Destination Cape Cod

DESTINATION CAPE COD, MA & ISLANDS

CAPE COD, MA

DESTINATION CAPE COD, MA & ISLANDS

Don Krohn, Sandals, Recount Hollow Beach, Wellfleet, Massachusetts (detail), 2014, pigment print, 12 x 18". From the Book On Cape Cod, published 2016 by David R. Godine, Publisher. Copyright © Don Krohn.

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he dazzling light of Cape Cod has attracted thousands of artists to the peninsula for more than a century. In the quaint fishing village of Provincetown, at the end of the Cape, many of them gathered to study at the Cape Cod School of Art, which Charles Hawthorne—drawn to the area because of the light—opened in 1899. Surrounded by water on three sides and immense dunes, the town sparkles on a sunny day. Hawthorne is also credited with launching the Provincetown art colony, which in 2010 was recognized as “home of the nation’s oldest art colony” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Most of the major American art movements are represented by artists who worked in Provincetown, making it a microcosm of 20th-century American art.

Hawthorne’s school achieved a national reputation, and it wasn’t long before Provincetown became a destination for artists. By 1916, there were six summer art schools there and The Boston

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Globe declared: “Biggest Art Colony in the World at Provincetown,” in an eight-column headline.

Today, Provincetown still glitters with dozens of galleries along Commercial Street and others on back streets. The Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) in the east end of town has been a hub in the community since 1914 and consistently exhibits works by important artists connected to Cape Cod. So it is not surprising to see an exhibit of works by Edward Hopper who had a long history on the Cape. He and his wife, Josephine, had a seasonal home in South Truro from 1933 until his death in 1967. Hopper painted more than 100 works of Cape Cod, including Cape Cod Evening, Corn Hill, Seven A.M., and Gas. Edward and Josephine Hopper From the Permanent Collection, which runs August 25–October 15, was made possible by PAAM’s recent acquisition of a collection of works on paper by Hopper and his wife. Two anonymous donors as well as Laurence C. and J. Anton

Schiffenhaus, in honor of their mother Mary Schiffenhaus, donated 96 drawings by Hopper, 69 drawings and watercolors by Josephine and 22 of their diaries and letters—dating from 1933 to 1956. From July 21–September 3 PAAM exhibits Budd Hopkins: Full Circle, curated by his daughter, Grace Hopkins. Opening reception is on July 21. The retrospective shows the progression of Hopkins’s art from his early abstract expressionist work through his geometric period with his series Guardians to his action paintings with Dancing Guardians. Hopkins was active in the Provincetown art colony and a member of the prestigious Long Point Gallery. The works of James Lechay—a painter of figures, landscapes, cityscapes and still lifes who was inspired by modernism as he developed a semi-abstract approach—will be up through August 20, with an opening reception on July 7. Also opening on July 7, and running through August 27, is Jim Forsberg: Motifs in Color and Form. A stu-

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Nuture Your Spirit

BERTA WALKER GALLERIES PROVINCETOWN & WELLFLEET, MA

JOE DIGGS, Cultural Epic, 2017, acrylic & oil on panel, 18 x 24”

BUDD HOPKINS, Scorpio III, 1972, oil on canvas, 52 x 70”

SELINA TRIEFF, Three Figures with Green Goat, oil and gold leaf on canvas, 70 X 52”

GILBERT FRANKLIN, New England Torso, #2/2, 2003, bronze on marble base, 28 x 8 x 8”

“Berta Walker’s Gallery mission is voiced in the motto that has guided her over the years, ‘Presenting the History of American Art as seen through the Eyes of Provincetown’. She aims for nothing less than documenting the role that artists associated with Provincetown have played in the major movements in American art in the last [century] . . . making the past vital to the living artists she represents, replenishing the present with a curatorial finesse that is highly regarded.”

PROVINCETOWN

208 Bradford St Provincetown, MA 508 487 6411

BertaWalker

— Andre Van Der Wende, Provincetown Arts

G A L L E R Y

www.BertaWalkerGallery.com 50 Main St, Wellfleet, MA

BWG Presents a Rotating Exhibition at Wicked Oyster Restaurant Throughout the Year

WELLFLEET

40 Main St Wellfleet, MA 774 383 3161

CAPE COD, MA

JEFF SODERBERGH.COM sustainable art & furnishings seasonal gallery / showroom 11 west main st / lower gallery below Karol Richardson wellfleet, ma 02667 open 7 days

Jeff Soderbergh

dent of Hans Hofmann (who had a school in Provincetown for more than 20 years and attracted thousands of artists), Forsberg was part of the art colony since the mid-1950s. Well known as a colorist, he focused on common motifs: stones, portals, arches and birds to inspire his forms.

Across the street from PAAM is Julie Heller East, which is Heller’s second gallery in town.

Every other week in season, she features solo or two-person shows of paintings, monoprints, lithographs, drawings, wood engravings and etchings, as well as sculpture, stabiles and mobiles.

In addition to the contemporary art, Heller has a monthly rotating show of the art of early Provincetown artists. These are largely shown at her other gallery on Gosnold Street, in the center of town. Once the box office and museum of the Provincetown Playhouse on the Wharf, Julie Heller East exhibits the work of artists who contributed to the making of the art colony such as Charles Hawthorne, Edwin Dickinson, John Whorf, Ross Moffett, Marguerite and William Zorach, Karl Knaths, Blanche Lazzell, Jack Tworkov, Milton Avery and Robert Motherwell.

Not far from the museum and the Heller Gallery in the east end is the new location for Art Market Provincetown, AMP, a gallery exhibiting multi-disciplined work by visual, conceptual and performance artists, as well as filmmakers and writers. This season’s exhibits are group shows.

The art of Larry Collins, Anne Stott and several others will be shown through July 13. Works by Jay Critchley, M P Landis and Barbara Cohen, among others, are on exhibit July 14–27. Marion Roth, Susan Lyman, Deborah Martin and Rick

Wrigley are scheduled for July 28–August 10.

The art of Karen Cappotto and Judith Trepp will be featured August 11–24, and Megan Hinton and Richard Dorff’s works are part of a group show August 25–September 7. Opening receptions are on the first day of each show.

Less than a five-minute walk to Pearl Street, off Bradford Street, is the Fine Arts Work Center.

Founded in 1968 to revitalize the art colony, the center grants fellowships to emerging artists and writers. During the summer it is a lively place with art and writing workshops, readings, exhibitions and concerts. The annual fundraiser Summer Awards Celebration, on July 8, will honor Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel, Emmy Award-winning television producer and director Ryan Murphy and painter Paul Resika.

Recognized for the buoyancy of his palette, Resika emphasizes the importance of the basic shapes of his subjects, which he pares down to the simplest geometric forms with swishes of color. Part of the Provincetown art colony for many years, Resika paints iconic images of the area: piers, boats, cottages and lighthouses, which float in a sea of sparkling color.

An exhibit of his work runs July 8–30. From August 4 through 20 is an exhibit of the work of other longtime members of the art colony: Tony Vevers, Elspeth Halvorsen and their daughter Tabitha Vevers. Tony Vevers’s work includes figurative and abstract and Halvorsen creates boxes, miniature stage sets, which often represent icons of Provincetown. Tabitha’s meticulously painted figurative pieces are often clothed in mystery with social and political references. A poetry

Lisa Barsumian

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CAPE COD, MA festival with workshops runs August 7–12, and FAWC’s annual art auction is August 19. The Lyric Series will feature songwriter Kristin Hersh on July 19, songwriter Anaïs Mitchell on July 21, guitarist and songwriter Patty Larkin on August 9, and on August 11, U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky and Poemjazz, billed as “a dialogue between poetry and music.”

A few minutes from the work center is the Berta Walker Gallery on Bradford Street. Berta Walker, the daughter of Hudson Walker, an art collector and one of the founders of the Fine Arts Work Center, has had a gallery in town since 1990. She is devoted to the artists of the art colony and regularly presents their work. Through July 22, the gallery will be showcasing longtime gallery members, Varujan Boghosian, Brenda Horowitz, Sky Power and Murray Zimiles along with abstract works from the newest addition to the gallery Joseph Diggs. Boghosian’s assemblages, collages and constructions are made with objects he finds in antique shops, yard sales and flea markets. He combines these objects in unpredictable, ambiguous and paradoxical ways, which reach back to memory or myth. They have a narrative quality and are often witty.

Horowitz’s bold landscapes reference Matisse’s expressionistic use of color and Hans Hofmann, whom she studied with and influenced her palette. Sky Power’s lyrical abstract paintings suggest luminous landscapes. In Zimiles’s paintings, animals, which have metaphoric and anthropomorphic meanings, roam a boldly colored fantastical landscape. On July 28 through August 19, in conjunction with PAAM’s Budd Hopkins

exhibition, the gallery will feature a selection of Hopkins’s art along with Edgy Women of BWG, which includes the work of Hopkins’s daughter, Grace Hopkins; two artists from the early days of the art colony, Blanche Lazzell and Agnes Weinrich; and Ione Walker, Sue Fuller and Erna Partoll. The bronze sculpture of Romolo Del Deo will be featured August 25–September 16. The son of painter Salvatore Del Deo, Romolo grew up in Provincetown, studied in Italy and creates fragmented figurative bronzes, which have the look of an archeological discovery. Also showing are the paintings of James Lechay and Nancy Whorf’s vibrant images of Provincetown.

Leaving Provincetown by avoiding Route 6 and taking the bayside road, you will enter the small, bucolic town of Truro, yet you can easily miss the village if you’re not alert. Over half of the land area of the town is part of the Cape Cod National Seashore, established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy and administered by the U.S. National Park Service. It is to Truro where Edward Hopper was drawn. Enchanted by the quiet and beauty of the place, he painted its land and architecture during the 30 years he had a summer home there.

The town’s population of some 2,000 grows during the summer months when New Yorkers and Bostonians seek refuge in the hills and woods. Close to Provincetown, many artists and writers who are active in the art colony have homes in Truro. But they don’t have to go far to experience the cultural activities at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. Celebrating its 44th year, Castle Hill hosts workshops, lectures, exhi-

JEFF SODERBERGH.COM sustainable art & furnishings seasonal gallery / showroom 11 west main st / lower gallery below Karol Richardson wellfleet, ma 02667 open 7 days

Mary Jameson

David Gonville

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CAPE COD, MA

JEFF SODERBERGH.COM sustainable art & furnishings seasonal gallery / showroom 11 west main st / lower gallery below Karol Richardson wellfleet, ma 02667 open 7 days

Tom Deininger

bitions, performances, special events and shortterm artist residencies. Exhibitions this season include the work of Ken Kewley and Ying Li July 4-14; Judy Motzkin and Christopher Volpe July 18-28; and Donna Dodson, Rebecca Bruyn and Roxanne Faber Savage August 15–25. On August 9, historian William J. Mann will talk about his recent book The Wars of the Roosevelts: The Ruthless Rise of America’s Greatest Political Family. Peter Neill, founder and director of the World Ocean Observatory, a web-based site for information and educational services about the health of the ocean, will speak on August 30.

Midway between Provincetown and the elbow of the Cape is the lively town of Wellfleet. With a year-round population of around 3,000, the town swells nearly six times during the summer. Like neighboring Truro, as much as half of its land area is part of the National Seashore.

Wellfleet is famous for its oysters, which are celebrated in the annual October OysterFest.

During the summer, the town bustles, not like the carnival-like atmosphere in Provincetown, but rather like a quaint village where you can spot artists and writers you recognize in shorts and T-shirts shopping for art and crafts.

At JS Studio, you can see Jeff Soderbergh’s beautifully designed furniture from reclaimed material. For more than 25 years, Soderbergh has been creating custom furnishings and sculpture for both residential and commercial clients and collectors. Focusing on creating one piece at a time, he uses sustainable materials, including wood, metal, stone, glass and cast concrete. “My

passion for reclaiming and creating is inspired by what comes from nature and the resulting beauty that only time can produce. There are already enough materials in existence today that we can utilize with stunning results. Let’s start looking at sustainable options through a different lens.” His gallery is nestled below one of the original homestead barns brought over from Billingsgate Island and features his imaginative furniture designs as well as the work of other artists.

Berta Walker opened a second gallery in Wellfleet two years ago and this season she is featuring the work of a group of Wellfleet artists through July 15. Paul Resika will be showing his paintings and pastels July 22–August 12. The photographs of his wife, Blair Resika, who often paints her husband at work, and Gilbert Franklin’s bronze figures, which reference classical Greek and Roman sculpture, will also be shown.

Traveling from Wellfleet to Orleans on Route 6, you find entrances to the Cape Cod National Seashore, always worth a stop. From Orleans on the scenic Old King’s Highway, Route 6A, you can travel the length of Brewster, a town along the bay side of the Cape. Along the route, which runs for 34 miles to the town of Sandwich, you will see historic buildings and feel a return to an earlier time.

About a mile from the center of Brewster, marked by the inviting Brewster General Store, is Julia Cumes Photography. Cumes, from South Africa, has settled in this quiet town and photographs scenes both close to home and far away. A seasoned traveler, she often strikes

Joshua Enck

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CAPE COD, MA out to far-off India, Morocco, New Zealand, Indonesia, Tanzania, Peru and Uganda to capture their life and culture. Her beautifully composed photographs tell a story of the people at work and at leisure. They are sensitive portraits and dramatic scenes of the rolling sand dunes of the Sahara, of Machu Picchu in Peru and the chimpanzees in Uganda.

Continuing on Old King’s Highway into Dennis, on the campus of the Cape Cod Center for the Arts with the historic Cape Playhouse and the Cape Cinema with the great Rockwell Kent mural, is the Cape Cod Museum of Art, which celebrated its 35th anniversary last year. The museum’s “Summer of Love and Abstraction” commemorates the summer of 1967, which marked a countercultural revolu-

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tion in the country. The museum will highlight this period by featuring exhibitions of abstract art that marked the movement away from traditional realism in America. The ABC’s of Abstraction: Collection in Context, which runs through August 10, will present works with an historical perspective. The exhibition includes the art of Robert Beauchamp, Jasper Johns, Sam Feinstein, Blanche Lazzell and Hans Hofmann, who brought European modernism to America and ignited abstract expressionism. Masters of Abstraction: Local Collections, on exhibit through September 17, will feature art by world-renown artists, including Man Ray, Joan Miró, Robert Motherwell, Alexander Calder, Jim Dine and Frank Stella. Through August 11 is Dan Welden: Innovations in Printmaking. A printmaker and

painter, Welden developed the Solarplate, a printmaking approach that eliminates toxic chemicals by using a steel-backed, light-sensitive polymer plate. Welden’s large mixed-media images are inspired by landscape. These abstract works have an exuberance and intensity. His gestural approach captures a freedom in his use of color and the sweep of a line. From July 13 through September 17, Printmaking Collaborations: International Masters features the lithographs and mixed-media prints Welden produced for abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning, his wife, Elaine de Kooning, as well as Eric Fischl, David Salle, Dan Flavin and Kurt Vonnegut, among others.

Moving west on Old King’s Highway through Yarmouth Port, you will reach Barnstable Village,

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CAPE COD, MA one of the seven villages in Barnstable County.

County offices, the courts, Barnstable Comedy Club and historic homes reflect the charm of the village. The Sturgis Library building, constructed in 1644 for the home of Reverend John Lothrop, is the oldest building housing a public library in the U.S. In the village is the Cape Cod Art Association, a membership group operating since 1948. The association offers classes and workshops in painting and photography and exhibitions in its two galleries. This summer’s shows include an exhibit and sale of the work of the association’s master artists (its highest level of membership) through July 9. The National, an open juried exhibit and sale, runs July 10 through August 13. Two shows Porches & Gardens, an open juried photography exhibit, and Studio Art, an open juried fine art exhibit, are scheduled in August. A Touch of Color, a juried members exhibit, runs August 14 through September 10.

Crossing to the south side, midway between Hyannis and Falmouth, is Cotuit, a small village, which in 1987 was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Along the main highway bordering the town is the Cotuit Center for the Arts, founded in 1993. A bustling center, it presents art exhibits, theater, concerts, classes, workshops and films. Not a typical gallery with a stable of artists, the Cotuit Center offers its space to artists and art groups for signature shows. Piece by Piece III, which runs through July 31, is a large-scale collaborative installation featuring over 150 artists from Cape Cod. Marking Time, a 70th anniversary show of the Boston Printmakers, will take up

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the center August 5 through September 16. The theater schedule at Cotuit is vigorous. There’s never a breath between its two venues. George Brant’s Grounded will be showing through July 16 in the small Black Box. From July 6–30, the Cotuit open its doors to 19th-century Paris with Stephen Sondheim’s and James Lapine’s Sunday in the Park with George, a brilliant, award-winning musical focusing on the pointillist painter Georges Seurat. Christine Ernst is back at Cotuit for her seventh year with The Fat Ass Cancer Bitch. This edition features Ernst’s irreverent and thoughtprovoking stories on August 4 and 5.

Just down the road is the Cahoon Museum of American Art, in the former home and studio of folk artists Ralph and Martha Cahoon. In its expanded space the museum presents a range of American art, and continues to celebrate the legacy of the Cahoons by exhibiting their work.

Ralph Eugene Cahoon Jr. (1910–1982) descended from 17th-century Scottish immigrants, many of whom were whalers and fishermen. In 1930 when Ralph, who was always interested in art, met Martha Farham (1905–1999), who was living in nearby Harwich with her family, his path became more defined. Martha’s father was a furniture decorator and she was his apprentice.

Martha and Ralph married in 1932, and she taught him to decorate furniture. Influenced by Swedish, Pennsylvania German, and American folk traditions, they decorated tables, chairs, dressers and chests, as well as trays and wooden bowls. After World War II, the couple bought the 1782 Crocker homestead (the historic building that is now part of the Cahoon

Museum). Eventually, they began to paint folk designs of their own invention. Ralph often gravitated to scenes of sailors and mermaids in New England seaside settings, often with a lighthouse, a clipper ship or a hot-air balloon.

Martha was also drawn to this motif, but often painted country scenes, flowers, shells and birds. By 1960, the Cahoons were exhibiting at galleries on Nantucket and in Florida and Boston. Martha was 77 when Ralph died in 1982. She sold their home to Rosemary Rapp; a local art collector who transformed it into a museum named in the Cahoons’s honor, and granted Martha lifetime rights to live in four rooms on the ground floor. Through August 20 is Master of the Maritime: James E. Buttersworth, with an opening reception July 2, 4:30–6 p.m.

The exhibition features the 19th-century artist’s maritime paintings of clipper ships, yachts and naval ships. His work is noted for its meticulous detail with rolling seas and storm clouds.

James’s father, Thomas Buttersworth, was also a marine painter. The Cahoon exhibition presents works by father and son from private collections and museums, including the collection of the Cahoon Museum.

You can take the ferry to the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket from Hyannis and Woods Hole and to Martha’s Vineyard from Falmouth, or you can fly from Hyannis. The two islands are significantly different. Nantucket is 30 miles off Cape Cod. It is well known for its 19th-century whaling industry. Now it is a summer haven with cedarshingled homes, charming wharves, cobblestone

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CAPE COD, MA streets, elegant shops, and galleries.

Hostetler Gallery was established on Nantucket in 1982 featuring the artwork of David Hostetler (who passed away in 2015). In 2012 the gallery moved to downtown Nantucket and with the increased space, owner Susan CrehanHostetler is able to show the work of other artists. Inspired by goddesses and women of historical significance, David Hostetler’s work captures the spirit, romance and earthiness of femininity.

His figures have illustrious, elongated curves that celebrate the sensuality of the female form.

In some pieces he tends toward an imaginary distortion that moves toward abstraction.

The gallery also exhibits the abstract paintings of Power Boothe and Xanda McCagg.

A professor at the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford, Boothe paints monochromatic, textured compositions, which have a distinguished serenity. McCagg’s paintings are large, colorful, free-wheeling abstractions that make a powerful statement.

Art Werger’s representational large-scale aquatints and mezzotints of swimmers underwater are commanding. His cityscapes are dramatic views from above that capture the dynamism of urban life.

Ellen Carey uses a variety of photographic mediums, including Polaroid SX-70 and Polaroid PN film, to create lustrous, intensely colored abstract images.

Just seven miles off Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard is made up of six small, distinctive towns: Aquinnah, known as a hub for Wampanoag culture and the Gay Head

Cliffs; rural Chilmark with its fishing village Menemsha; agricultural West Tisbury; Edgartown, the largest on the island; Oak Bluffs with its gingerbread cottages; and Tisbury with its main village of Vineyard Haven. The island is known for its celebrities— musicians, authors, and media personalities— who live or spend summers there.

In quiet Aquinnah is Sargent Gallery, formerly Gay Head Gallery. Devoted to a “conservation mission,” the gallery features work related to nature’s wonders, all distinguished by the particular vision of the artist. John Athearn’s quiet watercolors depict rolling hills and cottages in muted colors. Marston Clough cloaks his loosely defined images of land, sea and sky in mystery.

Judith Howells focuses on light in her bucolic, plein-air landscapes. And Peter Roux leans toward a minimalist view of land and sky. Ruth Kirchmeier’s woodcuts define a dark, whirling landscape. Elizabeth Lockhart Taft often depicts the Gay Head cliffs in stark compositions.

Jennifer Clement’s paintings with their mysterious light approach abstraction.

Two artists present distinctly different views in their photographs. Karen Philippi’s are dreamy images of the ocean. Marjorie Wolfe’s black and white landscape photos are stark and dramatic.

Artistic traditions of the Cape Cod and the islands and the vitality of its contemporary culture provide wonderful opportunities to enjoy and appreciate more than just its beautiful land and sea.

—Deborah Forman

JULIE HELLER GALLERY P ROVI N C E T O WN A R T OL D A N D N E W

Maurice Freedman, Cape Cod Light, mid-1940s.

This summer Julie Heller Gallery, Provincetown’s oldest gallery, and its East End counterpart, Julie Heller East, are exhibiting exciting works by local contemporary artists including Shawn Weaver July 21–August 10, and Hannah Bureau August 11–24. Representing the estates of numerous early Provincetown Modernist masters including Jim Forsberg, Betty Lane, and Sol Wilson; we are also pleased to offer a wide selection of fine prints by Milton Avery, Robert Motherwell, and many others.

JULIE HELLER GALLERY

JULIE HELLER EAST

2 Gosnold St. 508 487 2169

465 Commercial St. 508 487 2166

Provincetown, Massachusetts 02657 Open daily from 10AM to 10PM info@juliehellergallery.com juliehellergallery.com

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