Honoring the Seashore with Art

Addison Art Gallery has gathered more than 30 artists to create works inspired by the epic landscapes of the Cape Cod National Seashore, which celebrates its 50th Anniversary this month.

left to right: Rick Fleury, Vera Champlin, John Murphy, Joyce Johnson, Ron Parent, Elizabeth Pratt, Cleber Stecei, Marc Kundmann, Amy Sanders, Catherine Skowron, Stephanie Foster, Paul Schulenburg, Joan Brancale, Robert Manz

Dan Cutrona

The land Thoreau describes in the 1800s has been protected since President Kennedy signed legislation establishing the Cape Cod National Seashore in 1961. More than 44,000 acres of marshes, ponds, forests, and of course pristine sandy beach were forever endowed with park status. This juried show and the inspired comments that go along with the art celebrates the 50th Anniversary of our unblemished Cape Cod.

Click here for a list of the upcomming events

Elizabeth “Libby” Pratt - Eastham

“When I walk in the National Seashore, I can relate to the Cape as it was when I first saw it in the 1950s. In the 60s, we took our children hiking on the trails with the rangers and went to many of the outdoor evening programs at the amphitheater.

“Being a painter I found the Park offered endless material for my watercolors. I have done hundreds of them. I longed to get out over Nauset Marsh to the spit protecting it from the ocean, so I took up canoeing and later kayaking, going countless times each year, even now at 83. In order to see more of the trails I joined the Eastham Hiking Club, going deep into Wellfleet, Truro and the Province Lands.

“The Park has enriched my family life, has provided me endless inspiration for my career, a place to exercise and keep fit, and most of all a lifting of my spirit when I walk there.”

Rick Fleury - Eastham

“Like many, I look to the Seashore for inspiration—both personal and artistic. From the Provincelands to the outer dunes at Nauset, from Great Island on the bay to the cliffs at Newcomb Hollow, the seashore is integral in our lives and spirits.”

Paul Schulenburg - Eastham

“I love to walk the unspoiled, seemingly endless strand of beaches. There is a stillness and fragility that is ever changing due to the eternal, relentless motion of the waves. A beach you think you know very well, one day to the next, might look very different depending on the whim of Mother Nature. My painting, Cliff Shadows, tries to capture the expanse of open space, the majestic yet fragile quality of the sandy cliffs of the outer Cape, the changing skies and ever present motion of the waves.”

Amy Sanders - Truro

“I awoke one morning to see some tremendous billowing clouds scuttling along in the pre-dawn twilight through my window. On my way to work, they began to light up with the rising sun still below the horizon. I veered off Rt. 6 to the Fort Hill overlook just as the first rays of sun pierced through to set the hills there ablaze. I took a barrage of photographs to use as reference, but the scene burned a permanent impression of breathtaking beauty in my mind.”

“Living in the presence of the National Seashore allows me at least a part of each day, a reminder of the grandeur of Nature and our responsibility to do what we can to protect this beautiful land.”

Joyce Johnson - Eastham

“The miraculous fragile yet indomitable environment has stirred the creative juices of artists and writers and scientists for decades, maybe eons. As a sculptor/printmaker/writer, my response to the Outer Cape is more through an awareness of its mystery and splendor than its delicate color coding that has lured painters over the centuries.”

Stephanie Foster - Harwich

“I have always been attracted to the ocean and sand, the wild low vegetation, the sight of the dunes, the briny air. I have a sense of coming home when I’m in the National Seashore. The connection is almost visceral.

I enjoy the solitude and beauty of fall and spring when I’m alone in the vast spaces and can feel its power and observe the rhythms. Or at the start or end of day when the light is magical. I was leaving Nauset Lighthouse one day when I noticed a wild, gently worn path leading to a bluff and decided to follow it. As I got close to the top, the sun rose out of the sea flooding the sky and ocean with soft, warm light. I stood quietly in awe. The beauty of the moment in Path to the Sea felt like a blessing.”
 

Catherine Skowron - Provincetown

“Spring Dunes was inspired by one of my favorite locations to wander year round. It’s never the same. Wind, light, weather constantly
re-arrange the landscape while plants and wildlife change with the seasons. I’m thankful everyday for Cape Cod National Seashore,
which preserves this amazing landscape for all of us.”
 

Cleber Stecei Mashpee

“Looking from this view, one can see how exposed this building is to the harsh New England weather.Yet it stands there gracefully for more then a century.”

Marc Kundmann - Truro

“I credit my experiences in the Cape Cod National Seashore Park as a significant motivation for me to pick up a paint brush and become an artist. The changing shape of the shoreline, the shifting cloudscapes, sunset and sunrise light shows, and the rotating color schemes of the forest and dune foliage still surprise me after 14 years. 

“I began painting by hiking out to the dunes above Longnook Beach in Truro with my gear. I learned to take mental notes when encountering scenes that struck me by their unexpected composition or light.

“Above Pilgrim Spring is a scene I encountered this spring. The trees and brush were leafless and revealed what must be an old tidal river and cranberry bog. The shape of the river was striking, angular, almost unnatural. A beautiful complement to the rolling dunes.”

Robert Manz Pocasset

“I go to the ocean to find a space larger than I can find anyplace else and to find a peace deeper than
I can find anyplace else. The National Seashore gives me access to this, and I am always grateful.”

Ron Parent - Provincetown

“The play of light, color, and shadow on the dunes has mesmerized me since my first dune tour in the ‘90s. The colors were brilliant, and standing high up on the dunes I could see the Pilgrim Monument in the distance.

I knew I would be re-creating this moment in a painting.
“After reading the history of this part of Province Lands, an area of the National Seashore, it became even more meaningful to me as a place where the Pilgrims first explored the new world and our heritage was born.”

Vera Champlin - Chatham

“This view north across the Nauset salt marshes, in early spring, beckons to me with notes of freshening green against a palette of ochre and umber. The hues change as the days lengthen, the earth warms, and new life comes to the land in the timeless cycle of seasons.”