After a three-decade run, the Incredible Casuals, a Cape Cod rock band described by Rolling Stone as “the Beach Boys meets the Who,” disbanded in 2013. The band had performed […]
WHAT STICKS
Putting the Pieces Together
An exhibition at the Commons celebrates the immediacy of collage
For the past few years, Karen Cappotto and James Ryan, co-founders of the Modern Provincetown Collagists, have mounted an annual exhibition at the Commons on Bradford Street celebrating collage as […]
HER STORY
Clara Schumann’s Romances
A classical concert of ‘mavericks’ brings a hidden master to light
The obituary of Clara Schumann, who died on May 20, 1896 at age 76, was published on June 1 of that year in The Musical Times and Singing-Class Circular. The […]
DREAM STATE
Poetry in Motion
Monique Brunet-Weinmann’s new book, Exil, recounts anxious times and a migration story
As a child, reared close to the Atlantic Ocean in Brittany, the westernmost region of France, Monique Brunet-Weinmann excelled at reciting poetry from memory. “Pretty soon,” she says, “I started […]
MUSIC FOR LIVING
When Home Is Where the Heart Is
Cara Brindisi, a singer-songwriter and music therapist, finds a place of her own
Two years ago, Cara Brindisi went into her blind audition for Season 22 of The Voice with a plan: to join Blake Shelton’s team if the country star turned his […]
One Strong Table
Peter McMahon’s design can be as fancy or plain as its materials make it
Peter McMahon is not going to brag about his tables. They are what he calls “a Flintstones solution” to a practical problem. After McMahon founded the Cape Cod Modern House […]
The Tire Swing Grows Up
Jeff Soderbergh’s ring chair is made of history
The wood floors of Jeff Soderbergh’s furniture workshop in Portsmouth, R.I. were salvaged from the box cars of old freight trains. The beams that support the building, which sits right […]
TRADITIONS
A Last Minute Pisanki Party
Sometimes, putting your eggs in one basket is just fine
You don’t have to spend hours preparing for an Easter egg decorating party. On a rainy Saturday morning before the holiday weekend, Agata Storer puts 24 white-shelled eggs on to […]
IN THE MIDS
Demons on the Hour
Sara Martin is a death tourist, a mockumentarian, and a poet
Sara Martin takes a seat in the courtyard at the Fine Arts Work Center and turns her face toward the sun. It’s just past 2 p.m. “Two p.m. is a […]
A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING
Sean Gardner’s Miniature Maximalism
In a small Provincetown apartment, the more you look, the more you see
Sean Gardner notices that a visitor is transfixed by the unfocused stare of a crayon drawing of Bob Dylan on the wall of the West End apartment he shares with […]
IN TUNE
Music of the People, for the People
Hildaland waltzes into the hidden corners of quietude and freedom
In the folklore of Orkney, the wind-and-rain-lashed, green-cliffed archipelago in the north of Scotland, “Hildaland” — meaning “hidden land” — is a paradisiacal island, invisible to most, that is the […]
EVERLASTING RIPPLES
There’s Plenty of Hope in the Sea
In paintings and mixed media, Nancy Jenner finds beauty, inspiration, and a sense of herself
In recent years, the world has seemed especially cacophonous to artist Nancy Jenner. In a loud room, says Jenner, “I get quiet.” Her impulse is to travel inward, she says, […]
DEEP ROOTS
Paying His Dues and Playing the Blues
Fred Clayton, the ‘Blues Man of Cape Cod,’ has something to say
Before Fred Clayton had a guitar, he played “a stick with a string on it” — a “giant twig” curved and strung like an archer’s bow. He strummed along to […]
LOGGING IN
Fungi Are Forever
Leo Parent’s carved wooden mushrooms spring from finds on forest walks
Leo Parent takes a hand torch to the top of a large wooden mushroom, and the smoke puffs up, gray and fragrant. The torching technique is called shou sugi ban, […]
STILL FRAME
An Artist Takes a Moment
Solitude provides Zeinab Shahidi Marnani with new perspectives
Zeinab Shahidi Marnani, a visual arts fellow at Provincetown’s Fine Arts Work Center, spends a lot of time in relative isolation. “Seven months is a long time,” she says. She’s […]