makes Maine not just beautiful—but beautifully lived.

Please remember this podcast is for entertainment and educational purposes only and does not create an attorney client or real estate advisor client relationship. Please reach out to me directly if I can assist you in your real estate journey.



Elise Kiely: [00:00:00] Welcome to Elegant Maine Living, where we explore the beauty, charm and sophistication of life in Maine. My name is Elise Kiely, your host, and a real estate advisor with Legacy Properties Sotheby's International Realty. On each episode, we dive into Maine's residential real estate market, sharing key trends, inventory, insights, and notable sales, while also highlighting the extraordinary lifestyle that makes Maine such a special place to live, work, and play.

Elise Kiely: Whether you're seeking a coastal retreat, a vibrant community, or an escape into nature, elegant main living is your guide to the home and experiences that defined our great state. Let's get started. Welcome [00:01:00] Maine. Thank you for joining us. I'm excited about today's episode. It's going to be a little bit different and more of the lifestyle community aspects of living in Maine.

Elise Kiely: The title of this episode is The Art of Maine Creativity Community and Collecting with Elizabeth Moss, owner and director of the Elizabeth Moss Art Galleries in Portland and in Falmouth. Welcome, Liz. 

Elizabeth Moss: Thank you Elise. 

Elise Kiely: So Liz before we get started, Liz, I always start with a word or a number or phrase of the day.

Elise Kiely: Today's word is provenance. Provenance is the origin or history of ownership of a valued object or work of art, and used in this context, in the art world. Provenance isn't just about where a piece has been, it's about the story. It carries much like real estate. The value lies not only in the object, but in its story.

Elise Kiely: Liz, I'm excited to have you [00:02:00] here today. 

Elizabeth Moss: Thank you, Elise. I'm excited to be here. 

Elise Kiely: For our listeners that aren't familiar with you, Liz, as I said, owns two art galleries in Falmouth and in Portland and is really at the center of the Maine art world representing artists throughout Maine and throughout the country, but most have a Maine connection.

Elise Kiely: And Liz, would you mind just giving us a little background on how you came to Maine? Because like me, you're not a Mainer. I think. 

Elizabeth Moss: That's right. I'm originally from the Maryland area. I came to Maine in 1997 after visiting here in 1991 on the island of Monhegan, and I fell in love with a guy from the island.

Elizabeth Moss: Had a whirlwind long distance relationship. Eventually got married. We had a house on the island for about 10 years. And I moved up here in [00:03:00] 1997 and started the gallery in 2004. 

Elise Kiely: I love that story, Liz. And for our listeners who may be from away dreaming of a Maine lifestyle or newly coming to Maine.

Elise Kiely: Monhegan Island is such an iconic part of Maine and it is such, has such a rich history. Can you just give a little description about Monhegan Island and what it's known for? 'cause it's going to be part of our conversation today. 

Elizabeth Moss: Absolutely. Monhegan Island has a 100 year history with artists, American artists, visiting and working there.

Elizabeth Moss: It's located 12 miles off the Midcoast of Maine. It's about a half a mile wide and one and a half miles long. It has 300 foot cliffs that look out onto the ocean, and I think it's a place where many creatives have found a spiritual pulse just being on the island. And of course, they're the [00:04:00] spectacular views and the Maine light, which many painters talk about and have for over a hundred years.

Elise Kiely: It's such a you use the word spiritual. It is such a spiritual place if, and I strongly encourage whether you've been here for generations and haven't gone, or you're new to Maine. It is a wonderful destination. You can go for the day, you can stay for a weekend, a week, a summer, And it's mostly populated, as I remember, with both lobstermen, community, lobster community, and artists.

Elizabeth Moss: That's correct. After World War , Monhegan was a destination for. Many New York artists because it was very inexpensive to go there and even to acquire land and homes and the very small community of fishermen numbering probably no more than 75 year round and even today, were welcoming to those visitors and.

Elizabeth Moss: [00:05:00] The artists came for an entire summer. So the community that lived there really got to know the artists and understand the work, and this created an environment of comfort for the artists and a legacy that bloomed and continues today. 

Elise Kiely: Boy, in this world where there's so many frictions between different groups of people, that's, I didn't realize that story.

Elise Kiely: That's lovely. Yeah, and I think it is just another example of how welcoming and hospitable Maine is. And we like our traditions. We are very proud and protective of our natural beauty. And we welcome those who respect and love those same things. 

Elizabeth Moss: Absolutely. I think that's what it is. It's an affinity for recognizing the beauty that exists here and the respect and reverence of it and just wanting to be a part of that environment.

Elise Kiely: So I can only imagine you at your first [00:06:00] visit to Monhegan. It must have been a very special experience. And so you went back and were continuing your studies. 

Elizabeth Moss: Yes. I think. I had finished an undergraduate degree in arts management from the south. A small southern school returned to DC and then continued to get a graduate degree in museum studies from George Washington University with an emphasis on 20th century curatorial research. So for me to come to Maine and in particular Monhegan, I was getting to see where some icons of American art created their art. And so it was a special thing for me, even from the very beginning. 

Elise Kiely: And I love this 'cause I can relate to, to this. You're not an artist yourself, I don't think. 

Elizabeth Moss: No. 

Elizabeth Moss: I am a scholar of art and that's something that's often confused. People think that maybe I'm a creator, but [00:07:00] I'm not. 

Elise Kiely: And I think of you as very creative. 

Elizabeth Moss: Thank you. 

Elise Kiely: And have an amazing eye. And, but you came to this to owning the galleries from an appreciation and as you said, a scholar of art rather than a creator of the art itself.

Elizabeth Moss: That's 

Elizabeth Moss: correct. 

Elise Kiely: And so when you first moved to Maine, did is that when you started your gallery? 

Elizabeth Moss: I worked for another gallery, a glass gallery here in Portland for a few years, and then my parents talked about moving up from Maryland and my father thought it would be nice to retire, do a semi-retirement cottage industry in Maine, and he offered to help me start the gallery.

Elizabeth Moss: And he would do framing and I would sell art, and my mother helped as well. She was wonderful with clients and people. Very much a people person. Very bright and engaging, and my aunt helped as well. 

Elise Kiely: Full disclosure, I first met you when you had just opened your gallery in 2004. Because [00:08:00] I live in Falmouth and.

Elise Kiely: I remember your family so fondly. Your mother was so gracious, so lovely. Your father was so capable, quiet, confidence, and your aunt was a spitfire. 

Elise Kiely: Yeah, that's true. 

Elise Kiely: And and I really appreciated knowing all of them. And I have to admit, like you, I am not an artist. And those who know me will have, will attest to that.

Elise Kiely: But I do have this appreciation for. Art and art history, which I think is so interesting when, because when you look at the intersection of history, politics, governance, art, religion, you can see the layers of all of those different issues in the final production of the art. And I think that's what's so interesting.

Elise Kiely: Yes. 

Elise Kiely: And I was thrilled to have your gallery in Falmouth. And I think, correct me if I'm wrong, Liz, I think my husband, Neil and I, who barely had two nickels to rub [00:09:00] together, put two nickels together and bought one of your first pieces, I 

Elizabeth Moss: think you did. And it was from a Monhegan artist Allison Hill, and you loved the painting and I loved her work and showed her work with other.

Elizabeth Moss: I've always em emphasized the work of female artists in the gallery. That's been, it's been a important role for me and I do, but yeah, Monhegan, it was a winter sea and ane first buyers. No, I loved that. And we've stayed pretty close for 20 years. We did. And

Elise Kiely: our paths have intersected at different times, which has been wonderful.

Elise Kiely: And at the start of my real estate career, it was about the same time as the start of your gallery. And then I introduced you to. A local, extremely talented designer, Nicola Manganello who 

Elizabeth Moss: extremely, 

Elise Kiely: has done so, so well and just brought great attention and sophistication to Maine, and we could have a whole nother episode about that.

Elise Kiely: Absolutely. 

Elizabeth Moss: Let's talk about Nicola. Yes. And her amazing taste, 

Elise Kiely: style and warmth and creativity. Yeah. And [00:10:00] courage for what she does. She's 

Elizabeth Moss: really unique and incredible. 

Elise Kiely: And I think it was a house that she was yeah. Renovating. Yep. And I was working with Nicola at the time, and I introduced the two of you.

Elise Kiely: And that started a relationship and you bought, brought your beautiful artwork to that house that she was selling. Yeah. It's an 

Elizabeth Moss: incredible opportunity. I think you said, Hey, I have a friend, her daughter goes to the same preschool as my daughter goes to her elementary school and I bet she would like some art for this spec house that she's doing.

Elizabeth Moss: And what an incredible opportunity. She wasn't just doing a spec house as we think of it today. She had taken a historic home, renovated it, added onto it, and was selling the entirety of it, the, the architecture, the interior, and all the furnishings. And it was an opportunity for me to sell artwork as part of a really, a package.

Elizabeth Moss: And [00:11:00] it was, I don't think I could have survived those first few years in business without that association. Thank you, Nicola. I just wanna say that, and that's also continued over the. Decades 

Elise Kiely: Over the decades and it to put two people together with such incredible talent, you and Nicola, and to see what can create, it's more than the sum of the parts.

Elizabeth Moss: Thank you. It's always exciting and working with like-minded people that are smart and excited about the work that they're doing, and are willing to do new things and expand their model, and it's just, it feels really easy. In many ways 'cause it just feels very natural and special things can bloom outta relationships like that.

Elise Kiely: And I think that's one of the really special things about living, working in Maine is that our community is small enough. That if we don't know somebody, we know somebody that knows that person. 

Elizabeth Moss: That's true. [00:12:00] 

Elise Kiely: And to make these connections. Yeah. And I think people in Maine are and it's true in other parts of the country as well but I can appreciate it here.

Elizabeth Moss: I was actually gonna interrupt you and say that it's particularly unique to Maine because I Do you think so? I do believe that. I I'll just say from my point of view with a reference to the art. The art in Maine that's being produced and collected is collected from people in Maine, but collected from people all over the country and even the world.

Elizabeth Moss: And there's a really special cocktail of design, home design, interiors, art. This rich cultural base that is being consumed by people all over the country. 'cause they're saying, Hey, something really special is going on in Portland, Maine.

Elise Kiely: And it is it's interesting you say that, Liz, because I think Maine has a wonderful brand and it's authentic.[00:13:00] 

Elise Kiely: It is rich, it is creative, it is bold. And I know that when I go out of state. My children, I say this repeatedly, my children go out state and we say, we're from Maine. It means something. And I think people who are not in Maine have a very romantic idea, and it's authentic. A romantic idea of that would be a really healthy, engaging life to live.

Elizabeth Moss: Absolutely. And it's not just the idea of it is a reality here. We shouldn't be telling anybody, everybody about it. We're gonna be in trouble. They're starting 

Elise Kiely: to find out about it. For sure. 

Elizabeth Moss: I loved your idea of Maine as a brand. It was fascinating when I read your question in preparation and I thought a lot about it because here's what I think Maine is as a brand, I think it's independent.

Elizabeth Moss: I think it's direct. I think there's reverence for land and water [00:14:00] and it's absolute and people get it, they get the beauty of the land and the sea and the lakes and the, it's, but it's not just that because it's also the people that are here and the people here regardless of level of education, have a tolerance and acceptance for the most part of others, independent of their affiliation politically or geographically or what have you.

Elizabeth Moss: And it is. Certainly a more welcoming place than many areas. 

Elise Kiely: I couldn't agree more and it was not what I was expecting. When my husband and I first decided to move to Maine, I was stealing myself for, to come into a community that would not be welcoming, that would be introverted, for lack of a better word, that if I wasn't from here and my grandparents weren't from here, I was not gonna be included in [00:15:00] gatherings or committees or public service organizations, let alone get invited to a holiday cocktail party.

Elise Kiely: I thought it was going, I was gonna be in a silo looking out, looking from the outside in. And I couldn't have been more wrong. I have found Maine to be incredibly welcoming. And so I echo what you're saying and it's interesting taking this back to the early American artists and when they would paint the scenery, the seascapes and the landscapes of Maine and send them down to people that would commission them to New York, it was like an advertisement.

Elizabeth Moss: Sure it That's true. Any representation of lifestyle or landscape? It is a form of marketing and, idealization, 

Elise Kiely: if you will. Liz let's take a second and let's talk about some of the artists, the iconic artists that have painted, maybe not [00:16:00] from Maine. Some are obviously the Wyeth, but the iconic artists that have painted in and around Monhegan, in and around Prouts neck, just south of us in Scarborough.

Elise Kiely: Can you share some of those artists and maybe some stories about them? 

Elizabeth Moss: Sure. I guess I would really draw your attention to Lynn Drexler, who was trained in New York and lived in New York in the fifties and sixties and seventies. Then later spent. The second half of her life on Monhegan Island after the New York Art world dismissed her mostly because she was a female artist.

Elizabeth Moss: Her husband at the time, John Holberg was of international reputation at the time being collected by museum directors from all over the world. And so Monhegan provided a comfortable setting for Lynn Drexler to spend her life [00:17:00] rather rigorously in a routine, a daily routine of painting early in the morning to late afternoon, no one would interrupt her.

Elizabeth Moss: Everybody knew what she was doing. And and this is on Monhegan that she was painting, this is on Monhegan? Yeah. And this was 

Elise Kiely: in the later stages of her life? 

Elizabeth Moss: Yeah. She first went out, I believe, in the mid seventies. Martha Jackson, John Holberg's dealer at the time moved a couple out there. So that they could concentrate on artwork and be less distracted by the New York scene.

Elizabeth Moss: And John Holberg decided it wasn't for him, but Lynn decided she felt a real affinity to the art, to the island. And she dedicated the rest of her life to painting out there. And she died in 1999. She was known by a few in the art world at the time, but subsequent to that, in the last [00:18:00] three years, she has been discovered by the international art world and paintings I would've sold a decade ago, or even five years ago for five to $10,000 are now commanding hundreds of thousands of dollars and up to over a million dollars.

Elise Kiely: So I wanna pause for a second. Because that's extraordinary and it's and you represented. 

Elizabeth Moss: I was very much a part of exhibiting her work, even from the very beginning at the gallery. As I said, I have a history with Monhegan Island artists. So she was one of others that I exhibited, but when I had a great affinity for even from the beginning, because my love of art starts with abstract expressionism from the 1950s and sixties, New York and her work is that at its core, she came out of that and is definitely one of the most beautiful, expressive, [00:19:00] colorful female artists to be discovered recently because there's a movement in the art world today and very really for the last decade to give female artists their dues. They were overlooked at the time they were painting. They were very much a part of the New York arts scene. They exhibited alongside the men of the day. They were heads of committees like the Abstract Artists Association, Judith Rosschild, another artist that I've advocated, she helped her parents collect art between the World Wars that then went to the Metropolitan Museum, Picasso, Brock, Morrow. But she herself was a very important person of that period. And she's also being rediscovered today. And the same timeline like five years ago. Same timeline. A little younger than Lynn Drexler shoot. But the, 

Elise Kiely: when obviously there was a pivot within the last five years, what, five to 10 years it, yeah.

Elise Kiely: COVID, it was a correction. 

Elizabeth Moss: COVID it, the Me [00:20:00] Too movement. Oh yeah. 

Elise Kiely: Okay. So that's what you attribute to part of big part of it, the rediscovering. 

Elise Kiely: That's so interesting. Yeah. And I know you have an affinity for female artists. 

Elizabeth Moss: I do. I've always, they have always been the majority in the gallery for me.

Elizabeth Moss: Since the beginning. And I think it was somewhat intentional, but it was also very intuitive. It's what I liked. Yeah. Yeah, what I thought was interesting and what I thought would stand the test of time, what I hope to do with the gallery is have work that's traditional landscape, ple air, but also very abstract.

Elizabeth Moss: And my goal is always to have art that will stand the test of time, and that has a strong tenets of beauty. 

Elise Kiely: Wonderful. I want, I wanna go to the gallery and the community that you're creating there, but I just wanna close the loop for a minute on those two artists that you mentioned, because I think that's so incredibly [00:21:00] powerful that they were if I'm understanding this right, they were embraced and a significant part of the art community when they were actively painting 

Elizabeth Moss: abs.

Elizabeth Moss: They were. That's correct. 

Elise Kiely: And then there was a period of time, decades when they were not as revered, not as desired from

Elizabeth Moss: So they were part of the beginning of the abstract expressionist movement, side by side with the men of the era, but they were not collected by the museums and the institutions.

Elise Kiely: So interesting. So 

Elizabeth Moss: therefore within, they did, within, they were forgotten within their own community. 

Elise Kiely: They were respected. They, but from the museum community, they were not. 

Elizabeth Moss: They were not collected. 

Elise Kiely: And then in the last five years, when maybe part of the Me Too movement, maybe other things, COVID.

Elise Kiely: There is a renewed interest in their work. Correct. Do you think that's from museums or is that from individual admirers. 

Elizabeth Moss: I think it's a combination of museums trying to correct the wrongs of just [00:22:00] overlooking a whole segment of really important artists independent of their sex. Really? And, but it's also driven by social commentary and waves. 

Elizabeth Moss: A. What we are wrestling with as a culture and society. 

Elise Kiely: It's very, this is very interesting, Liz, be, before we started recording, we were talking about the role of art and how important provenance is. Yes. And it, it shows the history of what's going on in the culture of the time period.

Elise Kiely: And that's just a wonderful example. 

Elise Kiely: Of that. 

Elizabeth Moss: Yeah. So provenance for a painting, you might, you must consider it as a primary document of study, much like a piece of literature. To understand culture and history of the period, you have to observe the products and creations of the period, and the artists are often the most sensitive to what's going on.

Elizabeth Moss: They're responding to it on an emotional and creative level, [00:23:00] and. So provenance is the story of a painting or sculpture or a piece of art, but also provenance is key to its legitimacy. And I think the history is really important and they're documents of our history and let's be aware of how important real documents of real history are at this period in our own country's.

Elizabeth Moss: It's a special responsibility. It's a special responsibility that we 

Elise Kiely: have now. Yeah, 

Elizabeth Moss: it is. I just wanna say, I'm also getting ready to show the work of another woman artist named Beate Wheeler. She was a German artist that was an immigrant here after World War ii, and she is on the brink of a seismic career shift, much like Lynn Drexler really?

Elizabeth Moss: And posthumously. 

Elise Kiely: She's passed away posthumously. Correct. And so I think one of the things that's interesting, and we [00:24:00] can talk about this in our next episode, is. The people will buy art for the beauty, the significance the message that it conveys. And there is also an investment element to it, of course.

Elise Kiely: And we'll, let's talk about that in our second episode. So Liz, thank you so much for coming in for this first episode. I love the story of Monhegan. I feel a special connection to you because yes, we started our careers at a similar time, we 

Elizabeth Moss: have indeed, our children have 

Elise Kiely: grown up and we've followed each other's children's paths.

Elise Kiely: And you have two beautiful children 

Elizabeth Moss: and same to you. 

Elise Kiely: Oh, I think when your son was born, I insisted on holding him every time I came in the gallery. Oh, I 

Elizabeth Moss: loved how much you responded to him being an infant and being there in the gallery, which I just wanna say, one of the questions you asked about was, how do I balance entrepreneurship and parenthood?

Elizabeth Moss: And I wanted. There were two, two notes there. One, my mother gave me permission. I said to her, oh my gosh, [00:25:00] I'm pregnant. How am I ever going to have a child and run a business? And she said, you'll just bring the baby to work with you. Your name is on the sign. You can do whatever you want. And I was like, can this even happen?

Elizabeth Moss: Okay, I'll try it. That there's that. And then I remember very clearly you telling me. You were still working as a lawyer at the time, and you were talking about putting the, hiding your child's car seat in the back of the car. Yes. So that somebody wouldn't see it after some meeting and I thought, oh gosh.

Elizabeth Moss: It's is there shame in parenthood? I remember that. But I guess, I think that we came out the eighties and it did feel a little bit like we needed to hide. Parenting motherhood. 

Elise Kiely: I think that's right, Liz. And I think it was, we needed to show that we were serious. Yeah. Professionals. And so we could not share, we weren't able to be vulnerable and share.

Elise Kiely: The fact that we had children, it [00:26:00] didn't 

Elizabeth Moss: feel like we could even admit that we had a child. Correct. There could not be evidence of 

Elise Kiely: it. I think we had to show this veneer of our profession is number one, which is not the case. Yeah. But we had to show that in order to, for either our own sake or for our clients and customer's sake, to feel like we need, could get the respect 

Elizabeth Moss: Yeah.

Elizabeth Moss: Of working hard. It was a societal thing, which we moved away from. 

Elise Kiely: Certainly with all of 

Elizabeth Moss: COVID and everything. 

Elise Kiely: Okay. So Liz, thank you for coming in for this episode. I look forward to continuing this conversation on the next one. 

Elizabeth Moss: Thank you, Elise. My pleasure. 

Elise Kiely: Thank you for joining us on Elegant Maine Living, and remember, if you are dreaming of a lifestyle in Maine or already living it, this podcast is for you.

Elise Kiely: Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. And I invite you to take this journey with me. Please share it with your friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers. I would love a review and welcome [00:27:00] feedback and encourage you to reach out with questions or topics you would like to hear about. You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or simply an email to elise@eliseKiely.com, and all of those links will be in the show notes.

Elise Kiely: And remember, this podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only, and does not create an attorney-client, or real estate advisory relationship. I am happy to engage. If you have any questions or if I can help in your real estate journey, simply click on the links in the show notes to contact me through social media or email.

Elise Kiely: I'm always happy to help in any way that I can, and we welcome you to come and explore Maine. Thank you for listening to Elegant Main Living, where elegance isn't just an aesthetic, it's a way of life. Until next time, keep living with [00:28:00] elegance.

Head Shot

Elise Kiely

Host