Cape Ann Sisterhood Exhibit Hits North Shore Arts Association

From August 5th to September 18th, the Cape Ann Sisterhood will be presenting an exhibit of paintings at North Shore Arts Association in Gloucester. The opening reception will take place on Friday, August 5 from 5-8 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

They say, "It is better to give than to receive," but sometimes you can do both simultaneously, as a group of board members of North Shore Arts Association has discovered. Some fifteen years ago, Anne Demeter, the President of NSAA, Trudy Allen, Gallery Director, and Judythe Evans Meagher, Trustee Board Member, arranged to meet for dinner at the Windward Grille in Essex.

The folks at the Windward were so welcoming, accommodating and tolerant (there was a fair amount of raucous laughter that evening), that the group decided to do it again and again and again. In a little while, they were joined by the then Treasurer, the late Carleen Muniz, Corresponding Secretary, Janice Turner, and another Trustee, Bonnie Gray, who introduced to the group Andrea van Gestal, who has since served as President, Treasurer and Recording Secretary, and she invited Trustee, Judy Metcalfe.

Before long (nobody remembers exactly when anymore), they were joined by Trustees Pamela Giarratana and the late Connie Mullen. The management of Windward Grille has seen a lot of this group over the years, including their annual Yankee Swap, and has remained welcoming, accommodating and tolerant even though the raucous laughter has never ceased and may even have increased in volume.

This is a diverse group of women in many ways, with backgrounds ranging from law to interior design, mediums ranging from oils and watercolor to alcohol inks, and painting styles ranging from photorealism to abstract. All but Janice Turner are painters, but since she has been the wife and helpmate of Rockport artist Bruce Turner for over 50 years, the group considers her an artist by association.

These friends have formed strong bonds and a support network that has seen them through the inescapable life challenges of illness, death and divorce. But what binds them together at the core is their love for and dedication to the North Shore Arts Association. If you were to tally their combined years of volunteering as trustees, officers, committee members and chairs, workshop teachers, event coordinators, hangers of exhibitions, writers of programs, along with all the little tasks and roles that don't even get a name, you would easily surpass a century. They are all very mindful, not of what they have given to North Shore, but what they have gained as a result, something they have dubbed "The Cape Ann Sisterhood."

From August 5th to September 18th, the Cape Ann Sisterhood will be presenting an exhibit of paintings at North Shore Arts Association, 11 Pirates Lane, Gloucester, MA 01930. The gallery is open weekdays and Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sundays noon to 5 p.m..