Month: March 2017

Sista Felicia, Ma Pat and the Novena girls have been busy prepping for their St. Joseph’s feast tonight.  Typically it is celebrated on the 19th of March but to make sure the college kids who have to head back tomorrow can be here, we are having it tonight.   I wish you could get a whiff of how yummy the freshly made St. Joseph’s bread smells!!! 

Scenes from the Cape Ann Reads live reveal in the Byers Davidson Room of the Saunders House at Gloucester Lyceum & Sawyer Free Public Library. This March Madness snapshot just about sums up the feeling!

That’s Kate Bibeau, Programs Coordinator at the Cape Ann Museum, and Liza Browning, Museum Educator at the Cape Ann Museum, jumping up as another contestant identity is revealed to be…a colleague! Also smiling and enjoying the moment, Sawyer Free librarians Justine Vitale and Linda Bosselman, and author and artist Pat Lowery Collins. Kate and the Library Directors had not seen any entries so everything was a surprise. Jurors knew the books but did not know the names of the authors or illustrators as part of the process.

(L-R) Kate Bibeau, Pat Lowery Collins, Bob Ritchie Dogtown Book Shop, and Gail McCarthy, Gloucester Daily Times.

Kate Bibeau has been fantastic on the Cape Ann Reads steering committee. (She was Kate LaChance when the planning began…two years ago!) I took photographs as people were assembling.  Even better: we’ll soon see Linda Bosselman photographs of the unfolding countdown. They’ll be the real deal!

Anna Vojtech arriving

Before the reveal: 4 Cape Ann Library Directors, jurors, and steering committee members assembling at Sawyer Free Library. Public reception and ceremony, readings, and stunning group exhibit to be announced.

Hats Off to Spring: A Celebration of Grace Murray

The Cape Ann Museum is pleased to announce that the extraordinary hats made by longtime Annisquam resident, friend of the Museum and avid knitter, Grace Murray, will be on display throughout the day on Saturday, March 18 in the CAM Auditorium and the Folly Cove Designer Gallery. At 1:00 p.m. owners of Grace’s beloved hats will have the opportunity to share their thoughts during “Story Time” in the auditorium. A selection of hats will remain on view in the Folly Cove Designer Gallery through April 2.

The Museum will be free and open to the public from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. for this program; reservations are not required.

Each of Grace’s hats is an original. She was inspired to create her well-known style of hat by the patterns in “Andean Folk Knitting: Traditions and Techniques from Peru and Bolivia”, by Cynthia Gravelle Lecount. By the time Grace had purchased the book in 1992, she had already been knitting for 60 years; however, the colorful motifs kept her attention, and she created over 300 hats, all lovingly tagged “From the Knitting Needles of Grace Murray”.

ROCKY NECK NOW – Exhibition Events:

Saturday, March 18 – Opening Reception, 2:00pm-4:00pm (6 Wonson Street)
Saturday, March 25 – Conversation about Life and Art, 4:30pm (6 Wonson Street)
Sunday April 23   – Closing Reception, 2:00pm-4:00pm (6 Wonson Street)

The Rocky Neck Art Colony (RNAC) will host a new exhibition, titled ROCKY NECK NOW 2017, featuring current works of art by RNAC members in all media.  This six-week exhibition will run from March 16, 2017 through to April 23, 2017.

Yhanna Coffin, Gagged, mixed media on canvas

Andy Matlow, Water Urn, clay

Ruth Mordecai, Yellow Field, acrylic, oil & collage

Heidi Caswell Zander, Shore Splash, oil

Artists from the RNAC community present pieces of art they have recently produced.  The exhibit is both representational and abstract and in various mediums; water, oil, encaustic, prints, photographs, ceramics and jewelry. This is a wonderful opportunity for visitors to enjoy a visual and diverse feast from our many talented artists.

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
Pablo Picasso

Please join us on our opening reception, ROCKY NECK NOW 2017 exhibition, Saturday, March 18, for a thoroughly enjoyable and invigorating occasion!

Artist Talk, Saturday, March 25 at 4:30pm, A Conversation about Art and Life: A Community conversation as it relates to the Members Exhibition and Beyond” Led by Ruth Mordecai and a panel of the artists from the exhibition.  Please join and participate with us.

Artists in this exhibit include: Heidi Caswell Zander, Yhanna Coffin, Roland Cornelis, Peggy Cullen Matlow, Terry Del Percio-Piemonte, Loren Doucette, Gordon Goetemann, Judith S. Goetemann, Nancy Gorman, Leslie Heffron, Elynn Kroger, Stephen LaPierre, Brenda Malloy, Ruth Mordecai, Regina Piantedosi, David Piemonte, Ed Touchette and many more!

Michael S. Foley One-Artist Show

An exhibition of sculpture by local artist Michael S. Foley will open in the Marguerite Pearson Room of the Rockport Art Association & Museum (RAA&M) on Saturday, March 18th with an artist’s reception from 2 – 4 PM. The exhibition will be on view Saturday, March 18 – Thursday, March 30.

“Geometry and the love of natural materials are the driving forces behind my work. As a lifelong carver and career machine design engineer, I find beauty in both the gifts of the earth, as well as the wisdom of mathematics, which helps us to see our humble place in the universe. My sculptures, in their small ways, attempt to transform the fusion of these beauties into expressive forms, frozen in time, but warmed by each human hand which reaches out to touch them.” – Michael S. Foley

Michael Foley was born and grew up in Beverly MA. His sculpting career started as a teenager with an avid interest in relief carving using a variety hardwoods and soft pine. He received his BS Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lowell Technological Institute. During his engineering career he continued to pursue his interest in relief carving and full-size sculpture in wood. Retiring in 2013, Foley began to devote his full-time energies to his art.

With the somewhat recent advent of sintered diamond tools, he quickly transitioned into his current work in stone, each piece unique not only in design, but also in color and grain. Foley works primarily in hard stones such as granite, basalt and marble – most of which have been gathered from the bedrock and glacial till of our native Cape Ann and the quarries of Vermont.

He draws his subject matter and inspiration from the abundant local natural and marine life, incorporating both realistic and abstracted themes into a wide range of subjects. His use of materials spans simple patterned popple stones to full-size sculpture in quarried granite.

RAA&M March Hours:
Open Wednesday – Saturday, 12 – 5 PM. For more information on this and other shows, please visit the RAA&M’s website at www.rockportartassn.org

HANDEL’S ORATORIO ‘ISRAEL IN EGYPT’

BY MUSICA SACRA

Saturday, March 18th, 7:30pm
Gloucester UU Meetinghouse, 10 Church St., Gloucester, MA 01930

The biblical tale of the Exodus inspired Handel to write some of the most dramatic music of his career, depicting the story in vivid detail from the increasingly unpleasant plagues visited upon the Egyptians to the Israelites’ feelings of exultation and triumph in escaping their oppressors after Moses leads them through the parted waters of the Red Sea. Performed by Musica Sacra with vocal soloists and Baroque orchestra drawn from Boston’s most acclaimed musicians.

More information and advance tickets at www.gloucestermeetinghouse.org

Maria Millefoglie, Marie Linquata and Catherine Randazza join Felicia and her mom Pat for night 7 of Novena along with Marie’s daughter Caryn Ryder and Catherine’s daughter Andrea Carlson.

If you are looking for your St. Joseph’s Day groceries…Market Basket has bulb anise, fava beans, oranges, lemons and St. Joseph rolls ready for your Sunday Feast!

Next stop, Beverly Farms.