Thanks to a special collaboration of two Gloucester cultural institutions, Hammond Castle Museum and the Rocky Neck Art Colony, there will be a celebration of Women’s History Month. The exhibition “Portraits of Women, by Women” will be displayed in the museum’s Great Hall from Saturday, March 22, to Sunday, March 30.
A free public reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday opens the show; RSVP is required.
The exhibit features recent portraits by women artists of the Rocky Neck Art Colony, including Elizabeth Bish, Janice Brand, Robin Colodzin, Susan Ellis, Elizabeth Gauthier, Janet Grover, Joyce Roessler, Amy Sudarsky and Helen Tory.
“The exhibition highlights the profound impact of portraiture in capturing the essence, strength, and diversity of women’s experiences,” according to an exhibition statement.
The backgrounds of some participating artists reveal that broad diversity: Brand, an editor and multi-disciplinary artist, explores media from Chinese ink painting to pottery, while also pursuing tai chi, fencing, and fly fishing. Colodzin, a Gloucester-based artist and software engineer, examines the relationship between private and social identities in her work. And Sudarsky, a North Shore figurative painter, is a former college professor and artistic director of the Rocky Neck Art Colony, where she continues to teach.
Additionally, the exhibit will feature Irene Fenton Hammond’s work, “All’s Well,” a copy of a Homer painting, for which the museum is seeking donations to support its restoration. Irene Hammond was a member of the Rocky Neck Art Colony and wife of museum founder John Hays Hammond Jr.
Also on display will be two paintings by Hammond’s sister, Natalie Hays Hammond, an artist and playwright. Her paintings, “Costume Designs, Series B, No. 3, Medieval Abbess,” “and “Costume Designs, Miracle Plays, No.9, Martha,” are on loan from the Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden in North Salem, New York, which Natalie Hammond founded in 1957.
“Being able to collaborate with our friends at the Rocky Neck Art Gallery as well as the Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden fulfills our mission to support and promote the arts as a STEAM Museum and a cultural arts hub for the community. We’re delighted to host this very special exhibit during our first winter season open for events,” said Linda Harvey, executive director of Hammond Castle Museum.
Attendees will have access to the small interior rooms leading down to the Great Hall and the Great Hall, but the museum will be closed to tours at this time.
This exhibit is open daily from noon to 5 p.m. March 22-30, with the last entrance at 4:15 p.m. On March 30, the closing day, hours are noon to 2 p.m. when there is a public closing reception. Children 12 and younger are free with tickets. Admission: $15 for adults. For tickets and more details,visit https://rockyneckartcolony.org/portraitsofwomen.
Benefit screening for plover film
A film screening and fundraiser for “The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay,” a film by Gloucester’s Kim Smith, will be held Sunday, March 23, at 4 p.m. at MAGMA studios, 11 Pleasant St., Suite 64, in Gloucester. There will be a question-and-answer following the film along with refreshments.
The 55-minute narrated documentary tells the story of the piping plover, and features a pair of plovers that overcome life-threatening obstacles while nesting at one of the region’s most popular beaches. The fundraising event will support the production and distribution of the film. Each spring, the northward-migrating piping plovers return to breeding sites on the Atlantic coast, from North Carolina to Newfoundland.
“Set against the backdrop of the ever-dynamic Atlantic shoreline, the documentary illustrates how conservation partners have provided safe corridors that allow these highly vulnerable birds to raise chicks to fledge at even the most well-loved beaches. ‘The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay’ is a film for all ages, and was created to inspire a love for wild creatures and their habitats, and to develop a deeper understanding of the vital role that wildlife play in our interconnected ecosystem,” according to a filmmaker statement.
For details, visit https://magma.center/event/film-fundraiser
‘Four Winters’ movie screening
Gloucester’s Temple Ahavat Achim will host filmmaker Julia Mintz at the screening of the award-winning documentary “Four Winters” this Sunday, March 23. at 6:30 p.m.. The film is about the Jewish partisan resistance during World War II made by Oscar, Emmy, Sundance, Cannes and Peabody award-winning filmmakers. The film features interviews with the last living partisans who are the centerpiece of this film.
“(The) documentarians weave together many strands to tell this layered story that shatters the myth of Jewish passivity. The film illuminates the many ways in which Jews resisted the Nazis — and celebrates the soulful bravery, cleverness, and leadership, of the Partisans,” according to the film’s website.
No tickets will be sold at the door. Pre-registration is required at the temple website, www.taagloucester.org. Limited seating remains; $10 per ticket.
‘Awash with Color’ show and sale
A celebration of watercolor artistry will be on view at Slow River Studio’s exhibition, “Awash with Color,” which features more than 40 paintings by students and staff, from Gloucester, Amesbury, Beverly, Boxford, Hamilton, Ipswich, Newburyport, North Andover, Reading, Rowley and Salem.
The public is invited to a free opening reception Friday, March 21, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the studio, at 17 Main St., Topsfield.
“Each piece tells a unique story through the flowing translucence that only watercolor can achieve,” according to an exhibition statement.
The gallery will be open noon to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays from March 22 through April 13. For more information, visit: www.slowriverstudio.com.
Around the corner
— The Gloucester High School Musical Coffeehouse, an all-ages show, has been rescheduled and now will take place Thursday, March 27, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Gloucester Elks, at 97 Atlantic Road in Gloucester. Performances during the evening will feature the Gloucester High School Jazz Band, the Gloucester High School Chorus, and several student solos and small ensembles. The coffeehouse was originally scheduled in November but was postponed due to the teachers strike and again in February due to weather.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free but a donation of $4 per person is suggested. Snacks and non-alcoholic beverages including coffee, tea and cocoa will be available for purchase, and there will be a 50/50 raffle. Cash, checks or Venmo will be accepted for payment. All proceeds will go to a local student and his family who were affected by the recent house fire in Gloucester.
— Now in its ninth year, Cape Ann Plein Air’s next Palate-to-Palette program, held the last Thursday of each month, will be March 27, from 5 to 8 p.m., at Oak to Ember in Gloucester, with Dennis Doyle. In this program, local restaurants feature a local artist who will paint as guests dine. This year, a signature CAPA cocktail will be on the menu. Reservations are recommended. For more information, visit www.capeannpleinair.org.
Around Cape Ann is a column devoted to events happening on Cape Ann and artists from Cape Ann performing elsewhere. If you would like to submit an item, contact reporter Gail McCarthy at 978-675-2706 or gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com at least two weeks in advance.