Art vs. Life

Amazing Linda McNeill-Kemp, A True Advocate for our young Talent

I attended a wonderful breakfast today at our fabulous CCCC, it
was to honor the Intership Program, The Schools to Careers  movement
that involves so many of our best and brightest, our own stars of the future.

If you are not aware of the tremendous arts education department at the
Cape Cod Museum of Art, you should get on their webpage  www.ccmoa.org and read about all that Linda McNeill-Kemp Education Director provides for the entire Cape Cod community. 

I agreed to participate with The Studio on Slough Road  by taking  Tess McCarthy as an intern for the fall semester.  She is a brilliant young art
student who was beginning the long arduous portfolio development for
admission to university. 
It was  truly inspirational working with her. Together we both grew and inspired  one another as artists, and human beings.  We will show together
at their May showing  in which both mentor and student present the fruits
of their experience.  The students works will travel to the statehouse  after the
show closes at the museum.  The curator was just taking in the works when
I  stopped by the museum last week.  They have a fabulous show he had
curated from the museum collection.  Large Scale paintings it was really quite
fine, not to be missed.  These young artists are so gifted and the museum is
such a treasure.  Don't miss this opening. Get on their webpage and read about
the opening reception etc.  There are so many things to enjoy at this beautiful
facility.

 If you are heading down 6A , take half and hour to visit
the wonderful work  they have up, and pick up a broschure about the education
department and all they have to offer. It is inspirational.
Please come by this Saturday and join in all the fun as The Studio on Slough
opens for another season.  Director Laurel Labdon welcomes all who enjoy
art to browse the studio for this first peak of the summer season, and The
Sidwells invite you to enjoy the gardens, the cottage and their art collection.

2 to 5 Saturday May 3 in conjunction with the beautiful Brewster in Bloom
Festival.

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Dreaming in Shades of Saffron and Yellow

Starting our Third Year the Studio on Slough Road

Next Weekend The Studio on Slough Road opens on Saturday for a third year.  So much has happened in those three years it seems like some sort of  dreamstate to imagine we are arriving at this birthtime again.   The Studio Family, neighbors  and visitors are invited by the Sidwells and Labdons to an open party at 75 Slough Saturday 2 to 5.  The highschool jazz combo will grace us again with neighborhood sounds, art, gardens, chatter and food, sports trivia and just hanging out are all on the menu.   Come joins us in welcoming spring to Brewster.  For directions look on our website.  

It seems almost surreal the way Cape Cod comes to life the last week in April every  year.  It seemed to be the longest, grey winter that would never end,  the last month of the year 2007 and the beginning of 2008.  We even took to the snow to raise the dead of our winter souls.  Not without saying, I adore the silent salt marsh and quiet beauty on Cape Cod.  This year though, perhaps with the passing of so many dear to us,  a deep sadness started to veil the beauty of my treasured winter. The birth of new little girl, and the freezing trek through the Hudson Valley to Syracuse,still seemed to all be done in the dark haze of shorter than a nano second winter days,those ones that start at mid morning and end by three in the afternoon.

Somewhere in the reverie of old Seattle moody , short, damp days I had lingered over Joyce, and Proust, lying in bed with a down quilt reading 'Rememberance of Things Past' and being  glad the sun had not beckoned me forth.  But not this year.

Then right like clock work my yellow dreams appeared with the lengthening of the days.  The  Yellow Thing, that amazing phenomena when daffodils and forsythia take over my dreams again, and here it is, Spring in my artists heart again. As we cleaned up the studio and hung the new work, the gardens bloomed almost overnight.   It feels so good to be above ground again.  For all who have joined us at our gatherings, welcome again, for those who are new to us. come by join us on Slough Road.   Like an old fashioned block party, or as they say in New Orleans a "Cochon d' Lait" come by and enjoy the 'Laignappe' ,   Saturday, Brewster in Bloom, May 3  2 to 5.

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A gift of history and brilliant light, Provincetown Artist Roy Simmons

I had a most wonderful and enlightening art experience this week. While traveling
to see North Adams artist Brandon Graving, recent recipient of the Pollack-Krasner Grant,
and the Gottlieb Grant to help her restore her life after Hurricane Katrina wiped out
twenty years of her wonderful work,  I traveled over to Syracuse and down to Princeton.
While stopping in Syracuse I was scheduled to have coffee with Roy Simmons, a sculpture
and famous Lacross coach at the university.  I recently sold a suite of prints to Brook
Chase and his wife Lisa in Fayetteville, New York.  They kept telling me of the connection
I had to coach Simmons. both in an aesthetic sense and in our thoughts on contemporary
art.  Brook is from TheChaseGroup and recently renovated a beautiful old upstate New York
property which has amazing space and lighting for contemporary work.   He had been a player
for Roy Simmons at Syracuse and remembers his coach stopping  at galleries to educate
his players beyond sports to the world of art.  He left a huge impression on this group of young men.    When we met for a short talk ,it turned into an hour and half lesson of true
life art history.   Roy brought me a poster of a beautiful show of his work at the Emerson Gallery  at Syracuse.  As I looked at the image , and another work he had brought for us to
see I realized his art friends had been my heros and mentors for all these years.  He had lived
in Provincetown and was friends with Motherwell and Norman Mailer, and had framed for
many of the New York School artists who were the heart and soul of Ptown when art history
was changed for ever by these wonderful artists. He was friends with Alan Stone, who recently
died,and Gagosian.  His stories were just breath taking.   He was a student of the works of
Kurt Switters, and Joseph Cornell.   He has hinted that he may do a small show  of collages for us of this
 this summer and come to the studio to speak.  If we can get him over the mountain this
summer to talk to us it will be a night to remember.  Life is so rich and so many art connections turn into meaningful lessons in the connections and meaning of art in our
fast changing world.  Happy Thankgiving, be safe and make art.

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Glass the Elemental Beauty with Deep Cape Cod History

Meet a glass sculptor Thursday 

 The Studio on Slough Road will be hosting a beautiful evening  for Benton Jones, the Glass Sculptor from the Millstone Gallery on 6A in Brewster. One of the most sophisticated and elegant contemporary galleries in the area, Benton shows many styles and techniques with his beautiful vessels and very sophisticated aesthetic.  Join us Thursday evening from 6pm to 8:30pm.

The Studio will have the work displayed throughout the gallery and the gardens will be open to walk about and enjoy the woodlands and late summer blossoms. Sandwich was once the center of glass and Benton will speak about his experience as a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon, and his connection with Corning in New York.

He plans to use the internet to connect the the Studio on Slough by webcam to his studio as a Kiln firing is remotely controlled by internet.  He has set up a monitor so people can see this primal and beautiful process.

Having become entranced by glass while I was living in New Orleans with the fabulous Tulane Art Department Glass program, under Gene Koss, and the development of Studio Inferno in the Bywater area, with artist Mitchell Gaudet, both show at Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans, I went on to grow my love and knowledge of the medium.  In Seattle/Tacoma I was so fortunate to become involved with a  remarkable woman, Amy McBride, who ran the Public Art Program in Tacoma.  During her years there  the Internationally famous Tacoma Museum of Glass arrived. Dale Chihuly and Pilchuk leaders in the Art Glass World with the of City Tacoma were instrumental in putting this destination on the world scene in Contemporary Glass.  If you are intrigued, Google the Tacoma Museum of Glass and see the fabulous building designed around an open, huge Hot Box which give the structure is watery, nautical imagery in the Port of Tacoma.  To find this wonderful East Coast artist, celebrating and creating a new movement
right here in Brewster is just too wonderful.

Come by around 6pm on Thursday and hear him speak and see these beautiful "Vessels"  of Glass and other beautiful sculpture.  Check out the website under events for more information see our website.

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A Hidden Treasure at last Seen

Thursday Evening August 2 at 6 pm Ron Meservey , a fine photographer from Chatham a life long resident of Cape Cod will show his up to now hidden but gorgeous black and white photographs of the last thirty years.  These are all from private collectors now offered for viewing for two weeks.   We feel very priviledged to show these works at The Studio on Slough Road, 75 Slough Road, Brewster.  

These beautiful photographs have never been shown before to the public, they have been gathered from private collections and homes.  He is a 1958 graduate of the New York School of Fine Photography and a life long resident of Cape Cod.  He built his own dark room and has assembled a great collection of large and medium format Cameras.  He  will speak about his passion form this medium.  Come join us at 6 for a small wine and cheese reception and see these unknown but beautiful treasures.

Artist Kathleen Sidwell will talk a small bit about the use of Black and White photography in Contemporary Art.   Learn a bit about the work of Annie Lebowitz, Herb Ritts, George Dereaux, Sally Mann, Jock Sturges and Joel Peter-Witkin.

Ron has captured Cape Cod in some striking and haunting light.  These are true gems and will hang for two short weeks.  Come see his collection of Cameras and just enjoy a summer evening with us on Slough Road.

The mystery and magic of Cape Cod summer evokes such reverie for many, like the works  Edward Hopper, Ron has used the amazing northern summer light to illuminate his works, come see as he goes through about thirty years of images the magic he leaves behind in these photos for us all to give  meaning to this fragile, beautiful, vanishing way of life, the historic Cape.

"A picture is worth a thousand words" yes, but these truly stand on their own.  Go to our website for directions www.studioonsloughroad.com.  The works are not for sale, but you will love seeing them.  Join us Thursday.  One more of  Cape Cod's one of a kind neighbors, Ron Meservey.

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John Prophet a Cape Cod Original

And you are invited the a party tonight at 7 

The Studio on Slough Road is looking forward to a fun Thursday  evening gathering, 7 to 9pm this week.  Every Thursday in season we have a small party to give our neighbors and friends a chance to meet some person who contributes to our rich cultural life here on this fragile and beautiful penisula.  It never passes us by that this is a unique and historic habitat.

We are so blessed and truly unusual,those of us who are allowed to call Cape Cod home.

John Prophet is one of  the true gifts we have here.  He has contributes so much to our cultural life here on the mid Cape.   Come by and enjoy a moment listening to his fascinating  career, and his tireless work  toward a world class facility  in Harwich.   Read his blog, or go to our website under events and find more information.

We are a small,intimate studio in the woods, parking is limited, carpooling or walking down our dirt road is a good idea.  See you Thursday evening. 75 Slough Road, Brewster.

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The Saga of the Soarbird

It is an ancient urge to make sense of our own story, to relate what ever wisdom our circumstances have brought to our own lives. Artists feel compelled to give the metaphor of their own lives a form and space that is visceral and memorable.  Gerry Lambert , a boat builder, and lover of the sea took a life altering  journey around Cape Cod in a row boat. 

What he encountered and what followed this experience will be the topic of a short lecture at The Studio on Slough Road, Thursday evening, July 19 at 7 pm.  Come  join us  for the second of our Evenings in Paradise Events, 75  Slough Road.  The Studio is small , intimate and atmospheric.

Join the small group of art and culture lovers as we gather for a short evening of sharing and magic.  The gardens are so beautiful, and the subject and the art always fun and thought provoking.   Learn of this wonderful myth in the making and share with your neighbors the unique life of Cape Cod residents in their pursuit of culture and meaning as a way of life.

The parking is limited so you may want to park and walk down the dirt road to our special setting.   Enjoy an evening of art and conversation with all of us here on Slough Road.  We will have a wine and cheese reception for this talented creator of  kinetic sculpture, storying telling at its finest.

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"The Vain Destiny of Fleeting Images"

On a magical summer evening like this, the eve before the Fourth of July, reverie is everywhere.  The deep , Goya Blue , of the night sky with white hot stars like puzzles playing  in the galaxie, seems to bring us all to those moments of awe and wonder only Cape Cod at its most  unexplained beauty can.   As I walked outside tonight around 1030,to greet my youngest son, here from Syracuse for the holiday I was mesmerized for a minute by the full, almost, moon and the profuse summer garden that greets us at our front door these mornings. 

It occurred to me that most art and literature start somewhere in these moments when the beauty of the earth overtakes our fears and  uncertainty and starts us down the path of imagination.   I have been dreaming of new work I am about to start moving from sketches to canvas and Rives BFK paper. In those moments when I encounter some mystery, so compelling , so irresistable , that it takes my  reason away ,I begin to invent a response to  that  force .  Art is a gutteral affirmation to some universal voice I am suddenly only temporarily connected.  Not something I can summon at will.

This is not anything new  or original that has not been said by a million brilliant writers, philosphers etc.  Yet something worth paying attention to.  These sorts of moments usually head me straight to my library and they did tonight, to a wonderful summer book for those so fortunate to be close to the sea.  Water and Dreams by Gaston Bachelard .  The title to this short essay is from his works.  Get  a copy and indulge yourself while you are here near such  spectacular water.

Come see us at the Studio on Slough Road .  We will be featuring a fascinating man who will speak about his trip in a wooden boat around  Cape Cod.  He had an encounter with a white gull that lead him to produce a kinetic mobile of copper and marine plywood.  We  will have the details for you next week on our website. but mark Thursday evening July 12 on the calendar and come have wine and cheese and hear this great story as told by the man who experienced this awakening in his soul.  

Life vs. Art we will never solve the mystery, only celebrate it!

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Cross Currents, Embedded Art

One of the observations I made while visiting Budapest and Prague was the sensation that the art was part  and parcel of the cultural whole.  Not that galleries and museums were not present or important, but not more important than public art and art in architecture.

One of the boundries we are trying to amend and advocate for is the cross marriage of literature and fine art, the collaboration between food and fine art, the images derived from gardening and the wild world.  These and a thousand other edges or  definitions of art.   The stunning use of allegory and figurative sculpture and mythology were papable in Croatia.  This allows the viewer  a chance to question his own views of what fine art is and why it is valuable.   Aesthetics are a crucial element in Darwinian princples found in nature.  Why for the sake of commerce have we divided art from clothing or food or books. 

We have accepted some how that the only serious art is that found in retail galleries or museums.  Somehow the gorgeous show hung is the coffee shop is a hybrid,  or at least not as substantial and those in a gallery for only art. This seemed not to be the theme in Croatia.  I liked the indigenious feeling of art in public venues, for sale or at least a card say how it might be purchased.  It made the art seem more human and less about money, only money.  Of course Artist need money to create new work and maintain their  own lives.  But most of the artist I know feel more integrated into thier work.   Like breathing is part of living.  Making and living with art is requirement for the sanity of the artists soul.

To that end our studio, Studio on Slough Road is going to present fun Thursday night
gatherings of all sorts of creative people.  Not to as such sell their goods, but to make people
aware of their connection to art, the environment, to the mileu we have created here
on Slough Road.  We have a wonderful, fun ,evening this Thursday with Fashion and Art
put together by Pam Pryor of Gingies Boutique in Yarmouth.    A Ladies Night of Special
pampering and inspiration.  Come join us around 7 and relax in the beautiful garden.
Meet a neighbor for the first time and leave your cares and work behind for a couple of hours.
Have some goodies and champagne and dream for a while, be a little girl again for a short
time.  Celebrate summer and beautiful Brewster.    

Pam Pryor has created a beautiful evening for us in reaction to the images of  Kathleen
Sidwells paintings and prints.  Come by every  Thursday, look on our website and see
who is speaking or demonstrating and come enjoy a beer, wine or coffee and some
nibbles  and a good conversation with  all these interesting people.  Come join us and
and add to the conversation. 

We ,of course, sell art here, but that is not all we do.  We want to know our neighbors and
their thoughts.  We want a diaglogue about all that mutually concerns our community
and also that which we all share together to make Brewster what it is, and what it can
become. 

Come see us.

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Cape Cod, Poland, Prague and Budapest

We are finally back on beautiful Cape Cod after our incredible and educational tour of Croatia, Poland, and the Czech Republic. It was so unbelievably beautiful you could hardly imagine. It surprised us that we had such a slight grasp of World War I and World War II geography.

We went to Auschwitz which will never leave our consciousness. To actually go and see the geography and the gorgeous built environment was remarkable. Also it was educational to see what humans have accomplished , also what strange tendencies man has to create arbitrary boundaries is eye opening.  The urge to cultural and political identity becomes so real.

The professors who led the trip, lectured as we traveled up the coast. We traveled through Bosnia-Herzegovina up to the capital of Zagreb. The bus driver had lived in the areas bombed in the 1990s and had fought incognito for his homeland. His evening stories were spell binding and frightening. It is so seldom we see an area so recently destroyed by war. Dubrovnik was beautiful and had been rebuilt in the nature of the historic city. Look it up on the internet. It is one of the worlds most beautiful settings, with an ancient walled city, and a seaside charm on the Adriatic sea on the most beautiful Mediterranean destinations on a sea that seemed not real to us. The color aquamarine became a real idea.

We headed to Krakow, Poland for their festival birthday 750 year party. We spent one day driving the country to the concentration camp in Auschwitz, just too horrendous to imagine. Then we headed to Budapest and Prague. We saw a sculptor in Split that had become a known sculptor in our country.  Meštrović had taught sculpture at Syracuse and done public work in our country.

The when we arrived in Prague we  were located a block from the museum dedicated to Alphonse Mucha who had spent time on Cape Cod with his family. His big emergence into the public consciousness was with his poster for Sarah Berhardt. He was the master of Art Nouveau, along with Klimt he brought the new art with decorative sensibility to attention with other art forms. Cape Cod is such a vortex for art and artist.

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