Mark Brennan at Off Main Gallery
Mark Brennan’s work typically captures ephemeral experiences. In a series of meticulously painted watercolors, he depicts dead leaves and twigs as a metaphor for vanished communities. In another project from 2020, he painted a 69-foot panorama of the dunes, which was then cut up and sold in one-foot sections.
In his latest exhibition, “Inside Out,” at Off Main Gallery in Wellfleet (75 Commercial St.) from June 18 to July 6, Brennan will create a site-specific work, painting on the gallery walls during the exhibition before whitewashing the image.
“The transience or mortality of the project is an essential part of it,” he says.
Working with discarded paint from the Wellfleet Transfer Station, Brennan will paint a panorama of the environs outside the gallery, including Duck Creek and Wellfleet village. Blank rectangular shapes will interrupt the wall painting — stand-ins for discrete art objects. The empty space in the frames and the exterior view transposed on the gallery walls “defies conventional notions of an art exhibition,” according to a press release.
Brennan will begin working in situ on June 17, continuing to work during gallery hours, with an artist’s reception scheduled for June 18 from 6 to 8 p.m. The gallery will also display a series of preparatory watercolor paintings.
Carolyn Callahan at Provincetown Commons
Carolyn Callahan’s travels through India and Africa provided the vision for her paintings on view at the Provincetown Commons from June 14 to 25, with an opening reception scheduled for Saturday, June 18 from 5 to 7 p.m. The exhibition, “Transcendence,” features large oil paintings and drawings that she describes as “interior worlds,” featuring “personal and universal energy forms and symbols.”
In these paintings, she constructs a mystical world with fluid divisions between human and animal realities, conjuring a shamanistic and pantheistic mood. The images are teeming with glowing figures, especially birds, creatures that she describes as “a figurative expression of the link between the material and spiritual realms.”
Provincetown Portuguese Festival Preview
This year, the Provincetown Portuguese Festival, from June 23 to 26, will celebrate the 75th annual Blessing of the Fleet, a tradition that recognizes “the courage and fortitude of the Portuguese fishermen,” according to the festival’s website. The festival also includes live music, dancing, kids’ activities, food, and a parade.
This year’s free fado concert, a highlight of the festival, will be held on Saturday, June 25 at Provincetown Town Hall from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., featuring Sonia Bettencourt and others.
Following the concert, a samba band from Springfield will play outside in Portuguese Square on Ryder Street. Other musical acts include local band Twisted Jukebox on Friday, June 24 from 3 to 5 p.m. on Ryder Street, followed by The Capitalitas from 5 to 7:30 p.m. and Nelia from 8 to 10 p.m.
Kids’ activities include face painting on Friday, June 24 from noon to 5 p.m. in Portuguese Square, where a local crafts fair will also be held. On Saturday, June 25, games will be held at Motta Field from 10 a.m. to noon, and then the Toe Jam Puppet Band will perform from 2 to 5 p.m. on Ryder Street.
Frank Gaspar, the celebrated poet from Provincetown, will read at the Crown & Anchor along with other writers of Portuguese descent on Friday, June 24 from 2 to 4 p.m.
The festival parade will begin at the Harbor Hotel and proceed down Commercial Street on Saturday, June 25 from 3 to 5 p.m. A fishermen’s Mass will be celebrated on Sunday, June 26 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Peter the Apostle Church, followed by a procession to MacMillan Pier and the Blessing of the Fleet at 1 p.m.
For a full list of events, see provincetownportuguesefestival.com.
Giant Puppet Parade
Construction of giant marine animal puppets has been underway for students from pre-K to eighth grade at the Provincetown International Baccalaureate Schools for the past two weeks. They have been preparing for a summer solstice parade through Provincetown streets.
The Giant Puppet Parade will take place at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, June 21. It will begin at the I.B. School, formerly Provincetown High School, on Winslow Street and proceed through High Pole Hill, Ryder Street, and Commercial Street, ending at Carver Street.
“The goal is to celebrate the I.B. Schools and our community,” says resource teacher Dianna Morton.
Each grade is highlighting a specific marine animal. Puppets range from oversized octopi with bottle-cap suckers to giant jellyfish with shower-curtain tentacles. Some will be worn as costumes, others mounted on stakes.
The students combined creativity with science in the art room, using rulers and measuring tapes alongside scissors and paint brushes. They used mainly recycled materials, though the school was awarded two grants from the state (a Mass Cultural grant and a Cape Cod 5 grant) to fund the project.
Fifth-grade students expressed excitement about the upcoming parade as they posed with pipe cleaners in hula hoop skirts — the early stages of jellyfish formation.
Ann Guiliani in Wellfleet
Ann Guiliani’s gestural paintings, drawings, and prints are spread across two galleries in Wellfleet this month.
Her exhibition “Origins,” curated by Vicky Tomayko at Wellfleet Preservation Hall (335 Main St.) and on display until June 29, features work from over 20 years. Guiliani describes the imagery as “connected with life” and as a reflection of changes and transformations.
A concurrent show, running from June 16 to June 28 at AMZehnder Gallery (25 Bank St.), features her monoprints along with works by Cammie Watson and Jay McDermott.
The works on display show Guiliani rendering her immediate environment in confident strokes, which, in some works, veer into abstraction. An opening celebration for her exhibition at AMZehnder will be on Saturday, June 18 from 6 to 8 p.m.
Bert Jackson’s Wicked Trio at Aqua Bar
It’s only June, but some are already suffering from high-season craziness. One solution to the problem: a drink, an ocean view, and some acoustic blues, jazz, and R&B.
Bert Jackson’s Wicked Trio will be performing live and providing good vibes at Aqua Bar in Provincetown (207 Commercial St.) on Saturday, June 18 at 8 p.m.
Jackson, who lives in Brewster and who has performed at venues all over the Outer Cape, fronts two bands. The other is a quartet that plays jazz standards and original compositions.
The Wicked Trio is Jackson’s more fun and experimental side — music for “dancing and grooving.”
Randy Roberts at Post Office Cafe
“Between you and me, I’m getting too old for this shit,” drag queen Randy Roberts says of his upcoming show at the Post Office Cafe & Cabaret in Provincetown (303 Commercial St.), running Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 7 p.m. until Sept. 7.
Roberts doesn’t sound old, though. In fact, he sounds sprightly. He speaks at breakneck speed, jumping from one line of thought to the next.
In his show, Roberts hops from one character to another, including Joan Rivers, Cher, and his original Randy Roberts. Roberts is used to this speed, though — he’s been performing in Provincetown since 1999.
The big change this time around? Roberts won’t be leaving the stage. All costume changes will take place — at a snappy pace, he hopes — behind a divider.
“Also, I am, for the first time, getting a little political,” he says. “Oh god, politics.”
Roberts loves performing here: “Audiences in Provincetown are always gayer. It’s nice to have your own people come to your show. You’re not just the oddball entertainment.”
