Provincetown, Massachusetts, is one of the oldest art colonies in the nation and boasts a thriving art scene today. Courtesy Provincetown Office of Tourism.
Massachusetts’ Cape Cod and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket have an illustrious history with the arts that is highlighted by the artists who have forged their paths on its sand dunes and shores. Some of the biggest names in American art have called the area home—Edward Hopper and Charles Hawthorne being just two—and over the years art schools, galleries and museums have become permanent fixtures that collectors and enthusiast flock to and explore.
Provincetown is recognized as America’s oldest continuous art colony, and for more than 100 years it has been a mainstay for artists and galleries. Commercial Street is the center of action in the picturesque town, which boasts dozens of galleries and museums that lure in visitors year after year. One of the notables is the Provincetown Art Association & Museum, which hosts exhibitions year-round as well as signature fundraising events and cultural programs. The gallery district also is the place to be on Friday nights when galleries stay open late and welcome guests for wine and receptions. Collectors can stop by the 31-year-old Thanassi Gallery, and also can head over to the Provincetown Office of Tourism for a full update on the city’s happenings.
More than a dozen galleries call Chatham home, including Gallery Antonia, which partners with a number of local designers and a real estate company to show how art can look inside your home. The Creative Arts Center is another notable stop. Its annual Festival of the Arts features 120 artisans making clothes, jewelry, ceramics, glass and more. The Center also welcomes organizations, such as the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod, to hold exhibitions in its galleries.
For more than 60 years Eldred’s in East Dennis has brought high-caliber antiques and fine arts to collectors in the area. Highlighting the sales are fine art by Provincetown, Cape Cod and New England artists, as well as pieces by leading contemporaries of the region. Orleans’ Main Street Square features a number of upscale shops including Gallery 31 Fine Art, which has one of the largest offerings of pastel paintings on the Cape.
Take a quick ferry ride to the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. The former boasts the Nantucket Arts Council, a nonprofit that supports and encourages visual, performing and literary arts in the city. It has several signature events including the Nantucket Arts Festival, a weeklong celebration of arts and culture under the theme this year of “Re-Imagining the Real – Shifting Our Worldview.” On Martha’s Vineyard there are more than a dozen public galleries, including Granary Gallery, which is considered the largest gallery on the island and is located in an iconic red barn. The Vineyard Artisan Festivals also take place on Martha’s Vineyard, bringing the fine arts and crafts of local artists to the masses.
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Eldred’s
P.O. Box 796; 1483 Route 6A
East Dennis, MA 02641, (508) 385-3116
info@eldreds.com , www.eldreds.com
One of the leading regional antiques and fine arts auction houses in the country, Eldred’s has been conducting specialized auctions at its Cape Cod galleries for well over 60 years. Through its strong commitment to personalized, expert service, the auction house has built a clientele of collectors, dealers and private buyers from across the United States and around the globe. Eldred’s routinely breaks records for the highest prices ever realized at auction in a variety of consignment areas.
Eldred’s, Weighing In, oil on canvas, 18½ x 26", by Ralph E. Cahoon Jr. (1910-1982). Available in the Summer Americana Auction. Estimate: $12/18,000
Eldred’s, Out of Chaos 1959, oil on canvas, 30 x 40", by Charles Green Shaw (1892-1974). Available in the Summer Americana Auction. Estimate: $5/10,000
Eldred’s conducts more than 25 auctions per year in the fields of Americana, American and European paintings, Asian art, maritime art, sporting art, European antiques and decorative arts, collectibles and more. In a typical auction season, fine art by Provincetown, Cape Cod and New England artists are well-represented, from museum-caliber 19th-century works to pieces by the area’s leading contemporary artists.
The busy summer auction season includes the July Sale on July 17; the Summer Americana Auction, July 30 to 31; the Marine Sale held August 13 to 15; and the Contemporary Paintings Auction on the evening of August 20. All four will feature a variety of paintings by American artists, many with ties to the region. The Americana Auction includes important historic works from Charles Woodbury, Arthur Vidal Diehl and Charles Green Shaw, among others, and the Marine Sale includes works from the Kelton Collection of Marine Art and Artifacts, notably pieces by Antonio Jacobsen and Gordon Hope Grant. Both the July Sale and the Contemporary Paintings Auction will include paintings at a range of price points, from small new works by local artists to expansive scenes by renowned listed artists. 
Eldred’s, Sea Shanties #2, oil on canvas, 30 x 40", by Jim Holland. Available in the Contemporary Paintings Auction. Estimate: $5/7,000
Along with its location in East Dennis, Massachusetts, the firm also has an office in Mystic, Connecticut, conveniently located for clients in southern New England and New York.
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Gallery 31 Fine Art
Main Street Square, Orleans, MA 02653
(508) 247-9469
www.gallery31capecod.com
Nestled on a square of upscale shops where Main Street and Route 6A meet, Gallery 31 Fine Art specializes in original, timeless representational and interpretive fine art of Cape Cod—the sea, the shore and the sky. Gallery 31 exhibits one of the largest collections of pastel paintings on Cape Cod, along with oil, watercolor and alcohol ink. All of the gallery’s artists are represented exclusively by Gallery 31 on Cape Cod.
Gallery 31 Fine Art features one of the largest selections of pastel works, as well as oils, watercolor and more.
Gallery 31 artists earn international, regional and local recognition. They are teachers of art, authors of art books and exhibition jurors; full-time artists on the cutting edge of their fields. Artists include Richard McKinley, the 2010 inductee into the Pastel Society of America’s Hall of Fame; Jeanne Rosier Smith, a signature member of the Pastel Society of America and master artist of Boston’s Copley Society; Tony Allain of the Pastel Society of the United Kingdom; and Deborah Quinn-Munson, signature member of the Pastel Society of America.
“Representational work in pastel and oil remains strong. Custom work pairs buyers with artists for that special fit. Artists are exploring new tools and techniques, often creating edgier work with a more contemporary feel.” — Sherry Rhyno, owner and director, Gallery 31 Fine Art
Gallery owner and director Sherry Rhyno is an artist and former university dean. She combines fine art with a love of education, engaging guests about art and the inspirations and processes used to create it. “Representational work in pastel and oil remains strong. Custom work pairs buyers with artists for that special fit,” Rhyno says. “Artists are exploring new tools and techniques, often creating edgier work with a more contemporary feel. Especially in this tourist area, the art evokes memories of good times with family by the shore and associates traditions shared in a sense of place. The timeless qualities of the Cape Cod landscape lend themselves to painting treasures to last for all time.”
Gallery 31 Fine Art, New England Seas, pastel, 20 x 40", by Jeanne Rosier Smith.
Gallery 31 Fine Art, Wave Therapy, oil, 18 x 36", by Arnie Casavant.
Arnie Casavant of Boston brings new talent in oil this year; his Fresh Perspectives opening is July 18. Ebb & Flow features Smith’s seascapes on August 8; Flying Colors! sums up Mary Wojciechowski’s opening in watercolor and alcohol ink on August 22. Visit the gallery online for updates on exhibitions and openings.
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Gallery Antonia
1291 Main Street, 2nd Level at The Cornfield Suites
Chatham, MA 02633
(508) 469-4020
domonic@galleryantonia.com
www.galleryantonia.com
Owner Domonic Boreffi opened Gallery Antonia in the heart of the historic district in downtown Chatham on Memorial Day in 2010. On the first day the gallery opened, gallery artist Ann Hart’s watercolor of an antique Chatham home sold to its owners. The collectors remain very special to Boreffi and Hart. “It is amazing to me to see how the gallery has evolved over the 10 years,” says Boreffi. “It has been a real chance to get to know the artists and collectors. I feel we have had a strong connection to our local and regional art communities. This has been important to me.”
Gallery Antonia celebrates 10 years in Chatham, Massachusetts. Photo by Ann Hart.
Gallery Antonia, Irish Trawler, West Cork, Ireland, oil on linen canvas, 20 x 24", by Sue Gilkey.
“In regards to the COVID-19 virus that has affected so many, I think the galleries and all of us in the arts provide an important service, a healing for people in our communities. We don’t know what this summer and year will bring, but we will continue to do what we do best at Gallery Antonia, and as always I am so incredibly grateful for our collectors, artists, supporters and friends.” — Domonic Boreffi, owner, Gallery Antonia
Gallery Antonia is a year-round, full service gallery offering art consulting and installations for residential and business clients. The gallery works with many local designers to achieve that “perfect look” for each project. Recently, Boreffi has coordinated with the Cape Cod real estate company Robert Paul Properties hosting art receptions at a chosen listing. Boreffi states, “This has been a wonderful experience, especially when you see the difference from the staged art to what is placed from the stable of Gallery Antonia artists. The transformation can be altering; original works do matter! It makes me feel as though we are really offering a service to clients and collectors. I guess you could say it is a completely visual approach.”
In 2015, once established in Chatham, Gallery Antonia moved slightly out of the center of town to a location that offered better accessibility for all, ample parking for patrons and an outdoor space suitable for receptions. On July 18, 4 to 6 p.m., is the Annual Group Show and 10th anniversary reception, with work by artists Hart, Sam Barber, Joan Brancale, Eli Cedrone, William R. Davis, Susan Hollis, Laura Griffith, Bill Lane and Carol Maguire. August 22, also from 4 to 6 p.m., is the opening for the joint show of Cape Cod artists Elizabeth Lazeren and Ginny Nickerson. 
Gallery Antonia, Probable Cause, Provincetown, watercolor, 12 x 19", by Ann Hart.
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Provincetown Office of Tourism
330 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA 02657
(508) 487-3298
tourism@provincetown-ma.gov
www.ptowntourism.com
Provincetown is America’s oldest continuous art colony and it remains an energetic center of creativity. The arts community was founded in 1899 when painter Charles Hawthorne ventured 60 miles out to sea to this fishing town at the tip of Cape Cod and discovered the magical light that is the hallmark of Provincetown. Establishing the Cape Cod School of Art, Hawthorne welcomed both accomplished artists and neophytes to come and paint.
The dunes and lighthouse in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Known for his plein air, impressionist-style paintings, Hawthorne spent the next 30 summers at the helm of his school. By 1918, The Boston Globe gave front-page coverage to a story that trumpeted the “Biggest Art Colony in the World in Provincetown.” By that time, just 20 years after it was established as the landmark colony for American artists, the iconic image of Provincetown was of painters at their easels as they captured quintessential maritime and bucolic scenes.
Provincetown is home to more than 60 fine art galleries.
From summer, painters grew a year-round community of aspiring artists working under the tutelage of established mentors and teachers, who opened their own studios and schools. The artists who were drawn to Provincetown included such legendary figures as Milton Avery, Helen Frankenthaler, Hans Hofmann, Edward Hopper, Franz Kline, Lee Krasner, Blanche Lazzell, Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, Norman Rockwell, Mark Rothko and Jack Tworkov.
An art class takes place on the beach in Provincetown.
The legacy continues to this day, as artists come to study in workshops offered at the Cape School of Art, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum and the Fine Arts Work Center. Today there are more than 60 galleries lining Commercial Street and the Friday night strolls offer a bevy of hosted opening receptions. This summer promises a quieter continuation of that tradition. The world may change, but the light of Provincetown and the energy of its artists remain.
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Granary Gallery
636 Old County Road, West Tisbury, MA 02575
(508) 693-0455
www.granarygallery.com
Granary Gallery, on Martha’s Vineyard, features work by regional and local artists, as well as national names.
Granary Gallery, located in the iconic red barn, is the oldest and largest art gallery on Martha’s Vineyard. It features an indoor gallery and an art-filled courtyard gallery. The West Tisbury location is in a setting that allows collectors to enjoy exquisite fine art paintings, drawings of landscapes, still life compositions and photorealism by well-known national, regional and local artists, alongside the work of exciting emerging artists.
The Granary Family has three locations on the island; the Granary Gallery in West Tisbury, the Field Gallery in West Tisbury Center and North Water Gallery in Edgartown. Each reflects the unique and diverse personality of the island, artists, staff and customers. The warm welcome by the gallery’s knowledgeable staff awaits your arrival.
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Thanassi Gallery
234 Commercial Street Provincetown, MA 02657
(508) 487-0223
www.thanassigallery.com
In 1969, as a young boy, two of Thanassi’s passions collided and blossomed when he began painting at the beach with his grandmother. He studied at the School of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and under dozens of artists. He also learned the techniques of the Dutch Masters, which has added an ethereal light to his coastal paintings. For the past 31 years, Thanassi has exhibited his artwork at his aptly named Thanassi Gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts. 
Thanassi Gallery in Provincetown features Thanassi’s serene coastal paintings.
Thanassi Gallery, Herring Cove, oil, 30 x 30", by Thanassi.
“My artistic vision is inspired by the unique light, nature and life one finds in Provincetown,” he says. “My paintings are filled with strong emotions, deep thoughts and feelings, and conveyed by the looseness of my brushstrokes, simplicity in my lines and freedom in my figures.”
The other important aspect of Thanassi’s artwork involves meditation. He explains, “The process of my painting begins with meditation at the seashore, losing myself with the tranquility of nature and the eternal sea, absorbing the peace and tranquility of my surroundings, then meditating again in my studio, releasing that tranquil feeling into my work.” —
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