EASTHAM — The white tents are up, a summer ritual that fills the lawn of the 1869 Schoolhouse Museum. Under their shade, browsers rub elbows with painters, collect, and gossip. […]
Art
DESIGN
Creating Works That ‘Take the Place of Things’
How two Outer Cape logos have settled into our visual vocabularies
The Nike swoosh; McDonald’s golden arches; the Macintosh apple. These designs are deeply ingrained in our visual vocabularies, recognized in a space where image and commerce mingle. “Logos take the […]
HELPING HANDS
Lauren Ewing Explores the Possibilities of the Human Hand
The artist shows two suites of works finger-painted with carbon black soot
Lauren Ewing is wearing a narrow pin that she designed and fabricated. In lower case, it reads “everything speaks.” “My art is all about the world that we live in, […]
NO HIDING
Amy Ford’s Paintings of the Open Road
An artist finds her identity after a long journey
Amy Ford has titled her solo show at the Provincetown Commons “The Open Road” after Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of the Open Road” because it so well describes her own […]
BACK DOOR ART
A Funny, Subversive Show Opens at PAAM
Zehra Khan reimagines art history with bedsheets, glue guns, and Sharpies
To reach Zehra Khan’s zany show at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, one must walk through Philip Malicoat’s impressive exhibition of somber, formally astute paintings, rendered in a narrow […]
THE RECYCLER
Mike Wright Pieces Together Provincetown’s Past
The artist uncovers the town’s history in books, beaches, and dumpsters
In the back yard of her home in Provincetown, Mike Wright opens the doors to her studio. Pieces of wood crowd against the walls, loosely organized by color. A white […]
REPETITION
Three Veterans of the Fine Arts Work Center
FAWC’s students and teachers keep coming back, year after year
PROVINCETOWN — Every summer the Fine Arts Work Center welcomes people from around the world to its visual art, photography, and writing workshops. Topics range from “The Intimate Portrait,” taught […]
THE STROLL
Provincetown, Friday Night
Seen and heard on Commercial Street on the weekly gallery ramble
Cortile Gallery, 230 Commercial St. At Cortile, Beth Donovan, a Provincetown local, admires Sunset Sail, painted by Ed Walsh. “I’m pretty sure it’s a rendition of the schooner Hindu,” she […]
CONTEMPORARY ART
Wendy White Puts Painting in Its Place
‘Sunset Drift’ challenges painting’s revered status in a show both playful and dark
Wendy White wants to know why painting is held in such high esteem compared to other art forms. “I’m a little skeptical about whether all those accolades are fair. It’s […]
PORTRAITS
P’town’s Women at Mischa Richter’s New Gallery
Each of Nancy Loeber’s subjects leaves ‘some kind of light’
During the pandemic, Mischa Richter returned to Provincetown, where he was born and raised, with two related goals: he would run a gallery in the summer and publish art books […]
COLLABORATION
Finding Fresh Inspiration in Ancient Sources
Ellen LeBow, Mary Gordon, and Suzzy Roche look to the past for creative direction
In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, Jesus comes upon a fig tree toward the end of a long journey. Hungry, he curses the tree when he finds only leaves, […]
AESTHETICS
Finding Material Pleasure in the Glitch
Former FAWC fellows respond to instability with inventive and sensuous forms
The densest thing about “Density’s Glitch,” the current show at the Fine Arts Work Center (FAWC), is the accompanying text. Just a page in length, it has some knotty phrases. […]
LINE AND COLOR
Cynthia Packard Wages War to Find the Right Lines
The artist wants her paintings to have ‘a reason to survive’
Cynthia Packard says she dances with her paintings. It must be a tango or flamenco; it’s not a waltz. Her intensely physical approach to painting is intuitive, abrupt, sure, and […]
PEOPLE WATCHING
Daphne Confar Makes Stories Out of Strangers
Finding the little things, and the ones that are lovable
Amid the hustle and bustle of Commercial Street, we all watch other people. Grabbing what we can from someone’s bright yellow shirt, leather chaps, or bald spot, we invent a […]
SKIN AND INK
Welcome to Tattoo Summer Camp
In a Provincetown parlor, individualists share their styles
PROVINCETOWN — Walk down Commercial Street in the summer and you’ll feel the buzz. Party conversations linger. Kids splash on the shore. New waiters rush to tables. Dogs wrestle. Drag […]
