Get out to a museum & more: 6 ideas for where to add Cape Cod art to your January
Viewing art can be a balm for the soul, a source of inspiration, an experience to get you thinking and much more. Cape Cod is a creative magnet, so there are many ways to find art here and to enjoy the work of artists connected to our communities.
While some galleries and museums are closed for the winter or part of it, art can be found at many types of places. Numerous public buildings hang local artists’ work, some galleries are open this month (often at reduced hours or by appointment), and dozens of artists have work to see online.
One place for virtual viewing is through https://www.provincetownartgalleryassociation.org, a collaboration between dozens of Provincetown artists that was born in the early months of the pandemic. There is information and connections to galleries on the website, but there’s also art.
To see art up close in real life, though here are five ideas for Cape places to stop to see new shows to brighten up your mid-January, plus one preview of a show opening later in the month that could be worth a visit.
Where to see some art shows
Please check websites for up-to-date hours and COVID-19 protocols.
► The Cultural Center of Cape Cod (307 Old Main St., South Yarmouth) will kick off 2022 with its "13th annual Members Exhibition," which includes works representing multiple experience levels and done in a variety of media. The show in all four of the center’s galleries also represents “a group coming together to support each other,” according to center officials. Also on display will be the work of Edith Tonelli-Sumi in the center’s Education Wing.
The members’ exhibit is open Jan. 11-Feb. 5; Tonelli-Sumi’s work can be seen Jan. 12-Feb. 19. An opening reception for both exhibits will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14. Information: https://www.cultural-center.org/.
► For its first show of 2022, the Wellfleet Adult Community Center (formerly the Wellfleet Council on Aging, 715 Old King’s Highway) is showcasing 20 pieces of art created over the past year by Cherie Mittenthal, executive artistic director of the Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. The exhibit is called “New Year/ New Work: Work of Encaustic & Mixed Media,” and Mittenthal, who has a studio in Provincetown, has for the past 17 years been working predominantly in wax or encaustic paint while integrating pigment sticks, oil, tar, marble dust, ash, dry materials, graphite, rubber, collage, clay and miscellaneous mediums. She is also a photographer.
The center is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. A reception will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16. Information: 508-349-0313.
► The Cape Cod Museum of Art (60 Hope Lane, Dennis) has three exhibits that opened last month and will be on view through early to mid-March, and a fourth exhibit new this week. The shows represent various ways that the museum shares art: focusing on one artist’s vision; featuring a collection of artists; and pieces from the museum’s permanent collection of work by Cape artists.
"Transparent | Translucent | Opaque: Layered Meanings," on view Jan. 12 through April 10, is the annual members exhibit that this year asked artists to submit work that fit those terms, literally and metaphorically.
“Terra Form: A Cape Cod Potters Juried Exhibition” displays 55 ceramic objects, functional and nonfunctional, to mark the 50th anniversary of that organization and the 40th anniversary for the museum. Both non-profit organizations owe their existence, according to museum information, in part to the same man — late sculptor/potter Harry Holl, who co-founded both organizations. A 4 p.m. talk and 5 p.m. reception connected to the exhibit will be held Thursday, Jan. 20.
Cape Cod theater review: Barnstable Comedy Club's comedic look at friendship is a work of 'Art'
Work from the collection that has grown in the museum's 40-year lifespan can be viewed in the exhibit titled “The Collection of Ann F. Bengtson, Patron of the Arts," featuring 63 pieces of modern art — paintings, drawings, sculptures and mixed media assemblages — donated by the late East Falmouth resident.
According to information from former artistic director Suzanne Packer that is displayed with the artwork, Bengtson acquainted herself with the Cape after moving here in the early ‘80s by attending estate sales and attending art openings and visiting studios. At one time, her collection of local art filled her house and garage, Packer said, and she created shows in a variety of local buildings, including one of William H. Littlefield paintings at the CCMOA.
Bengtson gifted the museum with 75 works of art by 17 artists over 21 years, according to Packer.
“Jane Eccles: The Art of Wet Pulp Painting” is an exhibit that features the hand-made paper art of the year-round Cape resident. Eccles, an internationally known papermaker, works primarily in oils en plein air, according to information from the museum, and is also an award-winning pastel artist. Her work is in several museum collections, including at CCMOA and Provincetown Art Association and Museum.
► The Provincetown Art Association and Museum (460 Commercial St.) has ongoing exhibits that can be viewed through Jan. 23 (one through Jan. 30) that all focus on works in its permanent collection, which holds nearly 4,000 pieces of art by more than 700 20th-century and contemporary artists.
Cold-weather reading: 5 new books by Cape Cod authors
Some exhibits showcase recent gifts (PAAM receives about 100 news works each year) while “The Same Four Walls: Intimate Interiors from the Permanent Collection” was inspired by the restrictions of the pandemic. With people staying home among familiar items more than usual, the exhibit “seeks to explore the interior as both subject and muse,” according to PAAM material. “Artists capture their surroundings in various ways – how does the space we inhabit inspire us?” The works involve artists’ spaces, activities and the idea of solitude.
Can’t get to Provincetown? Through donations, PAAM was able to buy software that can be used to create 3D renderings of its galleries to see current shows. So those far away can enter “PAAM In 3D: The Virtual Experience” online. More information on all: https://paam.org/exhibitions/.
► Retired scientist Bob Gould had the idea for a student show of photographs, “Witnessing Climate Change,” that brings together 57 photos by students at Falmouth High School, Falmouth Academy and Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School at Falmouth Art Center (137 Gifford St.). Each depiction of nature, society or community includes a short statement. The show is on display through January; center hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. Information: https://falmouthart.org/, 508-540-3304.
'Critical' funding: 50 Cape Cod & Islands cultural programs and events win local, state grants
► The winter exhibit at Cotuit Center for the Arts (4404 Route 28) is called “In a Mood,” giving artists license to depict all types of moods, from dreaming or brooding to being creative or lazy. The show is due to be on display Jan. 22 to March 5. Information: artsonthecape.org.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Get to a museum & more: 6 ideas for adding Cape Cod art to your January
