As you have heard me say, I am not a birder though I do love taking bird photos. I was doing just that with this unusual (for me) bird in East Gloucester. I had observed it previously but was without my camera but this time I hit the jackpot as it paddled close by. I suspected at first it might be a loon, something I have always wanted to see, but clearly this wasn’t the loon I was expecting. The Photo ID on the Merlin app identified it as a red throated loon, apparently a bit unusual in our area. Some additional info at this Cornell link if you are interested…birder or not…..
Stage Fort Park looks great. Thank you for all the hard work making this park look so beautiful. On Tuesday I am at the visitors’ center from 3 til 6. It is lots of fun and enjoy meeting visitors from all over.
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Get ready to immerse yourself in the vibrant culture of Gloucester as Culture Splash gears up for its third year. The event series is set to kick off on Thursday, July 6th, adding an exciting blend of new offerings to its already impressive roster. Culture Splash has also had a light rebrand thanks to local designer Alex Warden, and visitors will notice a new logo and color scheme donned on signage, stickers, and flyers this year.
Home to two of Massachusetts’ designated cultural districts, Rocky Neck and Harbortown, Gloucester has a unique blend of history, fine arts, creativity, maritime tradition, and diverse cultures. Culture Splash brings these elements together for a vibrant, city-wide celebration every Thursday evening in July and August from 4:00 to 7:00pm.
Made possible by funding from the City of Gloucester and Mass Culture Council, each Culture Splash Thursday includes free events in both districts from 4:00-7:00pm, and free rides between districts on the Cape Ann Harbor Tours Water Shuttle from 4:00-8:00pm! This year, we’ve expanded our Harbor Shuttle service to stop at St. Peter’s Park, bringing ‘Culture Splashers’ easy access to more of the Harbortown Cultural District. With stops at Harbor Loop, Rocky Neck, and now St. Peter’s Park, guests can easily traverse and explore the diverse cultural landscape of Gloucester.
As always, participating cultural organizations will open their doors, hosting an array of events that include writing workshops, artist demonstrations, gallery exhibits, admission to museums, performances, and live music – all free of charge! Enjoy the return of Cape Ann Museum’s popular weekly outdoor Courtyard Concerts at the downtown campus on Pleasant Street, live dance performances offered by MAGMA (Movement Arts Gloucester, MA), sail on a local Schooner or take a deck tour of a visiting vessel during the Gloucester Maritime Rendezvous, learn about Folly Cove Sketches at the Sawyer Free Library, see the Cape Ann Big Band at Gloucester Meetinghouse, take in a performance of the Annisquam Village Players’ The Gloucester Story on Maritime Gloucester’s pier, and so much more in Harbortown.
“Whether taking part in the world-class cultural district of America’s oldest art colony on Rocky Neck or experiencing the unique cultural heritage of America’s oldest seaport in Harbortown, your Thursday nights this summer are sure to be memorable. Come explore the first city in Massachusetts to have two designated cultural districts, and find out all that Gloucester has to offer,” said Michael DeKoster, Executive Director at Maritime Gloucester.
A Courtyard Concert at Cape Ann Museum, 2022
On Rocky Neck, programming includes workshops and events with Gloucester Writers Center, the Spongebob Musical & Backyard Dock Party at Gloucester Stage Co., Demos with North Shore Arts Association, Cape Ann Makers Markets at Ocean Alliance, a Good Harbor Play Reading with Rocky Neck Art Colony, and live music featuring local musicians. Plus in 2023, more galleries will be opening their doors to visitors and residents than ever before for exhibits, activities, and demos. From Madfish Wharf to Cripple Cove – there is so much to see and do on Rocky Neck!
A Gallery Exhibit on Rocky Neck from Culture Splash, 2022
“This collaboration is an invitation to guests from afar and in each district’s backyard to come out and celebrate the arts and culture surrounding Gloucester’s harbor. We’re excited for Culture Splash visitors to experience free events in both communities via the free water shuttle across the harbor” said Chris Griffith, Managing Director at Gloucester Stage.
Culture Splash invites you to plunge into Gloucester’s cultural tide, where every wave is a new story waiting to be discovered. Get ready to embark on a journey of music, art, dance, history, and maritime exploration this summer. For more information and regular updates on weekly event activities and local business happenings, visit discovergloucester.com/culture-splash About Culture Splash Culture Splash is an annual summer event series hosted by the Rocky Neck and Harbortown Cultural Districts of Gloucester, Massachusetts. The event showcases Gloucester’s cultural organizations, creative groups, galleries, artists, and cultural non-profits. Launched in 2021, Culture Splash aims to celebrate and promote the city’s vibrant cultural community.
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Join me and some of the boys of Madhouse as Dave Sag’s guest at the Rhumbline this Thursday June 29th. Featuring Roger Brocklebank, Mike DiBari, Mark Earley along with Dave Saganrio and yours truly! John Keegan
Sharing an update from Minglewood Harboside on Rogers Street: now open for lunch 6 days a week. You’re out of luck on Tuesdays, but that makes Wednesday-Monday that much better! See you there!
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The symposium features major American museum present and former curators and directors: Elliot Bostwick Davis, Kathleen A. Foster, Joachim Homann, Gail Levin, Virginia Mecklenberg, and Adam Weinberg. Several have compiled and published more than one renowned Hopper survey! On this weekend in September they’ll be focused on Edward Hopper in Gloucester!
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2023 Edward Hopper’s American Things, 6:00 p.m with Erika Doss, art historian and author of American Art of the 20th – 21st Centuries (2017), and Spiritual Moderns: Twentieth-Century American Artists and Religion (2022)
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2023, 10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.
Edward Hopper and Jo N. Hopper on Cape Ann: “Beauty in the Commonplaceness”, 10:00 a.m. with Elliot Bostwick Davis, Guest Curator, Edward Hopper & Cape Ann
Managing an Artist’s Legacy within Museums: Edward Hopper & Fitz Henry Lane, 11:00 a.m. with Oliver Barker, CAM Director and Guests *Adam Weinberg
AFTERNOON BREAK, LUNCH PROVIDED, 12:00 P.M.
The Hoppers, Bernstein, and Meyerowitz, 1:00 p.m. with Gail Levin, Distinguished Professor of Art History, American Studies, and Women’s Studies at The Graduate Center and Baruch College of the City University of New York
American Watercolors: A Panel Discussion, 2:00 p.m. with Virginia Mecklenberg, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Kathleen A Foster, Philadelphia Museum of Art; and Joachim Homann, Harvard Art Museums
Closing Panel, 3:00 p.m.
Visit the Edward Hopper & Cape Ann exhibition, 4:00 p.m.
*Adam Weinberg, Alice Pratt Brown Director Whitney Museum of American Art from 2003- 2023. Several of the experts will have deep Massachusetts connections and experience. Before helming the Whitney, Weinberg was a long time curator here and abroad and Dir of the Addison at Phillips Academy in Andover 1999-2003.
Harvard is featuring a large American watercolor showInto the Light focused on drawings from its repository curated by Joachim Homann who is a featured panelist in Gloucester’s Edward Hopper symposium. Naturally art inspired by Gloucester make the list; Jane Peterson, Winslow Homer, Stuart Davis and more. The Truro Edward Hopper works are a great opportunity to compare drawings from both Capes in state at the same time.
video ftg. Hopper for American Watercolors, 1880–1990: Into the Light May 20, 2023–August 13, 2023.
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While exploring the Corkscrew Swamp in Florida last week I learned about the rare Ghost Orchid and was lucky enough to see one thanks to park naturalists who had discovered one high in a tree and had a telescope pointed for visitors to observe it. There are only 2,000 in the world. The ghost orchid I photographed had just bloomed that day, however, there is a “Super Ghost Orchid” in the swamp that has drawn attention around the world. Unfortunately, that particular orchid did not bloom for the first time this year until just a few days after our visit. You can learn more about that Ghost Orchid at the website below.
“The ghost orchid is aptly named for a few reasons. Its white flowers have a vaguely spectral appearance, and they seem to hover in the forest due to an illusion created by the leafless plant. This effect also makes the rare orchid even harder to find, especially outside the brief, unpredictable window when it blooms in summer.
Unfortunately, the ghost orchid is also at risk of living up to its name in another way. It’s an endangered species, limited to scattered populations in Cuba, the Bahamas, and Florida, where it exists in just three southwestern counties.
It inhabits remote swamp forests and small wooded islands, yet still faces an array of threats from humans, namely poaching, climate change, loss of pollinators, and loss of habitat.
The species has long enchanted anyone lucky enough to see it, and we’re still learning its secrets—including new research that challenges what we thought we knew about its pollinators.”
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As you have heard me say, I am not a birder though I do love taking bird photos. I was doing just that with this unusual (for me) bird in East Gloucester. I had observed it previously but was without my camera but this time I hit the jackpot as it paddled close by. I suspected at first it might be a loon, something I have always wanted to see, but clearly this wasn’t the loon I was expecting. The Photo ID on the Merlin app identified it as a red throated loon, apparently a bit unusual in our area. Some additional info at this Cornell link if you are interested…birder or not…..
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Get ready to immerse yourself in the vibrant culture of Gloucester as Culture Splash gears up for its third year. The event series is set to kick off on Thursday, July 6th, adding an exciting blend of new offerings to its already impressive roster. Culture Splash has also had a light rebrand thanks to local designer Alex Warden, and visitors will notice a new logo and color scheme donned on signage, stickers, and flyers this year.
Home to two of Massachusetts’ designated cultural districts, Rocky Neck and Harbortown, Gloucester has a unique blend of history, fine arts, creativity, maritime tradition, and diverse cultures. Culture Splash brings these elements together for a vibrant, city-wide celebration every Thursday evening in July and August from 4:00 to 7:00pm.
Made possible by funding from the City of Gloucester and Mass Culture Council, each Culture Splash Thursday includes free events in both districts from 4:00-7:00pm, and free rides between districts on the Cape Ann Harbor Tours Water Shuttle from 4:00-8:00pm! This year, we’ve expanded our Harbor Shuttle service to stop at St. Peter’s Park, bringing ‘Culture Splashers’ easy access to more of the Harbortown Cultural District. With stops at Harbor Loop, Rocky Neck, and now St. Peter’s Park, guests can easily traverse and explore the diverse cultural landscape of Gloucester.
As always, participating cultural organizations will open their doors, hosting an array of events that include writing workshops, artist demonstrations, gallery exhibits, admission to museums, performances, and live music – all free of charge! Enjoy the return of Cape Ann Museum’s popular weekly outdoor Courtyard Concerts at the downtown campus on Pleasant Street, live dance performances offered by MAGMA (Movement Arts Gloucester, MA), sail on a local Schooner or take a deck tour of a visiting vessel during the Gloucester Maritime Rendezvous, learn about Folly Cove Sketches at the Sawyer Free Library, see the Cape Ann Big Band at Gloucester Meetinghouse, take in a performance of the Annisquam Village Players’ The Gloucester Story on Maritime Gloucester’s pier, and so much more in Harbortown.
“Whether taking part in the world-class cultural district of America’s oldest art colony on Rocky Neck or experiencing the unique cultural heritage of America’s oldest seaport in Harbortown, your Thursday nights this summer are sure to be memorable. Come explore the first city in Massachusetts to have two designated cultural districts, and find out all that Gloucester has to offer,” said Michael DeKoster, Executive Director at Maritime Gloucester.
A Courtyard Concert at Cape Ann Museum, 2022
On Rocky Neck, programming includes workshops and events with Gloucester Writers Center, the Spongebob Musical & Backyard Dock Party at Gloucester Stage Co., Demos with North Shore Arts Association, Cape Ann Makers Markets at Ocean Alliance, a Good Harbor Play Reading with Rocky Neck Art Colony, and live music featuring local musicians. Plus in 2023, more galleries will be opening their doors to visitors and residents than ever before for exhibits, activities, and demos. From Madfish Wharf to Cripple Cove – there is so much to see and do on Rocky Neck!
A Gallery Exhibit on Rocky Neck from Culture Splash, 2022
“This collaboration is an invitation to guests from afar and in each district’s backyard to come out and celebrate the arts and culture surrounding Gloucester’s harbor. We’re excited for Culture Splash visitors to experience free events in both communities via the free water shuttle across the harbor” said Chris Griffith, Managing Director at Gloucester Stage.
Culture Splash invites you to plunge into Gloucester’s cultural tide, where every wave is a new story waiting to be discovered. Get ready to embark on a journey of music, art, dance, history, and maritime exploration this summer. For more information and regular updates on weekly event activities and local business happenings, visit discovergloucester.com/culture-splash About Culture Splash Culture Splash is an annual summer event series hosted by the Rocky Neck and Harbortown Cultural Districts of Gloucester, Massachusetts. The event showcases Gloucester’s cultural organizations, creative groups, galleries, artists, and cultural non-profits. Launched in 2021, Culture Splash aims to celebrate and promote the city’s vibrant cultural community.
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Good Morning Gloucester 