CapeCodToday Arts Calendar

Betsy Bennett Retrospective at the Cape Cod Museum of Art

Betsy Bennett, Artist: A Cape Cod Treasure to run November-January '10

Betsy Bennett, Artist: A Cape Cod Treasure, a retrospective of Betsy Bennett’s works, will be on exhibition at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, November 21 – January 17. The paintings in this exhibit are done in egg tempera and watercolors. Bennett is well known for her mastery of the egg tempera technique.

Elegy for a Summer by Betsy Bennett. Courtesy CCMA.

Bennett's training began at age 13 at the Philadelphia Art Museum and the Pennsylvania Art Association. After high school, she was awarded a four-year scholarship to Moore College of Art in Philadelphia. In 1955, she moved to Cape Cod where she and her husband, Sid, raised three children. She began teaching watercolor, oil painting, and drawing in 1958 at Chatham, Harwich, and Dennis-Yarmouth adult education programs, plus substituting as an art teacher in the elementary and high schools of those three school districts. She also taught at the Cape Cod Art Association and the Nauset Painters.

In 1976, the Bennetts moved to the Oregon Coast where she continued to teach and exhibit. Returning to Cape Cod in 1993, she continued to paint in her studio in Harwich. She was on the Cape Cod Museum of Art’s Collections and Acquisitions Committee until a year prior to her death in 2007.

Cape Cod Museum of Art, the regional art museum of Cape Cod, the Islands and Southeastern Massachusetts, is located off Route 6A, 60 Hope Lane, on the grounds of Cape Cod Center for the Arts, Dennis. Admission: $8, free for ages 18 and younger and museum members. Gallery hours: Tuesday - Wednesday, 10 am - 5 pm; Thursday, 10 am – 8 pm; Friday – Saturday, 10 am – 5 pm; and Sunday, noon – 5 pm. Information: 508-385-4477 or www.ccmoa.org.

Leave a comment »

Painting workshop with Karen North Wells at CC Museum of Natural History

"A View from The Natural History Museum" oil by Karen North Wells

An indoor painting workshop for everyone

On Saturday morning Karen will begin with a demonstration in watercolor and on Sunday she will demonstrate either acrylic or oil.  Students will paint the rest of the day and Karen will help students with their individual painting needs.  There are many beautiful views of Wing Island at the Museum to paint or photograph and it is a good idea to get photos ahead of time to bring inspiration to the workshop.

Help will be given with composition, color mixing, values, and perspective. Instruction will be individualized and appropriate for all levels of experience. A group critique will be given at the end of the day on Sunday.

The workshop will be held Saturday, November 7th and Sunday, November  8th from 9:30am-4pm both days at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History on Route 6A in Brewster.

The cost of the workshop is $85 for members and $100 for non-members. Call the Museum at 508-896-3867 to register.

Leave a comment »

A. Leslie Ross magazine illustrations at Cape Cod Museum of Art

Illustrator best known for work in Boy's Life, sports magazines

A selection of A. Leslie Ross’s magazine illustrations will be on exhibition at the Cape Cod Museum of Art October 24 through January 3.  Ross’s works are very diverse.  He was well known as a magazine illustrator, especially  his action sports covers for Super Sport, All Sports and Popular Sports and his work for Boy's Life Magazine. He also worked oil and watercolor painting.  Ross will be remembered for his use of compelling composition, vivid color and understanding of movement.  In 1971 he was awarded the Two Thousand Men of Achievement honor.

Ross studied art at The New York School of Fine Art [ Parsons ] and Pratt Institute in New York City.  His first studio was on East 63rd Street and from there he started his successful illustration career. During World War II he served as the Art Director of the US Training Aid Division and designed the hand cut silk screen teaching aids for the US Forces. At the close of the war he returned to Poughguag, NY, where he resumed his illustration work combined, in later years with university teaching at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Ross spent summers, as a young man, on his Aunt's farm in Amenia, NY, working with horses developing his drawing ability and the knowledge of horses that established his reputation, becoming best known for illustrations involving action and horse movement.  He produced over 300 Western covers in oil, gouache and acrylic between 1947-1956, working for Famous Western, Pocket Books, Popular Library, Street and Smith and Pines Publications to name a few.

Cape Cod Museum of Art, the regional art museum of Cape Cod, the Islands and Southeastern Massachusetts, is located off Route 6A, 60 Hope Lane, on the grounds of Cape Cod Center for the Arts, Dennis. Admission: $8, free for ages 18 and younger and museum members. Gallery hours: Monday - Wednesday, 10 am - 5 pm; Thursday, 10 am – 8 pm; Friday – Saturday, 10 am – 5 pm; and Sunday, noon – 5 pm. Information: 508-385-4477 or www.ccmoa.org.

2 comments »

Handmade dollhouse auction to benefit Wellfleet Council on Aging

Over 185 hours to complete handmade contents including furniture and room decor

A dollhouse made by Marieke Hall, a member of the Board of the Friends of the Wellfleet Council on Aging, is being auctioned to raise funds for the Council.

The house itself is adapted from a bookcase.  Alterations such as the door and dividing walls were done by Marieke's husband Peter.

The entire contents including furniture, appliances, decorations, and room décor were handmade and took over 185 hours to complete.  The pieces are handpainted, some decorated with pyro- gravure and the upholstery, bedding and such is all handmade.

Many of the materials used were recycled items such as bottle caps, pill bottles, spray bottles, and scraps of lace and material.  Marieke found a use for everything from beads and golf tees to washers and other small pieces of hardware, even paper clips.

The needlepoint carpet has over 10,000 stitches; 65 cross stitches wide, 80 cross stitches long, two stitches per cross stitch. The painting over the couch is original, and reflects some of the Poppy Paintings Marieke paints as a professional artist. 

Marieke created a similar house last year for her seven-year-old granddaughter who has gotten many hours of enjoyment playing with it. 

The dollhouse is destined to become a family heirloom and a treasured possession.

There is an current bid of $425 on the dollhouse.  Bid increments in the amount of $10 can be placed at the COA at 715 Old King's Highway during regular hours, 8am-4pm, Monday through Friday. 

The last day to place a bid is November 18, 2009 at 3:45 p.m.

Courtesy of the Wellfleet COA.

1 comment »

Glimpses of a Provincetown Collection at the Cape Cod Museum of Art

New exhibit to run September 19 through November 15, 2009

   Hawthorne Still Life by Blanche Nette Lazzell. Courtesy of the Cape Cod Museum of Art.

Glimpses of a Provincetown Collection, a collaboration of the Cape Cod Museum of Art and a local art collector, will be on exhibition September 19 - November 15 at the museum in Dennis. Together, the collector and the museum staff have fashioned an exhibition of work by 37 men and women born in the last half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century who made significant contributions to the artistic life of the town. The exhibition explores the interrelationships between artists who enriched the environment. The contribution of each artist was enhanced and influenced by the work of the others, creating a web of intellectual and aesthetic relationships and counterpoints.

In many ways, Provincetown represents American art in microcosm.

Provincetown is well known as an art colony; its founding date is generally given as 1899, the year Charles Hawthorne founded the Cape Cod School of Art.  Geography favors Provincetown. Surrounded by ocean on three sides, the light is superb, characterized by a steadiness and clarity that is unmistakable. The Portuguese fishermen and their families were never very affluent. The result was a town almost devoid of the “ought and should” rules that often characterize more affluent locations with a hierarchal class structure. The harsh seasonal realities of the seasonality of a fishing village produced a tolerant, live-and-let-live town where the artists, whether summer visitors or new year-rounders, found a welcoming atmosphere as well as reasonably priced rooms and studio space.

In many ways, Provincetown represents American art in microcosm. As a summer community, it was able to attract many individuals who returned to their home cities in the winter, or who migrated from one part of the country to another, always bringing with them the memory and influences of the Provincetown colony.

World War I drove American expatriates back home after 1914. At the time, Paris was the center of the art world and Americans flocked to the Académies – Julian, Colarossi and Moderne. In the cafés and art classes, young American students were exposed to the cutting edge of modernism and when they returned home, a great number found Provincetown to be a natural sequel to their European experience. Later, the Depression, and the several WPA artists’ projects it produced, provided another unifying experience for the artists in Provincetown. These projects not only produced art in public places, they also fostered a sense of self-worth and purpose among the participants which translated into a renewed sense of dignity for each artist.

Cape Cod Museum of Art, the regional art museum of Cape Cod, the Islands and Southeastern Massachusetts, is located off Route 6A, 60 Hope Lane, on the grounds of Cape Cod Center for the Arts, Dennis. Admission: $8, free for ages 18 and younger and museum members. Gallery hours: Monday - Wednesday, 10 am - 5 pm; Thursday, 10 am – 8 pm; Friday – Saturday, 10 am – 5 pm; and Sunday, noon – 5 pm. Information: 508-385-4477 or www.ccmoa.org.

Leave a comment »