CAPE COD, MA
DESTINATION CAPE COD, MA
Chapin Memorial Beach. Photo: Matt Suess.
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een from the air, Cape Cod bears a startling resemblance to a flexed arm, its upraised fist being where Provincetown is perched. Approaching this arty and accepting community by land, it’s interesting to take note of the lunarlooking landscape at the tip of Cape Cod. In these very dunes the first wave of artists in 1899 set up their easels, drawn by the fabled light. Today still, artists of all ilk flock to Provincetown—to make, to rest, to connect. To catch that inimitable vibe of creativity and draw strength from, perhaps, that symbolic fist. We start our tour of Cape Cod here, in the oldest continuous art colony in America. “With the legacy we uphold, comes great responsibility,” says Christine McCarthy, executive director of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM). “Our mission is to hold true to the artists who have
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ties to the Cape and Islands.” PAAM’s recordsetting Helen Frankenthaler show last summer set a high bar for programming, yet McCarthy rises to the challenge this season with an impressive roster that includes Circa 1945: Abstract Art in the Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation Collection (July 19–September 15), a rare chance to see items in this astounding private collection outside of visiting the foundation in New York City. “I’m excited about this summer because we’re showcasing a lot of living artists in addition to the historical collections,” says McCarthy. Aptly ushering in PAAM’s heralded Secret Garden Tour (July 15), Big Fat Flowers (through July 14) features 30 local and national artists’ drawings, paintings, photographs and sculpture, all relating to the title theme. Also on view, Stephen Pace in Provincetown (July 5–September 1) features both the artist’s abstract and figurative oil paint-
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ings and watercolors, and Selections from the Pat and Nanno de Groot Collection (July 2–September 8) presents recent acquisitions gifted to PAAM, including works by Pat de Groot, Nanno de Groot, Richard Baker, Paul Bowen, Polly Burnell, Jack Pierson and Bob Thompson, among others. Many people claim that after Labor Day is the best time to visit Cape Cod—the weather’s still lovely and the crowds have thinned. PAAM will celebrate the season with Color Beyond Description (August 30–November 3), a show of watercolors by Charles Hawthorne, Hans Hofmann and Paul Resika. Additionally, through early September, dozens of one-day to week-long workshops are offered in printmaking, painting, drawing, performance art and photography, taught by local teaching artists. Year round, PAAM’s full lineup of cultural and educational programs includes concerts, film screenings,
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auctions, exhibition openings and intimate gallery talks with exhibiting artists and curators. Steps away from PAAM on Commercial Street, painter and one-time rock ‘n’ roll band member Debbie Nadolney has spent all year preparing for her swan song at AMP Gallery, a live contemporary gallery space dedicated to exhibiting multi-disciplined work by visual, conceptual and performance artists, filmmakers and writers. This is the eighth and final season for Nadolney’s Art Market Provincetown, an eclectic and electric venue for both established and emerging artists. Over the years, Nadolney has collaborated with 50 of them, and this season she has decided to highlight some of her favorite works from the past. “Giving them all some air time is my
PROVINCETOWN ART ASSOCIATION AND MUSEUM The anchor of the Provincetown Art Colony. Open daily at 11am www.PAAM.org
current challenge,” she says, explaining that her exhibitions and happenings are primarily cutting edge and often process-based. Through October, visitors can look forward to visual art such as new abstract paintings from Barbara E. Cohen’s Life Jackets series, in response to immigration issues; Zammy Migdal’s large steel and aluminum sculptures; paintings from Barbara Hadden, who Nadolney says has a “Gerhard Richter kind of feel”; and photography from Bobby Miller, known for documenting Wigstock and Studio 54. In the 35-seat gallery, a hot ticket once again this summer is Tough Girls & Lucid Dreamers X, featuring readings and performances by Michael Cunningham, Eileen Myles, Katrina del Mar, Jay Critchley and others. “I’ve brought all the things
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PROVINCETOWN ART ASSOCIATION AND MUSEUM 460 COMMERCIAL STREET PROVINCETOWN MA 508-487-1750 | @PAAM1914 Charles Hawthorne, Seascape from the Truro Hills, (detail), watercolor on paper PAAM Collection, Gift of Marguerite Wilson
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I love together in one space,” says Nadolney, who hopes her next chapter will include a traveling event, gallery and studio space. Heading a bit further west along Commercial Street, past a clutch of eclectic art galleries in antique buildings, a right turn onto Pearl Street brings you to the Fine Arts Work Center (FAWC), a complex of weathered gray buildings that occupy what was once Days Lumberyard, which in addition to housing wood had ten studios for rent on the upper level. Here from 1914 to 1971, a sucession of painters and sculptors, many renowned today, lived and created their art. FAWC, founded in 1968, is the current tenant,
JEFF SODERBERGH.COM sustainable fine art & furnishings seasonal gallery / showroom 11 west main st / lower gallery below Karol Richardson wellfleet, ma 02667 open 7 days
attracting an A-list of established artists and writers and fostering emerging ones from around the country and the world who’ve been granted coveted seven-month residencies. From June through August, FAWC offers an annual 11-week Summer Workshop Program of openenrollment classes led by esteemed writers and artists who teach on a variety of topics within the categories of creative writing and visual arts. These are complemented by readings and artists’ talks that are free and open to the public. Bette Warner, co-executive director of FAWC, is excited to launch a brand-new Women Playwrights Series this summer, including a playwriting workshop with two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl. The center also hosts a quartet of Visual Arts Duets, a series of drawing, painting and printmaking workshops each taught by two of Provincetown’s favorite artists. Also held for the first time, a Master Printer Series introduces a women printmakers initiative. Themed weeks are devoted to topics such as memoir and creative nonfiction, social justice and the 4th Annual Poetry Festival. The Work Center’s summer season concludes on August 17 with its 43rd Annual Art Auction, offering 75 lots of contemporary art. Still in the East End, less than a mile from FAWC and well worth a stop before leaving
Janice Redman, Ritual, 2014, sand, linen, wool, ceramic, 9 x 10 ½ x 5". Courtesy of Berta Walker Gallery.
CAPE COD ART CENTER’S 4th Annual Art Conference
Jeff Soderbergh
Saturday,
8:00 am-4:00 pm
DoubleTree Hotel Hyannis, MA 19 Sessions packed with tips, techniques and inspiration to help you advance your artwork, from beginners to advanced. Featuring 20 renowned regional artists.
Register early! Space is limited for some sessions:
MasteringYourMark.org
David Gonville
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508.362.2909
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AMP ART MARKET PROVINCETOWN
432 Commercial • 646.298.9258
September 28
EastEnd S P E C I A L
a live gallery space
Midge Battelle Bobby Busnach Karen Cappotto Barbara E. Cohen Larry Collins Jay Critchley Richard Dorff Katrina del Mar Megan Hinton Heather Kapplow M P Landis Jackie Lipton Deborah Martin Bobby Miller Pat Place Judith Trepp Suara Welitoff Forrest Williams Rick Wrigley and others
www.artmarketprovincetown.com info@artmarketpprovincetown.com
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Provincetown is Berta Walker Gallery. Walker’s lifelong connection to the art colony lends an authenticity and intimacy to all her shows. This year the gallery celebrates its 30th anniversary with Creative Couples: 1890–Present, a summerlong rotating group of exhibitions both here, featuring Provincetown artists, and at Walker’s Wellfleet gallery, which spotlights couples who have traditionally lived and created in Truro and Wellfleet, and others who have had shacks on the dunes. In all, some 175 couples—actors, artists, writers, filmmakers, photographers, musicians, dancers, curators—are represented. “When I opened the gallery 30 years ago, I did a show on generations in Provincetown,” says Walker. “My motivation has always been to salute all that we are as an art colony.” The couples, past and present, are married, divorced, committed, gay and straight. They include Selina Trieff and Robert Henry, Marsden Hartley and Carl Sprinchorn, Paul and Blair Resika, Carmen Cicero and Mary Abel, to name a few. Artist Karl Knaths shared a home with both his wife, Helen Weinrich, and her sister, artist Agnes Weinrich, thus forming a creative triangle of sorts. “In researching these artists over the years, it has been fun to discover wonderful stories and vignettes, great books and a variety of great art,” says Walker. “I marvel at the amazing creativity that has been filling this little art colony for over 125 years!” A close neighbor to Berta Walker Gallery, both in Provincetown and Wellfleet, is the distinguished Gaa Gallery (walk along Howland Street toward Commercial). Just one year after the gallery’s spring 2015 debut in Wellfleet, the Provincetown location premiered, expanding the gallery’s mission to showcase the work of emerging and established international artists and “to embody and embrace the region’s history rooted in the creation of modern and contemporary art, architecture, and design,” explains spokesperson Kirsten Anderson. Opening July 19 (through August 5) in Provincetown, Gaa Gallery welcomes former Fine Arts Work Center fellow Jane Corrigan, the acclaimed Canadian-born now Brooklyn, NY-based painter, known for her unique weton-wet process. This is Corrigan’s first time showing in Provincetown and a reception with the artist will be held on the July 19 opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Gaa Gallery is also excited to present work from British conceptual
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artist Peter Hutchinson, now a long-time, yearround resident of Provincetown, who enjoys a well-established, international career. The exhibit will include sculpture and photographic collage. His collages are often compounded with diary passages, Land Art, and ideas from science fiction, rendering his finished works intimate narratives of his experiences. An opening reception with the artist is from 6 to 9 p.m. on August 30 and the exhibit runs through September 29. Hutchinson, who recently exhibited at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York, will also show at the deCordova Sculpture Park this fall. Gaa’s programming excels at pairing master artists with those still emerging. The next town travelling down the narrow forearm of the Cape is Truro. Just like the Atlanticfacing seashore in Provincetown, more than half the land area of the town is part of the Cape Cod National Seashore, administered by the U.S. National Park Service. While Commercial Street is the lively main drag in Provincetown, a common complaint in quieter Truro is that it’s hard to find “downtown.” One thing is for sure— the cultural heart of Truro is Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, where workshops are offered year-round for creatives of all level of experience. The protected rolling hills and dunes along the coast offer a sense of perpetual serenity that is particularly conducive to making art of all types (Edward Hopper had a home here), and at Castle Hill you can study painting, drawing, printmaking, writing, sculpture, fiber art, photography and more. Ceramics has historically been one of their
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JEFF SODERBERGH.COM sustainable fine art & furnishings seasonal gallery / showroom 11 west main st / lower gallery below Karol Richardson wellfleet, ma 02667 open 7 days
Joshua Enck
Abstract & Figurative Art A leading contemporary gallery with bold, imaginative work by established and emerging artists. 486 Route 28, Harwich Port, MA 02646 crossripgallery@gmail.com • crossripgallery.com 508-432-1130
Lisa Barsumian
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JEFF SODERBERGH.COM sustainable fine art & furnishings seasonal gallery / showroom 11 west main st / lower gallery below Karol Richardson wellfleet, ma 02667 open 7 days
Bernhard Dessecker
Konstantin Dimopoulos, The Blue Trees, 2019, environmentally safe pigment on trees, installed at the Cahoon Museum of American Art, Cotuit, MA. Photo: Paul Rifkin
most popular programs, available to all learning levels from beginning to expert. Acclaimed potter Guy Wolff teaches in the fall. The only wood-fired kiln on Cape Cod is found here as is a wood-fired pizza oven that comes in handy for recently created culinary workshops and special events featuring, among others, Boston chef Barbara Lynch and noted food journalist
Jonathan Clancy
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and cookbook author Mark Bittman. In the summer, week-long workshops are offered in drawing, painting, mixed media, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, fiber, installation, photography and digital media plus a variety of workshops for children ages 6 to 11. Castle Hill executive artistic director Cherie Mittenthal is particularly excited to host Raquel Salas Rivera, the Poet Laureate
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of Philadelphia, who will teach a week-long workshop in July and give a poetry reading on July 23. Discussing Castle Hill’s Edgewood Farm property, Mittenthal is full of enthusiasm for the recent renovations and future programming. The beautiful campus abutting walking trails maintained by the Truro Conservation Trust enables the center to offer student and faculty housing as well as new studio spaces. Furthermore, says Mittenthal, “We will continue to bring the ‘farm’ back to Edgewood Farm with a community garden opportunity.” Further along Route 6 is Wellfleet, located halfway between the “tip” and “elbow” of Cape Cod. Its population of some 3,000 swells nearly six-fold in the summer and includes Jeff Soderbergh and his family. Soderbergh, a master craftsman, has been creating custom sustainable furnishings out of his Newport, RI, studio for more than 25 years, and his JS Gallery in Wellfleet is like a mini museum of his work and that of other environmentally sensitive artists. “If we can think it, we can build it,” says Soderbergh. “Any style, any natural material from refined rustic to super clean and contemporary.” In the studio, tucked below a contemporary women’s clothing shop owned by Soderbergh’s wife, you can expect to be disarmed by Tom Deininger’s wall pieces made using recycled materials like junk mail, plastic flotsam, phone books and more; David Gonville’s sculptural paintings that explore ocean patterns, surface textures and micro-systems from a surfer’s perspective; and Jonathan Clancy’s evocative photographic images printed with soy-based inks on recycled aluminum. Joshua Enck, Lisa Barsumian and Bernhard Dessecker round out the group of artists represented here this summer. “I want people to be surprised,” says Soderbergh, who recently opened a new gallery in Portsmouth, RI. When you leave JS Gallery, take a right on Main Street and follow it to the end to appreciate Wellfleet’s coastal-village charm. Boutiques, cafes and bookstores abound along the way. Yet if you’re fortunate enough to be visiting before July 27, you’ll be most distracted by the early drawings, paintings and sculpture from pop artist Jim Dine, showing at Gaa Gallery’s Wellfleet location (referenced above) through July 27. The gallery has curated work from 1960–
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1970—geometric and color-driven—promising an exquisite summer treat. Further along Main Street, you’ll find Berta Walker’s Wellfleet gallery (also discussed above), right before Main Street merges with Route 6. After about 20 miles on the highway, get off at Exit 10 and follow the signs to Harwich Port, about another 10 miles that bring you closer and closer to the ocean. Georgene Riedl grew up in this charming hamlet and three years ago established Cross Rip Gallery in an 1830s sea captain’s house that has been in her family for half a century. Its original walls and floors contrast with yet complement artist/owner Riedl’s abstractleaning pieces (“art with an edge”) from local notables such as Suzanne M. Packer, Heather Blume, Sally S. Fine, Eveline Luppi, Liz Perry and Richard Perry. Riedl supports emerging artists as well, saying, “I want imaginative, creative work.” And she finds it—sculpture, paintings, photography, reliefs, watercolors and collages are displayed in a residential setting so that collectors can easily visualize how a work of art would look in a home with natural lighting. The calm in the gallery encourages you to take your time and contemplate the art, each well-spaced piece being given considerable “breathing room.” From July through the end of the year, Riedl offers half a dozen month-long exhibitions, including an invitational. A reception on the lawn with live music and refreshments will accompany each new show. Saying goodbye to Harwich Port, head to Route 6A and the Cape Cod Arts Center (CCAC), incongruously housed in a modern 1970s building set back from the Old King’s Highway, notable for its mostly antique houses on either side. When it was created, 34 years after the founding of PAAM, CCAC filled a void for artists centrally located on Cape Cod who “wanted classes, camaraderie and galleries to show and sell their work,” writes CCAC president Susan H. Guill in the forward to the organization’s 70th-anniversary commemorative history, put out last year. Today, more than 1,000 members ensure that the center’s visibility goes beyond Barnstable village. Roberta Miller, a photographer who has been the CCAC’s first and only executive director since 2009, has been instrumental in developing a robust photography program. The center more than fulfills its founding commitment “to provide opportunities for
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Tom Deininger
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BERTA WALKER GALLERY Creative Couples: 1890-Present
Seven Exhibitions • Two Galleries 175 Creative Couples actors, artists, writers, filmmakers, photographers, musicians, dancers, curators
BREON DUNIGAN
CARL SPRINCHORN
JANICE REDMAN
SELINA TRIEFF
DOROTHY LAKE GREGORY MOFFETT
MURRAY ZIMILES
Highland Light at Sunset. Photo: Peg Vetorino.
PAUL RESIKA 30th
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BertaWalker G A L L E R Y
PROVINCETOWN 208 Bradford St 508 487 6411 WELLFLEET 40 Main St 774 383 3161 BertaWalker.com AMPLE PARKING
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long-practicing amateur and professional artists to be recognized for excellence through member and open juried exhibitions.” This summer visitors can view These Are a Few of My Favorite Things (through July 14) and Windows and Doors (August 13–September 15), both exhibits and
Celebrating 40 Years!
sales of juried artist member works. In addition, The National, an open juried exhibit and sale, runs from July 16 to August 11. In spring, summer and fall a variety of tours and walks for painters and photographers are offered to both members and the public.
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Pulling out of the CCAC parking lot, take a right onto Route 6A and wend your way through Barnstable village, past the Sturgis Library, which is the oldest building (1644) that houses a public library in America. Head west toward Route 28 via Route 149 to reach the Cahoon Museum of American Art. You’ll have no trouble spotting it—just look for the electric-blue trees. Artist Konstantin Dimopoulos created The Blue Trees as an ongoing environmental art installation in cities worldwide to draw attention to global deforestation and the importance of trees to the planet. The blue pigment is safe, environmentally friendly, water soluble and washes off easily. Over time, rainfall will return the trees to their natural state. The unnatural colored trees not only bring attention to global environmental concerns, they also help raise the profile of the museum, which has been around since 1984 yet is now, following an extensive renovation, making a significant effort to change the public’s perception of it. “I feel it’s important to get art outside to let people know there’s art inside,” says Sarah Johnson, museum director, explaining that driving by the original late 18th-century building, many people are unaware that there’s contemporary art inside as well as the museum’s well-known historical collections. “We want to get people engaged.” To this end, Exquisite Shells: The Art of Sailors Valentines (through September 1), an extensive international exhibition in the museum’s new modern wing, traces the fascinating history of the sailor’s valentine art form from its 19th-century beginnings to the
cutting-edge designs of contemporary makers. Young and old will delight in the intricate arrangements of thousands of meticulously placed shells, some requiring a magnifying glass to truly appreciate. On the museum’s second floor, Valerie Hegarty: Secrets of the Sea (through September 1) features three artworks by contemporary artist Hegarty that were recently acquired by the museum, paired with a historic painting by 19th-century artist, William Bradford. This grouping highlights how American artists have chosen to represent the environment and what it reflects about the philosophies and thinking of their time. Old-time Cape Codders joke about never going over the bridge, but it’s inevitable, especially if you want to extend your artistic itinerary with the Art drive (August 9 to 11), a juried studio tour showcasing artists in Dartmouth and Westport, MA. If you’re on your way back from Cape Cod to Greater Boston or Providence, you’ll want to put this one-of-a-kind experience on your agenda. Driving through the picturesque region of farmland and seacoast is pleasurable in and of itself. Couple it with studio visits to some of the area’s premier painters, ceramic artists, photographers, jewelers, fiber artists, woodworkers and metal artists, and you have the makings of a great day trip or weekend escape. A map is provided to guide you to the artists, each located within a 15-mile area also full of places to eat and drink, many of them Art drive sponsors. User-friendly navigation is also available on your iPhone. Called a “magical
experience” by one previous participant, the Art drive supports artists in the Dartmouth/Westport community by allowing them to exhibit and sell original works of art to the public. Not everyone is an artist, yet most everyone has an appreciation for art in one form or another. Cape Cod has attracted and nurtured creative individuals for more than a century, and with the vast number of varied exhibitions, workshops, residencies, performances and more available today, the future is bright for decades to come. Whether arriving by land or sea, from the “fist” of the tip or the crook of the “elbow,” plan to stay a few days and immerse yourself in the colors, sounds and styles of Cape Cod. —Janice Randall Rohlf
Jim Dine, Untitled, 1969, pastel, pencil and chalk on paper, 21 7/8 x 31" (55.56 x 78.74 cm). Courtesy of Gaa Gallery.
EXQUISITE SHELLS: The Art of Sailors Valentines MAY 24 – SEPTEMBER 1
Hatsue Iimuro, Floral Breeze (detail)
cahoonmuseum.org
4676 Falmouth Road (Route 28) | Cotuit, MA 02635 | 508.428.7581
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