Gloucester Daily Times
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/
Published: May 19, 2007
Out from behind the camera: seARTS highlights local photogs
By John McElhenny
Correspondent
Gloucester's Society for the Encouragement of the Arts will promote the art of three local photographers tonight whose photos have been shown in exhibits around the United States and Europe.
It's part of the searts Artists Salon, a series of events in which local artists talk about their work. The series is meant to make the arts more accessible to nonartists and bring attention to artists who live and work on Cape Ann. Tonight will feature photographers Allan Penn, Anne Rearick and Paul Cary Goldberg. The Artists Salon is sponsored by Kristine Fisher and takes place in Penn's Commercial Street studio above the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce.
The membership of searts, a nonprofit organization, includes artists and businesses and residents who support arts on Cape Ann.
'A place that creative people gravitate toward'
Allan Penn has been coming to Gloucester for more than 35 years, ever since a summer visit to Camp Annisquam at age 9. As a teenager, Penn began driving from his home in Framingham to Wingaersheek or Good Harbor Beach any chance he got. Eleven years ago, he moved here for good.
"Apart from the beauty of it that draws a lot of artists, I like being here because Gloucester's a very creative place with a lot of free-thinkers," said Penn, 45. "It's a place that creative people gravitate toward, and it's been that way for a long time."
Over a 20-year career as a professional photographer, Penn has shot photographic essays of Greek Orthodox monks, Russian fishermen, incarcerated children and the people of Vietnam. He has worked on a book that takes a photographic look at mall culture in the United States, and over the years has taken photos for Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, Forbes and Vanity Fair. Recently he started a publishing company, Hollan Publishing, that specializes in illustrated nonfiction books.
Everyone can appreciate photography, he said, because all of us take photos of our children, our pets or our family vacations.
"There's a commonality about photography that we all share," he said. "We look at photos every day. We all have a connection to photography."
'It feels real'
Most of us keep our photographs in family albums or on the computer. Anne Rearick's photos are stored all over the world. Rearick's photos have been exhibited in dozens of museums and galleries around the United States and in Europe, including France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy and Greece. Rearick's work has taken her around the world, with stops in South Africa, Scotland, Italy and Kazakhstan.
One region in particular has drawn her photographic interest - the Basque country, which straddles Spain and France. Rearick, 46, has paid many visits over the years to the Basques, an ancient people whose language is unlike any other in Europe. Rearick, who was born in Idaho, says her interest stems from the many Basques who came to Idaho a century ago and worked as shepherds.
In addition to her photography career, Rearick teaches photography at the Cambridge School of Weston, a private high school. A Gloucester resident since 1997 - she works most days from her School Street home studio - Rearick says, unlike in larger communities like Somerville or Boston, it's easy to walk down the street here and bump into friends and fellow artists.
"I like that it's a small town, but there are world-class artists living here," she said. "Gloucester's authentic. It feels real. It's not just all about tourism."
'A never-ending source of inspiration'
Washed-up lobster trap remains. Decaying wharves. Old boats with fading, chipped paint. These are the unlikely subjects that inspire photographer Paul Cary Goldberg.
Goldberg, whose studio is in the Strong Leather building on Maplewood Avenue in Gloucester, is an entirely self-taught photographer. He began in 1975 by photographing friends and neighbors, then graduated to street photography, wedding photography and portraits. Now, three decades later, his photographs are in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Boston Public Library, the Cleveland Museum of Art and many other private and public collections. He is best-known for his still-life studies and color images of Gloucester Harbor.
Like many other artists, Goldberg, who has lived on Cape Ann since 1995, is inspired by the area's light, which seems particularly well-suited to photography, painting and other creative pursuits, he said.
But it's the tiniest details of the wharves and waves that many of us walk right past that Goldberg, 56, finds most exciting.
"The working harbor for me is what's most inspirational about this place," Goldberg said. "It's different during the day, it's different at night, it's different during the winter, it's different during the summer. It's a never-ending source of inspiration."
If you go
Event: searts Artists Salon.
When: 6:30 tonight.
Where: Allan Penn's Photography Studio, 33 Commercial St., Gloucester.
What: Three Cape Ann photographers will show their work and talk about the creative processes and sources of inspiration behind it.
Cost: $10 general admission, $7 for seniors and $5 for searts members.
More info: www.searts.org.