Just around the corner! Reminder: this year the Massachusetts Cultural Council Gloucester LCC Application deadline is October 15th, 2018.
Here’s a list of 2017 awarded projects. The Gloucester Cultural Council is one of hundreds of Local Cultural Councils across the Commonwealth. The LCC Program supports community-based projects in the arts, sciences and humanities every year. The state legislature provides an annual appropriation to the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), a state agency, which then allocates funds to each community. The Gloucester Cultural Council guidelines and online applications are available at http://www.mass-culture.org/Gloucester.
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Thanks to a GMG reader for sharing news about a Bel Canto evening not to miss:
“Giovanni Formisano will perform this Friday, September 28th, at 7:30PM at Christ the King Ukrainian Catholic Church (at Parish House) in Jamaica Plain, 146 Forest Hills St. In addition to Neapolitan songs, he will perform arias and duets with a Ukrainian soprano, Olga Lisovskaya. The two have performed together at Carnegie Hall and were featured on RAI TV, viewed by millions. More info:https://www.facebook.com/events/1889334104708495/”
Haskell’s House, 316 Main Street, is one of more than 110 homes and vistas in Gloucester, Massachusetts, that inspired artist, Edward Hopper (1882-1967).
Gloucester merchant, public official (city councilor / state representative), and Master Mariner, Melvin Haskell (1848-1933), commissioned the house in 1884.
Hopper and artist, Jo Nivison (1883-1968), were married in 1924. They nicknamed the fancy house high atop the hill the Wedding Cake House. The famous drawing was originally purchased by American master painter, George Bellows (1882-1925), from a sensational Hopper solo exhibition held in the Frank K. M. Rehn Gallery in 1924. The watercolor changed hands and was eventually gifted to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, by Mr. and Mrs. Herbert A. Goldstone in 1996. Hopper depicted the house in two other works, both side views from Prospect street rather than this view from Main Street.
The house was listed for sale at $830,000 throughout the spring and summer of 2018. Landscaping today involved major brush and tree removal. The result will be a scene closer to the one experienced by artists Edward Hopper and Jo Nivison in the 1920s. The scenic locale is a power spot: down the block from the Crow’s Nest and across the street from Gloucester’s Inner Harbor, Beauport Hospitality’s Cruiseport and Seaport Grill venues, Cape Ann Whale Watch, and Gorton’s.
Aymar, Jimmy, Edgar and Pedro were some of the adroit and brave tree climbing removal crew with ALZ Landscaping and Tree Service out of Lynn, Massachusetts. The unwieldy trees grew threateningly high.
David West is originally from Mississippi. He holds an MFA from Louisiana State University with a concentration in printmaking. He is Associate Professor of art at Gordon College, Wenham MA where he is Chair of the Art Department. West is also Co-Founder/Curator of ArtSpace 86 Gallery in Jackson MS. He has exhibited widely in the US. West is now living in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Meet the artist at the closing reception of the September art exhibition: Neither Mustard Nor teeth, photographs by Peter Morse, drawings by David West, at Jane Deering Gallery, 19 Pleasant Street, Gloucester
DAVID WEST, Gloucester Suite, woodcuts, ed.10, at Jane Deering Gallery September 2018, $50 each or $400 for set of 9
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art exhibition closing soon! Meet the artists at the closing reception Saturday, September 29 5-7pm. Neither Mustard Nor Teeth, photographs by Peter Morse, drawings by David West, Jane Deering Gallery, 19 Pleasant Street, Gloucester
from the exhibition release:
“Neither Mustard nor Teeth, by artists Peter Morse and David West, is an exploration of the everyday discipline of the artist searching to find the extraordinary and the beautiful among the quotidian rhythms of ordinary life.
Morse’s photos call attention to the overlooked. They catch moments of light, pattern, form and structure that might otherwise be sensed only out of the corner of the eye. What is captured in the frame draws us nearer, asks us to pause. While grounded in the ordinary, they leave the viewer with questions about time and place and the seemingly familiar. West’s drawings feature the townscape of Gloucester as seen by a non-native. They are visual handshakes from a Southern alien coming to terms with a new place for the first time. The quiet empty spaces offer little peace; the architectures crowd each other and jostle for attention as they attempt to stay upright.
Both bodies of work are rooted in the act of stopping and looking, the life blood of the artist. Slowing down. Being present in the moment long enough to pay attention and to record. Whether the action is contained in the fraction of a shutter click, or the longer process of drawing, each is a response to the quiet call of objects and moments at hand. The phrase — neither mustard nor teeth — is from the essay, Of Power and Time, by the Massachusetts poet Mary Oliver. Oliver tells of the tensions between the necessity of living in the world with its demands of time and task and energy, all the while striving to see the inherent beauty of it all, to make sense of it through the creative process:
It is six a.m., and I am working. I am absent-minded, reckless, heedless of social obligations, etc. It is as it must be. The tire goes flat, the tooth falls out, there will be a hundred meals without mustard. The poem gets written. I have wrestled with the angel and I am stained with light and I have no shame. Neither do I have guilt. My responsibility is not to the ordinary, or the timely. It does not include mustard, or teeth.
Peter Morse lives in Amesbury, and David West is resident here in Gloucester. Both artists are in need of going to the grocery as well as the dentist.
Peter Morse holds a BA Summa Cum Laude from Gordon College and an MFA in Photography from the University of Hartford, CT. Residencies include Berlin, Germany, New York, NY and Portland OR. He teaches at Gordon College where he is also Manager of the Barrington Center for the Arts and the Gallery. He has exhibited in the US, Germany and Cuba. Morse maintains a studio in Amesbury MA.
David West is originally from Mississippi. He holds an MFA from Louisiana State University with a concentration in printmaking. He is Associate Professor of art at Gordon College, Wenham MA where he is Chair of the Art Department. West is also Co-Founder/Curator of ArtSpace 86 Gallery in Jackson MS. He has exhibited widely in the US. West is now living in Gloucester MA
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What: Unexpected No. 9 Exhibit
Where: Rockport Art Association & Museum, 12 Main Street, Rockport, MA
When: Sept. 29-October 13, 2018, Reception Sunday Sept 30, 2-4pm
Info: www.experimentalartgroup.com
Rockport Art Association & Museum’s Experimental Group Opens Ninth Show
The Rockport Art Association & Museum’s Experimental Group opens its ninth group exhibition, “Unexpected No. Nine” at Rockport Art Association & Museum, 12 Main Street, Rockport, MA, 978.546.6604. This juried show features artworks of both the RAA&M’s artists and contributing members. Works on view in the exhibition range in medium to include paintings, mixed-media, graphics, sculpture, digital art and photography. The exhibition runs from September 29 through October 13, with an Artist Reception on Sunday, September 30 from 2-4 pm. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 1-5 pm or by appointment. Closed Monday.
The Experimental Group is a creative forum, its main mission is to increase public awareness and to foster self-expression by bringing artists together to explore and share ideas that cultivate creative freedom. The EG is encouraged and supported by the Rockport Art Association & Museum.
If you would like more information about the exhibition, would like to schedule an interview and a walk through, or need additional promotional images please contact: Nella Lush, Experimental Group, Chair, 978.886.4582 or via email experimentalgroupraa@gmail.com
The Rockport Art Association & Museum (RAA&M) is one of the oldest and most active art organizations in the country. The Association has a long and distinguished history that has spanned 96 years.
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“The premiere of My Station in Life a new play I wrote about Simon Geller, America’s last one-man radio broadcaster. Geller, the radio recluse who brought classical music to a hardscrabble fishing port, fights for survival against powerful forces that want what little he has. Actor Ken Baltin and supporting cast bring Geller’s quirky persona and corkscrew saga to the stage from October 12th through October 28th. ”
Produced by the Gloucester Stage Company and directed by Robert Walsh, Ken Riaf’s My Station in Life tickets are available now at My Station in Life.
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IPSWICH Come Paint with Me Decorative Painting Demonstration, Hosted byJohanne Cassia, American Folk Artist, AnnTiques’ owner. Co-founder of the Woman Owned Businesses Along the Essex Coastal Scenic Byway trail map celebrating street level, local women retailers from Gloucester, Essex, Ipswich and Rowley who share a regional ‘Main Street’ – Route 133/1A, part of the gorgeous 90 mile Essex Coastal Scenic Byway
Walls to the left upon entering: 43 – 54 and 55 – 63
Organized by the Friends of the Library committee including Mary Weissblum Smith and the Art Advisory Committee, the (21st) Annual Art Auction on October 3, 2018, will feature 63 participating artists:
Jerry Ackerman, Deborah Aldrich, Melissa Aliberte, Nancy Alimansky, Anita Beloff, Coco Berkman, Linda Lea Bertrand, Sheila Farren Billings, Carol A. Bistrong, Lois Showalter Blankenship, Roy Blankenship, Isabel Brown, Katherine Coakley, Ray Crane, Mary L Crowningshield, David Curtis, Susan W. Daly, Michael DeCosimo, Patricia Doran, Cynthia Dunaway, Phyllis Feld, Susie Field, James Formichella, Grace Frost, N. Hale, Marion Hall, Joy Halsted, Jeanne Havran, Olga Hayes, Sandra Herdman, Deanie Johnson, Pia Juhl, Phyllis J. Kaplan, Susan Kelley, Fred L. Kepler, Barbara Kremer, Mary Jane Lane, Margaret Laurie, Carol Loiacono, Lauren Maher, Mary McCarl, Patricia McCarthy, Roy McCauley, Perry McIntosh, Danny Mears, David Millar, Kate Nordstrom, Christine Pitman, Mary Rhinelander, Richard Roche, Jess Semerano, Emily Strangman, Peter Tysver, Juni Van Dyke, James Watson, Lea Watson, Jeff Weaver, Alyce Wherren, Curtis Wilcox, Jane Wolf, Heidi Caswell Zander, Ann Mechen Ziergiebel
August 4, 1909, Gloucester Day brought an audience of 20,000 to Stage Fort Park in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The 1909 pageant of “The Canterbury Pilgrims” by Percy Wallace Mackaye was touted as the “greatest open air performance ever attempted in the country”.
“Stage Fort Park was the magnet which attracted thousands of people at the close of the grand afternoon parade yesterday, the procession in that direction, commencing early and continuing all through the evening, until between the hours of 7 and 8 o’clock, there was a continuous mass of moving color along both sides of the boulevard, with the middle of the street almost covered with the swifter moving carriages and automobiles. This scene was most inspiring, giving one something upon which to build an imagination for the greater display to come, when the play and pageant were presented for their consideration. The vast amphitheatre, with its great stage, were soon filled, the latter by nearly 20,000 spectators, in the boxes, on the seats and in automobiles, while the wings of the latter were filled with (thousands of) players.”
William H Taft (1857 – 1930), the 27th President of the United States from 1909-13, planned to be in attendance, thanks to host, John Hays Hammond, Sr., his boyhood friend and college classmate at Yale. The Mayor of Gloucester at the time of the 1909 pageant was Hon. Henry H. Parsons. Artist Eric Pape (b.Oct 17, 1870 San Francisco – d.Novembre 7, 1938), Master of the Pageant, directed the Canterbury performance. He was the lead design for Gloucester’s enormous bronze plaque and granite bas-relief commemorating the Founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony set in tablet rock at Stage Fort Park and dedicated in 1907.
Few days left to bid! Link to more photos of the collectible and sale found here: sale on capeanntiques, ebay seller
July 30, 1909 Gloucester Day Badge – Unique Design to Commemorate Event
“The Gloucester Day badges have arrived and are certainly worthy of the occasion. The special gold badge to be presented to the president is fo the same design as the others. It consists of a bar, backed by anchor stock, with the cables running along each side, and in the center a miniature of President Taft, flanked by the dates 1623-1909. Suspended from this bar by two chains is the embossed shield, the central figure of which is a Georges handline fisherman, riding at anchor under bare poles. On either side, clinging griffin-like to the inner circle dividing th ose parts is the inscription, “Gloucester, mass. Settled 1623. Incorporated, 1642” and beneath this is a representation of the Roger Conant house, with the word “built” on one side and the date “1623” on the other, and the inscription, “Roger Conant House,” beneath.”
“May be worn as badges or watch fobs…Design selected after keen competition.” They were pre sold for 50 cents.
John Hays Hammond Sr. 2nd row with Taft family and driver
Pageant benefit to possibly rebuild Roger Conant House at Stage Fort Park
Last chance to see Boustrophedons (“…every other line is flipped, or reversed or mirrored”) group show at Flatrocks Gallery. Exhibition features 8 artists: Joan Benotti, Paul Cary Goldberg, Ann McArdle, Valerie Weigand McCaffrey, Nick Neyeloff, Conny Goetz Schmitt, Linda Lagano Sojda, and Juni VanDyke. The closing Reception and special event is Sunday September 16, 2-4pm
(installation views – the natural light and architecture were in sync today with the show’s theme.)
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Thru Oct 7, Harvard, MA: Liz Fletcher’s sculpture was selected for the 2018 annual Around the Pond and Through the Woods Outdoor Sculptureat Old Frog Pond Farm, Harvard, Massachusetts. The show closes October 7th. If you time it right you can also attend the annual Plein Air Poetry walk September 16, 2-4pm. I’d love to see a Cape Ann Plein Air Sculpture and Poetry walk, perhaps through Dogtown, TS Eliot, beach, and Cape Ann Museum properties.
Thru Nov 4, Pingree School, S. Hamilton, MA: Look for works by Liz Fletcher, Michael Updike and Bart Stuyf in the ninth annual Flying Horse Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition at Pingreewhich opened September 1 and continues through November 4, 2018.
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“Hale said the Woburn-based firmof Heimlich Landscaping and constracting which installed the stands and track in 2013, is heading up the repair work wiht inkind design assistance from CDM Smith of Boston…
“It was safe, and it would have been safe. It just looked bad–it looked old when it was still new. But this administration wants to be sure to fix it. We want this to be good product, and a good long-term investment.”
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back of Good Harbor Beach, framed and open views across marsh from Thatcher Road, June 2018
Walk this way! Part 1- Pilings In, Guardrails Gone!
A new mini marsh promenade is underway along Thatcher Road from Gloucester’s Good Harbor Beach entrance all the way around to the foot bridge. Walkers will have safe access via sidewalks and a natural path.
Gloucester has been planning for an opportunity to extend safer pedestrian access along Thatcher Road for years. When National Grid scheduled replacing antiquated gas lines along the busiest and scenic stretch, Gloucester Public Works was ready to seize the opportunity with collaborative solutions sensitive to conservation. Sidewalk upgrades were built out at both ends and paused until National Grid completed its underground infrastructure work. Prior to paving, Thatcher Road will be widened slightly to accommodate a safe and scenic path. The city hoped to complete repairs and paving by autumn and is on track to meet that goal. This week crews were clearing brush. The rusty guardrail was removed and will be replaced with a new design. “It will all happen quickly now,” says Mike Hale, director of Public Works.
There’s an ideal and creative scenic overlook solution over the river that’s under construction off site. I can’t wait for the reveal! I have been documenting progress and will post various updates, fast stats and history as another impressive project moves along.
Gloucester’s great marsh walk will afford safer access for sweeping seasonal observation
winter, spring, summer, fall
One of my favorite Gloucester motifs, Gloucester oxbow, view from Thatcher Road
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New signs announcing The Blackbear Barber Shop coming to 261 Main Street, formerly Eastern Point Lit House*. *Upcoming The Lit House Book Club @ Duckworth’s Bistrot events are Gifts from the Sea on Sept 23 and 1984 on October 21.
Fish and Bear
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People are so generous! The donation drive for women in Active Duty has filled boxes many times over. Collections continue through Columbus Day and will be delivered to Operation Troop Support.
Courtesy photos below include GMG readers 🙂
Pauline Bresnahan, Johanne Cassia (Olde Ipswich Shop & Gallery) and Adam Curcuru, Director of Cape Ann Veterans Services, shared a quick video with veteran Vionette, “Vee”, Chipperini describing essentials that are great to receive when deployed. (Convinced me to go for bras!) Pauline said people have been creativite getting the word out and selecting special items to donate.
Organized by Woman Owned Businesses along the Essex Coastal Scenic Byway, donation boxes can be found at particpating locations:
The Bookstore of Gloucester owner Arwen Severance 61 Main St. Gloucester MA
Cape Ann Olive Oil owner Patty Gates 57 Main St. Gloucester MA
Essex Bird Shop and Pet Supply owners Shelly Nicastro and Susan Eason 121 Eastern Ave. Essex MA
Pauline’s Gifts owner Pauline Bresnahan 512 Essex Ave. Gloucester MA
Premier Imprints owner Patty Gates 48 Main St. Gloucester MA
Roamin’ Baths Mobile Pet Spa. Owner Kathleen Silva Gloucester MA 978-835-3072
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Neither Mustard Nor Teeth photographs by Peter Morse drawings by David West September 1-30. Reception September 29, 5-7pm, Jane Deering Gallery, 19 Pleasant Street, Gloucester
from the exhibition release:
“Neither Mustard nor Teeth, by artists Peter Morse and David West, is an exploration of the everyday discipline of the artist searching to find the extraordinary and the beautiful among the quotidian rhythms of ordinary life.
Morse’s photos call attention to the overlooked. They catch moments of light, pattern, form and structure that might otherwise be sensed only out of the corner of the eye. What is captured in the frame draws us nearer, asks us to pause. While grounded in the ordinary, they leave the viewer with questions about time and place and the seemingly familiar. West’s drawings feature the townscape of Gloucester as seen by a non-native. They are visual handshakes from a Southern alien coming to terms with a new place for the first time. The quiet empty spaces offer little peace; the architectures crowd each other and jostle for attention as they attempt to stay upright.
Both bodies of work are rooted in the act of stopping and looking, the life blood of the artist. Slowing down. Being present in the moment long enough to pay attention and to record. Whether the action is contained in the fraction of a shutter click, or the longer process of drawing, each is a response to the quiet call of objects and moments at hand. The phrase — neither mustard nor teeth — is from the essay, Of Power and Time, by the Massachusetts poet Mary Oliver. Oliver tells of the tensions between the necessity of living in the world with its demands of time and task and energy, all the while striving to see the inherent beauty of it all, to make sense of it through the creative process:
It is six a.m., and I am working. I am absent-minded, reckless, heedless of social obligations, etc. It is as it must be. The tire goes flat, the tooth falls out, there will be a hundred meals without mustard. The poem gets written. I have wrestled with the angel and I am stained with light and I have no shame. Neither do I have guilt. My responsibility is not to the ordinary, or the timely. It does not include mustard, or teeth.
Peter Morse lives in Amesbury, and David West is resident here in Gloucester. Both artists are in need of going to the grocery as well as the dentist.
Peter Morse holds a BA Summa Cum Laude from Gordon College and an MFA in Photography from the University of Hartford, CT. Residencies include Berlin, Germany, New York, NY and Portland OR. He teaches at Gordon College where he is also Manager of the Barrington Center for the Arts and the Gallery. He has exhibited in the US, Germany and Cuba. Morse maintains a studio in Amesbury MA.
David West is originally from Mississippi. He holds an MFA from Louisiana State University with a concentration in printmaking. He is Associate Professor of art at Gordon College, Wenham MA where he is Chair of the Art Department. West is also Co-Founder/Curator of ArtSpace 86 Gallery in Jackson MS. He has exhibited widely in the US. West is now living in Gloucester MA
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Thanks to a GMG reader for sharing news about a Bel Canto evening not to miss:
3rd Annual Phyllis A Marine Association Art Show and Sale 
Ocean Views Walk from Ravenswood to Rafe’s Chasm 
ANDOVER
