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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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. “
“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.”
1953
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.
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.
“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
“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.
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
between the top floor windows on Rogers side
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
If you haven’t seen the series of five murals painted circa 1945 by fine artist and muralist, Larry O’Toole (1909-1951), that were rescued and installed (decades ago) at O’Maley Innovation Middle School, perhaps you’ve noticed a poster of his brilliant pictorial map around Cape Ann.
O’Toole published editions of the map in 1947 and 1948. Reproductions of “A Salty Map of Cape Ann: Gloucester-Magnolia-Rockport-Pigeon Cove-Lanesville-Bay View-Annisquam” the 1948 blue version are available at Cape Ann Museum shop. The delightful map includes inventive and intricate details and local nods: a shout out to Ben Pine’s* wharf, “All maps like this have a sea serpent;” schooners like the Henry Ford and Gertrude Thebaud (again Pine); historic sites and characteristic scenes not to miss “Artists and Seagulls”; and upcoming landmarks to look forward to like the Annisquam Bridge slated for completion in 1950. The numbered border framing elements could have been inspired by Virginia Lee Burton.close up zoomable map (sold) can be found here
Ben Pine office, 1941, Howard Liberman FSA/OWI photograph
Ben Pine* portrait by FSA/OWI photographer, Howard Liberman, titled “Gloucester, Massachusetts. Capt. Ben Pine, the man who raced the schooner “Gertrude Thebaud” against the Canadian schooner “Blue Nose” for the fisherman’s trophy, is one of the three men who made Gloucester. The others were Tom Carrol and Ray Adams.” (author’s note: Ray Adams was a gal so the compliment is for two men and one woman…).
Art can be seen on the walls throughout the Gloucester Mariner’s Association in Howard Liberman’s faint photos from 1941. I’m looking for more interior shots. Some of the art could be O’Toole’s, who completed commissions for Pine.
Carved fish models at the Gloucester’s Mariners Association (Fishermen’s Institute)
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PRESS RELEASE What: Unexpected No. 8 Exhibit – www.experimentalartgroup.com featuring Rockport Art Association & Museum artists and contributing members
When: April 2-April 30, 2018 Reception Saturday April 7, 5-7 pm Where: NOTE VENUE Rockport Art Association & Museum’s Experimental group show at Charles Fine Art Gallery in Gloucester, 196 Main Street, Gloucester, MA
The Rockport Art Association & Museum’s Experimental Group opens its eighth group exhibition, “Unexpected No. Eight” at Charles Fine Arts Gallery, 196 Main Street, Gloucester, MA 978.559.7762. 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 and photography. The exhibition runs from April 2 through April 30, with an Artist Reception on Saturday, April 7 from 5-7 pm. There will also be a gallery talk by Jeff Grassie held on April 12 at 7pm. 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
Rockport Art Association & Museum, 12 Main Street, Rockport, MA 01930 (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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Last year, the Mass Cultural Council purchased series of 10, 20, and 30 second spots on WCRB, WGBH, WBUR, WICN, and NEPR to promote each of the Massachusetts designated Cultural Districts,” Meri Jenkins explained. They’re doing it again for 2018. Beginning next week, you may hear radio commercials wishing Gloucester and its two cultural districts great success in 2018 (Downtown Cultural District and Rocky Neck cultural district). Email Mayor Romeo Theken’s arts hotline: sefatia4arts@gloucester-ma.gov (subject line MCC radio spots) with the day and time you heard “Gloucester”, where you were and what you think.
Some of the radio spots are scheduled during the following shows
Two (2) WFCR News spots rotating thru Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Marketplace – Monday thru Saturday
Two (2) WFCR Run of Station spots rotating thru Classical Music, Jazz and Entertainment programing – Monday thru Saturday
TWO (2) WNNZ News Network spots rotating Monday thru Saturday
The Gloucester page has not been edited, yet–it’s just a placeholder. We can edit and businesses can add in. The calendar is an exciting opportunity integrated with the interactive cultural districts map and information. I’m hoping the GMG and chamber calendars can just be synced up.
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Dogtown has inspired artists working in all media. This photo shows some of the panels comprising the Dogtown Commons section of the Frederick L. Stoddard monumental “conventionalized treatment” (his favored descriptor) of Gloucester and the region — two story “mural fresco in situ, completed in 1934 for Saunders House, Gloucester Lyceum & Sawyer Free Public Library, under the auspices of the WPA. The city of Gloucester was awarded an impressive array of WPA-era pursuits- from creative expression in all media to civic construction projects.
In 2017, the Berkshire Museum was sued multiple times because of the possible sales of 40 works of art at public auctions. The art has long left the building. The winning consignor, Sotheby’s auction house, received all property prior to the 2017 public announcement from museum leadership blowing its “New Vision” horn. The art remains on hold at Sotheby’s.
At high noon on March 20, 2018, in Courtroom 2 of the John Adams Courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts, Justice David Lowy presided over the ongoing Berkshire Museum deaccession litigation. Four attorneys, two for each side, were summoned before the Massachusetts Supreme Court to argue positions. Justice Lowy began the hearing by addressing the elephant in the room. He announced that because the Attorney General Office and the Berkshire Museum, former adversaries, petitioned the court together for necessary relief, he thought it was important to hear opposing views. Therefore, he invited amici to present their arguments, too.
Naturally, this hearing was welcome news for opponents of the museum’s plans to liquidate a priceless core collection in favor of a makeover, still reeling from their perception that the Attorney General abdicated mightily February 9, 2018. Trustees, who believe the museum is broke and will shutter any day if not for this new strategy, were disheartened but determined.
Justice Lowy made the stunning announcement upfront that restrictions do apply, and are a given. The Office of the Attorney General (AGO) and the Supreme Court agree about standing. The museum maintains it has the right to liquidate.The only way that any art can be sold is if the legal contracts pertaining to the Berkshire Museum’s charter and mission and provenance for the art are abandoned because the museum successfully conveys its pending demise. Then it gets a do-over. The legal term is cy pres (pronounced say, pray. I prefer pray stay!)
IF sold, Norman Rockwell’s Shuffleton’s Barbershop, which has crystal clear provenance, was estimated to fetch the highest price at auction. Inexplicably, the petition before the court boasted of a breezy compromise between the AGO and Berkshire Museum: an anonymous museum will purchase the painting for 1)an undisclosed price (I guarantee that it’s less than public auction), 2) promises a temporary display in Massachusetts, at the Norman Rockwell Museum, and 3)eventually feature it as part of the mystery museum’s permanent collection. Where is the museum? What is the sale price and terms? If its destiny is beyond a Massachusetts border, why isn’t the Commonwealth protecting its resources?*
*Which museum committed funds for Shuffleton Barbershop and can afford to pounce and avoid driving up the price at auction? Perhaps Crystal Bridges Museum backed by Wal-Mart heiress, Alice Walton, could strike again. Norman Rockwell is already represented in its collection. Is it worth it to add another? The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art could be a contender. George Lucas boasts an impressive Rockwell collection, including ideal examples with cinematic connections or narratives, like the stunning study for charwomen (in movie theater). Is that enough representation to let it go were Berkshire Museum Rockwells cleared to sell?
The other works of art could be sold, or not. One doesn’t get the impression that the AGO was stepping in for the underdog. Leave it to Norman Rockwell to capture the attention of a busy world to illustrate a simple maxim: do the right thing. If legal manuevering is necessary, like crazy zoning variances for unfair construction, most collections will be at a disadvantage. It’s up to the Massachusetts Supreme Court to remedy this balderdash & betrayal else risk breaking the bank of non profits across the country.
Justice Lowy asked that the attorneys focus their arguments on selling with restrictions: “Is it necessary and impossible or impracticable for the Museum’s charitable mission to continue?” All parties stuck to this request, and to their filed briefs more or less. I tried to capture word for word the moments when Justice Lowy interrupted rote statements. Justice Lowy has made no decisions, yet. Eventually, he will decide whether to allow the parties’ petition, deny it, or reserve and report which means bringing the case back to the full court.
Proponents side or Opponents side?
Upon arrival, where to sit at the courtroom felt like where to sit at a wedding. The Berkshire Museum Trustees, Director Van Shields, and those in favor of the Berkshire Museum deaccession sale sat together on the left side of the courtroom. Opponents, numbering 2:1, sat in the center, off to the right, and spilled into the hall. With every available chair claimed some were left standing in the back.
Berkshire Museum Trustees March 20, 2018 at Massachusetts Supreme Court (front row far left Director Van Shields seated next to Trustees Chair Elizabeth McGraw)
Up first – Attorney Nicholas M. O’Donnell
of Sullivan & Worcester LLP law firm and Erika Todd on behalf of ‘Berkshire Museum Member Plaintiffs’: James Hatt, Kristin Hatt, and Elizabeth Weinberg
O’Donnell excerpt- “Massachusetts stands alone, this decision puts Massachusetts alone …That this court, this petition, this hearing, may be the ONLY obstacle left to account for this action should be unimaginable. IF a conclusory report of operational deficits can support the liquidation for the sale…Make no mistake, I say the art market is watching–”
Justice Lowy cut in- “Maybe they are. I’ve certainly read your key points, Maybe not. Systemic issues that flow from this are not my focus…”
Learn calligraphy basics in a morning class with specialist Albina Papows. Inspired by the special exhibition Unfolding Histories: Cape Ann before 1900. Write your name, use calligraphy tools and leave with a sampler to take home. This family workshop is recommended for children 7 and up with an adult. Registration required. To register, please contact Education Coordinator Kirsten Vega at kirstenvega@capeannmuseum.org or (978) 283-0455 x16.
Huge step and opportunity. Justice Lowy has scheduled a hearing on Tuesday March 20 for counsel and parties! High noon. This is not to the full court; first stop is before the Single Justice. Justice Lowy has allowed 10 minutes each for oral argument.
Front entrance John Adams Courthouse, Boston, MA. The Berkshire Museum case is under review by Supreme Court Justice Lowy
How did the Berkshire Museum brouhaha wind up in the highest court under SJO (Single Justice) review by Justice David A Lowy?
The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, deemed it necessary to alter an original historic building and sell off its priceless core art collection in order to build a dream and survive. This controvertial move garnered attention and divided opinion. The Trustees of the Museum explained that they hired a consultancy firm which confirmed this new direction (“New Vision”), via extensive public outreach* no less, so what gives? (*22 focus groups involving over 200 people is hardly extensive.) Opponents cried, “Foul!”, and pointed out questionable and perhaps shady fodder, i.e. would museum members and the Berkshire community have voted YES had they been told that the best works from the permanent collection must be sold off to make it happen? Also, the art was consigned to Sotheby’s June 13, 2017, but the Trustees altered the museum’s Charter after the consignment date and only then informed the “public”. Timing is everything. There was even an infamous email with a ‘loose lips sink ships’ subject line. We know these details because of dogged reporting by the The Berkshire Eagle, notably Larry Parnass, and a wide network. The story is urgent and compelling, the art world equivalent of a Spotlight-All the President’s Men-Pentagon Papers type investigation.
The first auctions were slated for November 2017. Shuffleton’s Barbershop by Norman Rockwell was to have been the Berkshire Museum star lot. Its presale estimate alone was 20 to 30 million. By the Fall of 2017, the museum was hit with multiple lawsuits, sued by the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General, Norman Rockwell descendants, and various plaintiffs. Eventually, all were folded into #TeamAGO vs. the Berkshire Museum. On November 8th, the Lower Court ruled in favor of the Museum, clearing the legal right of way to auction. The Attorney General Office appealed to the State’s supreme judicial court to block the sale for more time to evaluate and investigate the case. Attorneys for the Museum fought that request vigorously, but were denied. On November 10, 2017, the AGO procured an injunction from Judge Trainor of the Massachusetts Appeals Court, scuttling any scheduled auction prior to December 11, 2017. Allowances for extensions to build the case were granted. On February 5th, the AGO switched teams and filed jointly with its former adversary, the Berkshire Museum, petitioning the court to apply cy pres and maintaining its opinion that indeed all the art is restricted:
“As detailed elsewhere (e.g., in its filings in the litigation referenced above) the AGO believes that all of the works of art deaccessioned and proposed for sale are subject to one or more restrictions that limit the Museum’s ability to proceed with its planned sale and use of proceeds to fund an endowment, pay for operating expenses and fund renovations. The Museum continues to believe no restrictions (beyond the Museum’s charitable purposes) apply.”
This alliance left many scratching their heads and interested parties formerly #TeamAGO adrift. Although the Rockwell plaintiffs backed off and dropped their case, law firms Sullivan & Worcester and Foley Hoag with Barker, Epstein & Loscocco solicited amicus status on behalf of their clients.
Sullivan & Worcester blog post about their position
Immediately, the AGO and the Berkshire Museum filed opposition papers. They weren’t persuasive. The Justice granted the participation of the law firms which means that the SJ-2018-065 docket was vastly enlarged and enlightened on February 27, 2018, and I had to see. And share. (Although everything I was looking for and questioned was not there.) The attorneys disagree with the AGO and Berkshire Museum proposal, and request oral argument. The AGO and Museum responses were filed after I visited. Justice David A Lowy will make that decision. He can act on filed papers related to Docket SJ-2018-065, order a hearing, or pass the case back to the full court. What will he do? I’m crossing fingers that arguments will be heard, and with the full court (which meets the first week each month and is open to the public), especially after I considered the material in person. The Berkshire Museum could inspire a Frank Capra-esque courtroom movie treatment one day.
In the meantime, the art remains in Sotheby’s possession and the auction house stands down as the case is sorted. The docket includes Sotheby’s contract.
For armchair lawyers and detail detectives: I offer a blizzard of documents, on the eve of the next Nor’Easter blizzard and hope I’ve peaked your interest. (Leaving my analysis aside for now.) Scroll past this post’s “read more” indicator to see interior architectural photos I took of the stunning John Adams Courthouse, and to read some of the complete and unfiltered new filings and documents related to the Berkshire Museum case, specifically-
AMICI CURIAE Sullivan & Worcester LLP law firm on behalf of ‘Berkshire Museum Member Plaintiffs’: James Hatt, Kristin Hatt, and Elizabeth Weinberg, filed Feb 26 2018, case SJ-2018-065 (52 pages)
AMICUS CURIAE Foley Hoag and Barker, Epstein & Loscocco – attorney Michael B Keating of Foley Hoag with attorney Daniel Epstein of Barker, Epstein & Loscocco on behalf of clients: Tom Patti, who completed two commissioned installations for the Berkshire Museum entrance and reception areas–spaces that will be gutted if the historic building is disfigured for the New Vision; Marilyn Holtz Patti – resides and works in Berkshire County as does Tom Patti; Jean Rosseau and Jonas Dovydenas- residents of Stockbridge and Lenox; James Lamme, resident of Egremont; and Donald MacGillis, resident of Pittsfield, MA. (21 pages)
Sotheby’s Contract with the Berkshire Museum (9 pages)
Affidavit from Dan Monroe, Director of the Peabody Essex Museum opposed the Berkshire Museum sale (4 pages)
Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) provided major facility funding since 2000. Some related construction was completed by a board member and warrants scrutiny
links to prior GMG Berkshire Museum posts
Interior views John Adams Courthouse
The John Adams Courthouse Great Hall is stunning. On the right side in this photos is a Daniel Chester French gilded sculpture of Rufus Choate
Sometimes it’s tough to have several generations in our home agreeing on entertainment, but The Mary Tyler Moore Show is hilarious and works. Our viewing of some of these episodes happened right at the time of the Weinstein take down, making an even bigger impression on my kids. Here are short excerpts (5min) from 3 episodes not to miss:
Vid.description- Mary interviews women to be her assistant and Lou Grant weighs in
Mary says Aha!
Last excerpt, another from a season three episode cut to Mary, Rhoda, and Phyllis discussing the possible promotion for Mary –taking Lou’s job, Phyllis imploring “go get that job”, and then Mary asking Lou a bunch of questions about why she wouldn’t get the job “Does it have anything to do with my abilities? Nah. “It’s not because I’m a woman is it?” Of course it is…
Led by beloved children’s author Virginia Lee Burton, this group of mostly untrained women created immortal designs.
Atlas Obscura
By Cara Giaimo
Folly Cove Designers Eino Natti “Polyphemus” 1950 Cape Ann Museum
One by one, the prints unfold before you. One shows sheep leaping in the grass, another, children on a tree-hung swing, the moon shifting above them. All are charming, sophisticated, and unbelievably detailed. They take the essence of everyday objects and activities, and unspool them into mesmerizing patterns. No matter how much you may want them, though, you can’t get these prints on Etsy. In fact, you can’t get them anywhere.
They live mere miles from where they were produced, at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester—the last bastion of the nearly forgotten Folly Cove Designers. Helmed by a children’s book illustrator and comprised of her previously untrained friends and neighbors, the Folly Cove Designers were hardworking, tight-knit, and sincere—so sincere, they eventually voted themselves into obscurity.
To children worldwide, Virginia Lee Burton is the beloved hand behind half a dozen classics, including Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Katy and the Big Snow, and The Little House, intricately illustrated tales of close-knit communities. But to her neighbors at Folly Cove, on the north shore of Massachusetts, she was Jinnee Demetrios. Jinnee and her husband, the sculptor George Demetrios, moved to the area in 1932 with their one-year-old son Aristides, who was soon followed by Mike. The couple quickly became community pillars, making art all day, and spending evenings gathering their friends and neighbors for raucous sheep roasts.
“Folly Cove gets its name because it would be folly to bring a ship in and turn it around,” says Christine Lundberg, producer of the film Virginia Lee Burton: A Sense of Place, as well as the upcoming Beautiful and Useful: The Art of the Folly Cove Designers. This ethos carried over into the rough-and-ready town life. “You couldn’t get pretty little things,” says Lundberg. “If you wanted them, you had to make them.” An artist through and through, Jinnee surrounded herself with homemade treasures, including, as the story goes, a particularly nice set of block-printed curtains. One of her neighbors, Aino Clarke, admired the curtains so much she wanted to make her own. Jinnee and Aino struck a deal: Jinnee would give Aino top-to-bottom design lessons if Aino, a member of the local orchestra, would teach Jinnee’s sons the violin. (A less legendary, but perhaps more truthful, version of this tale holds that Aino suggested Jinnee give design lessons to her neighbors in exchange for money to buy the necessary paper to illustrate her first book.)
Regardless of exactly how the two came together, Jinnee’s flint struck on Aino’s iron sparked an artistic movement. Within its rock-hard exterior, Folly Cove harbored a vein of artistic impulse that dated all the way back to the 1800s, when painters had flocked there to take advantage of the seashore’s distinct sunlight. (“If you spend time lying on the granite around here, you get creative powers,” one resident told Lundberg). As Jinnee and Aino dove into the lessons, other members of the community began joining them.
Folly Cove Designers Virginia Lee Demetrios “George’s Garden” 1964 Printed in her favorite color. Cape Ann Museum
Thus began the Folly Cove Designers (FCD), a ragtag group of locals united by their desire to fill their lives and their minds with a particular form of well-thought-out beauty. Many members were, like Aino Clarke, the children of Finnish immigrants, and sought to combat the economic and emotional hardships of the Great Depression. Others were so-called “Yankees,” who had moved permanently to Folly Cove after vacationing there as children, and who wanted something new to do. Eino Natti, one of the group’s few male members, was an Army veteran and former quarryman—experiences he drew on for prints such as Polyphemus, of a granite-carting train, and PT, which shows near-identical soldiers in mid-squat. Elizabeth Holloran, the local children’s librarian, printed young people skiing and sugaring. “A majority of them were never artists,” says Cara White, director of the Cape Ann Museum’s Folly Cove gallery. “They were editors, architects, housewives, accountants.”
The Folly Cove Designers “diploma,” presented to each member by Jinnee upon their entrance to the guild. Cape Ann Museum.
What do you do when your home repair goes very wrong? Upon evaluation, sometimes you just have to hire a new contractor to remedy mistakes. In the fall of 2014 memorial honor roll plaques in City Hall received some cleaning. The monuments were due some attention. Over time the names were no longer legible and the surfaces were grimy defeating their noble purpose. Gloucester’s outstanding City Archives and the Cape Ann Office of Veterans Services were and are able to help with research for those who can’t come in person or see them clearly.
photo caption: BEFORE photograph of one of four WW1 honor rolls in the rotunda City Hall, ca.2014
The 2014 project was not handled by the city nor administered through its committee for the arts, of which I am a member. Funds were raised privately to work on the plaques. Though well intentioned, those restoration efforts were botched (and costly at the time, so I’m told.) The names were made more visible, but the plaques were damaged and results are scratched, streaked and blotchy.
A small annual budget (FY2018 $4000) that’s set aside for care of City arts and culture and monuments as part of its mission must now be redirected to fix the fix.Yes, “Sometimes you have to hire a new contractor to remedy mistakes,” frustrating, but necessary.
Throughout 2018, you may see specialists from Skylight Studios repairing plaques within City Hall through the Committee for the Arts on behalf of the City. (Gloucester residents may recall that Skylight Studios was hired by the Commonwealth to restore the bronze doors of the Abram Piat Andrew Bridge; the doors were temporarily displayed at Cape Ann Museum before being reinstalled.)
The detailed work on the City Hall plaques will be completed in brief, focused intervals. One plaque in the rotunda will be restored last, because it’s a great opportunity to show before and after examples of contemporary restoration projects- the good, the bad and the quality. As the plaques are repaired, the detail of the raised carving and borders and most importantly the names of so many veterans will become easier and easier to read and remember.
Gloucester Ma Veterans Honor Rolls and Monuments
*author note- this post is listing interior Honor Rolls within City Hall; it’s not a complete list for all tributes in Gloucester
GROUND FLOOR, CITY HALL
Spanish American War- “Men of Gloucester who served in the War with Spain volunteers all 1898-1902. Gloucester ‘s men, serving on land and sea won for their city the honor of giving to her country the largest per capita of men in this war. Erected by the City of Gloucester 1930.”
2014 wonky cleaning needs repair (Honor Roll to be repaired sometime 2018)
World War I Honor Rolls (rotunda and upstairs)
World Ward II Honor Roll (outside clerk’s office)
Korean Honor Roll (outside clerk’s office)
Vietnam Honor Roll (outside clerk’s office; Brian Hamilton 1980 painting of fisherman)
Vietnam War Honor Roll
Korean War Honor Roll
World War II Honor Roll center panel
Veterans Honor Rollsbefore poor cleaning work of 2014 Winter mural between
just outside Kyrouz Auditorium, FIRST FLOOR, CITY HALL
“Civil War (1861 1865)This tablet records the service of Company G 8th Regiment MVM in the Civil War; and War with Spain (1898 1899) occupation of Cuba; and World War 1917 1919″ Corrective repairs are underway on this trio Honor Roll. Waxy build up added in 2014 is being removed all over, and names in a small lower right corner have been attended.
lower right corner in process
2018 repair work underway
Poor cleaning ca.2014 requires remediation (which is underway as of 2018–all damage may not be able to be repaired)
The multi story memorial to Gloucester fishermen lost at sea was a major public art project led, designed and hand painted by Norma Cuneo, with Irma Wheeler and Ellen Ferrin in 1978, a beautiful shrine lighted by day by two tall windows. Mark Newton, then city clerk-historian, and Jerry Cook were lead researchers; the team eventually compiled a card index that could be accessed by the public along with checking this massive lost at sea mural. Research incorporated historic materials like The Fishermen’s Memorial and Record Book, by George H. Procter, published by Procter Bros. in 1873, printed matter, family archives, and newspapers. Volunteers and historians amend the sources and statistics over time. The sense of the power of a name and life is inspiring. The response and need to a tangible, accessible record was tremendous. Their work was the basis for the cenotaph installed in 2000 by the Fisherman at the Wheel memorial on Stacy Boulevard, a sacred place and pilgrimage site accessible day and night.
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LARRY PARNASS, investigations editor for the Berkshire Eagle – Photo by Catherine Ryan © 2018
Good Morning Gloucester 