My View of Life on the Dock
Thank you to all the road crews and good eggs shoveling public ways!
Digging out photos: A few after the winter storm scenes of downtown Gloucester by 9:30AM 12/18/2020. Any surface brick or stone is slick as can be. Evergreen pine trees & wreaths were randomly frosted like the Kancamagus Highway. Yet snow was already gone from the marsh.
Selection of Gloucester’s downtown storefronts in morning light and seasonal swag December 2020.
Did you discover a great find on Ladies Night (all day) last week?
Establishments include some of the bakeries, boutiques, galleries, restaurants, salons, service, & new shops Main Street, Center and Pleasant:
Banana’s 78 Main St (978)283-8806 (Lady Tannenbaum in the window)
The Brass Monkey 85 Main St (978) 879-4761
Caffe Sicilia 40 Main St (978)283-7345
Cape Ann Olive Oil 57 Main St (978)281-1061
Cape Ann Savings Bank 109 Main St
Charles Fine Art 196 Main St (978) 559-7762
Dogtown Books 132 Main St (978) 281-5599
Emerson’s Barber Shop 6 Center St. (978) 290-3477
Engel & Volkers 120 Main Street
Fireflies Boutique 100 Main St (978)283-1379
Franklin 118 Main St (978)283-7888
Jalapeno’s 86 Main St (978) 283-8228
Jane Deering Gallery 19 Pleasant St
Local Colors Artists’ Cooperative Gallery 121 Main St (978) 283-3996
Main Street Arts & Antiques 124 Main St (978) 281-1531
Mark Adrian Shoe 103 Main St (978) 283-4343
Nelson’s 248 Main St (978) 283-5675
Oliver’s Harbor Restaurant and Bar 64 Main St (978) 559-7638
Pop Gallery 67 Main St (617)458-9345
Salon One 267 Main St (978) 479-9185
Sample This 116 Main St (978) 865-3873
Shop Loro Boutique (Center Street)
Super Cute Boutique 242 main St (978) 360-2499
TAJ/breakwater Roasters/Backyard Growers 3 Duncan St
Toodeloos! Toy store 142 Main St (978)281-2011
Matthew Swift Gallery 189 Main St (978) 491-7785
Blue River Diamonds 189 Main St
Village Silversmith 138 Main St (978) 283-8811
Virgilio’s Italian Bakery (978) 283-5295
The Essex National Heritage Fall annual meeting is this Thursday, September 17, 2020 at 9AM — and it’s virtual so more people can RSVP than ever. The next day, Trails and Sails 2020 is back! Two fun three day weekends packed with FREE activities.
News from Essex National Heritage:
Discover special places in your backyard from Friday September 18 – through Sunday September 27, 2020!
Be guided through unique landscapes on land and sea, virtually explore historic properties, and take in experiences of all kinds. Find what makes Essex County like nowhere else during the annual two weekends of Trails & Sails. Event styles this year include: DIY Virtual Experiences; self-guided tours; tours by car; scavenger hunts; small group events; and arts and cultural activities and experiences…and so much more!
Manchester Historical museum will be offering self guided tours: Download your choice of 3 self guided walking tours in the downtown area of Manchester-by-the-Sea from the Manchester Historical Museum website
Meanwhile Ipswich Marini Farm is featuring a farm forest ice cream hike.
There are no Rockport or Gloucester listings that I see- however, the Sargent House Museum is offering walking tours downtown September 26, October 3, 10, and 17 to sites and historic buildings associated with Judith Sargent Murray. It’s not too late for the museum to add the Sept. 26th one into the mix of free events for Trails & Sails 2020, or folks to plan “while you’re at it” activities. (Perhaps they’ll waive the $10 on that day for Trails & Sails participants?) The HarborWalk is open!
public art- AIDS quilts from the Names Project on display Kyrouz Auditorium City Hall Gloucester MA Nov-Dec 2019
More scenes from Middle Street Walk 2019 here of Sawyer Free Public Library
The snowy white blossoms of one of North America’s most beautiful native trees, the Catalpa, is in full bloom at the Sargent House Museum. Beautiful for its orchid-like flowers, dangling bean pods, and ginormous heart-shaped leaves, hummingbirds also love to drink nectar from the blossoms
Archival documentation of a federal grant awarded to Gloucester and nationally recognized for its innovation at the time: reclaiming the City dump for an athletic field at the High School. Photographs of the project included a sweeping vista from atop Hovey Street.
Shared projects and working together are a focus for a new 2018 NEH grant opportunity.Contact Mayor Romeo Theken’s arts & culture hotline sefatia4arts@gloucester-ma.gov by Febraury 28 to add to a list of potential projects for Gloucester for this NEH Deadline, March 15, or to consider as other funding opportunities arise.
Mayor Romeo Theken shares the 2018 press release from the Commonwealth:
“The grant below is a new grant from NEH and could be a great opportunity to enhance your local cultural or historical organizations. Please share it far and wide. And let us know if we can provide a letter of support for an application from your community.” Regards, Rick Jakious
“Good afternoon,
Thank you,Timothy H. Robison, Director of Congressional Affairs
The National Endowment for the Humanities has just announced a new grant program to support humanities infrastructures. Cultural institutions, such as libraries, museums, archives, colleges and universities, and historic sites, are eligible to apply for grants of up to $750,000.
These challenge grants, which require a match of nonfederal funds, may be used toward capital expenditures such as construction and renovation projects, purchase of equipment and software, sharing of humanities collections between institutions, documentation of lost or imperiled cultural heritage, sustaining digital scholarly infrastructure, and preservation and conservation of humanities collections.
The application deadline for the first NEH Infrastructure and Capacity-Building Challenge Grants is March 15, 2018. Interested applicants should direct questions about grant proposals to challenge@neh.govor 202-606-8309.
Please consider sharing this exciting new funding opportunity with cultural institutions in your district.”
National Endowment for the Humanities. 400 7th Street, SW 4th Floor.
Washington, D.C. 20506
(202) 606-8273
Innovative and worthy contemporary Gloucester possibilities abound: shared Archives (NSAA, Rocky Neck, Sargent House, City Archives, CAM, Legion, Libraries, Wards historical societies, etc.); digitize City Archives; Digitize Gloucester Daily Times archives; building and historic landscape projects that are city owned (City Archives, City Hall, Legion, Fitz Henry Lane, Fire Station, Stage Fort, beaches, etc) or in partnership; DPW work; and on and on.
Additional grant opportunities, news, and deadlines:
Continue reading “$750,000 #NEH grant opportunity for Gloucester…many possible ideas and projects!”
Mayor Romeo Theken is pleased to announce that the State’s MA Historical Commission has awarded a $50,000 emergency grant to the Sargent House Museum through the City of Gloucester. The museum is replacing the entire roof.
Sargent House Museum http://sargenthouse.org/
(BEFORE photos, August 2017)
Essex National Heritage photo YMCA grant recipient
From their release:
20 Grants Awarded to Local Organizations
May 18, 2017 – The Essex National Heritage Commission (Essex Heritage), in keeping with its long tradition of supporting the region’s unique cultural heritage, announced the 2017 Essex Heritage Partnership Grant Program recipients at the Commission’s spring meeting in Methuen on May 18. Over the next year, the 20 grant recipients will be working to implement a diverse range of educational, interpretive, and preservation projects throughout Boston’s North Shore and the Merrimack Valley.
“We recognize the importance of supporting local organizations and we are proud that we are able to award twenty partnership grants again this year” said Annie Harris, Essex Heritage CEO, “Over the 19-year life of the program we have provided grants to every community in Essex County – and we know that this seed money greatly impacts the region by leveraging more investments in the Essex National Heritage Area.”
Gloucester
Cape Ann YMCA
The Cape Ann YMCA is partnering with Maritime Gloucester and others to pilot Maritime Discovery Camp, a six-week summer youth program. Based on Gloucester’s historic working waterfront, the program will inspire learning, leadership and personal growth through sailing activities, marine science and maritime heritage explorations, both on and off the water. Approximately 120 campers ages 8 to 13 will participate in the hands-on experiences. Funding from the Essex Heritage Partnership Grant Program will enable the Cape Ann Y to provide scholarships to economically disadvantaged youth who could not otherwise afford to attend camp.
Manship Artists Residence and Studios
Best known for his Prometheus Fountain at Rockefeller Center, sculptor Paul Manship developed a 15-acre site for his home and studio in the Gloucester village of Lanesville. Purchased in 1944, the property includes two relocated 19th-century buildings, a culturally significant landscape, and two water-filled quarries. The property and its occupants were central figures in Lanesville’s well-known art colony. The grant project entails the engagement of specialists who will document the site’s existing conditions and research its history. The resulting information will be incorporated into the group’s nomination to the National Register of Historic Places and a master plan for the creation of a culture center with an artist residency program.
Rocky Neck Art Colony
Since its rollout in 2008, the Rocky Neck Historic Art Trail has become an unparalleled interpretive tool for researchers and visitors seeking to experience Rocky Neck’s rich cultural heritage. Over the years, the art trail has served to further the Colony’s mission, foster the economic and cultural vitality of the Rocky Neck community, and undoubtedly helped Rocky Neck become one of the earliest state-designated cultural districts in the Commonwealth. Recognizing the need to remain relevant in 2017 and beyond, the Colony is using its Essex Heritage grant to make significant updates to its Art Trail materials, including a redesigned map and new racks cards.
Sargent House Association
Prominently situated in downtown Gloucester, the Sargent House was built in 1782 for Judith Sargent Stevens Murray, a celebrated philosopher, writer and an early advocate of women’s equality. The house contains an exceptional collection of 18th and 19th century furniture, objects and documents. Last year’s annual inspection revealed that a number of the building’s cedar roofing shingles had fallen off due to corroded nail heads – a growing problem within the New England historic house community. The all-volunteer association, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary, will use its Essex Heritage grant to restore the most compromised sections of the roof.
Photo by Federica Valabrega. Temporary public art bronze sculptures: Kristen Visbal Fearless Girl installed for International Women’s Day March 8, 2017 faces off Arturo Di Modica’s Charging Bull installed December 15, 1989. Fearless Girl was commissioned by State Street Global Advisory Stuart Weissman and part of McCann’s creative campaign
Robert D. McFadden coverage in the New York Times about the Wall Street Bull by Arturo Di Modica the day after it was stealthily installed (and removed then reinstalled, evermore)
The Fisherman’s Memorial screen print by Rusty + Ingrid Creative Company on the cover and featured in North Shore Magazine’s April 2017 issue– which also includes articles on Cape Ann’s iconic sculptors, plus Manchester by the Sea and filming on Cape Ann
October 2013 Willow Rest, 1 Holly Street, Gloucester, MA, window filled with Rusty and Ingrid Kinnunen screenprints –the first time I saw their work. I love how so many stores and restaurants feature creative arts. This one is a great case study and success story for creative exposure.
Look for Wikipedia-edit-a-thons (especially this week surrounding International Womens Day) encouraging everyone to add content and push women to be contributors. No previous Wikipedia experience is necessary –training help at the events or editing Instructional videos at your convenience
Congratulations to the 2016 (round 7) awardees! Their final presentations were at City Council on Tuesday.
Since Gloucester voted to approve the Community Preservation Act (CPA) in 2008, the city has administered 7 rounds of funded projects throughout our community. Have a look at who you helped fund in 2016
Safe bet you might know someone assisting one of these projects. Who else helps? The volunteers on the Community Preservation Committee are fantastic: Catherine Bill Dugan, Catherine Schlichte, Henry McCarl, David Rhinelander, John Feener, Barbara Silberman, Heide Wakeman, Ellen Preston, and Scott Smith. There’s no break for this committee. From start to finish the process from an applicant’s perspective takes nearly a year. Depending upon the project, it will involve assistance from the Community Preservation Committee, City staff and various departments, City Council, City Council sub committees, and the administration. Just as one round winds down, the next year’s process and round of applicants gears up. Visit the Community Preservation Committee page on the City website to learn more about the CPA and to see prior projects.
Debbie Laurie, a Senior Project Manager in the Community Development Department who manages Grants and CPA for the City writes about the info meeting: “We want to help guide applicants through the process and answer any questions you may have before filling out an application. We can also determine if your project is actually eligible or not. Please pass the word around if you know of anyone that may be interested. “
“No finer place for sure, downtown.”
Seeing double? Yes, you’re supposed to. The Sawyer Free Library addition was designed to mirror Cape Ann Museum as a balanced and nuanced architectural symmetry in deference to City Hall, and catalyst for a graceful city civic center.
Sawyer Free Library has announced a public meeting January 11th for discussions of a new building. (See the flyer at the end of this post.)
City Hall may have some upcoming construction on the Dale Avenue side as well.
Both projects are largely in the name of accessibility of a physical nature. Can they be cost effective, worthy of our history and culture, protect our significant buildings, and address current and future needs? The following are some of the issues, local coverage, links to resources, and archival material for your interest.
Before the current 2015-16 library outreach, the library hosted extensive visioning sessions throughout 2013. I went to a couple, and I was invited to take part in a focus group (on schools and the library.) A completely new library and jettisoning of the historic Saunders library building was not an expressed community value. What were some common discussion points? A strategy for digitization of historic archives and newspapers, more staff, more hours of operation (Sundays), better bathrooms, parking issues, air conditioning, electrical work, maintenance, security, maximizing technology/ content access with schools, ditto Cape Ann TV, and attendance (see this great video from Lisa Smith by kids for kids ) were some goals that were mentioned.
So it was a surprise to see the unveiling of new architectural renderings that did not showcase the Saunders house. It’s like the White House not featuring the White House. I think the Saunders house should be key and central to any building overhaul, not tossed aside. Providing universal access should preserve the intended awe factors if there are any, FOR EVERYBODY–such as the architectural details, proportion, welcoming entrance and unique heritage of a historic building. In this proposal, with Saunders severed there is zero physical access to the main event. What a missed opportunity. And for a library. What do you think?
Today’s paper mentioned that the Saunders house could be used for other purposes instead of the library. Why can’t that be the case and the library maintain its #1 asset? The downtown cultural district (which is not going forward in the same capacity) and other organizations could use the library meeting spaces. Do we really need to conjure up another stand alone endeavor?
Back in 1973, the Trustees of the Library began a fund drive for the new library addition; the city of Gloucester paid 2/3. As the Library’s General Chairman, Joe Garland led that campaign. Not surprising, the text of the brochure is a good read! The architect was Donald F. Monnell. (In 1971 Monnell was quoted in the papers speaking about the attributes of Central Grammar. One likes him more and more.) The population served was 27,000–nearly what it is today.
A quip about the concept of Scaling UP that I remember from a conference this past September at Peabody Essex Museum and hosted by Essex National Heritage was to “think about the farm not just a barn”; in this case a downtown, or an entire city and region. I like thinking this way in general–architecture and planning, art, and schools. But this conference pushed me to add overlays beyond my areas of expertise or focus like wildlife and waterways. Gloucester, Cape Ann, Massachusetts–there’s so much! Mayor Romeo Theken is committed to working together and feels that planning is important and broad. One example, see Gloucester Daily Times Dec 19, 2016 Officials: City to Prioritize Its (competing) Needs
Every era has choices. The prior library expansion plans began well before 1972. Possibilities swirled as they do now. (Back then, Central Grammar was also in the news, may or may not have been razed, and possible uses favored senior housing, commercial development, an annex to City Hall, and a courthouse police station.) Today there are competing building needs and uses floated for properties as diverse as: the Cape Ann YMCA on Middle Street, the post office on Dale, the Gloucester Fire Department, police headquarters, St. Ann’s, and the elementary schools–and that’s just to name a few. Let’s celebrate enviable architectural strengths, and not fuss with buildings that should be venerated, unless it’s to help them be accessible and healthy. Let’s get the balance right.
The prohibitive costs of best practice historic preservation (ADA compliant, temperature and humidity controls, security, sustainability, in house scanning/OCR/audio transcription, etc) is impossible for all the worthy collections in town, and pits them as foes when vying for funds. Let’s flip that impediment on its head and make Gloucester a model for the state. Its treasures would be available worldwide if they were truly accessible –digitized.Two words may help accomplish this goal and free up cash for individual operations: shared overhead. It’s one hope I continue to stress–the need to share necessary resources for a state-of-the-art research and warehouse repository. This universal hub should be large enough to encompass any holdings not on view. There could be a smaller downtown central site combined with a larger off site location, such as at Blackburn. The list of sharing institutions could include and is by no means exhaustive: our municipal archives that date back to 1642; Cape Ann Museum; Sawyer Free Library; North Shore Art Association; Beauport; Hammond Castle; the Legion; Amvets and other social clubs; Sargent House; several places of worship; Gloucester Daily Times; Annisquam historical building collections; Lanesville; Magnolia’s historic collections; artists/writers estates; Veterans office; our schools; Isabel Babson Memorial Library, and perhaps businesses such as Cape Pond Ice and Gortons. The library plans don’t appear to retrofit their site(s) for this goal.
If incentives and policy supported neighborhood character over less generic construction 
that would be wonderful. It’s not just Gloucester.
Last week I was in the Amherst area to meet with clients at a museum. I added on a couple of exhibitions that I knew were closing before I’d be back in that area. I have to map out shows or I miss them.
If you do an online search for ‘art museums in Massachusetts’ or ‘best of’ museum inquiries there are several helpful lists that pop up. The New England Museum Association for one has stepped up their digital presence for their membership directory. Still, must-see institutions on the North Shore and Cape Ann are rarely high lighted, buried deeply, and frequently absent from compilation lists ( see omissions at Artcyclopedia, Massvacation, Tripadvisor, visit Massachusetts, art-collecting, etc.)
Upcoming show trends include: illuminated manuscripts, citizenship, art of picture books, and vintage and contemporary photography.
Thank you!
This Saturday!
From 11A-3P, see historic Sargent House finely decorated for the holidays as you shop for gifts, greens and more! Snack on holiday treats and enjoy our family-friendly programming:
For more information, visit our website: www.sargenthouse.org/events
Sargent House Museum is #11 on the map.
UU Church is #12.
(Click on map for full Middle St. Walk program.)
QUESTION for the GMG audience: If The Sargent House Museum remained open
beyond our summer season on one weekend day, which should it be?: Saturday?
Or, Sunday?
Please message us and give us your preference. Thanks!
email here- development@sargenthouse.org
Kimberlee A. Cloutier-Blazzard, Ph.D.
Development Associate | Sargent House Museum | http://www.sargenthouse.org
Posted on April 25, 2009 by Joey C
Posted on April 25, 2009 by Joey C
Posted on April 26, 2009 by Joey C
Posted on April 27, 2009 by Joey C
Other Sargent House Museum Posts on GMG Here
Hello Friends,
I am sending a reminder that The Sargent by the Sea event is this Friday at TS Eliot’s boyhood summer home. Don’t miss the chance to take in Tom’s view with cocktail in hand. Our community has rallied to offer great art and wonderful events in order to support Judith Sargent Murray’s mission. We are so thrilled!
Please enjoy a spectacular summer evening with us and click the Sargent House website to purchase tickets.
I very much hope to see you there. Let’s spy porpoises snoring on the phosphorescent swell; the predictions are for Kingfisher weather!
Lise
Kingfisher weather, with a light fair breeze,
Full canvas, and the eight sails drawing well
We beat around the cape and laid our course
From the Dry Salvages to the eastern banks.
A porpoise snored upon the phosphorescent swell,
A triton rang the final warning bell
Astern, and the sea rolled, asleep.
T.S. Eliot draft written in reference to Cape Ann.
Dear Joey,
Barb Silberman asked that I send along some photos from Block Party at the
Sargent House Museum. This was a big night for us because this was the first
time Judith Sargent Murray’s plays have returned to life after 200 years.
North Shore Folklore Theatre, Co. made this possible by performing Act 5 of
"the Traveller Returned" (1796). To round out the evening, we had some folks
in costume, catered supper picnic boxes from Beach Gourmet, and historic
lawn games.
Thanks, Joey!
-Kimberlee
Good Morning Gloucester 