If you can look at this gorgeous photo and not find yourself singing, “Sailing” by Christopher Cross you are a stronger person than I am.

Thanks again to Paul and Betsey Horovitz for keeping me armed with wonderful photos of the Annisquam.

FORUM ON AVOIDING NUCLEAR WAR WITH NORTH KOREA

Foreign policy expert Rajan Menon, who specializes in Asia, will outline a scenario for an effective diplomatic approach to the confrontation between the U.S. and North Korea at a free Cape Ann Forum on Saturday, September 23, at 8 p.m. at Gloucester City Hall. The alternative, he warns, is a potential nuclear disaster that could claim thousands of lives, perhaps more.

Professor Menon argues that the coercive tactics President Trump has used to compel North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program have only caused its leader, Kim Jong-un, to up the ante. “By now,” says Menon, “this much ought to be clear: North Korea hasn’t been cowed into compliance by Washington’s warnings and military muscle flexing.”

Menon adds: “The more Pyongyang suspects that Washington’s real goal is regime change, the less likely it will be to relinquish its nuclear weapons for fear of suffering the fate of [Libyan leader] Muammar Gaddafi, who shut down his nuclear program only to be toppled in what began as a U.S and NATO humanitarian intervention to protect civilians but morphed quickly into a campaign to take him out.”

Under these circumstances, says Menon, if President Trump “acts on the assumption that North Korea will become reasonable only when faced with the certainty of war, there could be a conflagration on the Korean peninsula the likes of which would be almost unimaginable.”

Menon proposes a diplomatic approach based on reciprocity to de-escalate the confrontation and lower the temperature between the two sides while laying the groundwork for what he calls “a grand bargain that combines aid and political normalization in return for denuclearization and the pullback and reduction of troops on the Korean peninsula.”

Menon is the Anne and Bernard Spitzer Professor of International Relations at the City College of New York, a Senior Research Fellow at Columbia University’s Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, and a Global Ethics Fellow at the Carnegie Council on Ethics in International Affairs. He holds a doctorate in political science from the University of Illinois and has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants.

U.S. Army combat veteran Andrew J. Bacevich, a History and International Relations professor at Boston University and a two-time Cape Ann Forum speaker, calls Menon’s latest publication, The Conceit of Humanitarian Intervention, “an immensely admirable book—concise, lucid, and above all tough-minded. Proponents of humanitarian intervention will find Rajan Menon’s stinging critique discomfiting—which is precisely why it merits their considered attention.”

Menon’s other books include Ukraine in Conflict: The Unwinding of the Post-Cold War Order (2015), and The End of Alliances (2007). His commentary has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, Newsweek, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Huffington Post, The Nation, and National Interest, among other major media.

This will be the 96th Cape Ann Forum since it was founded after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to explore the causes and consequences of major international issues and stimulate discussion on policies and programs to deal with them. Other forums this season will feature a former rebel commander on how South Sudan—midwifed into existence by the U.S. in 2011—has collapsed into ethnic civil war and what can be done to halt the carnage, and veteran NPR foreign correspondent Sarah Chayes on how and why systemic corruption threatens global security.

For more information, go to the Forum’s website at www.capeannforum.org.

Bill Farnsworth September 7, 8 & 9, 2017 10am-4pm “From the Field to the Studio” Students will experience one day painting plein air with two days in the studio. Every morning Bill will paint a step by step demo to share his experience of how to create a painting full of light. This workshop will give students a solid road to follow in their journey to better painting. www.billfarnsworth.com Register here www.nsarts.org

IMAGE ~ AUGUST 31, 2017 ~ 11PIRATES

Evelyn Dunphy Watercolor September 30, October 1 and 2, 2017 10am-4pm Exploration of Color! This workshop will be an exploration of color and how we may broaden our understanding of its use in bringing our concepts into reality. Each painting deserves its own palette. We want to understand what color can do, what it does sometimes without our conscious decision about it, and how by understanding some of the interactions between colors, we can use that power to make our paintings more alive, and especially, more unique. No one else will make the same decisions or mixtures that you do. We can all learn the same notes, but the song won’t be the same when I sing it as it will when you do.www.evelyndunphy.com Register here www.nsarts.org

IMAGE ~ AUGUST 31, 2017 ~ 11PIRATES

Charles Movalli Retrospective ~ North Shore Arts Association September, 17th through October, 28th Preview Reception September, 15th

AUGUST 31, 2017 ~ 11PIRATES

“Charles Movalli – The Versatile Brush” by Judith A. Curtis
“Artist, author, teacher and jurist, Charles Movalli relished his reputation as an avant-garde painter and a man of letters. Others viewed him as a bridge between traditionalism and the modernists, not only on Cape Ann and the North Shore, but across the country, and as far afield as Europe. Charles Movalli touched the lives of everyone who knew him; through his art, his vision, his writing . . .” This is a beautiful forty-four page, soft cover catalog in full color. “The Versatile Brush” first printing will be available exclusively through North Shore Arts Association for $25.Movalli Retrospective Special Events . . .
September 15 (5-7pm) Charles Movalli Retrospective Preview Party
September 23 (2-4pm) Gallery Walk with Dale Ratcliff Movalli
October 7 (2-4) Judith Curtis Presentation “Charles Movalli”
October 11 (7-8) Special “Movie Night” Charles Movalli Demonstrations
October 15 (2-4pm) Gallery Walk with Betty Lou Schlemm
October 22 (2-4pm) Gallery Walk with Ed and Sharon Carson & Larry and Marilyn Swift

Instigators

Howard Sherman Exhibition

August 27 – Sept 2, 2017

Opening Reception at 6:30 PM,
Artist Talk at 7 PM Thurs. Aug 31, 2017,

Open to the public

The Cultural Center at Rocky Neck – Studio Gallery
6 Wonson Street, Gloucester, MA 01930

Oxygen Sucker 14, work on paper

Oxygen Sucker 16, work on paper

ROCKY NECK ART COLONY welcomes 2016 Goetemann Artist-in-Residence Howard Sherman back to Rocky Neck with Instigators, showing at the Cultural Center Studio Gallery beginning August 27, 2017.

Sherman is known for large, bombastic images and human-scale canvases, but Instigators sheds light on his smaller works on paper. By delving into this medium, the artist reveals his intuitive use of material in a distilled yet assertive manner. Sherman received his Masters of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from the University of North Texas in 2006. Soon after, he was featured in a solo traveling exhibition originating at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas. His work is part of several museum collections and is on permanent display at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas. The artist has been profiled numerous times in New American Paintings, appears in the 2010 book Texas Artists Today, and was chosen for the cover of the recently-released art history book Texas Abstract: Modern/Contemporary by Michael Paglia and Jim Edwards. Rice University is now collecting his personal artifacts for its research center.

Sherman continues to further his craft and studies. Along with the Goetemann residency, the artist has also been awarded residencies at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, School of Visual Arts, the McColl Center for Visual Art, Vermont Studio Center, Jentel Artist Residency Program and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation. Sherman has been in a number of solo exhibitions across the United States, and his work has been featured in group exhibitions in Texas, California, New York, Florida, Spain, India and Peru.

Instigators will be on display at The Cultural Center at Rocky Neck – Studio Gallery from August 27 to September 2. A reception honoring the artist will be held on Thursday, August 31 at 6:30 p.m. with an artist talk starting at 7:00 p.m.

 Howard Sherman, artist
www.howardsherman.com

The Rocky Neck Art Colony, a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization, nurtures excellence in the arts through exhibitions, workshops, residencies and vibrant cultural events for its members and the public. The Cultural Center is becoming known as a new listening room for eclectic musical programming. Concerts are scheduled throughout the year.

Tickets available at:
https://shop.whale.org/product s/edge-gala-benefit-party- performance

Just a view from Annisquam on the last day of August 2017.  So peaceful this morning before the long weekend.