Visiting East Gloucester galleries in the summer is like attending an art fair outdoors. Walk gorgeous surroundings and enjoy the great thrill and fun of seeing and purchasing works by established and emerging artists. Here’s a mini gallery guide for July, and a reminder that it doesn’t list every exhibit. Just a sampling. Also note special events happening today and tomorrow: TODAY at Gallery 53, 1-3pm: Working with precious metal clay Trish Conant artist demonstration. TONIGHT Grand Fatilla concert at the Cultural Center. TOMORROW evening, Sunday, artist talk by Hilary Harrison about her exhibition on view at the Cultural Center.
North Shore Arts Association
150 works from Artists Members through July 30th, the second exhibition in 2016, fill the first and second floors. Two more exhibits are on view. On the first floor, past the reception desk, many many generous artists donated their art–each painting on the same size slate matrix, recovered from the Paint Factory. They comprise a special silent auction closing July 30, 2016. “100% of the proceeds from the Paint Factory Painted Slate Fundraising Silent Auction will benefit the restoration efforts of both North Shore Arts Association and Ocean Alliance of Gloucester.”Visit the NSAA gallery to enjoy them and to place your bid. You can also contact NSAA directly at 978.283.1857.
Art by new NSAA members, like a Lanes Cove print by James Oliver, are in the farthest room and not to be missed.
GALLERY 53
The current exhibit at Gallery 53 features prints by Coco Berkman. Some of Mary Rhinelander’s prints are on view, various media. (I bought an impression of Mary’s blueberries for a gift, but I kept it!) It’s a great chance to see different mediums in action. I worked with a couple of artists that created reduction linocuts, Coco’s method. They called it ‘suicide block’ due to its risk. She makes it look easy. (You can see a reduction linocut by Don Gorvett in the collection at Cape Ann Museum.)
ROCKY NECK CULTURAL CENTER
Hilary Harrison: Sacred Nature. Reflection and reverie in her installation of sculpture and ink jet photography (printed by the artist on nice matte Hahnemule paper.) I’d recommend ending with this exhibit if you are seeing several in one day.
STEPHEN LAPIERRE
Survey from several decades and bodies of work –a retrospective expression of the life around him, wherever he’s lived. There are 200+ paintings on view (as much as the entire NSAA two floor building!) Versatile and original painter. Read Gail McCarthy’s story in the Gloucester Daily Times
SIDE STREET GALLERY
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Promoting Optimal Wellness for Body, Mind & Spirit
Come to Stage Fort Park in Gloucester this Sunday. July 17th. Meet ‘the force’ behind Reid’s Ride. Join Reid’s Family – Lorraine, Gene, Wesley, Deb and Franck Sacco and their wonderful group of organizers and participants. So much positivity behind this group, you can’t help but ‘feel the force’ and get caught up in the wave of progress against cancer.
Stage Fort Park will be hopping with activity at tomorrow’s (Sunday July 17th) Reid’s Ride. Overlooking beautiful Gloucester Harbor; great spot for a walk, picnic, volleyball, or simply enjoy the cooling waters of the Atlantic from one of 2 beaches.
Greet and cheer on the cyclists as they arrive at the end of their 28…
David Rimmer wrote a big thank you for all the GMG attention. He explained that Mass Wildlife and the Greenbelt Association are working with the City of Gloucester and sends this update:
“There are 4 pairs of piping plovers at Coffins Beach – 2 pairs on the front beach and 2 pairs on the inside beach.
3 pairs are on private land and 1 pair is on Greenbelt land. Mass Wildlife and Greenbelt have been monitoring and managing this area, too, (as with Good Harbor)
at Coffins Beach, one pair has 4 chicks; one pair has 3 chicks; one pair has 2 chicks; and one pair has no chicks.
Greenbelt also has an Osprey Program, which focuses on managing and monitoring nesting Osprey from East Boston to Salisbury.” Greenbelt has set up webcams and platforms. Learn more http://www.ecga.org/what_we_do/osprey_program. Chris Leahy and Marion Larson from Ma Wildlife also mentioned Greenbelt’s fantastic Osprey program.
Coffins/Coffin’s Beach has a community Facebook page, Wingaersheek and Coffin’s Beach Past and Present. There are historic and contemporary photographs. Check out the incredible photo series of deer frolicking by Timmothy Burke Manlee.
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I always try to shop local whenever I can and last week I stopped by to see Georgeanne at Sea Meadow Gifts to poke around and see what’s new! She always has great garden gifts, jewelry, kids toys and some amazing smelling soaps/bath items. Follow them on Instagram @seameadowgiftsandgardens.
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Used It today for an Almond Joy Dunks which I got at 10 AM and was still sipping with a ton of ICE in it at 1PM, then refilled with Ice and had cold water all afternoon.
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A place where non-profit Cape Ann organizations can post press releases directly and then those press releases will be reposted to http://www.goodmorninggloucester.com . This is not an advertising space for businesses, fitness or wellness organizations, or music listings.
There are hundreds of items in this year’s Annisquam Village Church’s online auction! In fact, about 300 unique treasures donated by local businesses, artists, and patrons—this year’s highlights include a sailboat, original works of art, vacation escapes, and generous gift certificates from many local stores, restaurants, and services. The auction fills over 7 pages–don’t miss out on the bargains farther down the list! Find it at www.biddingforgood.com/avcnow through July 20. Your bid will help raise funds to support the Church’s local and international work, including The Open Door Food Pantry, Family Promise North Shore/Boston, Action Inc., Grace Center, Heifer International, and Haiti Projects.
Join us on Saturday, August 27 at 10:30am for a cruise around the Cape. The tour lasts approximately 2.5 hours. Restrooms, snacks and drinks are available on board.
See parts of the Cape you can’t reach by car – or on any other boat trip! Bring your camera – you’ll see historic lighthouses, Gloucester’s fishing fleet, lobstermen, drawbridges, islands and Cape Ann’s spectacular natural beauty. Learn about some of the names of famous artists and poets that spent time here painting and writing. Hear about the great granite industry that flourished here for many years.
$30 Museum members/$35 nonmembers. Registration required. Participants meet at Harbor Tours on Harbor Loop. Please call (978)283-0455 x10 for more information or to purchase tickets.
Ken Steiner: the Music of New Orleans – Concert to benefit Gloucester Stage Company
Friday, July 15 6:00 – 8:30 Corner Church & Middle St., Gloucester
Ken Steiner and friends will be playing music that portrays the many facets of New Orleans music. The concert will include jazz, rhythm and blues, and funk tunes associated with New Orleans.
This is concert two in a series of nine free outdoor concerts presented by the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation.
The public is invited to make free-will donations to the Gloucester Stage Company. All donations will go to the Gloucester Stage Company. The family-friendly concert begin at 6 pm. Bring a picnic, folding chairs or blankets. In case of rain, the event will take place inside the Meetinghouse (no food or drink permitted inside.)
When the grandchildren were here for the 4th of July, took many photos and decided to a collage for memories. Even better is you can send your jpeg to Premier Imprints on Main Street, Gloucester, MA and they will turn it into a puzzle. Just love those faces. http://www.premier-imprints.com/
Here is the collage. Looking forward to seeing the puzzle.
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OMG! Tomorrow. Since last year was not a cake walk around Cape Ann there are a couple of things your boat has to have. You were sent a list. Go to 3 Lanterns in Gloucester to pick up that safety whistle for $1.75.
Row Open Water Northeast has a map of safety boats. Also good links, possibly Bib numbers for tracking participants.
RaceJoy is the mobile phone app for tracking participants. Ask the people you want to track for their RaceJoy Bib Number. (This list may be posted on the above sites.) Find Blackburn Challenge listed under Massachusetts then find Rubber Duck Bib #40.
7:15AM the Stand Up Paddlers take off from the Gloucester High School. All manner of rowed and paddled vehicles then start up the Annisquam.
8:45AM the six man Outrigger Canoes start HUT HUT HUTTING down the river.
Where is your seatbelt Pikachu?
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I am some pleased that I got tickets to this year’s Cigar and Rum cruise aboard the Schooner Thomas E Lannon. I’ve missed the boat a few times because I waited to get tickets.
Here are some pictures and a few videos:
Book a sail on the most beautiful boat in Gloucester Harbor, The Thomas E Lannon www.schooner.org
Summertime holds a special place in our memories, when as children we had the time to drink in our world and make imagined adventures come to life. Flatrocks Gallery’s new show, Summer Drift, is a collection of work evoking those days, featuring oil paintings by Sara Egan and Frances Hamilton, and sculpture and drawings by Kyle Browne.
frances-hamilton-two-fish
Kyle Brown-cork boats
Sara Egan, the nooning (after W.H.) oil on board
Sara Egan is best known for her public art. Her large scale installations – bold multi-media abstractions inspired by poetry or purely formal considerations – can be seen throughout Boston. To Flatrocks Gallery Sara brings her most recent work, which uses her home in Annisquam as her muse. These oil paintings are a departure from her large scale work. They tell warm, intimate stories, day dreams into which the viewer is welcomed. Her colors are vibrant, and her brush strokes are drenched in sunlight. Egan uses a quote by Gaston Bachelard from The Poetics of Space to describe her work: “We comfort ourselves by reliving memories of protection. Something closed must retain our memories, while leaving them their original value as images. Memories of the outside world will never have the same tonality as those of home and, by recalling these memories, we add to our store of dreams.”
Frances Hamilton’s paintings and collage have been exhibited throughout New England for over 25 years and are widely held in private and corporate collections. With this series of paintings of the old Brynmere Hotel in Annisquam and a cabin on Squam Lake, Hamilton invites us into places full of emotional echoes, where visual archeology of past and present offers rich material for contemplation. By using her command of color and light Hamilton “has explored layered memories of summer… to examine and embrace the passage of time and the preservation of family identity which animates the empty rooms.” These are paintings that stay with you, with subtle details that invite the viewer to find new paths into each work. In addition Hamilton offers her Toy Boat monotype series. These are playful, deceptively simple images that are guaranteed to make you smile.
Kyle Browne returns to Flatrocks with new work from her ongoing exploration of the “consciousness of place.” Browne is essentially an environmental artist, primarily doing site specific sculptures and graphite drawings using natural material. She offers a series of boats made from cork tree needles from the Arnold Arboretum, where she has recently had a solo show. Browne states, “This idea of using a boat for a symbolic journey is a recurring theme in my work, and I want to continue to push this idea through these imaginative explorations of site, nature and material…… travel, navigation, shape, the implications of childhood and nostalgia. A boat to me is freedom. The boat becomes a means of escape as well as a vessel to travel through time among the waves of the unconscious.” Browne also offers, from her investigations in Franklin Park Zoo, prints of charcoal drawings titledThe Consciousness of Bear Cages.This series, which eventually morphed into an short animation, speaks to our collective memory using bold and dramatic marks to tell the story.
Summer Drift runs from July 14th – August 14th. There will be a reception for the artists Saturday, July 16th 6-8pm.
77 Langsford St. Gloucester, MA (978)-879-4683 Open Thu-Sun noon to 5pm.
Historic Middle Street Walking Tours at the Cape Ann Museum
History and Culture while you walk.
The Cape Ann Museum is pleased to present its Historic Middle Street walking tour on Saturday, June 16th. Middle Street represents an ever-evolving neighborhood packed with four centuries of social, economic, and architectural history.
All tours begin at 10:00a.m. in front of the Cape Ann Museum. Guided walking tours are held rain or shine and last about 1½ hours; participants should be comfortable being on their feet for that amount of time. $10 Museum members; $20 nonmembers (includes Museum admission). Space is limited; reservations required. Call (978)283-0455 x10email info@capeannmuseum.org for details. Tickets can also be purchased online at Eventbrite.
Not a member of the Museum? Join now and get discounted tickets to all our events!
Image credit: Thomas Sanders / Dr. H.E. Davidson house Middle Street, c.1870. Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive.
Did you know that a resident of Middle Street, Gloucester, saved the town from a British attack by sea during the Revolution? Or that a leading feminist and religious free thinker lived halfway down Middle Street? Or that the 1764 Saunders House that forms part of the Sawyer Free Library has undergone at least three radical architectural changes including a massive Victorian tower? Four centuries of Gloucester’s social, economic, and architectural history are packed into this one short street in the heart of downtown Gloucester. Join us for a docent-led tour of an ever-evolving neighborhood where you will see surviving evidence of the past and will learn about structures and people now gone.
Upcoming Middle Street Tour Dates: Saturday, July 16 and Saturday, August 20
Grand Fatilla returns to Rocky Neck!
Saturday, July 16 2016, 7:00 to 9:30 PM
The Cultural Center at Rocky Neck,
6 Wonson St Gloucester MA 01930
COST: $25 / $20 for Rocky Neck Art Colony members
“The Grand Fatilla experience has been described as a magic carpet that carries listeners to both known and unknown places, and is delivered by a collective of virtuoso players whose wide-ranging approach to world music defies convention. Sharing a love of gypsy-infused, cross-cultural folk music, Club d’Elf bassist Mike Rivard, electric mandolinist Matt Glover and accordionist Roberto Cassan joined with percussionist and singer Fabio Pirozzolo in 2008, and Grand Fatilla was born. The band has built a considerable following that is notable for its varied ethnic make-up, with audience members drawn to the music’s infectious drive and authenticity. The group journeys from Argentine Tangos to Italian Tarantellas, from Turkish sacred Sufi songs to Irish reels, Moroccan trance to Bulgarian dance music, all showcasing intricate arrangements and improvisational interplay.
The band’s debut CD, Global Shuffle, garnered a 4 star Downbeat Magazine review, with the Midwest Record calling it “Spirited, high octane stuff that’s loaded with gleeful abandon as it takes you around the world in a song, this is the real sound of global party music”. In this age of heightened global consciousness, Grand Fatilla’s repertoire pays homage to the idea that ours is indeed One World, and the music of diverse cultures transcends boundaries and enriches us all.
Artist Demonstrations on Rocky Neck ~ Saturdays 1-3
Trish Conant Demonstrates
Making Jewelry from Precious Metal Clay
SAT, July 16, 1-3pm
Gallery 53 on Rocky Neck
53 Rocky Neck Avenue, Gloucester, MA 01930
Gallery hours, Sun – Thurs 10:00 AM-6:00 PM, Fri and Sat 10:00AM – 8:00 PM
Gallery 53 on Rocky Neck is sponsoring a series of artist demonstrations for the 2016 season. On Saturday, July 16th jeweler Trish Conant demonstrates texturing techniques and explorations in wet, dry and fired pieces of precious metal clay. Conant is a special education teacher with a passion for creating. She has been making jewelry for over 15 years and began using precious metal clay in 2004 when she purchased her first kiln. From the moment the clay touched her hands she was hooked. Her focus in on uncomplicated designs, finding beauty in simple shapes and organic textures without compromising purity of form. In addition to the Rocky Neck Art Colony, Conant is a member of several Maine craft groups including Designing Women, The Society of Southern Maine Craftsmen and The United Maine Craftsmen.
For more information call Gallery 53 at 978-282-0917.
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In partnership with one another, Awesome Gloucester and Awesome Rockport will distribute 134 pink envelopes containing undisclosed amounts of cash across our neighboring communities. Together, our chapters will give away a total of $2000 in free cash over the course of a single weekend. The dates of distribution are July 16 and July 17.
In addition to the cash, we will also insert a brief note in each envelope requesting that recipients (a) do something awesome with the money and (b) share a story about what they did via email or through social media. We intend for our guerrilla philanthropy effort to persuade our fellow community members to help us spread the interests of awesome in the universe.
Ken Steiner and friends will be playing music that portrays the many facets of New Orleans music. The concert will include jazz, rhythm and blues, and funk tunes associated with New Orleans. 
Good Morning Gloucester 