By Nate Jones
Staff Writer
    When Liam Crotty was 10 years old he bought his first plastic, Instamatic disposable camera at the five-and-dime variety store on Main Street in Kennebunk. Crotty, now an accomplished professional photographer, has put together an exhibit of portraitures of 23 unique Kennebunk residents titled “Faces of the Kennebunks” that run the gamut, from local bartenders to Tony award winners and race car drivers.
    “These are people that might be familiar faces, but you may not know the back story,” said Tracey Baetz, executive director of the Brick Store Museum, where Kennebunk Savings Bank is sponsoring the exhibit.
     Crotty graduated from Kennebunk High School in 1986 at the top of his class and returned to his home town four years ago. He graduated from Yale University in 1990, where he was the yearbook photo editor and a photographer for the Yale Daily News. After college Crotty said he worked in a variety of different locations including Connecticut, Wisconsin and Costa Rica.
    “I was always comparing the places I was to Kennebunk,” he said. “For me, what represents a place is the people around you. It’s hard to find another place that compares to the level of community that’s right here. It’s what draws people here and keeps them in Kennebunk.”
    Baetz said Crotty approached the museum with the concept for “Faces of the Kennebunks” about two months ago, although he had been taking portraits of residents for much longer.
    “He didn’t really know what he was going to do with it at that point,” Baetz said. “We said it would make a great exhibition.”
    Unlike most of the museum’s exhibits, “Faces of the Kennebunks” focuses on contemporary residents and their roles in the community rather than historical figures.
    Baetz and Crotty said the hardest part wasn’t finding people to include in the exhibit, but narrowing the selection down to only 23.
    “It’s not a “best of” kind of show,” Baetz said. “We could easily take a set of 23 photos again.”
    Crotty said the exhibit is only a handful of the many interesting people that live in the Kennebunks, and those that were available and willing to be included in the exhibit.
    One of the goals of “Faces of the Kennebunks” was to include a diverse group of residents, both in experience and age, Crotty said. The exhibit features musicians, bartenders, local business owners, librarians, real estate agents and ship captains in efforts to span the many different categories Crotty intended to focus on.
    He said one common theme among all of the people was their modesty and surprise at his interest in their lives, such as Richard McCabe, a former NASCAR driver.
    “He thought that I was there to take pictures of his cars,” Crotty said. “After half an hour I managed to convince him that I was there to take pictures of him.”
    Each person featured in the exhibit was asked to provide an artifact relating to their interests; for McCabe an unopened matchbox replica of his former NASCAR automobile. Other artifacts include a surfboard, a sextant, beer mugs, various tools of the trade and even napkins from Broadway openings.
    In addition to displaying each portrait, the museum put together a three part informational piece on the individuals, with a statement from Crotty about the photo, a brief bio on the subject, and their response to a question of community.
    “We asked them to finish the sentence, ‘The Kennbunk community means … to me,’” Baetz said.
    Community is a common theme throughout the exhibit, as the museum plans to include various photography workshops given by Crotty, in addition to offering family portraits free of charge for those who attend, Baetz said. The museum also plans to have each person in the exhibit attending at least one showing so residents may meet the person behind the portrait, Baetz said.
    “I want people to bind more with the community and realize ‘Wow, we live in a special place,’” Crotty said.
    “Faces of the Kennebunks” opening reception is from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23 at the Brick Store Museum on Main Street in Kennebunk. The exhibit will be open for public viewing during normal museum hours until May 3. For more information call the Brick Store Museum 985-4802 or see their website www.brickstoremuseum.org.
    To contact Nate Jones call 282-4337 x233 or email news@kennebunkpost.com.