Cape Ann Arts & Culture Multi-genre Writing Project: First Steps

Step One:

Understand what is meant by "Cape Ann Art and Culture"

Cape Ann: Gloucester, Rockport, Manchester, Essex
Art: (examples) poetry, fiction, music, painting, photography, sculpture, dance, theatre, film, etc.
Culture: behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought (examples: religious practices and traditions (like St. Peter’s Fiesta and the Portuguese Crowning Ceremony), civic traditions (like Lanesville’s infamous parade, the Horribles Parade), public art and architecture (City Hall, the carved rocks in Dogtown, the Man at the Wheel statue, the Fisherman’s Wife statue, various memorials throughout the city, the murals in City Hall), civic institutions (the schools, the Cape Ann Symphony Orchestra, Fisherman’s Wives Association, St. Peter’s Club, etc.), cultural figures (Hannah Jumper, Roger Babson, Ebenezeer Babson, Howard Blackburn)

Step Two:
Research a topic within the boundaries of "Cape Ann Art and Culture."
For the preliminary research you may use the internet and Sawyer Free.

Here are some ideas:

VISUAL ARTISTS

For visual artists I consulted my friend, Greg Cook (no relation), who lived in Gloucester for ten years and now writes art reviews for the Boston Globe and Boston Phoenix. Greg is also one of the major figures on the independent comics scene.

Here’s what Greg had to say in response to a query about Gloucester artists:

The easiest reference for Cape Ann artists is a 2001 book by Kristian Davies Artists of Cape Ann. He lists the key locals.

Here's a starter list:

Painters
Milton Avery, Cecilia Beaux, Nell Blaine, Bernard Chaet [living!], Stuart Davis, Adolph Gottlieb, Marsden Hartley, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, William Morris Hunt, Fitz Henry Lane, Maruice Prendergast, Aaron Siskind, John Sloan, John Henry Twatchman, Stow Wengroth

Mark Rothko was in Gloucester at least part of one summer.
John Singer Sargent has ties to the Sargent House (which owns some of his paintings), but I don't believe he was active at all in Glou.

Allan Freelon, African American painter who summered some in Gloucester, show at CAHA a few years back

Sculptors

George Demetrios, George Aarons, Paul Manship, Walker Hancock

Other
Virginia Lee Burton, the great children's book illustrator and Folly Cove Designer ringleader
Folly Cove Designers
Henry Sleeper's Beauport
Charles Lowe, GDT photog

Living Artists
Charles Movalli of Gloucester, painter who wrote several how to books, I believe
Nubar Alexanian, photog with books on musicians, southern americas, gloucester
Lynn Swigart's photo book "Olson's Gloucester"
Ernest Morin, photos in Peter Anastas book "Broken Trip"?
Robert Stephenson, small catalogue published of his dreamy paintings
Anne Rearick, book of her pix in Basque France and Spain
Josh Reynolds, gloucester pix book
Dana Salvo, book on his Mexico altar pix
Peter Prybot's books?
Paul Cary Goldberg, I think his gallery published some small catalogue (s)
Les Bartlett, Rockport photographer
Ken Hruby, sculptor, there must be some catalogue somewhere on his work
Jon Sarkin, painter/drawer, included in catalogue for 2006 DeCordova Annual exhibition, etc.
Anna Vojtech has illustrated kids books
Clara Wainwright, quilter, founder (I think) of First Night Boston and Boston Kite Fest.
Susan Erony included in come catalogues -- I don't know if there was a catalogue for "Witness and Legacy: Contemporary ARt about the Holocaust" at the DeCordova Museum in 2000, but she's included (and so is her husband Jay Jaroslav) in the catalogue "Searching the Criminal Body: Art/Science/Prejudice" for 2000 show at SUNY Albany.
Jay Jaroslav -- there's supposed to be a cool catalogue from the 70s/ 80s? of his work. Supposedly very rare.
Gap Lafata et al's Photo History of Gloucester books
St. Peter's Fiesta pix book
Nancy Marculewicz of Essex pub how to book "Making Monotypes Using a Gelatin Plate"
Dorothy Kerper Monnelly of Ipswich pub book of her photos "Great Marsh: Between Land and Sea" in 2006.
I think there's some book on politico-conceptual art that mentions Lara Lepionka of Gloucester, though it may not be out yet.
and, uh, maybe
Greg Cook, "Catch As Catch Can"

Tony Million

Also you could consult SeArts.org for a more comprehensive list of living artists on Cape Ann.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Poets

Hiram Rich, Clarence Manning Falt, Percy McKaye, Lora Clark, Kitty Parson, T.S. Eliot, Marsden Hartley, Jeremy Ingalls (Mildred Dodge), Vincent Ferrini, Charles Olson, Gerrit Lansing, Linda (Crane) Parker, Schuyler Hoffman, Patrick Doud, Michael County, Kevin Gallagher, Anne Babson Carter, Charlotte Gordon, John Ronan, Peter Tuttle, Ray Bentley (Folly Cove Press)

Poems (about Gloucester written by non-residents)

“The Wreck of the Hesperus” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Gloucester Moors” William Vaughn Moody

“From Gloucester Out” Ed Dorn

“Cape Ann and Ourselves” Lawrence Ferlinghetti

“Reading in Bed” John Wieners

Prose

At the Cut (memoir) and Broken Trip (fiction) by Peter Anastas; Prologos, Gloucesterbook, Gloucestertide (fiction) by Jonathan Bayliss; Captains Courageous (fiction) by Rudyard Kipling; Finest Kind (nonfiction) by Kim Bartlett; The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger; Gone Boy (nonfiction) by Gregor Gibson; The Siege of Salt Cove (fiction) by Anthony Weller; biographies of Hemingway, Hawthorne, etc. by James R. Mellow; Good Harbor and The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant

Playwrights

Israel Horowitz, J.J. Coyle, John Ronan, Schuyler Hoffman

See also: Gloucester Stage Company, West End Theatre