Rocky Neck – America’s Oldest Working Art Colony
Just off route 127 in the city of Gloucester, Massachusetts is Rocky Neck, America’s oldest working art colony. While “The Perfect Storm” put Gloucester on the map in recent years, this part of Gloucester’s heritage and current dynamic is something that more people need to experience.
Walking through galleries, experiencing different mediums and talking to the artists was food for the soul. We saw large marine landscapes with infinite detail at the John Nesta Gallery. Farther on Kathleen Archer’s photographycaptured misty scenes that portrayed the North Shore of Boston with mystery and beauty. A collection called “Choices” showed photographs of women, each draped turban style in cloth that was significant to them so that only their faces showed.
The Goetemann Gallery, home to the art work of Judith Goetemann is a gallery you could stay in for hours. Persian carpets cover the wooden floor and beautiful silk and batik line the walls in frames and on screens. Judith captures her artistic response to Gloucester with these words*:
