The Sawyer Free Library is pleased to present a musical morning for children & families on Thursday, April 21 at 10:30am! The Cape Ann Symphony will presents the musical story of Katy and the Big Snow on the Main Floor of the library.
Come and hear the magic of the music with the storytelling of actress Heidi Dallin as they present the story by Virginia Lee Burton: Katy and the Big Snow! Learn about all the instruments and get a close up look at them!
Artist Stephanie Benenson’s Harbor Voices Public Art creates immersive family-friendly sound and light experience: May 6 & 7
For 40 years, Wellspring has supported hundreds of families from all ethnic backgrounds and walks of life achieve employment and financial security through stable housing, education, job training and career readiness. To mark its four-decade anniversary, the Cape Ann-based nonprofit organization is hosting “Voices of Belonging: Immigration Stories in Light & Sound” to bring the stories and sentiments of immigrant families alive with music, spoken word, and laser lighting for a captivating, participatory immersive experience.
Inspired by collective storytelling and powerful personal histories, Stephanie Terelak Benenson, a sound, light, and social impact artist, founded Harbor Voices Public Art Art in 2017. Her laser and sound installations feature more than 100 global stories of recent and ancestral immigrants to Cape Ann, ages 6 to 86, as choreographed lasers immerse you in a multilingual sound & light public art experience.
The works celebrate empathy, cultural identity, diversity, inclusivity, and resilience from the past to the present. The stories and experience then become a vehicle for social change. Her installations have been shared in Lynn, Worcester, Boston, Gloucester, Salem, and New York City.
The “Voices of Belonging” Friday Night Opening Party will be May 6 from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $100 and can be purchased online. On Saturday, May 7, “Voices of Belonging” will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. to the community at no charge for the family-friendly, all-are-welcome event. Free, timed tickets are strongly encouraged but walkups will be accommodated.
Cape Ann Blossoms brings together 20 floral designers to create arrangements that are paired with artworks, on view Sat. May 14 & Sun. May 15, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
To celebrate the beginning of spring, 20 North Shore and Cape Ann floral designers will create eye-catching, beautiful arrangements that will be paired with art works around Cape Ann Museum as part of the popular Cape Ann Blossoms event on Saturday, May 14 and Sunday, May 15 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Cape Ann Blossoms will open with a ticketed Gala preview party on Friday, May 13 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The party will include hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, and a chance to have the first view of the inspired floral compositions located throughout the Museum. Tickets are available online at capeannblossomspreviewparty.eventbrite.com. Free guided tours will be offered on Saturday, May 14 and Sunday, May 15 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with Museum admission. Space is limited and is first-come, first-served.
The show also dovetails with Judi Rotenberg’s exhibition at the Museum, featuring large-scale paintings, many of them colorful, grand floral designs. Among the artists in the Museum collection who will be paired with local floral designers are: Walker Hancock, Virginia Lee Burton, Umberto Romano, John Sloan, Frank Stella, Fitz Henry Lane, and others.
Among the designers and garden clubs participating will be: All Purpose Flowers, Audrey’s Flower Shop, Backyard Growers, Cape Ann Garden Club, Celia’s Flower Studio, Danvers Garden Club, Generous Gardeners, Glass Onion Floral Design, Ipswich Garden Club, Maia Mattson, Manchester Garden Club, Melon Rose, Meredith McCarthy Floral Design and Event Styling, Rockport Garden Club, Sage Floral Studio, Two Finches, and Vidalia’s, Leslie Pope & Mary Ethel Stuck, and Rumphius Flowers.
Large-scape paintings on view: April 30 to July 3, 2022
In time for spring, the Cape Ann Museum will proudly host an exhibit of the vibrant, large scale works of Judi Rotenberg. Life-long Rockport summer resident and highly-respected gallery owner, Rotenberg has spent 40 years creating vivid, colorful floral still life paintings that capture the fragility and strength of life. Her works will be on view from April 30 to July 3 at the Museum at 27 Pleasant St., in Gloucester.
Working primarily in acrylic, Rotenberg’s recent paintings are unabashedly beautiful, alive with color and motion. Each composition is vibrant and fresh and represents a new challenge for her. Her canvases are rich in detail, from the foreground and the table on which a vase and bouquet sit, through the center of the canvas with its explosion of blossoms, to the top of the composition where she often includes the view across her studio or out over Rockport Harbor.
The tradition of women artists working on Cape Ann is a strong one and through her work Rotenberg has earned a place among the most accomplished of them. Although long overshadowed by their male counterparts, women have consistently made important contributions in the field and continue to today. Many women painters have focused on still lifes, perhaps most notably Nell Blaine, but none have endowed their work with the color and power that Rotenberg has.
In connection with this special exhibition, the Cape Ann Museum is pleased to be presenting an encore of its 2019 program, Cape Ann Blossoms, May 14 and 15. Gallery talks are also planned and information on them can be found at www.capeannmuseum.org.
A unique Cape Ann Museum exhibit: Youths learned about renowned sculptor and created own renditions, on view April 16 to June 12, 2022
Sculpting Self is an inventive program that had eighth graders learning about the renowned work of Cape Ann sculptor Walker Hancock (1901-1998) while creating their own sculptures for an exhibit that will pair the student and master works together. They will be on view at the Museum, 27 Pleasant St., in Gloucester from April 16 to June 12, 2022.
The program was inspired by Hancock’s Basketball Series. Over 15 years from 1961 to 1977, the sculptor made sculptures inspired by watching the Gloucester High School varsity basketball team practice.
During the 2021-2022 school year, Cape Ann Museum Education Manager Miranda Aisling visited three area schools with classes of eighth graders twice to talk about Hancock’s work and to teach the students how to create their own wire armature and then cover it in clay. Each student was asked to portray themselves doing their favorite activity from reading to dancing to listening to music to playing video games. The sculptures capture the interest of eighth graders from Manchester-Essex Middle School, Rockport Middle School, and Gloucester’s O’Maley Middle School.
Beginning in 2020-2021, the Museum sought to bring together community members across Cape Ann for its annual Community Art Exhibition. The unique initiative provides an opportunity to celebrate student artwork alongside the Museum’s collection, creating a juxtaposition of emerging and established artists’ works. Last year, the exhibition was Quilted Together, featuring more than 637 self-portraits drawn by area residents of all ages during the pandemic.
There is lots going on at the Sawyer Free Library during April Vacation for kids and families of all ages to enjoy! Swing by to check it all out!
Saturday, April 16, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., Science Saturday with Marisa – Join Children’s Librarian Marisa for a morning of family fun of exploring facts and science topics through sensory play, stories, music and movement. Great for families and children of all ages. No registration needed.
Tuesday, April 19, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., Make It: Muppet Edition for Middle Schoolers –Great for kids in grades 4-8! Design and create your very own Muppet Puppet. Register Here!
Thursday, April 21, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., Cape Ann Symphony Family Concertand Reading – Musical adaptation of Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton. Great for families and children of all ages. No registration needed.
Thursday, April 21, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., Candy Bar Trivia Night for Middle Schoolers – Great for kids grades 4-8. How fast can you hit your buzzer? How many candy bars can you win? Join us for a night of trivia at the Library. Register Here!
Saturday, April 23, 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Introduction to Vernal Pools – Join Rick Roth and Cape Ann Vernal Pond Team for an introduction to vernal pools and all the amazing critters that call them home! Drop in and see what he brings and learn about vernal pools. Great for families and children of all ages. No registration needed.
While you’re at it, don’t forget to mark your calendars for Glo Con 22‘ on Saturday, April 30th from 10am – 3pm! The Sawyer Free Library’s first-ever Comic-Con is a free, all-ages event celebrating comics and graphic novels, as art, as literature, and as a part of pop culture! It will bring together fans, young and old, and creators for a jam-packed day of special guests, workshops, live programs, games, photo ops, food trucks, and much fun. Costumes are encouraged! Registration only for workshops required.
For more information on these or all the great things going on at the Library visit: SawyerFreeLibrary.com or call 978.325-5500! aw
Next in the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library‘s educational series Of Sound Mind: A Series on Dementia will be Ten Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s with Alzheimer’s Association MA/NH Chapter on Saturday, April 9 from 2:00-3:00 p.m.
The program explores common warning signs of Alzheimer’s and other dementias that cause memory, thinking, and behavior problems that interfere with daily living. The Alzheimer’s Association® developed the new 10 Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s education program to help people recognize common signs of the disease and know what to watch for in themselves and others.
The free one-hour program:
Explores typical age-related changes.
Describes common signs of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Offers tips on how to approach someone about memory concerns.
Explains the importance of early detection and benefits of diagnosis.
Details possible tests and assessments for the diagnostic process.
Identifies helpful Alzheimer’s Association resources.
The presentation will take place at the Sawyer Free Library located at 2 Dale Avenue in Gloucester. The event is free and open to all to attend.
At 1:00 pm,Patrick Doud will give a presentation at the Cape Ann Museum at its Downtown Campus, located at 27 Pleasant Street, in conjunction with Cape Ann Modern on the paintings of Thorpe Feidt.
Created over more than half a century to date, Thorpe Feidt’s vast, unified body of work is discussed by poet and novelist Patrick Doud. Drawing on multivalent influences including poetry, jazz, fiction and alchemical intuition/lore, Feidt’s praxis results in numinously powerful paintings in which oppositional forces birth new energies.
Then at 2:30 pm, head to Sawyer Free Library, located at 2 Dale Avenue, for an afternoon of readings by local poets Nadine Boughton, the author of the recently self-published book “In the Lap of the Night,” Jay Featherstone, the author of “Glass,” and Jim Dunn to celebrate the start of National Poetry Month.
Join the Sawyer Free Library Children’s Services on this Saturday morning, March 26 from 11 a.m. to noon for some soapy fun! Kulina Folk Art Creative will be helping kids, with adult participation, make their own duckie soapy creation using glycerin-based soap adding colors, glitter and scents.
The process does not involve traditional soap making techniques, so there is no lye exposure.
Registration is required. Space is limited. The event is for children ages 5 and up (with one caregiver per child). Each child under the age of 10 must have a caregiver present to help them with the project. No exceptions will be made.
In celebration of Women’s History Month, theSawyer Free Library, this Saturday, March 26 from 2:00 – 4:00p.m. is pleased to present “Forgotten Women.” Local historians Lise Breen and Wayne Soini will discuss the lives of three courageous women who history needs to be shared. Nancy Hanks Lincoln, mother of President Abraham Lincoln, as well as two women enslaved on Cape Ann, Kate Negro and Violet. Join us and learn about these “Forgotten Women” who helped to shape our nation.
This event has been organized and sponsored by the Library’s Gloucester Lyceum.
Date: Saturday, March 26, 2022
Time: 2:00-4:00pm
Location: Main Floor, Sawyer Free Library, 2 Dale Avenue, Gloucester
Registration is not required. For more information visit, SawyerFreeLibrary.org or call 978-325-5555.
Cape Ann Community 