My View of Life on the Dock
Studio Fresh | Josh Falk at work. Mural in progress in downtown Gloucester (Rogers St and Flannagan’s). Blue wall prepped last week and image going up over Labor Day weekend.
Gloucester Public Art | Mural map
There’s a new Winslow Homer mural at the bend of Maplewood and Poplar on the former Linsky’s service station property, Cape Ann Auction headquarters since November 2022.
159 Maplewood Avenue, Gloucester, Mass. Read more about this Studio fresh mural project inspired by Homer’s works here (Awesome Gloucester).
Both Breezing Up (A Fair Wind) and The Flirt depict figures in a cat boat in Gloucester harbor.
Image: Winslow Homer (1836-1910), The Flirt, 1874, oil on panel, National Gallery of Art acquisition, 2014 (Mellon collection)
Image: Winslow Homer, Breezing Up (A Fair Wind), 1873-1876, oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art acquisition (Wildenstein Gallery), 1943. Gift of the W. L. and May T. Mellon Foundation.
The Winslow Homer marker on the corner of Dale Ave & Main for Gloucester’s HarborWalk features Breezing Up (A Fair Wind) thanks to permission from the National Gallery of Art.
In partnership with Awesome Gloucester and Awesome Rockport, a new Studio Fresh commission has landed on Cape Ann. This mural wraps around the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce on Harbor Loop.
The Rockport Public Library maintains a wonderful art collection. When visiting the temporary Once Upon a Contest: Selections from Cape Ann Reads in the children’s room and the special Betty Allenbrook Wiberg installation, don’t miss the genius Mother Goose 1938 bronze by Richard H. Recchia, and the Sam Hershey WPA-era mural, Rockport Goes to War, 1939.
The new Josh Falk mural (2019) is behind the Rockport Public Library.
Photos & video clip: Catherine Ryan
at the Rockport Public Library
This impression is annotated by the artist as a “sketch model sculpture by R. H. Recchia” (1888-1983). The sculpture rotates to illustrate the rhymes and beautifully expresses how children are captivated by stories. The sculpture is a tribute to his wife, Kitty Parsons (1889-1976), artist & writer, and one of the original founders of Rockport Art Assoc. It was originally situated within the library’s former smaller digs: the Rockport’s Carnegie Library established in 1906, a Beaux-Arts beauty around the corner, now a private home. It was one of 43 Carnegie libraries built in Massachusetts. In 1993 the library moved to its current site in an 1880s mill building, the Tarr School, thanks to the Denghausen bequest.
Parsons & Recchia resided and worked at their home “Hardscrabble” at 6 Summer Street in Rockport. (Rockport was their permanent address from 1928 till his death.) Recchia was born in Quincy. His dad was a stone carver from Verona who worked for Bela Pratt and Daniel Chester French. Later, Recchia was Pratt’s assistant.
For more bas relief examples by Recchia, see his Bela Pratt in the Yale collection, digitized entry here ) Recchia public sculptures are on permanent display at the Rockport Art Association & Museum. More photos below.
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Sam Hershey Rockport Goes to War featured Rockport Public Library; W. Lester Stevens WPA mural Preparing Rockport for Granite dating from the same year is across the street in the Post Office
is displayed on the same floor as Recchia and Hershey works February 3 – February 29, 2020.
Step through the cheery pink door of Blume Coffee (“Flour Shop”) aside Mayflour Cakes & Confections at Whistlestop mall in Rockport Friday through Sunday for specialty coffees, teas, and hot chocolate (with to die for marshmallows), and not to miss Mayflour Confections daily bake treats.
Cape Ann has so many great scone options with its stellar bakeries–there could be a scone trail!
Good Morning Gloucester 