Ahead of the lunch, happy guests are viewing the stunning wallpaper in the Davis house,l– acquired with support from last year’s luncheon–, current exhibitions, and holiday shopping in the museum’s boutique shop.
New to the gift shop- custom sampler
The 2017 luncheon campaign will support “the purchase and installation of historically accurate carpeting in the Captain Elias Davis House, a Federal style structure built in 1804…Carpet for this project will be made by the Grosvenor Wilton Company Ltd. founded in 1790.”
Photo – Davis House before carpet
The 10th Annual Women’s Luncheon welcomes Melissa Geisler Trafton, an art historian specializing in 19th century landscape painting, as the special speaker. Trafton was the Adjunct Curator and Managing Editor for the museum’s momentous Fitz Henry Lane Online and wrote one of the essays in the exhibition catalog for the current exhibition: Drawn from Nature & on Stone: The Lithographs of Fitz Henry Lane.
Gals
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Great title and read! Gloucester and Cape Ann in the news thanks to these businesses and Essex National Heritage. Ethan Forman article running in the Gloucester Daily Times, Salem, and more: Road to Success: Scenic Byway Unites Woman Owned Businesses
TOMORROW: award-winning local trail featured 7:30pm Wed December 6 2017 on WCVB-TV Channel 5 CHRONICLE
Lovely tribute to long term teacher and volunteer – Carol Ackerman (December 17, 1941 – October 31, 2017) Boston Globe obituary by Marvin Pave published Dec 3rd (following special memorial service held in the Shalin Liu Performance Center). Ackerman served on many boards in the community — Gloucester Lyceum & Sawyer Free, the Gloucester UU, Rockport Music, and Wellspring.
Another unforgettable Cape Ann Cinema & UU Gloucester Meetinghouse collaboration was held on Sunday, December 3, 2017–a special screening of the silent film adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan as a benefit for Pathways for Children. Ellen Sibley was there for Pathways, welcoming guests and opening the evening.
photo caption: Sound check (Peter Krasinski and Lindsay Crouse readying their accompanying live performances for silent film Peter Pan screening at Gloucester Cinema & Stage, a Gloucester Meetinghouse benefit for Pathways for Children)
Renowned organist Peter Krasinski explained that star Lindsay Crouse would use her artistry to accompany this silent screening like a Benshi, a Japanese word for performers who provided live narration for silent films in order to translate the intertitles. Though Krasinski has collaborated with benshi in Japan for some of his live performances, yesterday’s event was the first time he’s done so in the United States. I went to film school and was fortunate to take master classes in cinema studies with Bill Everson, a film historian and major collector. He’d invite Lillian Gish and other silent screen stars and producers to lecture, and always there were amazing accompanists. Not once though have I experienced a narration, too. I’ve heard Krasinski play before and seen Crouse act in film, tv and Gloucester Stage. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew it would be like nothing else I’d ever experienced. Krasinski has seen Peter Pan numerous times and his confident music was subtle and charming, cueing the music to the action on the screen and improvising along with Crouse. Crouse’s narration was pitch perfect. Crouse spoke of her affection for the story and related seeing it 17 times as a child (yes, with Mary Martin) and how it’s among the defining and formative theatrical pulls of her youth.Who knew Nana’s whimpering and such subtle variations of so many characters crying throughout Peter Pan was possible? I googled Lindsay Crouse audiobooks right when I got home. Lindsay Crouse audiobooks
Gloucester, MA is one of four featured walls –and the backdrop for this interview– in the major retrospective exhibition, AN AMERICAN JOURNEY THE ART OF JOHN SLOAN at the Delaware Art Museum through January 28, 2018. “The exhibition includes nearly 100 works–drawings, prints, and paintings–produced between 1890 and 1946. The Delaware Art Museum holds the largest collection of work by the American artist and illustrator John Sloan, as well as a rich trove of archival materials. This exhibition draws from and celebrates this extraordinary collection, made possible by the artist’s widow Helen Farr Sloan.” The Cape Ann Museum has five Sloan paintings and featured dozens of Sloan’s Gloucester paintings in a major 2015 exhibition.
2017 Video and excerpt from the Brian Drouin WHYY report and interview with Heather Campbell Coyle, Chief Curator at the Delaware Art Museum, on the occassion of the Delaware Art Museum major John Sloan Retrospective.
“His brightest colors are probably when he is working outdoors in Gloucester, Massachusetts from 1914-1918.” By this time Sloan would have been exposed to European painters. “The work of Cézanne, the work of Matisse, the work of Vincent van Gogh, and all of those artists are influencing his work as well,” Coyle said.
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“Force” yourself to have some fun. Be easy to fold into an evening filled with festive shopping, drinks and tastings, or shake off some of your family, maybe plan for a rematch on Men’s night…
Besides treats at all the shops, participating nosh eateries include: Caffee Sicilia, Cafe Brew & Spirits, Cape Ann Brewing, Gloucester House, Happy Belly, Franklin, italianis, Jalapenos, Jim’s, Passports, Pilot House, short and Main, Thai Choice, Tonno, Topside, Virgilios
Wednesday, December 6, 2017, 7:30PM Gloucester featured on WCVB Channel 5 Chronicle
Thursday December 7, 2017 downtownGloucester Annual Ladies Night(5-10PM), Star Wars Trivia at Happy Belly and other downtown restaurant specials
Saturday December 9, 2017 downtown Gloucester Middle Street Walk (10-4:30), HARBOR VOICES (4-8), Cape Ann Art Haven Lobster Trap Tree Lighting (4:30), Family and Friends Shopping Day (5-10PM)
December 12, 2017 Temple Ahavat Achim Lobster Pot Menorah
December 14, 2017 downtown Gloucester Customer Appreciation Night
December 18, 2017 downtown Gloucester Shopping Spree drawing
December 21, 2017 downtown Gloucester Men’s Night
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Book launch for THE INNER VOICE AND THE OUTER WORLD: writings by veterans and their families from the Cape Ann Veterans Writers Workshop, a Gloucester Writers Center project, supported by Cape Ann Veterans Services (also stunning outreach and programming)
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“The book will be offered for sale at $30.00 during a SIGNING PARTY at Trident Gallery, 189 Main Street, Gloucester, 3:00-5:00 Sunday afternoon December 10. At 4:00 I will give remarks of acknowledgement to the profilees and to the team which coalesced to grace the printed book with elegance. I hope to see you there.” – Martin Ray
January 13, 2018 Cape Ann Museum reception and panel
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“Reflections: A Group Show by the Aqua Divas” is an upcoming exhibition opening December 4 at the Carten Gallery, Marblehead’s Abbott Public Library, 235 Pleasant Street, Marblehead, MA. The show features 8 artists from Gloucester, Manchester, Marblehead, and Sudbury.
Monday, December 4 – Saturday, December 30
Public Reception: Saturday, December 9, 2:00 – 4:00PM
From their printed matter:
“The Aqua Divas are a group of eight like-minded ladies who love to experiment with water media. We are all individuals with our own styles and palettes and like to think our paintings reflect who we are. We paint together once a week and help each other achieve our own artistic goals. Any subject is fair game as our motto is “give it a try”. We use a wide range of techniques, as we help each other become better painters. We hail from Marblehead, Manchester, Gloucester and Sudbury.”
The Aqua Divas participating artists: Pat Flaherty, Marion Hall, Jeannie McIntyre, Brenda Lee Rangel, Charlotte Roberts, Bonnie L. Sylvester, Ginny von Rueden, Jean Yeaple
Impatiens by Pat Flaherty
Two Good Terns by Marion Hall
Summer Bicycle by Jeannie McIntyre
Spello, Italy by Brenda Lee Rangel
Morning by Charlotte Roberts
Plenty by Bonnie Sylvester
Sunset on Marblehead Harbor by Ginny von Rueden
Harbor Sunset by Jean Yeaple
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This comprehensive exhibition focusing on Fitz Henry Lane (1804-1865) as a printmaker runs through March 2018. Georgia Barnhill, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Graphic Arts Emerita at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, MA, served as guest curator and worked closely with the Museum to organize this special show.
Barnhill will be giving another curator gallery talk Saturday, December 2, 9:30AM.
from a studio visit with Stephanie Benenson Nov 2017
You can join in Stephanie Benenson’s fascinating big vision, Harbor Voices, a public art and cultural piece that’s made from light, sound and community participation. Part of the project is a large-scale and temporary LIVE light & sound installation which will happen on ten minute loops from 4-8pm on Friday December 8th, and Saturday December 9th, one of many featured events for the 2017 Middle Street Walk. Harbor Voices will be held inside the Kyrouz Auditorium in City Hall , 9 Dale Avenue, Gloucester, MA.
Come experience a sweeping ocean of sound, stories and light, drawn by the voices and acts of generosity of neighbors and friends.
Benenson, a Rockport native and North Shore based fine artist, received a prestigious and competitive RISD grant to create Harbor Voices. Benenson collected over 100 stories in eight languages of recent and ancestral immigration to Cape Ann. For the past year she led (and continues to lead) practical and creative storytelling sessions and workshops at area schools like Veteran’s Memorial and Gloucester High School, as well as community organizations and centers such as Sandy Bay Historical Society. Students talked with Benenson about “their ancestors* and families bringing cultural heritage to Cape Ann.” She said that kids mentioned “family members that started businesses here (like Jalapenos, Sclafanis, and other cultural destinations on Cape Ann)…and how meangingful that was to them…and people that they had deep respect and admiration for…” They discussed “family recipes, music, food and how immigration historically has made American art and culture come alive.” Mayor Romeo Theken was the first story collected. Other Cape Ann storytellers outside of the schools and non profit partners include: Jean Testaverde (Portuguese fishing ancestry), Ingrid Swan (Swedith quarrying ancestry), Heather Lovett (descendent of Roger Babson), Sal Zerilli (Awesome Gloucester and Rockport), Jan Bell, Buddy Woods, Susannah Natti (Finnish and descendent of Folly Cove designer), Rich Francis (GHS teacher), and Celestino Basille (GHS teacher).
Depending upon age and preference, stories were written, recorded, or drawn. All were mixed into materials and audio that will choreograph connections directly into the light installation, and an enlarging community. At first, Benenson thought the light might guide any audio. Instead voices continue to guide the light.
Every story and act of generosity is linked to the installation and transformed into light.
Blurring the lines between public art and social sculpture, LIVE happening and virtual action, Harbor Voices emblematically presents stories, shared connections and actions. Participants of all ages are encouraged to interact with the project www.harborvoices.com and its installation– to bathe so to speak in a community of vibrancy and waves of interconnectedness and support. Benenson adds that from 4-6PM during the two days of this installation iteration, “children will be offered a small flashlight to engage with this artwork, allowing them a tangible moment to consider their part in this interconnected network of community and local history by creating their own beam of light.” Also, before the installation opens to the public, one hundred Gloucester High School students –including some who have already added into the piece– will come to City Hall to experience Harbor Voices.
Benenson’s promotion for Harbor Voices launched in September. Leveraging attention for this remarkably ambitious project is an essential component as more involvement means more impact. Straight away it fostered community and brought opportunities. For example, Benenson spoke about the project and shared audio of the stories with Rose Baker seniors, Gloucester Rotary and the Cape Ann Museum’s Red Cottage Society. Someone from Beverly has already underwrittten support for a class at Veteran’s Memorial Elementary School. She spoke about the project with Joey as part of GMG podcast #253
As a third generation Cape Ann artist, Benenson is especially excited to “create art and conversations around our cultural heritage and our contributions to the vibrant mix of people that live on Cape Ann.”
Introduction and background about a possible National Register listing has just begun. I’ll add in any provided links to presentations. (I don’t see Cape Ann Tv)
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Annisquam Sewing Circle Christmas Fair, Satuday Dec 2 ONLY 8am-noon
Rockport Art Association –Cape Ann Artisans Dec 1 (4-9) & Dec 2 (10-5)
Rocky Neck 2017 Annual Holiday Show at the Cultural Center weekends through December 10th
Rocky Neck 2017 Holiday Show
“December in November–Giving the Gift of Art” Rocky Neck Art Colony members’ fine art and crafts sale, through December 10th, OPEN Fridays 5-8pm, Saturdays and Sundays 10AM-4PM. Downstairs is a beautiful John Nesta tribute.
photo caption: Orginal watercolor painting, Birch on the Neck, by Deb Schradieck, booth at the Rocky Neck Art Colony 2017 Annual Holiday members show
Don’t miss Mary Rhinelander
Installation 2017 Rocky Neck holiday exhibition and MCC cultural visit
DEB
RUTH MORDECAI
RICHARD HONAN
JOHN NESTA tribute Rocky Neck
JOHN NESTA small tribute exhibit
Rockport Art Association
Rockport Art Association
Jonathan Hotz exhibit at the Rockport Art Association
Jonathan Hotz Country Lane, solo exhibition at the Rockport Art Assoc
Rockport Art Association members’ photography group exhibition Installation Stow Wengenroth Gallery Rockport Art Association
Law Hamilton, On approach Floating Box Series, photograph archival ink jet print, Rockport Art Association,
Janice Koskey Proud Egret color photo Rockport Art Association group exhibition
Ray Crane, The Inner Harbor Gloucester, group show, Rockport Art Association
Janet Wolahan, Trawler Gloucester, oil on canvas, New Members group exhibition Rockport Art Association
Tom Amend, Abrupt Transition, Oil on linen, new members group exhibition, Rockport Art Assocaition
Dennis Poirier, on the Waterfront, acrylic on panel, 7 x 5, Rockport Art Association
Deborah Babson Boulders( “Courage”), etching with hand coloring from an edition of 50, Rockport Art Association
Deborah Babson Boulders #3 ( Work), etching with hand coloring from an edition of 50, Rockport Art Association
Rockport Art Association group exhibition
Scott Tubby, New Moon, oil, Rockport Art Association
Nancy E Davis, Wayward Path, oil, “Polly Thayer Starr Award for Excellence in any Medium”, Rockport Art Association & Museum
TWO DAYS ONLY Cape Ann Artisans at the Rockport Art Association Friday December 1 and Saturday December 2nd (10-5). Cape Ann Artisans has also announced their special 2018 Cape Ann Artisan tour dates- June 2nd and 3rd and Oct 6-8
Annisquam Sewing Circle Christmas Fair
Sat Dec 2nd 8am-noon, 34 Leonard Street, Gloucester, MA 01930
Beautiful Wreaths to decorate your Home
Potted plants and bulbs to Give or to Keep
Elegant Table Arrangements
Gourmet Foods for your Guests and Family
Exquisite Hand-crafted Gift Items
$3 Grabs for Mom, Dad and your Favorite Pets wrapped and ready to go!
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SOLD OUT- on line and in person. You can still buy tickets to the 5th Annual Cape Ann Big Band Swing www.capeannbigband.org concert at O’Maley on December 20, 6:30PM
Here’s the link to other upcoming shows at Rockport Music Shalin Liu Performance Center.
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Reminder- Dogtown could be eligible for the National Register. A team of archaeologists began surveying and reviewing Dogtown the week of November 13. Come to a special public presentation TONIGHT – November 29th in Kyrouz Auditorium, Gloucester City Hall, 9 Dale Avenue, at 7pm.
Artistic practice inspired by Dogtown takes on many forms across generations and centuries. I’ve shown examples of 20th century artists and writers connected to Dogtown. Here’s a 21st century one to note: Deborah Guertze, Babson Boulders # (Courage), original small and lovely hand colored etching, ed.50. This particular impression is currently for sale at Rockport Art Association.
“Presenters at City Hall on Nov 29th will include Betsy Friedberg from the Massachusetts Historical Commission, who will explain how the National Register program works and what it does and does not do, and Kristen Heitert from the PAL, who will present an initial plan for defining the boundaries of Dogtown as a National Register District. People attending the meeting will be asked to respond to that plan and to express their views about what makes Dogtown special. What should be the boundaries of the proposed National Register District, and what cultural features should be included in it? What would be the benefits of National Register status, and are there any drawbacks?”
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The Cultural Center at Rocky Neck, 6 Wonson Street, Gloucester, MA, was one of the few cultural districts selected as a host venue for the MCC Power of Connection Tour launch. Today’s gathering includes city and state officials: Mayor Romeo Theken, Senator Bruce Tarr & Representative Ann-Margaret Ferrante of Gloucester.
Guests are just arriving for the welcome reception. I will post all we glean from MCC new grants and updates. Gloucester has two districts: Rocky Neck and downtown Harbortown. On the walls at Rocky Neck center–the holiday group show is installed upstairs and a John Nesta tribute downstairs. I am looking forward to the upcoming poetry night featuring Jay Featherstone, Suzanne and others.
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Good Morning Gloucester 