Susan Durkee, a painter and the owner of Lobster Pot Studio and Gallery built upon property that was once Mark Twain's, lives a life filled with her passions – painting and Twain.
Her gallery, located at 23 Mark Twain Lane, is full of portraits of all sizes, including one of New York Yankee's pitcher Mariano Rivera, and her studio houses some of her past works alongside commissions she is currently working on. Perhaps most noticeably, there are a variety of portraits of one particular character – Twain.
Durkee said she has painted "many, many" portraits of Mark Twain.
"He's so much fun to paint with the eyebrows," Durkee said.
She taught herself to paint as she grew up and feels that it's her passion.
"I almost equate it to like a religious thing," Durkee said. "You're giving to the canvas and the canvas is giving back to you."
She added, though, that painting requires certain traits.
"If you're not totally dedicated ... you can't be a portrait artist," Durkee said. "You (also) gotta like people."
Besides painting, though, Durkee tends an enormous garden at Lobster Pot.
"It's sort of my exercise," she said. "I do the edging and the mulching and the raking."
She said she and her husband have lived on the property for about 28 years. They have four cats, all named after Twain characters. Durkee designed the gallery herself, and the house sits on the foundation of Twain's Lobster Pot, which he bought and restored in 1906 for his secretary and social companion, Isabel Lyons, across from his Stormfield mansion.
The property is supposedly named the Lobster Pot because the house "reminded him of lobster pots he saw while visiting Maine," according to Durkee's website, but she said people have other speculations as well.
Durkee said she "became a Twainiac" after moving to the property.
"I always was interested (in Twain)," Durkee said. "It's almost like I got consumed by him (after moving here)."
She has been featured on several TV shows talking about Twain and acted as one of Twain's daughters in a movie, Dangerous Intimacy (2010).
"I've been painting Twain and talking Twain for a long time now," Durkee said.
Durkee has albums and bookshelves full of Twain-related research and is fascinated by the story of Lyons in particular, who Durkee believes was Twain's lover for a time before being erased from Twain's biography by his family. Lyons' diaries, though, which came out after her death, told stories about her life at the Lobster Pot. There are also photos of her and Twain, as well as correspondence between the two of them.
Although the property is closed to the general public, Durkee said she's willing to show people around if they call ahead. She added that she hosts a few events each year to bring people to the Lobster Pot and tell them about the history there.
To find out more information, visit Durkee's website.
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