Juni Van Dyke, Director of the Art Program at the Rose Baker Senior Center, recently unveiled the Artists of the Month exhibit for May and June. Every two months artists from the program are honored with an exhibit of their works in the lobby of the Senior Center. The public is encouraged to stop by the Center between 9am and 4pm any weekday to see the work of these accomplished artists.

For May and June, Juni has selected two artists who have been honored before: Helen Burgess and MaryRhinelander McCarl. The artists are shown below: Helen (l) and Mary (r) with Juni in front of the exhibit.

Helen Burgess was honored in an exhibit last February with her daughter Valerie Sadler. It was Valerie who convinced her Mother to attend the Rose Baker art program. Although Helen insisted she had no artistic talent at all, she gave the program a try. Juni and the participants in the program are glad she did as they have found her participation inspiring.

For this exhibit, Helen selected some of her more whimsical paintings. These works happily engage us by way of her untutored application of paint reminiscent of the practice of pointillism, a technique named for the clustering of tiny dots of color.  Historically, the Impressionist painters, most notably Seurat, first recognized pointillism. Below is one of the Helen’s works in this exhibit.

Mary Rhinelander McCarl was the May artist of the month in 2016, one of the first to receive this honor. In the summer months, she paints the beaches, marshes, and rocks of Cape Ann.  During the long Cape Ann winter she concentrates on painting flower arrangements and collages inspired by her study of Medieval Art.  Over the years, Mary has studied printmaking, batik, embroidery, and quilt making.

For this exhibit Mary selected several of her water-paint collages. Many of these works are infused with a background energy enhanced by the juxtaposition of softer tones. While in other collages, the reverse is true with the layering of more energetic tones upon a softer background.  Mary’s work is superbly unique as you can see here.

FINAL SNEAK PEEK! Count down begins! Volunteers and staff for The Open Door 18th annual Empty Bowl Dinner on Thursday, May 3 are busy as bees!  Soups and cookies are being made and collected, bowls are journeying from kiln to display!

Doors at Cruiseport Gloucester open at 4 p.m. and close at 8p.m. so you have 4 solid hours to fall in love with a bowl, bid on those Silent Auction Bowls, and tuck into some delicious local soup, bread and cookies!

This year is The Open Door’s 40th Anniversary, so come also to eat cake and celebrate!

Hope to see you there!

Still on the hunt for opportunities and activities for high school students over the summer?

Introducing the newest program from Gloucester Biotechnology Academy – SummerSTEM: Fish Fraud Forensics!

Gloucester Biotechnology Academy’s SummerSTEM: Fish Fraud Forensics is a one-week, hands-on summer course to introduce high school students to biotechnology. Held at the state-of-the-art teaching laboratory at Gloucester Biotechnology Academy, students will use modern biotechnology methods to identify a mystery fish specimen by analyzing its DNA.

Registration is now open to all high school students, ages 14 to 18 – no science experience required!  Visit our website at gmgi.org/summerstem/ to learn more and download the registration forms. 

ATTENTION Gloucester High School Students (and Parents):

Applications for 2018 summer jobs are now being accepted – summer is only 6 weeks away!

Apply for a GHS summer internship for July and August. Get a jump on your friends and nail down a summer job. THERE ARE VERY LIMITED OPEN SLOTS, SO WE LOOK FORWARD TO REVIEWING YOUR APPLICATION ASAP!

As part of this internship you will:

• Be matched with a local company where you will gain important workplace skills  – we have numerous job listings at a wide range of employers!
• Be paid minimum wage or a stipend
• Start to build a solid resume for college and future endeavors

Internship highlights:

• Open to students in 9^th through 12^th grades
• Interviews being conducted NOW!
• A 2.5 hour workshop each Wednesday at GHS to learn valuable workplace skills during the weeks of July 9th- August 17th, and an internship placement at least 10 hours per week (exact weeks/hours will depend on the employer but will mostly be over those 6 weeks)

Applications are available online through LEAP for Education’s website: https://www.leap4ed.org/programs/internship-program/registration/

You may also apply by contacting JoAnn Leavitt at 774-270-0119 or jeavitt50@gmail.com. There is also a QR code on the internship flyer below.

 If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact:
JoAnn Leavitt
Gloucester Program Coordinator
LEAP for Education
774-270-0119
jleavitt50@gmail.com

Saturday May 5th from 9 am to 3 pm at Market Basket and Shaw’s the Gloucester Knights of Columbus and Rockport Boy Scouts will be collecting non-perishable food items for the St Vincent de Paul Food Pantry at Holy Family Parish All collections will support local Cape Ann Families. Come help us help our neighbors!

The meal is simple– soup, bread and a cookie. Choose a beautiful bowl made with care by a local artist, and take it home as an unspoken reminder that somewhere in our community someone’s bowl is empty.

The Open Door’s 18th annual Empty Bowl Dinner will be held on Thursday, May 3, from 4 to 8 p.m. at Cruiseport Gloucester.  Extra parking is available at Good Harbor Beach with free trolley service provided by CATA to and from the event site. Tickets are $20 ($15 for children under 10) and available at the door. Cash, check or charge.

“The Open Door provides household stabilization with good food,” said Julie LaFontaine, executive director. “The Empty Bowl Dinner helps raise awareness of hunger in our community and supports our Summer Meals and Mobile Market programs with locations in Gloucester, Rockport and Ipswich.”

More than 1,000 bowls have been created for the event by community members young and old.  Silent Auction bowls include donated talent from local artists and professional potters. Soup has been comes from generous restaurants and caterers. 

“The event is an example of a community coming together,” said LaFontaine. “Each one contributes to make a successful evening, and the bowl goes home as a reminder that somewhere, someone’s bowl is empty.”

Last year The Open Door improved the health and lives of 7,747 individuals with 1,837,094 pounds of fresh produce, meals and groceries.

For more information call, 978-283-6776, or visit www.foodpantry.org