A full range of prints by artists working in the Passamaquoddy Bay region in the 1920s and 1930s will be displayed at the Tides Institute and Museum of Art, opening September 8 and remaining on view until November 5. There will be an opening reception on Friday, September 8, from 5 to 7 pm, at the museum, 43 Water Street.

While Eastport attracted many artists after World War I, the level of artistic activity in the region was bolstered by the presence of New York’s Grand Central School of Art’s summer program, which attracted student artists and instructors from across the country. Directed by George Pearse Ennis, a former pupil of William Merritt Chase, the school’s primary focus was in painting and watercolor instruction.

Printmaking, however, existed both at the school and outside it. Lithography was especially popular as it was commonly used in the area’s sardine industry to make labels and advertisements. Many of the artists and instructors at the school took advantage of the opportunity to produce etchings, woodcuts and lithographs during the time they spent Downeast.

According to Edmund Craecen, president of the school in 1928, Eastport was selected for the summer school because of its unspoiled landmarks; he called the Maine resort the “Brittany of America.”

Artists whose work is include in “A Flurry of Prints: Printmaking the 1920s and 1930s on Maine’s Eastern Coast,” are Lucille Douglass, Howard Cook, Robert Craig, Stevan Dohanos, George Pearse Ennis, Hilton Leech, Nellie Augusta Knopf and Stow Wengenroth.

For information, 207-853-4047 or www.tidesinstitute.org.