208 Bradford Street • Provincetown • MA 02657
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FOR PHOTOS PLEASE GO TO OUR MEDIA WEBSITE and click on image to download 300 dpi TIFF files at bertawalkergallery.com/mediaOr, please contact Sky Power, Managing
Director, Berta Walker Gallery
FOR RELEASE: UPON RECEIPT: 6/17/2007
THREE SHOWS with FIVE GREAT ARTISTS OPENING AT BERTA WALKER GALLERY FRIDAY, JUNE 29
Berta Walker Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of three exhibitions on June 29 and continuing through July 15, with a reception Friday, June 29, 7 - 9 pm.
POLLY BURNELL recent paintings
JOHN THOMAS "Tibetan Spirit", multi-media exhibition
FOCUS: PROVINCETOWN GENERATIONS IN THE ARTS
The Nancy Whorf Family: Nancy Whorf, John Whorf, Father; Julia Whorf Kelly, Daughter
POLLY BURNELL
recent paintings
POLLY BURNELL’s intimate color-saturated expressionist landscapes possess the power of Alice’s magic keyhole. We are delectably drawn through Burnell’s painted portals into subtly surreal landscapes that Burnell has called “little places to escape into,” and Donald Beal has commented, “are like peering into a mysterious, intimate dream.”
Burnell’s imagery is “mined, never invented,” she explains. Re-working “the same elements over and over,” Burnell has created a vocabulary of vibrant forms and shapes in a particularly American modernist style. Her body of work contributes to the evolution of an indigenous American style, and shows influences of Marsden Hartley and Arthur Dove, in particular. Her paintings are simultaneously mysterious and accessible, simple and complex, re-inventing European Surrealism’s tendency toward the menacing (De Chirico), or even, twisted (Dali).
Burnell’s work is informed by a tremendous sensitivity to all of nature. “Whether I want to or not, I have these feelings about the spirit in plants and animals, about the landscape being alive.” Her re-occurring horse, for example, is “the primary actor/being; nothing is ever just an object,” and her shadows “are always like another person.”
“I start with animal. God knows what happens after that. I never have a fixed narrative. The story informs itself. I complete the form first and then the story fills in...My work is affected by war. It’s important to make beautiful things now.”
These new paintings are a return to an earlier time in her painting life, Burnell explains, describing them as “not as polished, using less subtle colors.” Small in scale (8 x 10"), they invoke contemplation and reflection, a deeper look into remembrances of things past, present and future. As Burnell believes, “time isn’t linear. It’s a giant sphere.”
Burnell has lived and worked in Provincetown almost 20 years, receiving a Fellowship at FAWC almost fourteen years ago.
JOHN THOMAS: TIBETAN SPIRIT
A multi-media exhibition including original photographs, music & video
JOHN THOMAS’ multi-media exhibition “Tibetan Spirit” transports us to the world Thomas journeyed to in 1999, a “culture and spirit that I’ve admired for decades,“ he shares, and where “I found more than I hoped and more than I had feared.” Combining eight color photographs taken in and around Tibet’s capital city Lhasa, video of the intended destruction of a sand mandala (created by the Drepung Gomang monks in exile during their 2001 visit to Provincetown) and his original composition “Annapurna“ (written while walking through mountain passes in the Annapurna Circuit), Thomas’ multimedia presentation underscores the infinity of spirit that is inherent in any transformation, whether passing from the corporeal to the spiritual body or even the disintegration of a culture. As Thomas witnessed, “Tibet is dying. Tibet lives.”
Proust observed that scent is the most evocative sense. Sound may be as powerful. Thomas’ original composition, which loops throughout the exhibition, incorporating “the tinkling bells on the manes of the Tibetan horses that passed by us on the dirt path,” brings us close to the ethereal essence of this place at the top of the world while creating a musical passage from life to the final release into spirit.
Juxtaposed with the Buddhist belief in the impermanence of everything, his reverentially taken photos glow with the patina of monastery life, unchanged for centuries, but now under the pressures of constant government surveillance and mental supervision. Classically composed and emblematic, these images are a poetic ode to a spiritual tradition and fortitude that Thomas deeply admires.
And what greater tribute can Thomas make than in the music he has composed, for music – like the human spirit – is indestructible.
John Thomas has lived in Provincetown since 1990 and is a composer, pianist, music director, actor, photographer, producer, and cultural advocate for performance arts and traditional local ways of life. He co-wrote Pure PolyESTHER: a biblical burlesque (with Boston Theater Offensive’s Abe Rybeck); wrote, composed, produced, and performed Spontaneous Me: A Night with Walt Whitman; composed Walt & Oscar's Wilde Weekend and The Vigil Cantata; composed and played the title role in TightAss Androgynous: a musical bloodbath; composed and performed original music for New Provincetown Players’ (NPP) production of Camille and Cape Cod Community College’s The Ash Girl; was music director for Provincetown Theatre Company’s Hair, Cabaret, Bat Boy The Musical, and NPP musicals Streakin’ and Lover, Liar, Lady, Whore: The Women of Kander and Ebb; Thomas also played Manny the pianist in Provincetown Repertory Theatre’s Master Class. John Thomas produces the annual Great Music on Sundays @ 5 series and the annual Celebration of Life concert held on the first Friday evening after Labor Day at the Unitarian-Universalist Meeting House of Provincetown. Although Thomas accompanies weddings & private events and all sorts of other musical events, he particularly delights in being the accompanist for all of the Outer Cape Chorale concerts, and the ongoing production of Just Married! (the musical), written and performed by Jon Arterton and James Mack.
Just completed is John Thomas’ new CD "Composing Myself: Original Music" which will be available at the Berta Walker Gallery, the UU Church, and other locations. He will present two concerts this summer of music on the CD at The Provincetown Theater on Monday July 16, and at the Great Music on Sundays @ 5 series on September 9.
In addition to his 2007 Tibetan Spirit exhibition at Berta Walker Gallery, Thomas' photography is featured in this season’s Fine Arts Work Center Views of the Pilgrim Monument. His photography credits include 2003’s The Dog Show at Provincetown Art Association & Museum, Genre magazine, LIP (Life in Provincetown) magazine, Great Music on Sundays @ 5 season booklets and website (ptownmusic.com), cover image for Peter Donnelly’s A Sure Thing compact disc; and publicity images for Provincetown Theatre Company (Cabaret, Bat Boy The Musical, Streakin’, Lover, Liar, Lady, Whore: The Women of Kander & Ebb) and Just Married! (the musical).
FOCUS: PROVINCETOWN GENERATIONS IN THE ARTS
The Nancy Whorf Family
Nancy Whorf, John Whorf, her Father; Julia Whorf Kelly, her Daughter
Sixteen years ago, Berta Walker Gallery launched its new modern gallery space at 208 Bradford Street with an exciting group exhibition called “Provincetown Generations in the Arts”. The exhibition showed the continuity of over 40 Provincetown families who have worked, from generation to generation, in this unique art colony for as far back as 100 years ago. Starting with the opening of "The Nancy Whorf Family," focus exhibition, the Gallery plans to present at least one family generation focus exhibition each season providing viewers the opportunity to see in depth the work of each artist in a specific family's multi-generations in the arts. This season will feature the Nancy Whorf Family opening June 29 & continuing through July 15, and the Norman Mailer family, in September.
NANCY WHORF "PERSONAL PROVINCETOWN: LAND AND SEA"
Nancy lived her entire life in Provincetown, coming to this Town as the young daughter of John Whorf. She was, for all intents and purposes, born with a paintbrush in her hand, starting to paint professionally at age 14 for the Peter Hunt workshop. Whorf continued throughout her career to develop her very personal, expressive, emotional paintings, weaving the narrative element through both subject and technique. She commented recently from her new home in Florida where she moved for health reasons. "I know Provincetown. There's a lot of information there. I think I got better at saying more with less. I wanted to simplify, to suggest.
Nancy Whorf is known for her vibrant, expansive Provincetown scenes. Her many views of the town, the narrow streets, the harbor and boats, snowy walks, hidden gardens, sunsets and storms are a testament to her love of this storied seaside town where she grew up. Whorf's philosophy of painting is a reflection of her way of living. The world goes around, some things change; some things stay the same; community matters; nature is true.
In some ways, Whorf has created a kind of visual memoir, for behind many of the paintings is a memory. Her eye focuses on the place she knew as a child and young woman - the busy life centered around the wharves when Provincetown was a vital fishing center. She says the work is "thoughtful and sentimental." But Whorf doesn’t ignore the sometimes-harsh reality of living by the land and the sea. These are not just pretty landscapes.
Paintings in this exhibition include many paintings completed in the past ten years, and will feature "Welcome to Provincetown, Winter" and "A Fisherman's Garden, Winter", both four foot by eight foot wide. The paintings demonstrate Whorf's incredible love of the Provincetown in winter and were completed in her tiny studio on Howland Street where the studio was barely twelve foot wide. They also demonstrate that nothing was too challenging to try. The extraordinary beauty of Whorf’s work is magnified by the truth she tells. In her characteristic brusque way, Whorf says, "I can’t paint a pretty picture. I have to paint the truth I know." Provincetown is an emotional and visual place for Whorf.
In an interview with Suzanne Horoschak, Whorf said: "You feel, as a painter, that you have something to say. You understate it, overstate it. You have to have a certain philosophy about life and living and, for me, the wonder of it all. Cornball as this all may sound, it's marvelous and wonderful -- the seasons, the elements, and our interplay with them...I'm not making a political statement because it doesn't make any difference in the scheme of things. A plant or a storm, those are important, but the rest of it --it's all (part of) the highway of life. I paint what I feel has magic to it."
Over time, Whorf has refined her palette knife stroke to the merest twist of line, the touch of color, to express the mood, to suggest the whole world of Provincetown. “That's what I like about the palette knife. It's easier to suggest.” The viewer is struck by the truth of place; but in the end, Whorf's work is really all about the paint. The rich, saturated color, the flick of the painting knife - she is a master.
After her studies and employment in the Peter Hunt workshop, Whorf wanted to explore her own painting more deeply and spent a year at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston Museum School, where she studied with Karl Zerbe. The influence of Charles Hawthorne can be felt from her studies with Vollian Rann and her father John Whorf. Since the late 80's, Whorf focused exclusively on her own painting. Prior to that she maintained a shop where she painted incredible folk art furniture as well as her formal paintings. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout the country and she has received numerous commissions from public and private organizations such as Lincoln Park Zoological Society, Tiffany's in Chicago, Abby Rockefeller, and other private individuals. Whorf has been included in numerous books and articles about master painters of Provincetown. She was the subject of a one-person exhibition at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum in 2001. At that time, she was designated by the Provincetown Selectmen “Nancy Whorf di Provincetown” honoring her unique and special art focused primarily in Provincetown. Both the Provincetown Art Museum and the Cape Museum of Arts in Dennis have presented exhibitions of The Whorf Family, expanding the shows to include Nancy’s uncle and sister. Nancy Whorf is planning to visit Provincetown during the exhibition.
JULIA WHORF KELLY
Watercolors
Julia Whorf Kelly, who was born in Provincetown in 1953, says her first art instruction came from her grandfather, John Whorf. At the young age of 16 and still in high school, this talented artist took up studies with Leo Manso and Henry Kendell in Provincetown and in that same year, sold her first painting. Graduating from Provincetown High School in 1970, Kelly continued her studies at the Art Institute of Boston, and followed with studies in France and Spain. She has exhibited widely, including at Provincetown Art Museum, Elliott Museum in Stuart, Vero Center for the Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts in Dennis, Boston City Hall, The Copley Society, and in several galleries on Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and in Florida where she currently lives and maintains her studio.
"As a landscape painter I enjoy working directly from nature and feel that it is when you directly engage yourself with the subject and the light that an honest and sincere conversation can transpire. The greater challenge is transforming smaller paintings into larger formats in the studio and still maintain honesty, surrendering the intellectual and mechanical to the sublime truth of gut.
Working in watercolors and oils I find that pursuing both venues enables me to explore the gentle and the bold when expressing this passion. My hope is that the conversations with and the passion that I feel for color and nature transpires into a language that others can enjoy as well. Raised in Provincetown since childhood, the talented and creative people that surrounded me growing up were a constant inspiration. The town itself has a charm and beauty that inspires new work and beckons me home again and again."
“What I love about Julia Kelly’s watercolors,” says Berta Walker, “is the
combination of strength and adept handling of the very difficult watercolor medium, rarely exhibited except by her grandfather, John Whorf, and the bravado and daring of color and design, as created by her mother, Nancy Whorf. Julia has combined her learning from two great masters into a very personal, exciting art form, premiering at the Berta Walker Gallery with this exhibition.”
JOHN WHORF
(1903-1959)
watercolors
The Milch Galleries in New York wrote of John Whorf that "there is very little {he} cannot do with his watercolors". In 1940 the Boston Herald said of the artist: "Whorf is a leader in the modern realist school; he is admittedly its arch prophet of technique; a virtuoso in watercolor". Clearly watercolor was considered the artist s best medium, one to which he gravitated early on in his career. After the abundant dose of academic training he had at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School (alongside Charles Hawthorne and Max Bohm) Whorf went to Paris like so many fellow American artists, where he attended the Calarossi Academy. Though his schooling was on the whole traditional, Whorf became a Modernist, albeit always employing a figurative, representational style. Born in Boston in 1903, he moved to Provincetown, Massachusetts in 1940, where he became an important artistic influence in the local community. John Whorf exhibited in numerous significant American institutions including: American Watercolor Society, New York; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; Milch Galleries, New York; Art Institute of Chicago (prize awarded in 1939 and 1943); The Brooklyn Museum; Whitney Museum of American Art; John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis; Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Amherst College; Toledo Museum of Fine Arts; Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts; Montclair Museum of Fine Arts; Rhode Island School of Design and Museum; New Britain Museum of Art; W. Nelson Gallery, Kansas City. In 1938 Whorf was awarded an honorary degree of Master of Arts by Harvard University.
NEXT GROUP OF EXHIBITIONS: JULY 20 - AUGUST 5, 2007
One-person shows for ELSPETH HALVORSEN, constructions; ROBERT
HENRY, triptych paintings; SKY POWER, large abstract paintings; SELINA TRIEFF, large charcoal drawings and pencil sketches. Selina Trieff opens
a major exhibition of paintings at the Provincetown Art Museum the following
Week to run July 27 – September 2, 2007.)