My View of Life on the Dock
Or “Run for Fun” or “Dash to Make Cash” – however you say it, it means a good time at the Motif No. 1 Day 5K Run to raise funds for health, wellness and sustainability programs at Rockport Elementary Schools. You can register online and there are all sorts of good things associated with this race. Come downtown to run and then stay for the fun on Motif No. 1 Day! Check out the race website HERE. And Get Motif-vated!!!!
Please contact Amy Rich (sister of Kim) at 978-325-0428 or at amyrichstein@gmail.com for more information.
Git yer chalk ready – it’s that time of year again: Motif No. 1 Day’s Annual Sidewalk Chalk Art Contest on Motif No. 1 Day, Saturday, May 19th. We have categories for every age and prizes for every category. And Rockport National Bank is this year’s sponsor for the event, so please thank someone at the bank for their community spirit the next time you’re there. For the festival Schedule of Events, click HERE.
We need your submissions for our literary event for Motif No. 1 Day! Submit your brief essay or poem to rockportfestivals@gmail.com. In the meantime, check out the festival Schedule of Events HERE.
Toad Hall Bookstore is celebrating their 40th birthday this year with several special events, one of which took place on Earth Day, April 22nd. As many of you know, Toad Hall’s profits go toward supporting environmental causes, so in keeping with that theme, sculptor Nina Samoiloff brought 40 pieces of (GREEN!) beach trash scavenged from Rockport’s beaches to create a sculpture in a live event in front of the store on Earth Day. And don’t say Rockport isn’t a wild and crazy place for street art, because just like in the big cities, the cops came by and made her move along. Vive les arts! Vive Toad Hall Bookstore!
For more on Toad Hall Bookstore, click HERE. Nina Samoiloff has a website coming soon, and in the meantime check out her blog documenting her beach trash finds HERE.
ITEMS THAT MAKE UP 40
1 plastic water gun
1 plastic toy toilet
1 24 Hour Protection deordorant 2.6 oz plastic package
1 Habitat for Humanity AMERICORPS pen plastic
1 Blistex Medicated Lip Balm 1.4 oz plastic
1 Mentos Chewing Gum plastic package
4 green plastic soda bottles
1 plastic Dasani water bottle
2 Mountain Dew bottles
1 Gatorade Tiger Plastic beverage bottle
1 Sprite can
1 Bud Lime can
1 Rolling Rock glass bottle
2 plastic SOLO cup
2 Newport cigarette boxes
1 Smoke Friendly 100’s cigarette box
4 Bic lighters
1 plastic disposable floss utensil
1 plastic childs rake
1 plastic castle mold for child
1 Juicy Pop plastic container
1 Green Giant Broccoili and Carrots with Garlic & Herbs Bag 19oz
1 GoGo SqueeZ Apple Strawberry 3.2oz plastic package
4 childs beach shovel plastic
1 rubber super ball
1 plastic childs starfish mold
1 plastic childs block
1 Playtex sippy cup top plastic
1 plastic/silicone/latex baby pacifier
2 plastic childs toy pieces
1 plastic childs beach toy sifter
2 mylar Birthday balloons
2 bunches of mylar ribbons for balloons
1 child flip flop rubber
1 adult flip flop rubber
1 plastic tampon
1 plastic pill bottle
1 glass light bulb for Christmas tree light
1 squeeze top plastic
13 beverage tops plastic
1 plastic spray top
1 heavy duty glove plastic
1 latex glove
1 plastic chair part
1 hand wipe plastic top
1 plastic earth ball
1 plastic funnel
1 plastic part of container
1 part of plastic container bottom
1 piece of nylon netting
2 small nylon bait bags
2 plastic beverage caps
1 plastic cigar case
2 plastic parts of container
1 plastic part plant pot
2 metal parts of lobster traps
1 pleather wristlet
1 plastic shopping bag
1 styrofoam buoy
1 plastic buoy
3 pieces of plastic buoy rod
1 broken styrofoam buoy
5 1/4 plastic lobster trap part
1 Maine lobster tag plastic
Last Saturday was a good time at the Tusinski Gallery for the opening of The Roving Home’s (re)Cycled show – just in time for Earth Day. I even spotted a GMG contributor, Father Matthew Green! To check out the show in person, stop by the Tusinski Gallery at 2 Main Street in Rockport, open Thursday through Monday 11 – 5. For more information feel free to e-mail me at therovinghome@gmail.com. If you would like to be on our mailing list to find out when & where The Roving Home’s events will be held, sign up through this link. Thanks to those of you who stopped in and I hope to see the rest of you who are interested in vintage interiors and design before the pop-up shop & show ends on May 13th!
– Sarah
The Roving Home’s pop up shop opens at the Tusinski Gallery on Saturday night. Karen Tusinski, owner and artist at the Tusinski Gallery is hosting The Roving Home in conjunction with Earth Day with the theme Home (re)Cycled. The show at the Tusinski Gallery will include handmade pieces, lighting and more — all using vintage items. Decorating using vintage goods is a perfect way to increase environmental awareness — and where better to honor this idea than Rockport, the home of the best swap shop on the East Coast? 🙂
Hope you can come on Saturday, April 21st from 6 to 8pm. The pop up shop & show run through May 13th. The Tusinski Gallery is located at 2 Main Street in Rockport. Call 978-546-2244 or 978-501-3593 for more information or e-mail Sarah Kelly at therovinghome@gmail.com.
Artwork by Rockport photographer Thomas Philbrook. Poster design by Rockport designer Darren Mason. For Motif No. 1 Day festival info, go to www.rockportartfestivals.com
I’m excited to be showing at the Tusinski Gallery in Rockport, opening on April 22nd and running through May 13th. The show features vintage pieces that speak to the idea that we never really escape the influence of the past in our homes, no matter how advanced our technology. 
Have you checked out Rockport’s newest old bookstore? Bullseye Books just moved from Bearskin Neck to a new location on Main Street, near Brother’s Brew Coffee Shop, Shalin Liu Performance Center, and Toad Hall Bookstore — you can get your caffeine, literary and cultural fix all in one spot downtown!
The bookstore has a great vibe, with plenty of flea market finds rounding out the great selection of used books. And the owners are entrepreneurs in more than one way, as they are also the purveyors of the soon-to-be-famous “Flyboy Scarf”, developed by owner Richard Clemens and manufactured right in Rockport, Mass. Check out the website for the scarf HERE and in real life at their Rockport bookstore.
Spring has come to Rockport with one of the town’s first openings of the season! Rocky Delforge is a young Rockport printmaker and artist who is doing some great contemporary work. Yesterday a few of us in town got a preview of his new show and were especially impressed by his massive hand-printed piece depicting downtown Rockport – you MUST see this piece!
The whole show promises some surprises as it takes its cues away from the dominant (if unbelievably beautiful) influence of the nautical. And the show is in a great venue, Thistle Hill on Main Street in Rockport (a few doors down from the Rockport Art Association). Although Thistle Hill is a retail shop, the owner is creating space for Rocky’s show in her efforts to collaborate with a local artist. This is a fantastic idea and what might be the start of a new trend in Rockport: one in which the retail sector and local artists come together.
Check out Rocky’s work HERE.
The Craftsman brand of tools has an online channel featuring a show with host Frank Fontana (formerly of HGTV’s Design on a Dime) in which he discusses DIY Disasters. His producer found my blog and asked me to be on Frank’s show for a brief segment. I mostly rambled about nothing but I did go on and on about how great Rockport’s transfer station is. I don’t know if the DPW guys would be excited about yet another advertisement for Rockport’s Swap Shop but it’s hard to talk about great finds, etc. and not bring up the dump. The clip from the show is found below. Oh, and before my interview, George Takei from Star Trek (?) and Kathy Ireland the model (??) are on, so if you might want to check out the whole show to hear their interviews. The part where I come in (and Rockport) is at the 44 minute mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSXd9CVe_u4#t=44m00s
The Rockport Art Association kicked off the 2012 season last night. Be sure to stop by to check out their current shows:
A Night At The Museum
Winter Group Show
Sketch Group Show
Studio Class Show
All are welcome!
Please click here to go to the RAA’s website for more detailed information…
Check out Rocky’s work HERE.
The Roving Home‘s February Stylebook was published last Friday in collaboration with Rockport photographer Esther Mathieu. Check it out if you like vintage goods and partying on the beach in the dead of winter (but this involved hot chocolate and homemade mini apple pies, so wasn’t all bad!)
Oh yes – and our “I Love My Vintage ______ Contest” on facebook has a deadline coming up. You have to enter by NOON tomorrow to be considered for the prize. Then the voting (and real fun) begins. CLICK HERE to enter – I would love to see a photo of your favorite vintage item and know that other people would enjoy it too!
GMG readers: thanks for voting for Cape Ann’s own Brad Byrd, who won in the Best Singer-Songwriter Album of 2011 for his release “Mental Photograph” on the highly-regarded melodic.net site. Brad was up against such luminaries as Ryan Adams & Bon Iver, but clearly, melodic’s fans know the best when they hear it! For more of Brad’s music, visit his site www.bradbyrdofficial.com and check out his interview on melodic.net.
Yesterday I asked for submissions of your favorite vintage item: a snapshot along with an explanation about why the item is meaningful to you. In response, Ann Kennedy sent a photo of a portion of her collection of a 40-year correspondence between her mother and grandmother – a letter a week (2,000 in all!). Here’s what she says:
My most beloved old thing is my letter collection–nearly 2000, written over almost 40 years by my mom, to her mom. We found these when my grandmother passed away in 1979. The letters are from 1941-1976, one a week, every week. I post 2 of them per day on my blog. I love them because they are such a terrific social history, such a good portrayal of my mom and what interested her. The box shown is about half of the letters.
- Ann Kennedy’s collection of correspondence from her mother to her grandmother.
Be sure to check out her blog where she posts the contents of the letters. She’s right — even without a sentimental connection, the letters are fascinating to read as social history. You can find the letters at www.annbkennedy.blogspot.com
PLEASE keep your submissions coming in! I love reading your stories and I need to collect as many as possible for The Roving Home’s upcoming gallery show! Click HERE to submit.
The Roving Home’s next show is scheduled to open on April 21st. The idea behind the show (well, the idea behind everything at The Roving Home, really) is an exploration of the place that old things have in our lives, whether our items are valued in the marketplace or just for sentimental reasons.
One of the ways I plan to demonstrate the meaning of our old stuff is by featuring snapshots that readers send in of their favorite vintage item. So I would love it if you could take a few moments to submit a snapshot of something old in your house. Feel free to include yourself in the photo — and if you qualify as vintage, that works too — just make sure to include the vintage item as well as your decrepit self. The item in the snapshot could be something you inherited or a piece you just picked up at the thrift store yesterday. Something as small as a teacup or as large as your house itself. And please send in a couple of sentences stating why the item is significant to you. It would be fascinating to see which of your older possessions you find meaningful and why. And don’t worry about the quality of the photo – it’s not a most-beautiful-photograph contest, just a chance to see what matters to those of you who care about old stuff (like GMG contributor Alicia Pensarosa, for instance, who has a very cool blog featuring vintage stuff).
Just to make it interesting I’ve put together a contest for photo submissions over on The Roving Home’s Facebook page. You can submit your photo there and if your snapshot featuring a vintage item receives the most votes you’ll win a prize from our online shop. You can view more details about the contest HERE.
If you want to participate and aren’t interested in the contest, I would still love to have (and need) your photo for our upcoming show. Please e-mail it to me at therovinghome@gmail.com, or send me a message if you want to send a hard copy of your photo via the post office (I’ll send you my address). Of course you must be willing to have your snapshot used in the show and sending it in gives The Roving Home permission to display the item along with a few lines of explanation from you about why the item is meaningful. Thanks so much for your help, and I hope to see you joining in on Facebook or sending in a photo via e-mail!
Good Morning Gloucester 