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Charles W. Hawthorne, First Voyage, 1915
Provincetown Art Association and Museum Collection

For most of this century Provincetown has sustained an important, dynamic environment for the creation of art in all its manifestations -- fine art, fiction, theater and performance art. At the turn of the century it was the rarefied ocean light that drew the giants like Charles Hawthorne here. Beyond the ethereal there was also the paradox of a tightly knit community of iconoclasts living in splendid geographic isolation. The Portuguese fisherman and the tormented playwright like Eugene O'Neill eked out similar existences, forsaking mainland security to live on the frontier of America facing East. The artists were accepted as kindred spirits right from the beginning and enjoyed an intellectual freedom that more civilized communities may have denied them.

The Provincetown Art Association and Museum, founded in 1914, has the works of its masters, Hawthorne (who founded the Cape Cod School of Art in 1899), Henry Hensche (who founded the Cape School of Art in 1935), Hans Hofmann, Edward Hopper, Robert Motherwell in its collection, and many contemporary artists.

The Fine Arts Work Center draws writers and artists to Provincetown as fellows in its winter artist-in-residence program. A converted lumber yard, the FAWC houses 20 emerging writers and artists in the same studios inhabited by indigent artists before the FAWC was founded in 1968, when the lumber yard owners patronized starving artists by renting out disused lofts to them for a pittance.

The Pilgrim Monument has occupied a prominent place in the Provincetown landscape since 1910, when it was completed and dedicated by President William Howard Taft to commemorate the landing of the Mayflower Pilgrims in 1620. The 252 ft. granite structure has been admired and climbed by millions of visitors to the area and generations of local residents. The annual lighting of the monument every November, which celebrates the Pilgrims’ stay in Provincetown before moving on to Plymouth, has become a much-loved tradition. The current museum, built in 1961, combines the collections of the PMPM and the former Provincetown Historical Museum. It offers permanent exhibits on Provincetown history-- highlighting the arrival of the Mayflower pilgrims, the town’s rich maritime history, the early days of modern American theatre in Provincetown, and the building of the monument.

Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill - Their mission is to foster the arts and crafts by providing a wide range of instruction for adults and children. Castle Hill holds exhibitions, lectures, forums, concerts and other similar activities in order to promote social interaction among artists, craftsmen, laymen, and the community at large. Find out summer or spring/workshop you would like to take and enroll on-line.

The works of artists, past and present, is displayed extensively in Provincetown. Major gallery owners promote the art of unrecognized artists along side the work of successful artists which sells itself. Friday night is opening night for most Provincetown galleries.

ART SCHOOLS, GALLERIES, MUSEUMS
THEATER, FILM and DANCE

Berta Walker Gallery, 208 Bradford St. 508 487-6411 fax 508 487-8794 GHOU

Bowersock Gallery, 371 Commercial St. 508 487-4994 GU

Campus Provincetown, 80 courses: arts • environment • sea related sciences • (several accredited) for catalogue visit their website or call 508 487-6950

Cape Playhouse, 820 Main St., Route 6A, Box 2001 Dennis 02638, Box Office: 877-385-3911, 508 385-3911, fax 508 385-8162 ACDH

Cortile Gallery, 234 Commercial St. 508 487-4200 G

Fine Arts Work Center, 24 Pearl St. 508 487-9960 fax 508 487-8873

Julie Heller Gallery, 2 Gosnold St. (across from Adams Pharmacy on the beach) 508 487-2169 ABGJOUW

Highland Museum & Cape Cod Lighthouse, Inc., 27 Highland Light Rd. N. Truro, mail: Box 1123 Truro MA 02666, tel/fax 508 487-1121 BCDHJKFGSUW

Iona Print Studio & Gallery, 379A Commercial St. 866 344-4662, 508 487-7500 GOUZ

Kennedy Studios of Provincetown, 353 Commercial St. 508 487-3896 fax 508 487-3132 GOU

Lovinger Gallery, 427 Commercial St. 508 487-3788 GOU

New Art Cinema, Whaler’s Wharf, 237 Commercial St., Box 563, 508 487-9355, fax 508 487-9356

The New Provincetown Players, 238 Bradford St. 508 487-7487 fax 508 487-7433 OU

Pilgrim Monument & Provincetown Museum, Box 1125, High Pole Hill 508 487-1310 fax 508 487-4702 BCDFGJKSTUVWZ

Provincetown Art Association & Museum, 460 Commercial St. 508 487-1750, fax 508 487-4372 BGHOQUW

Provincetown Art Guide, 170 Commercial St. #512, 508 487-6681

Provincetown Artist Registry, P.O. Box 1426, 508 487-0011

Provincetown International Film Festival and Workshops on Filmmaking, June 18-22’2008, Box 605, 508 487-FILM (3456) www.ptownfilmfest.org

Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival, 508 487-5921

Shakespeare on the Cape, P.O. Box 333, 774 722-1422 OU

Studio S, Whalers Wharf, Level 3, 237 Commercial St., Box 1692, 508 487-4288

Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, 10 Meetinghouse Rd. Truro, mail: Box 756 Truro 02666, 508 349-7511, fax 508 349-7513 GHOU

Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (WHAT), Continuously Adventurous Theater, New Julie Harris Stage: 2357 State Highway Route 6, Wellfleet, Harbor Stage: 1 Kendrick Ave., Wellfleet, Mailing Address: PO Box 797, Wellfleet, MA 02667, Box Office: (508) 349-9428, Admin. Office: (508) 349-3011 www.what.org

Whydah Museum, pirate treasure & research, MacMillan Pier, Box 493, 508 487-8899

Blanche Lazzell, Cape Cod in Autumn, 1918-19, oil on canvas. Courtesy Provincetown Art Association and Museum.