The Cuttyhunk Plein Air Festival 2017 is not run by the BVAA – we are simply sharing the news about this fun event. Here are the details from their press release:
Cuttyhunk will welcome artists for the second annual Plein Air Festival, a one-day paint-in-place event hosted by the Cuttyhunk Cultural Council, Long Range Planning Committee, and the Cuttyhunk Historical Society, when the ferry arrives on Saturday, June 17, 2017.
Teri Bordenave, a member of the Cultural Council board, has arranged for mainland artists who register for the festival to be transported aboard the M/V Cuttyhunk with a same-day round-trip ticket and lunch included in the $75 registration fee. “We were gratified to have 50 participants the first year, including some island artists, who enjoyed setting up an easel in their favorite spot and having an opportunity to sell their work before the ferry departed at 4:00 p.m.,” she said recently.
The event is limited to the first 50 registrants.
The fee for island residents who wish to participate is $30. There is no commission to any of the organizers for the sale of paintings. The budget for the second year of the festival is about $3,800 with expenses mostly offset by the registration fees and a pending festival grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Visit www.cuttyhunkpleinair.com for more information or to register.
Kris Lombard of the Island Market and Lexi Lynch from CTHK Café will prepare tasty box lunches for the participants, including a mini lobster roll or vegetarian alternative. Island volunteers will serve as ambassadors to meet the ferry and give artists a brief overview tour from the island map, courtesy of the Museum, that they will receive with the registration packet. The _ARTY begins at 3:00 p.m. when the artists will be transported back to the ferry dock and their work will be judged by a panel of three professional jurors. Island residents, visitors, boaters, and their guests will be invited to a reception and art sale at the Coast Guard boat house.
Prizes, including a Spirit of Cuttyhunk award, will be announced and artists will depart on the ferry. Organizers hope that participants will spread the word about the natural beauty of Cuttyhunk and artists will return again and again.
Jurors will be Jodi Stevens an artist based in New Bedford who exhibits internationally and is the former lead curator at Dedee Shattuck Gallery in Westport, MA; Severin Haines, Professor Emeritus at UMass Dartmouth, who has exhibited in numerous one-person and group shows from New York to Norway and has painted large public murals in New Bedford and Fairhaven; and Cuttyhunk’s own Bob Smith, a partner in the Four-Corner Gallery in Tiverton, RI.
In case of downpour or forecast for steady rain, the festival will be held on Sunday, June 18.
If drizzle or spotty showers are predicted, the organizers are looking for sheltered porches where artists would be welcome to set up and paint.
Mainland residents are encouraged to come for the day to watch the painters at work, enjoy lunch from one of the island eateries: CTHK Café, Island Market, Raw Bar, Lucky Dog Grill, or the M/V Cuttyhunk. The ferry departs New Bedford at 9:00 a.m. and leaves the island at 4:00 p.m.
For more information on the festival contact Sara Ellis Lehner at sellisl@mac.com
