Salem is Art-rageous!

Has anyone noticed all of the incredible art "stuff" going on in Salem lately? I was just on the calendar on Salem.org and am amazed by how many of the events are arts-oriented. It is very cool.

Here are three to consider for this weekend...

These are the last few days of ART IN ACTION at the Kensington Stobart Gallery. Julia O'Malley-Keyes’ affinity for the ocean is reflected in her luminous coastal landscapes, seascapes, and paintings of classic yachts. In the historically dominated field of Marine Art, she is recognized as the premiere female marine artist in the United States. Ms. O'Malley-Keyes has continued her studies of traditional painting techniques and travels yearly to Europe and Asia to perfect her craft. Her work is often found in many of the most respected galleries and private collections in the United States. Ongoing exhibit through July 14th.

The Salem Arts Association is featuring a show at on Artist Row, 24 New Derby Street, called Selections - an eclectic exhibit featuring one selection from each participating artist. This exhibit runs through July 27.

(If you haven't been to Artists Row, it's a funky neighborhood between Front Street and New Derby Street - shop the galleries and grab a bite at The Lobster Shanty, where I had what may have been the largest lobster roll of my life last week. But I digress...)

The Salem Arts Association is also staging an exhibit called Mementos of Celebration, which opens today (July 12) at Old Town Hall - conveniently located adjacent to the aforementioned Artists Row. Mementos of Celebration is a great way to compliment your Wedded Bliss experience at the Peabody Essex Museum. It features decorative arts, mixed media, painting, and photography.

Also on Artists Row today: Donna Albino will be giving a demonstration of paper making from 10AM to noon.

Discover the magic of creativity in Salem!

Architecture in Salem

It is delightfully sunny here today. Forecasters say spring is really here, and the days will get progressively warmer from here on out. This sort of news inspires me to want to go for a walk. On the off-chance sunny spring weather inspires you to walk and explore, too, here's a Salem suggestion:

Experience Salem's glorious boom of the 18th century by following the Samuel McIntire Historic District Walking Tour. McIntire was one of America's most remarkable wood carvers and architects, and he left an indelible mark on Salem in the homes and decorative arts he carved here. The walking tour was redone last year by the Peabody Essex Museum and National Park Service, with a grant from the Essex National Heritage Commission, and it will be both guide and interpreter for your self-guided tour of Salem's Federal Architecture heritage.

If you want more architecture, the National Park Service produced a walking guide to all of the architectural periods in Salem - First Period, Federal, and Colonial Revival are the three big ones. The properties highlighted in the guide are those that are open to the public.

You can download your copy of Architecture in Salem from the Salem Maritime National Historic Site, or pick one up at the Salem Regional Visitor Center at 2 New Liberty Street.

Salem's rich architectural history gives the city a remarkable sense of place. Because of great preservation efforts, we are fortunate that our streets are lined with homes and public buildings from the past 400 years. Through buildings, we are able to learn about how people lived, how they spent their wages, and where they spent their professional and personal time.

Discover the magic of architecture in Salem.

Last Chance for Samuel McIntire!

The Peabody Essex Museum's wonderful exhibit, Samuel McIntire, Carving an American Style, closes on Sunday - and if you have not yet seen it, I recommend finding some time this weekend to get here!

McIntire heavily influenced the architecture in Salem and throughout this region. People who are lucky enough to have a McIntire detail, a mantle, a doorway, in their house are very proud of it! Further afield, McIntire's work is exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and in 1792 he submitted a proposal for the design of the Capitol at Washington, DC (alas, it wasn't chosen). His carvings are beautiful, and we are fortunate that its significance was recognized and preserved through the past 200 years.

The following is excerpted from the exhibit microsite: Samuel McIntire (1757–1811) was one of America’s most versatile artists during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when the young nation explored new intersections among ideas, concepts, and cultures to create the foundation of its artistic traditions. Recognized as the architect who transformed his birthplace, Salem, Massachusetts, into the epitome of an elegant American town, after 1795 he also gained prominence as a wood carver. The original design vocabulary that he developed from confident and ambitious experimentation produced one of the first significant carving traditions in the new nation.

McIntire played a major role in expressing the new British neoclassical style, which drew its primary inspiration from the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome. He then developed his own distinct version of the style to express the beliefs and aspirations of the first generation of Americans to experience economic, political, and artistic freedom. McIntire worked cooperatively with the town’s leading cabinetmakers, carpenters, and shipbuilders, providing them with carved ornamentation, but his most important surviving carvings are found on furniture and woodwork of his own design done for Salem’s Derby family. His sensitivity to design as a whole produced some of the most beautiful rooms created during the Federal period (1780–1820).

For more on the Peabody Essex Museum, visit http://www.pem.org/. The Boston Globe review of the exhibit ran on November 4, 2007. Read it here.