Last night was exciting and really felt like my first experience in Provincetown doing what I came here to do. I spent the evening going to art gallery openings. I never really realized it, but the art community here on the Cape is wonderful and full of life and talent. The community produces a bunch of different types of art. There are the normal oil paintings, but also jewelry, found object sculptures, and different types of block prints, a style of which is specific to Provincetown and supposedly a major topic among artists. The two galleries that I went to last night were the Cortile Gallery and the Berta Walker Gallery.
The first one was a collection of many artists in the area. As a result of my earlier visit in the afternoon, I was really attracted to two paintings by two different artists. The gallery hosts that invited me to the opening picked up easily on this and introduced me to A. Paul Filiberto. It was the first time I had ever gotten to speak directly to an artist who was exhibiting his work- I was mildly star-struck but held it together enough to talk about his work. I loved all his pieces, but the one piece that I really enjoy is a sailing boat and has two people sitting on it titled Under Sail. His style of painting is very intense. It uses thick strokes and a heavy application of paint. Despite this intense style of painting, he is able to create a serene picture that makes the paint look like it was applied without much effort. The paint blends together to make a boat that sails effortlessly across the ocean, but then to your surprise he creates a wave slightly off centered. The gliding of the ship across the ocean is immediately experienced when one realizes that the boat actually is cutting through the waves. I felt a change of emotions when I saw this wave that changed from a sense of calmness and serenity of being on a boat to excitement and awe at the beauty of the whole composition. I was even more amazed when the artist invites me to his workshop!
Almost by accident I started talking to the other artist whose work I liked and who shares the same studio with A. Paul Filiberto, Brenda Silva. We talked about her pieces and she told me she paints the things she knows best; boats, horses, and the town. I was at first skeptical about the gallery because I didn’t know if it was a tourist trap that was meant to showcase the pieces only tourists would buy. After speaking with the artists I realize that the artwork in the area is very much grounded in the beauty of the area and the sense of community the artists have created on the Cape. The gallery was full of scenes of P-Town and the surrounding dunes and oceans. It was a great collection that displayed the beauty of the area that not only the tourists would like, but that the artists themselves enjoy. While at the Cortile I was introduced to a man who took pictures at gallery openings and he told me I should visit the Berta Walker Gallery because it is one of the well known ones in town.
This gallery was set up to celebrate the 80th birthday of Anne MacAdam. It started with her college pieces and progressed through the years to her paintings that included exquisite landscapes of the sand dunes on the Cape and scenic vistas in Vermont. What I liked most about these openings is that you get to speak with the artist. I spoke with Anne about her Vermont landscape Far Meadow in particular and she pointed out things I never realized when I looked at it myself. The slight curvature of the horizon line that represents the roundness of the Earth and the landscape, as well as how the tress disappear behind the meadow because the trees were actually off in the distance after the meadow slopes downward. The picture captured an interesting scene in nature that I did not fully comprehend until I spoke with Anne; you gain a better appreciation for the work this way speaking with the artist. I will definitely be going to other openings around town. It’s a great way to make connections and enjoy myself at the same time!
Besides my “night on the town,” at the close of my first week here I finally feel established. I visited PAAM and volunteered to help with their mass mailing. I got to see who I would be working with and it was great because I picked up a few other opportunities to help out before my official start day on June 9th or 10th. I’m hopefully going to be helping set up the gallery for the opening on the 28th where I will be greeting and helping guests find their name tags. I also got hired at Stop & Shop as a cashier so I will be able to pay the rest of my rent and get food! If that had not happened I probably would not have had a hard time finding a job. Just talking with people around town you are offered jobs if you seem serious enough to want one. P-town is a big party and vacation town, so if you seem like a good worker you will most likely be offered a job early in the season.
My room is beginning to feel like a dorm room! I have a little more food than I do at Wheaton, but my stuff is scattered about and I lounge in here for mini siestas throughout the day just like at school. I’m definitely still in college mode, but this time there’s no homework! I’m learning how to cook and it’s going well. I have only eaten out once this week! I finished reading The Color Purple and am now starting my second book of the summer, His Panic. There’s no Dunkin’ Donuts here, but I have found a great little internet café called the Wired Puppy and spend a lot of my mornings there. I’ll write again soon and I’m going to try to keep this blog up over the summer.
