A Book Full of Broadsides
Poems seen on street signs and paintings posted on boardwalks — hundreds of these “broadsides” have been released “in the wild” since Truro poet Elizabeth Bradfield started Broadsided Press in 2005. Her mission is to put literature and art on the streets and into people’s everyday lives.
Each month, Broadsided Press puts out an original collaboration between a poet and an artist, in print and online, free for anyone to download, print, and post.
Provincetown Arts Press has gathered 50 of these original, often playful, pairings into a large-format art book, released on April 1. It includes a diverse selection of contemporary voices and images, and the design allows readers to see how the works made their way into public view in locations across the globe. Its purpose, say the editors: to inspire creative co-conspirators who seek new ways to bring art to their communities.
Broadsided Press: Fifteen Years of Poetic and Artistic Collaboration, 2005–2020 was edited by Elizabeth Bradfield, Alexandra Teague, and Miller Oberman. The book ($30) is available at provincetownarts.org.
Chamber Music in August
The Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival will offer nine concerts this year from Aug. 2 to 19 in Wellfleet, Eastham, Dennis, Chatham, and Cotuit. The lineup includes four different string quartets, five pianists, and a variety of other musicians.
A highlight of the season will be an Aug. 5 concert at the Wellfleet Congregational Church featuring two unique masterpieces of the chamber music literature: Felix Mendelssohn’s String Octet, composed when he was 16 years old, and Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” in its original instrumentation for double string quartet, flute, clarinet, bassoon, double bass, and piano. The Ariel and Verona quartets are the featured groups.
All of this season’s concerts will be 60 to 80 minutes long without intermission and beginning at 5 p.m., with the exception of a free public concert at the Cape Cod National Seashore in Eastham on Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. For more information see capecodchambermusic.org.
Collagraph Print Show
Former Provincetown gallery owner Mary Ann de Buy Wenniger’s show of collagraph prints, “Blissful Memories,” opened at Gallery 444 in Provincetown on Wednesday, April 13. The gallery will host a reception with the artist on Friday, April 15, 5 to 8 p.m.
De Buy Wenniger started experimenting with collagraph printmaking at its advent in the early 1960s. To create a collagraph, she presses objects such as feathers, paper, fabric, and even eggshells into polymer glue to add texture to scenes. De Buy Wenniger’s work often depicts landscapes, seascapes, and clothing. She uses oil-based paints and sponges, brushes, and cloth to further enhance texture. Painted plates can print on fabric, paper, and other materials.
De Buy Wenniger and her husband operated Wenniger Graphics in Boston, Rockport, and Provincetown for years. She now works out of her home in Gloucester.
Spring Courses at Open University
The Open University of Wellfleet’s spring courses begin Tuesday, April 19. Some classes are entirely on Zoom, others meet in person in Wellfleet, and some are hybrid.
The season kicks off with Lewis Shepard’s American Painting from 1910 to 2010 in Massachusetts Museums, Tuesdays on Zoom starting April 19, 10:30 a.m. to noon. Later that day, John Cumbler teaches Race, Class, and Theft in the New World from 3 to 5 p.m. Cumbler’s course meets Monday afternoons at the Wellfleet Public Library, 55 W Main St. for all sessions thereafter.
Janis Bergman-Carton presents a course with a special local flair: The Socially Engaged Art of Provincetown’s Jay Critchley. Bergman-Carton contextualizes Critchley’s work with art from Argentina, Colombia, England, Japan, and beyond. The first meeting is on Zoom on Wednesday, April 27, 2 to 3:30 p.m. Two of the five sessions meet in person at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, 2357 Route 6.
Registration is $60 for each course at openuniversityofwellfleet.org.
Cooperative Show at the Truro CoA
The Cape Cod Visual Artists Cooperative has a show at the Truro Council on Aging, 7 Standish Way, through April 28. Made up of about a dozen members from all over the Cape, the CCVAC provides artists who don’t have gallery representation with opportunities to show. Highlights include a mixed-media Phantasmagora by Laura Ghedini, colorful “oil on 3D canvas” paintings by Christine Fitzsimmons, and vibrant nature photographs by Lew Schwartz.
Twenty Summers Announces Its Season
Provincetown’s Twenty Summers has announced its in-person programming for 2022. “Five of eight fellows are coming from overseas, which we’ve never done before,” says Executive Director Aziz Isham.
The season kicks off with a party at Provincetown Brewing Co. on May 12, followed by a concert in the Hawthorne Barn by Irish musician Anna Mieke on May 13.
The first of Twenty Summers’ fellows, Brenda Zhang, or Bz, works with “architectural, spatial, and visual arts,” says Isham. The other fellow is Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil, from Oaxaca, Mexico, who is “trying to save indigenous wisdom, sustainability, and climate crisis,” says Isham. Both are giving talks on May 14.
On May 20 there will be a happy hour with the Center for Coastal Studies, featuring “poetry about climate change.” This is followed by a talk with Devin Morris and Jenna Wortham on May 21. Wortham is a New York Times writer, and “Morris works in zines centered around gay Black joy,” says Isham.
The theme for May 26 through 28 is “art and the future,” in collaboration with the Fine Arts Work Center. Ben Shattuck discusses his book Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau with author Julia Glass on May 26.
A panel discussion about the show “Density’s Glitch” at FAWC will be held on May 27.
The Peng! Collective gives a talk on the Golden NFT Project on May 28. This project reimagines the impact of NFTs, with tokens going towards buying visas for Afghan refugees.
Fellow Adrian Fernandez from Cuba looks at “alternative futures and histories,” says Isham. Sharon Mashihi, from a Persian Jewish enclave in Great Neck, N.Y., works in performance art and podcasting. They both give talks on June 4.
Andrew Sullivan interviews James Kirchick on June 5 about his book Secret City, which is “about how during the Cold War both sides were trying to out each other’s agents as gay,” says Isham.
Finally, Twenty Summers co-founder Joshua Prager discusses his book The Family Roe on June 9. There will also be a concert series at Truro Vineyards, to be announced next month. —Saskia Maxwell Keller
