‘Bewitching’ Show at Bowersock Gallery
“Bewitching Affairs” opens at Bowersock Gallery, 373 Commercial St. in Provincetown, on Saturday, Oct. 30 and runs through Nov. 2. There will be a reception on Saturday, Oct. 30, from 3 to 5 p.m.
The Halloween-themed show includes paintings, sculptures, and mixed media works by Kishor Haulenbeek, Jayne Adams, John Brickels, Christopher Pothier, Erik Durant, Gretchen Woodman, Ellen Blomgren, Jeanne McCartin, and others.
“This show is about the different, the unusual, and the classic,” says Steve Bowersock in a press release. “We’ll have derelict ships, ghostly images, scenes of enchantment, bone-chilling figures, and things that rise from the ethers.”
Curtis Speer’s Colorful Life
“Life in Color: A Series of Still Lifes,” a show of photographs by Curtis Speer, is on view at CUSP Gallery, 115 Bradford St. in Provincetown, through Nov. 28.
The photographs are reminiscent of Dutch still life paintings. Carefully orchestrated groups of objects, full of symbolism, emerge from the darkness. They feel like time interrupted, reminding the viewer to slow down and notice that “life is stitched with color when we choose to see it,” according to a press release.
Write Your Memoir at FAWC
24PearlStreet, the Fine Arts Work Center’s online writing program, is holding two simultaneous memoir writing workshops, Monday, Nov.1 through Friday, Nov. 5, from 7 to 9 p.m.
Nick Flynn, the author of five books of poetry and four memoirs, teaches “Memoir as Bewilderment.” The workshop looks at the concept of bewilderment and how it drives writing, whether consciously or unconsciously. Students will work with samples of their own writing “to find ways to transform it, and go deeper into the shadow world,” according to the description.
Susanna Sonnenberg, author of New York Times bestselling memoirs Her Last Death and She Matters: A Life in Friendships, teaches “Unsayable: The Art of Baring & Bearing the Truth in Memoir.” The workshop digs into the notion of truth in writing as an ingredient in taking dramatic risks. Registration for each workshop is $575 at fawc.org.
The Architecture of Music at Snow Library
Lifetime Learning at Snow Library continues with “Famous Buildings & Their Music,” taught by Joseph Marchio, assistant conductor of the Cape Symphony and director of the Chatham Chorale. It takes place over four consecutive Fridays starting Oct. 29, from 1:30 to 3 p.m.
Marchio will discuss how live music is affected by the architecture in which it is performed. Among the buildings discussed: St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, the Ospedale della Pietá in Venice, King’s College Chapel in Cambridge, and Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The class will be held in person at 67 Main St. in Orleans as well as via Zoom. Registration is $10 at friendsofsnowlibrary.org.
Four Funerals, No Marriage at the Provincetown Library
Mike Keren will read from his memoir, Four Funerals, No Marriage, at the Provincetown Public Library, 356 Commercial St., on Saturday, Oct. 30, from 2 to 4 p.m.
In the book, Keren, who was trained as a psychologist, navigates our unforgiving health care system as he cares for his ailing in-laws and his own aging parents. He recounts his ordeal with humor and pathos, reflecting on his parents’ unhappy marriage and the challenges of accommodating siblings in end-of-life decisions. The event is free; more information at provincetownlibrary.org.
‘Another Glorious Morning’ with Monique Aimee
“Another Glorious Morning,” a show of works by Somerville-based artist Monique Aimee, opens at Longstreet Gallery, 4730B Route 6 in Eastham, on Saturday, Oct. 30 and runs through Nov. 14.
Aimee works in a variety of disciplines including digital illustration, typography, and murals. She is showing something a little different at Longstreet: “I’m doing paintings,” she says. “It’s not my usual type of work. Mostly, I’m a commercial illustrator.”
The paintings still have a graphic look — punchy shapes of flat color. They depict women sipping coffee and wearing colorful sweaters, wisps of smoke from a chimney curling around fall foliage.
“This time, I’m making work that is inspired by New England,” she says. “It’s about slow, quiet mornings — finding times of peacefulness.” There will be an opening reception on Saturday, Oct. 30, from 5 to 8 p.m. —André van der Wende
Aylette Jenness’s Clear Light
Aylette Jenness has been coming to Wellfleet since childhood. The house she now lives in full-time was bought by her parents in the 1920s. Her mother was the artist Shelby Shackleford; her father was a physicist. Jenness grew up surrounded by figures like Edwin Dickinson (whom she remembers carrying a comb in his back pocket to tend his beard).
Considering her artistic upbringing, it is not surprising that Jenness would become a photographer. When she and her anthropologist ex-husband moved to Alaska and later Nigeria, she brought her camera along, capturing the local people, as well as her two small children.
These experiences are the subject of Sometime a Clear Light, a memoir combining photographs with personal anecdotes. The handsome book was designed by Andrea Pluhar and edited by Chris Wisniewski.
As Jenness’s eyesight is failing, she felt it was especially important to self-publish now. The book was funded in a beautiful way. Jenness’s mother and the artist Janice Biala were good friends who exchanged paintings. One of Biala’s paintings, sold through a dealer, made the book possible. It is available at the Wellfleet Marketplace and will soon be on Amazon.
Jenness is the author of 11 other books, mostly for young people. They expose children to different cultures and families through text and photographs. For many years, Jenness worked as a developer of exhibitions at the Boston Children’s Museum.
Jenness uses 35-mm film exclusively. “My work is very consistent,” she says. Her photographs of Nigeria are housed in the Aylette Jenness Collection at the Smithsonian’s Museum of African Art, “including the ones that are out of focus,” she jokes.
“I’m interested in the lives of women,” Jenness says of her work. The key to photographing mothers and children, she says, is “being quiet and watching, as unobtrusive as possible, respecting what they’re up to.” —Saskia Maxwell Keller
