A little summer break from the blog, and it's clear that the arts North of Boston have not taken any break. It's been a feast to satisfy the art-starved! There was Summer Theatre at Salem's magnficent productions for their 15th season, Artists' Row in Salem is hopping, Salem Theatre Company presented Steve Martin's The Underpants, which is the best play title out there, isn't it? Saturdays in Derby Square have been filled with the sounds of Salem Jazz & Soul Fest series.
Marblehead celebrates summer every year with the Summer Jazz Fest, and an arts festival that leaves out no corner of the little coastal town. I was in Marblehead yesterday, adoring Washington street, from overflowing window boxes to black eyed susans popping through fence slats, to a strawberry scone at Foodies Feast (an artform worth mentioning!!). Across the street, I stopped in to the Arnould Gallery, where Gene Arnould, the founder of the Jazz Festival, runs an art gallery/frame shop that is simply the essence of Marblehead.
Gorgeous oils, humorous watercolors, unique collages, all of the art in the Arnould shares a common theme: New England coastal living, particularly in Marblehead. You'll recognize scenes from Redd's Pond, the lighthouse at Chandler Covey, Abbott Hall towering over the rest of the twon's landscape of Georgian homes in scenes for every season. And his artists are exquisite. I combed over each piece for nearly an hour, as though I were in a Marblehead history museum, choosing which piece of history to make mine. You have to be born and bred in Marblehead to call yourself a 'Header, but if you want to claim a piece of this heavenly spot, artwork from the Arnould is where to begin. Cheers to Gene for keeping the arts alive in downtown Marblehead!
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