Joey’s, a painting by Robert Louis Williams
Category: Art
Virginia Lee Burton Folly Cove designer’s diploma from Cape Ann Museum featured in Massachusetts masterpiece trail
Virginia Demetrios is Virginia Lee Burton’s married name and author credit she used for her work as Folly Cove Designer and founder. Her linocut was curated for the MASSterpiece trail 🙂 from Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism (MOTT): https://www.flipsnack.com/eohed/massachusetts-masterpiece-trail.html
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Join in planning now for #GloucesterMA 400th Anniversary in 2023!
All are invited to have fun, join in, share ideas for Gloucester’s 400th Anniversary possible celebrations in 2023. A public meeting will be held at City Hall on Saturday, April 28, 2018 from 1-3pm. Can’t attend? Email your input to the 400th steering committee: email gloucester400@gmail.com and check out the 400th Anniversary Facebook page For More Info
“Although Gloucester’s 400th Anniversary is five years away, we know that those years will go by quickly. 400 years deserves a year long celebration in 2023 and a steering committee has been meeting for the last six or seven months to get the process started. Three Captains have been chosen to lead the group: Bruce Tobey, Bob Gillis and Ruth Pino. The Committee is sponsoring a public meeting on Saturday April 28, 2018 in City Hall Auditorium…What should happen during 2023? What would you participate in? What would you miss if it didn’t happen?”
With so much advance notice, it’s fun to ruminate. Three words come quickly to mind for one idea: Virginia Lee Burton. Burton was one of the most influential children’s book author-illustrators of the 20th century and Folly Cove textile designer and founder. She received the Caldecott medal in 1943 for The Little House. Whether for the 400th Anniversary or not, I hope one day that there are tribute commissions for Virginia Lee Burton’s beloved characters Katy from Katy and the Big Snow and Mary Ann from Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel at Stage Fort playground. Life Story and Song of Robin Hood were also informed by landscape and her life in Gloucester. (The Burton tributes could be massive, interactive and accessible bronze sculptures. Tom Otterness commissions were completed at this scale. Why not Burton? They don’t have to be. Also bring back the monumental sea serpent and the big truck. These memorable imaginative expressions were wood in the past and maintained for years. Perhaps they could be recreated with modern decking materials. And add in Burton’s Little House! )
Archives
Gloucester has a history of producing major anniversary celebrations which makes looking back through archives* inspiring for future plans. Here are a few I’ve pulled:
*digitizing Gloucester Daily Times and Gloucester’s municipal archives is another oft repeated plea of mine and others–am sending that one along to a 400th dream wish list…
1892
Link to Gloucester’s 250th memorial celebration BOOK: https://archive.org/stream/memorialofcelebr00glou
1942
August 16, 1942– the city’s second (!) Tercentenary Celebration.
1923 Fighting for public art – the Fisherman at the Wheel memorial commission
On May 21, 1923, the Gloucester Daily Times published an article about the appropriations and planning for the city’s 300th Anniversary which is remarkable in content and its late date–the celebration was just months away! The idea itself and related costs concerning a public art commission –the one that would become Gloucester’s renowned Fisherman at the Wheel Memorial– were hammered out at a heated City Council meeting. Here’s the nearly complete transcription:
COUNCIL RECONSIDERS AND VOTES $5000 TO CELEBRATION: Equal Amount Will Be Reserved for Permanent Memorial Fund–Executive Committee Held Prolonged and Animated Session Saturday Evening. May 21, 1923 (*note ______ indicates illegible copy)
After three hours of discussion and a conference of the municipal council behind closed doors lasting about three-quarters of an hour on Saturday evening, it was voted to reconsider their action whereby the $10,000 appropriated for the anniversary committee should be alloted for a permanent memorial and voted for _____ committee to expend a sum not exceeding $5000 for the celebration, and the other $5000 to be used for the creation of a permanent memorial.
The agreement as finally reached is ______________ provide for the dedication in whole or in part of a permanent memorial to be erected and paid for jointly by the _______ city of Gloucester. “The municipal council agrees that a sum of $5000 of the amount appropriated by the city for the celebration will be for the general purposes of the committee if necessary, with the understanding that all expensea for additional police protection incurred by the committee on public safety will be paid for by the anniversary committee. And with the further understanding that the anniversary committee will do all possible to have this sum of money applied to the permanent memorial in addition to the sum reserved ____ by the municipal _____ surplus after the celebration is over, this surplus also to be for the purpose of a permanent memorial.” The meeting opened at 8.15 o’clock, with a reading of the records by Secretary Harold H. Parsons, and following this there came without hesitation_____ ing of the celebration from those present, and for a time, one was reminded of the old town meeting days. ___________ A Piatt Andrew ___________ carnival parade by members of the art colony of the city were accepted and adopted.
Plain Talk by Chairman Barrett- Chairman Barrett then arose and addressed the members present and said: “I sent a communication to the municipal council some time ago to find out just what standing this celebration had with them. The letter I received was not
Continue reading “Join in planning now for #GloucesterMA 400th Anniversary in 2023!”
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Local Artist Naomi Lee is exhibiting her art at The Addison Gilbert Hospital Lobby 298 Washington St, Gloucester, MA Through the month of April, 2018
Naomi Lee
Art to me is a feeling, a thought, an expression and then a creation.
I am a self taught artist inspired by the warmth of the sun, calm of the moon, strength of the wind and the power of the sea.
Even as a child I always went to the ocean to sort out my thoughts
I started painting about ten years ago. I love painting in all mediums and or course working with anything else I see as a creation. Especially nature’s gifts I come across when taking my walks along the shore. Driftwood, shells, sea glass, roses and what ever hits my eye at the moment.
I have been part of the Beverly Art Association, Salem Art Association and have been invited to be part of the Fourth of July Marblehead Art Festival as well as being in the Cabot Street Beverly Art Festival.
I hope you enjoy my art.
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IN WAR AND AFTER: The Art of Combat Veterans curated by Ken Hruby at Rocky Neck
The creative response to military service is vast.
Several Gloucester and Cape Ann artists and writers were veterans officially engaged as combat documentarians and/or military artists, like Larry O’Toole (1908-1951), marine artist, official USCG artist and WWII Veteran.
Addison Center’s 1866 portrait of Ulysses S. Grant is to the left upon entry in City Hall. (On the right is a 1946 memorial commission by Marguerite Pearson to 5 WWII marines: Sherman B Ruth, Ralph Greely, Wilfred Ringer, John M. Sweet, and Robert M. Maguire.)
Others created art in response to their service experience like fine artist, Robert Stephenson (1935-2013).
Good Morning Gloucester readers have been following an indeliable original illustrated series, Stories from Vietnam, with illustrations and writing by David Hussey. The Gloucester Writers Center established a Veterans Writing Workshop in the fall of 2013 and published a compilation book, The Inner Voice and the Outer World, launched in December 2017. Cape Ann Veterans Services brought copies of the children’s picture book, Veterans: Heroes in Our Neighborhood, and super volunteer readers, into local Kindergarten, first and second grades to read aloud in the classes. Copies of the book were gifted to the classroom libraries. (Veterans: Heroes in Our Neighborhood ©2012 is by Valerie Pfundstein with illustrations by Aaron Anderson and foreword by John Vigiano Sr., a Marine Veteran and retired FDNY Captain, who honors his sons’ memories –both lost on 9/11– by volunteering his time and resources to Gold Star families and wounded heroes.) Gloucester native and Gold Star mother, Anita Coullard Dziedzic, helped support this outreach through Cape Ann Veterans Services, to honor her son Sgt. David J Coullard.
NEXT MONTH, Rocky Neck Cultural Center will present a visual arts group exhibition featuring artists who are currently active or served in the military curated by fine artist and veteran Ken Hruby:
IN WAR AND AFTER: The Art of Combat Veterans, Curated by Ken Hruby
May 17 – June 24, 2018
Courtesy photos credit info and press release below from Rocky Neck.
- Mourning the Loss of a Comrade, GySgt Michael Fay, USMCR- Served in Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan
- Walking in Two Worlds, US Army Signals Linguist Cara Myhre, Served in Iraq, Afghanistan
- Haunting Memories, Lt. Col. Deveon Sudduth, US Army, Served in Iraq
- Ready for Ga Noi, Sgt. Robert Louis Williams, USMC, Combat Artist, Served in Vietnam
- Woman Marine, GySgt Michael Fay, USMCR, Served in Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan
- Through The Elephant Grass, Sgt. Robert Louis Williams, USMC, Combat Artist, Served in Vietnam
PRESS RELEASE – “The Rocky Neck Art Colony (RNAC) proudly presents “IN WAR AND AFTER: The Art of Combat Veterans”, a multi-media, juried exhibition of over sixty works by more than thirty combat artists from the military services and by veterans making art from their experiences in zones of combat…Congressman Seth Moulton of the 6th congressional district of Massachusetts, himself a Marine Corps veteran of four tours in Iraq, states of this exhibition, “The ‘incommunicable experience of war,’ as Oliver Wendel Holmes once described it, indeed often defies explanation by words alone. That veterans can share some of their experience through art can help us all better understand what they went through. And as a veteran myself, who returned to war with a camera after I left the Marines, I know how cathartic art can be for those of us who were there. The work of combat artists is important for civilians as well, to deepen their understanding of the lives of our service men and women, and their families. “In War and After” is an a very important exhibition for both communities.”
Few people are aware that when US military forces go to war, some of them carry, in addition to their weapons, their sketch pads, graphite pencils, watercolor brushes and cameras. These are combat artists, tasked to not only serve the combat mission but to record that mission in ways only an artist can.
Continue reading “IN WAR AND AFTER: The Art of Combat Veterans curated by Ken Hruby at Rocky Neck”
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Liz Fletcher art featured in Bedrock Gardens group show for International Sculpture Day
Gloucester, MA, and NH artist, Liz Fletcher shares save the date:
“On Saturday, April 28, 2018 the world will join in celebration of sculpture during the 4th annual International Sculpture Day. Artists, organizations and institutions worldwide will celebrate the day with open studios, unveiling public sculptures, sculpture scavenger hunts, pop up exhibitions, demonstrations, iron pours, plus much more.” Bedrock Gardens, “an oasis of art, horticulture, and inspiration”, International Sculpture Day Group Show, Lee, NH
Saturday April 28 – May 8, 2018
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Poetry without Paper deadline reminder from Christy Russo Sawyer Free Library, John Ronan, O’Maley School, & Mayor Romeo Theken
Two weeks to go. Kids- send in your poems: Gloucester Lyceum & Sawyer Free Libraray childrens services Poetry Without Paper 2018 is underway
Now in its 16th year (!) Sawyer Free’s annual poetry contest for all students who go to Gloucester schools or live in Gloucester is LIVE. Participants can submit up to 3 poems through April 30, 2018. Some of the previous winning poems are published on the library web site. 2015 2016 2017
Former Gloucester Poet Laureate, host of The Writers Block, and co-founder with Christy Russo of the dynamite Poetry without Paper contest, John Ronan, included this reminder plug along with his January column and poem in the Gloucester Daily Times: Continue reading “Poetry without Paper deadline reminder from Christy Russo Sawyer Free Library, John Ronan, O’Maley School, & Mayor Romeo Theken”
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NOT TO BE MISSED! the shaman show at iartcolony
Portals open on April 28th at 5pm. 
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LOCAL DRUMMER DAVID ROBINSON OF THE CARS ENTERS THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME!
Super huge shout out and congratulations to David Robinson, artist and owner of the Rockport gallery Windmere Art and Antiques, for entering the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with fellow band members Ric Ocasek, Elliot Easton, Greg Hawkes, and Ben Orr (posthumously).
The ceremony airs on May 5th at 8pm on HBO, and in the meantime, here are some clips. Read more in the Boston Globe here.
The Cars: David Robinson, Ric Okasek, Elliot Easton, Greg Hawkes
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Loren Doucette warmly invites you to 3 upcoming Shows!
1) 4-Day “Open Studio Event”
Flatrocks Art Gallery – 77 Langsford St. Gloucester, MA
May 10,11,12 and 13 (open 12-5pm each day)
Artists Reception: Saturday May 12, 6-8pm
Celebrating a prolific winter at Flatrocks Gallery, I will have a casual Open Studio Event showing my drawings and paintings along with some works by my winter studio mates, Jan Weinshanker and Ruth Worell.
2) “Closely Related”
Flatrocks Art Gallery – 77 Langsford St. Gloucester, MA
May 27 through June 24 (open 12-5pm daily except for Mondays and Tuesdays) Open Monday Memorial Day!
Artists Reception: Saturday May 26, 5-7
This exhibition examines elements that appear congruently in works by the following artists: Kathleen Gerdon Archer, Shelly Champion, Loren Doucette, Paige Farrell, Jay McLachlan, Barbara Moody, Hans Pundt, Lynne Sausele, Patti Sullivan, Juni VanDyke
3) “EVOLUTION”
Tusinski Gallery – 2 Main St. Rockport, MA
ONGOING
For hours and works on view, please go to: tusinski gallery.com
Karen Tusinski welcomes 4 new artists into her gallery to celebrate her 10th successful year! The works will rotate as the season progresses! Artists on view: Karen Tusinski, Loren Doucette, Carter Wentworth, Joanna Huss and Kate Nordstrom.
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Kim Smith keynote and ‘Friend of the Earth’ award from Salem State University Earth Day 2018
The 2018 week-long Earth Day events at Salem State University culminated with an evening awards ceremony on April 12th. Kim Smith was the invited 2018 Keynote Speaker, and Friend of the Earth Award recipient! It’s an extraordinary fit as Kim Smith’s life’s work across media –whether its her acclaimed and award-winning films, photography, landscape design, art, or writing– calls us to marvel and commune with nature. She’s a champion Friend of the Earth.
Kim Smith is henceforth included in this distinguished Salem State University Friend of the Earth list, an ambassador for the natural world, our region and Massachusetts!
Earth Days at Salem State University – Past Friend of the Earth Award Recipients:
*2001-2017 list- Compiled by Prof. John Hayes, Geography, and co-chair, Salem State University (SSU) Earth Day Planning Committee
- 2018 – KIM SMITH award winning photographer, filmmaker, landscape designer, artist, and writer. Author of Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities! Notes from a Gloucester Garden
- 2017-
- 2016: Naomi Oreskes, Ph.D.—(Professor, Harvard Univ.), co-author, Merchants of Doubt, …….
Bob Prescott—(Exec. Director, Wellfleet Ocean Sanctuary)….. - 2015: Larry Chretien—(Executive Director, Energy Consumers Alliance of New England and of Mass Energy – for his advocacy and leadership for over 20 years to champion the benefits of renewable energy alternatives in the New England region for our states, cities and towns, and our utility companies that provide us electricity and energy; as Executive Director of Mass Energy and the Energy Consumers Alliance of New England – he demonstrated how consumer-oriented non-profit organizations can lead the way in promoting affordable and environmentally
sustainable energy resources.) - 2014: Gerard (Jerry) Bertrand (Environmental Adviser, Permian Global – for his enduring commitment to preservation of land and habitat; for his past service as head of international affairs for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service, his chairmanship of BirdLife International, his service as president of Massachusetts Audubon Society and cofounder of World Land Trust, and his service at Permian Global and its efforts to protect natural forests globally to
sequester carbon, mitigate climate change, and preserve habitat through investment.) - 2013 Frances Moore Lappe – (co-founder of Small Planet Institute and author of 18 books including the landmark Diet for a Small Planet, World Hunger – Twelve Myths, Food First – Beyond the Myth of Scarcity, Hope’s Edge, and EcoMind – Changing the Way We Think, to Create the World We Want.) Marc Rodgers – (Communications Director, Cape Wind Associates – for his continuing efforts for more than ten years to communicate and educate about the proposed Cape Wind wind farm project on Nantucket Sound and for his efforts to help shepherd the project through the long-lived environmental review process.)
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And the Mystery Buyer of Berkshire Museum Shuffleton’s Barbershop by Norman Rockwell is…Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
No surprise! Here’s the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art press release about the Berkshire Museum deaccession. George Lucas already paid a record breaking price– 46 million–back in 2013 for Saying Grace, one of his numerous major Rockwells. Shuffleton’s Barbershop could have surpassed that price; the market won’t know unless Lucas opts to sell it at a public auction some future date.
(photo above – Norman Rockwell, Saying Grace, collection Lucas Museum Narrative Art)
Thirteen more Berkshire Museum works (including another Rockwell Blacksmith’s Boy – Heel and Toe) will be sold at Sotheby’s auctions beginning May 14, 2018:
- John La Farge, Magnolia, 1859–60. Estimate $200,000–300,000.
- Charles François Daubigny, Paysans allant aux champs (Le Matin). Estimate $70,000–100,000.
- Henry Moore, Three Seated Women, 1942. Estimate $400,000–600,000.
- Alexander Calder, Double Arc and Sphere, executed circa 1932. Estimate $2,000,000–3,000,000. (*oddly just one of a site specific commisioned pair for the Berkshire Museum)
- Francis Picabia, Force comique, 1914. Estimate $800,000–1,200,000.
- Adriaen Isenbrant, The Temptation of Adam and Eve. Estimate $150,000–200,000.
- William Bouguereau, The Newborn Lamb, 1873. Estimate $1,500,000–2,000,000. (**November cover lot pulled from sale last fall)
- Alberto Pasini, Faubourg de Constantinople, 1877. Estimate $700,000–1,000,000.
- Adriaen Isenbrant, The Flight into Egypt. Estimate $150,000–200,000.
- William Bouguereau, Les deux sœurs, 1884. Estimate $2,000,000–3,000,000.
- Norman Rockwell, Blacksmith’s Boy – Heel and Toe, 1940. Estimate $7,000,000–10,000,000.
- Frederic Edwin Church, Valley of Santa Isabel, New Granada, 1875. Estimate $5,000,000–7,000,000.
- Rembrandt Peale, George Washington. Estimate $200,000–300,000.
- Norman Rockwell, Shuffleton’s Barbershop, 1950. Acquired privately by a nonprofit American museum.
- (the Vuillard and 25 more aren’t listed at this time)
press release from Lucas Museum APR 11, 2018
Lucas Museum Announces Acquisition of Norman Rockwell’s ‘Shuffleton’s Barbershop’
Museum ensures iconic masterwork remains in public view
Los Angeles, CA (April 11, 2018) – The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art today announced the acquisition of Norman Rockwell’s masterwork Shuffleton’s Barbershop. The 1950 painting, which had been in the collection of the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, MA, has been the subject of considerable attention in recent months.
“As a museum dedicated to celebrating visual storytelling, we are honored to become the public steward of this major work,” said Don Bacigalupi, Founding President of the Lucas Museum. “Norman Rockwell is one of our nation’s most important storytellers, and this cultural treasure will continue to be seen and enjoyed by the public in an American museum, where it will be a source of inspiration for generations to come.”
The Lucas Museum recently broke ground and launched construction in Los Angeles, and is expected to open to the public in 2022.
Shuffleton’s Barbershop, revered as one of the most iconic works of Rockwell’s storied career, will join an expansive collection of works by the artist, including Saying Grace (1951) and After the Prom (1957).
These works will be featured prominently on public view to allow museum visitors to explore the power and importance of visual storytelling. The Lucas Museum will engage visitors of all ages in educational programs that highlight prominent examples of narrative art in a variety of mediums, periods and cultures.
With the acquisition, the Lucas Museum announced a cross-country partnership whereby Shuffleton’s Barbershop will be on long-term loan to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, for public display commencing later this year and extending into 2020. The Lucas Museum will also explore opportunities to loan the painting to other museums in Massachusetts and elsewhere in order to maximize public access to this beloved work of art.
“We are immensely grateful to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art for ensuring that Norman Rockwell’s masterpiece Shuffleton’s Barbershopwill continue to be available to and enjoyed by the public. We thank the Museum for generously loaning the painting to the Norman Rockwell Museum while the Lucas Museum is under construction in Los Angeles,” stated Laurie Norton Moffatt, Norman Rockwell Museum Director and CEO. “It is especially meaningful for the people of Berkshire County who will have the opportunity to enjoy this masterpiece for a few more years, knowing that it will remain in the public realm. We look forward to continuing to work with our friends at the Lucas Museum to create educational opportunities and appreciation of the narrative art of illustration, including ongoing collection-sharing.” Continue reading “And the Mystery Buyer of Berkshire Museum Shuffleton’s Barbershop by Norman Rockwell is…Lucas Museum of Narrative Art”
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Poetry without Paper deadline reminder from Christy Russo Sawyer Free Library, John Ronan, O’Maley School, and Mayor Romeo Theken
Gloucester Lyceum & Sawyer Free Poetry Without Paper 2018 is underway!
Now in its 16th year (!) Sawyer Free’s annual poetry contest for all students who go to Gloucester schools or live in Gloucester is LIVE. Participants can submit up to 3 poems through April 30, 2018. Some of the previous winning poems are published on the library web site. 2015 2016 2017
Former Gloucester Poet Laureate, host of The Writers Block, and co-founder with Christy Russo of the dynamite Poetry without Paper contest, John Ronan, included this reminder plug along with his January column and poem in the Gloucester Daily Times:
“Students! Families! Grandparents, aunts and uncles! The annual Poetry Without Paper contest, sponsored by the Sawyer Free Library, will again open from March 1 to April 30. All students living in or attending school in Gloucester are eligible, from elementary to high school. This is the 16th year of the contest and hundreds of students participate each season, winners claiming prizes, a public reading, and a chance to be on TV. Spread the word! Watch for details at: www.sawyerfreelibrary.org.”
Mayor Romeo Theken broadcasts and celebrates National Poetry Month every April, Poetry without Paper, and Poem in Your Pocket Day which is April 26 in 2018. #pocketpoem
O’Maley Innovation Middle School has it posted in several spots and it’s been included in newsletters since the contest opened. Good luck to all the writers!
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ArtWeek 2018 goes statewide
April 27 – May 6, 2018
Presented by Highland Street Foundation and produced by the Boch Center, ArtWeek moves beyond Greater Boston this year. The calendar of (mostly free) events is now live.
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Cork and Canvas with Kathy Roberts
When: Friday, April 13, 2018
Time: 05:00 – 07:30 pm
Where: Essex Wine Exchange
91 Main Street, Essex, MA 01929
Please join us Friday the 13th, for the third installment of our monthly art and wine tasting series: Cork and Canvas. This month we are featuring Kathy Roberts. Kathy is a Gloucester native who specializes in water color paintings. Whether it is a seascape, landscape or fresh cut flowers, Kathy’s use of dynamic color is truly spectacular. Please join us as we pop some corks and admire her fine work. See you there. Thank you.
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THE FISK CONNECTION | A PROGRESSIVE ORGAN CONCERT ON APRIL 14 Gloucester Meetinghouse UU and St. John’s
Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation shares news about its upcoming special event
“The the first half of the concert is performed on the historic 1893 Hutchings/Fisk organ in the Gloucester Meetinghouse (home of the Unitarian Universalist Church) and the second half is performed on the innovative 1989 C. B. Fisk organ in St. John’s Episcopal Church next door. Six professional organists, related in various ways to Gloucester, will perform diverse repertoire on these two fine pipe-organs. The concert will include narration about the work of Charles Fisk, the relationship of the players to the Fisk legacy, and a bit about how the two instruments sound. A reception will follow the concert.”
Read the full press release Continue reading “THE FISK CONNECTION | A PROGRESSIVE ORGAN CONCERT ON APRIL 14 Gloucester Meetinghouse UU and St. John’s”
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Save the date
I Am More Opening Exhibit:
Hosted by Amy Kerr Draws Portraits and Ocean Alliance:
June 15, 2018 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
June 16, 2018 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
June 17, 2018 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
32 Horton Street
Gloucester, MA 01930
Details
We are more than our depression, addiction, grief, anxiety, PTSD, eating disorder, bipolar disorder, dysphoria and obsessive compulsive disorder. We are parents, children, and friends with loves, gifts and dreams.
Join us for the first public unveiling of the I Am More portraits, plus work by Cape Ann artists and Gloucester High students and learn how they are more than their mental challenges. Participate in an art installation to add your voice.
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What a low blow: Justice Lowy clears contested Berkshire Museum art for auction
Justice Lowy’s JUDGEMENT was released April 5, 2018. The Museum may sell Shuffleton’s Barbershop, and — via Sotheby’s– the remaining 39 works free of any restrictions.
“The museum has satisfied its burden of establishing that is has become impossible or impracticable to administer the Museum strictly in accordance with its chartiable purpose, thus entitling the Museum to relief under the doctrine of equitable deviation. Accordingly the court allows the Museum’s request for equitable relief to sell the designated artwork.”
Justice Lowy MEMO OF UNDERSTANDING
Reaction from Sotheby’s Auction House:
“We are very pleased that the court approved the agreement reached between the Berkshire Museum and the Massachusetts Attorney General. We look forward to working with the museum to ensure a bright future for the people of Pittsfield and Western Massachusetts.” Judge Lowy’s decision came in just in time to meet the auction’s press deadline clearing for art sales this spring, else sales would have been pushed back till the fall at the earliest. The catalogue pages are ready from last fall’s prep.
Reaction from Elizabeth McGraw, President, Berkshire Museum Board of Trustees:
“This is great news for the people of Berkshire County and everyone who visits the Berkshire Museum for one-of-a-kind experiences in history, art, and science. We recognize this decision may not please those who have opposed the museum’s plans. Still, we hope people will be able to move forward in a constructive way to help us secure and strengthen the future of this museum, at a time when our community needs it more than ever. “
Reaction from Save the Art – Save the Museum (STA-STM)
“Save the Art-Save the Museum continues to oppose the sale of the Berkshire Museum’s art treasures and its unrestricted use of the resulting funds. We also regret the judge’s disregard of the public trust in which the museum held its collections. The impending sale will not only diminish Pittsfield as a city claiming to be of cultural import to Berkshire County, but will reverberate destructively for years through collections similarly held in trust throughout the state and country. As a group, we will make a more detailed statement after meeting in person to consider the loss to our community and its impact.”
Have a look back at an inspiring 1965 Berkshire Eagle profile about Berkshire Museum Director Stuart C. Henry, and an earlier feature from the Berkshire Evening Eagle, published Thursday, Aug. 20, 1953, heralding the Berkshire Museum’s 50th anniversary. Both convey the museum’s seamless blend of high art, science, community and education.
I wonder what happened to the marble swans over the Berkshire Museum elliptical pool designed by A. Sterling Calder, father of the sculptor, Alexander Calder, and resident of Richmond, Massachusetts, less than 20 minutes away from Pittsfield? Continue reading “What a low blow: Justice Lowy clears contested Berkshire Museum art for auction”
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update from Save the Art – Save the Museum
Save the Art – Save the Museum Continues to Seek Transparency from the Berkshire Museum and Attorney General
PITTSFIELD, Mass. (March 28, 2018) – Save the Art – Save the Museum has helped to achieve a major goal of saving the Berkshire Museum’s 40 most valuable artworks from immediate auction. We re-dedicate ourselves now that the issue is before the courts, and will continue our efforts to SAVE THE ART and SAVE THE MUSEUM for ours and future generations..
In Boston on Tuesday, as lawyers for both sides stated their cases before Judge David Lowy of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the Berkshire Museum reiterated its requirement for $55M, but again offered no documentation or proof to justify this vast sum. The intent of Zenas Crane, Norman Rockwell, and others who donated these treasures to the Berkshire Museum could not be clearer; they wanted them to be forever available for the pleasure, inspiration and education of the people of Pittsfield and Berkshire County. To sell them is to sell our cultural heritage.
Save the Art – Save the Museum believes the Berkshire community has a right to a candid reckoning of why we and all future generations must be denied these cherished and irreplaceable artworks. We continue to invite the Museum trustees to engage in dialogue with the community about alternatives to this drastic action.
The public deserves full transparency from the Berkshire Museum and the Massachusetts Attorney General. We call on the Supreme Judicial Court to reject the agreement and to order that the Attorney General conclude the investigation with a complete, published report.
READ MORE Click here to read detailed court coverage by Catherine Ryan of GoodMorningGloucester Blog
BOARD OF TRUSTEES in packed courtroom – John Adams Courthouse, Berkshire Museum deaccession case oral arguments before SJC Justice Judge Lowy, March 20, 2018 – Boston, MA. © 2018 Photo by Catherine Ryan
“Those, like me, who were caught off-guard by the astonishing deal (now awaiting court validation) cut last month by the Berkshire Museum and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey feel justifiably blindsided by the AG’s about-face. With scant explanation, she pivoted from a seemingly adversarial stance towards the museum’s deaccessions of the cream of its collection to acceptance of the shameful sell-offs, notwithstanding the fact that they would run afoul of professional standards and would violate what the AG had deemed to be restrictions prohibiting sales of about half of the 40 deaccessioned works.” – Lee Rosenbaum, CultureGrrl
READ MORE Click to read commentary from Lee Rosenbaum’s CultureGrrl in artsjournal
LARRY PARNASS, investigations editor for the Berkshire Eagle – Photo by Catherine Ryan © 2018
“In a 20-minute interview March 14, Healey responded both to questions about her handling of the museum’s proposed art sales and questions about whether her past ties to WilmerHale constitute at least an appearance of a conflict of interest. She rejected questions that her office was in any way in conflict. “With respect to any conflict of interest, we followed the rules. We didn’t have a conflict here and the results speak for themselves,” Healey said.” – Larry Parnass, Berkshire Eagle
Save the Art – Save the Museum (STA) is a citizens’ group that started as a grassroots effort on social media shortly after the Museum announced plans for its sale in July 2017. Members meet regularly to organize opposition to the deaccession, educate the public about viable alternatives, and raise funds to support legal efforts. STA acts on behalf of more than 1,500 people who have joined its Facebook group dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of the Berkshire Museum imperiled by this sale, and thousands of other local residents who also object, many of whom have flooded the local newspaper with letters urging the Museum to change course and bring back the art.
Massachusetts boasts natural and cultural resources across the state. “Don’t miss an exhibit that’s closer than you think” is a Google map I pulled together Continue reading “update from Save the Art – Save the Museum”
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Juni VanDyke street art public murals coming to Rose Baker Senior Center and more great news!
Juni VanDyke is busy working on a figurative mural series that will be installed along the Rogers side of Rose Baker Senior Center in Gloucester, Massachusetts. VanDyke resides in Cape Ann and has been the stellar Director of the arts program at Rose Baker Senior Center since 1993. Her classes are Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, “elbow to elbow on Tuesdays and Thursday mornings, and in the afternoons.” All are welcome.
In addition to teaching art classes, she rotates exhibitions of art created by participants in the various art programs. Fine artist Mary McCarl and Helen Burgess will have their work on exhibit in the lobby of the senior center beginning April 4th though July 5th.
VanDyke is also curating the show “Closely Related” for Flatrocks gallery opening May 27 – June 24, 2018. The exhibit “attempts to identify and examine artistic elements that appear congruently in works by artists related by friendship or marriage, or by filial kinship, or by the duality of artist and place, or…other. Is our art influenced by our environment; our politics; the company we keep and/or by our generic connections? And is what we create truly unique? Or was Picasso right when he said: Every painting already has a mother and a father?” Exhibiting artists: Kathleen Archer, Shelly Champion, Loren Doucette, Paige Farrell, Jay McLaughlin, Barbara Moody, Hans Pundt, Lynne Sauselle, Patti Sullivan, Juni VanDyke
Phase II Rose Baker Senior Center site for a second new Juni Van Dyke mural –after the lively figurative series is completed.
Juni’s geraniums at home and work- top floor windows at Rose Baker
Read more about Juni Van Dyke: Artist of such expressive power and spirit. Last year Room & Board commissioned art from Juni, and her illustrations for children’s books were recognized by Cape Ann Reads and will be featured in a group exhibit in 2018. The collage media informed her approach with the Rogers Street series.
Good Morning Gloucester 