Weekend in Provincetown

The weather forecasts were still threatening, but on Saturday morning we drove out to Provincetown, MA for the weekend. We had, after all, already paid for the room.

Traffic was light for a weekend, so we got to Ptown early and after checking in, we biked over to Commercial Street and started visiting Art galleries. There are many, perhaps close to 50, but we didn’t see them all.

After checking out the excellent Art in a couple of galleries in an old schoolhouse, we got sandwiches at Angel Foods – named by Yankee Magazine as the “Best Take-Out” in New England. Basically just a small food store with a deli, the ambiance was wonderful. The sandwiches divine. Marie had a Provencal, which featured goat cheese, slices of grilled eggplant, crushed fresh basil, and roasted peppers on a brioche roll. I got an Italian that was stuffed with meat and perfect toppings. The woman making the sandwiches took her time and traded good natured barbs with the other workers. We sat on a bench outside the store and ate our lunch.

Across the street was the Provincetown Art Association Museum. Since they were preparing for a wedding in the museum, we were offered a reduced admission of $5 each. We were only slightly inconvenience and it was fun watching the members of the family and wedding party socialize and take pictures. We didn’t, however, see the bride.

We did see paintings from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design at the Fine Arts Work Center MFA Thesis Show, the Members Juried Exhibition, and a display of sketches by Will Barnett, whose Art we saw last week at the National Academy Museum in New York. Here are a few examples:

Horse Studies by Jo Hay

The Witch and the Whale by Tim Winn

004 by Selina Trieff

Heaven to Earth by Marian Roth

 Dionysus (after a Pompei wall painting) by Salvatore Fiumara

Study for Self-Portait and Woman with Cat by Will Barnet, 1983

Study for the Caller by Will Barnet, 1976

Study for Meditation and Minou by Will Barnet

Outside was a pair of sculpture gardens:

Back across the street, next to Angel Foods, was the Julie Heller Gallery East where we met Katrina. A passionate, enthusiastic, often confused guide to the Art that Julie has acquired - the largest selection of Art by the early members of the Provincetown Art Colony. People like Karl Knaths, Milton Avery, William Zorach, Sol Wilson, and even Charles Hawthorne, the founder of the school.

The Rock by B.J.O. Nordfeldt

Mudhead by student of Charles Hawthorne

There was also work by contemporary artists, including Katrina herself. In addition to a few local sights, she painted a dove and a purple finch in human clothing. While at first I was not amused by it, she explained how the dove was so attentive to the finch, even though they were mated to others for life. “I love listening to them. They have a world of their own.” The sad part of the story is that Katrina, who has been with Julie for sixteen years, has diabetic retinopathy and is going blind. She’s from Canada and will spend six months this winter in Nova Scotia. Her plan is to paint a self-portrait while viewing herself through her eyes, which are failing at different rates. She keeps smiling, however.

Mr. P Finch and Friend by Katrina Walker

We continued down Commercial Street stopping at galleries that appealed to us. There are so many, it’s easy to be choosy. At Kyle Ringquist’s Studio, Marie chatted with the artist about his techniques of painting on the back of glass with acrylic paint to create unexpected images. Although this is also a sales technique, she enjoyed speculating on the experimental nature of his work.

There was Art by the father and son, Robert and Julian Cardinal at the Kiley Court Gallery:

I didn’t make notes as to all the galleries we visited, but we saw a great deal of work. And, might I add, at very high prices. We wondered how they could all stay in business. Katrina told us about how a woman from Hong Kong purchased a $60,000 painting and took a cab from Boston to pick it up.

The scenes were colorful and people were friendly, as we glimpsed the bay through the buildings. It was a very pleasant way to spend the day. Here are a few shots:

bench created by Julian Popko

They Also Faced the Sea by Ewa Nogiec and Norma Holt

We visited the other Julie Heller Gallery:

Marie looking at beads with Julie

Then had a couple of Guinness to go with the fried clams and Clams Vongole at the Surf Club Restaurant, overlooking the bay, and then it was evening:

Pilgrim Monument

On Sunday, we rode our bikes back “down town” for egg sandwiches on fresh Portuguese buns while watching the morning sun glint off the water. We then drove around Race Point taking in the views before heading home:

We stopped at Head of the Meadow Beach in Truro, part of the Cape Cod National Seashore. The sand was very soft, which made walking a challenge, and, amazingly, there were no waves, but we enjoyed the peace and watched a giant seal occasionally emerge as it swam just off-shore. Then we rode our bikes along a bumpy two-mile trail, and back, before continuing.

Took the scenic route through Brewster to Dennis, where we found (though there was no signage) the Cape Cod Museum of Art. Not impressive online, the next show looked more interesting and we decided not to pay the $8 admission.

Windrush II by Paul Bowen

Large female head by Harry Holl

Finally, over the Cape Cod Canal, we were going to have lunch at the Buzzards Bay Scallop Festival, but the $20 a plate (including admission) didn’t seem like a good idea, so we got some tasty Thai food instead and drove home.