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Inspired by PEM & North Shore Exhibitions

July 3 through August 28, 2021


Tides of Life - 14th Annual PEM Inspirational Exhibit 

Inspired by the exhibition "In American Waters" of the Peabody Essex Museum, local artists came up with imaginative creations showing how the sea is a reflection of American culture and environment and their own personal and psychological meditations on its beauty, violence, poetry and transformative power.

Our Guest Juror: Sarah Chasse - Associate Curator, Peabody Essex Museum

Sarah Chasse has worked extensively with PEM’s American art collections, including decorative arts, paintings and sculptures, since 2003. She has made significant contributions to many projects at PEM including Samuel McIntire, Carving an American Style, 2007; American Epics: Thomas Hart Benton and Hollywood, 2015; Ocean Liners: Glamour, Speed and Style, 2017; A Passion for American Art: Selections from the Carolyn and Peter Lynch Collection, 2019; and In American Waters: The Sea in American Painting, 2021. Chasse specializes in American and European decorative arts and design, American art and material culture from the colonial era to 1945She earned her BA in American Studies from Mount Holyoke College and an MA in American Studies from the College of William and Mary, with a focus on art history and material culture.

Award Winners


Best of Show: Nancy Barnes, Marsh Glow

I was really moved by this spectacularly immersive depiction of a watery marsh scene. Through skillful depiction of texture, light and color, the artist captures both the fragility and vibrancy of this unique maritime environment in a way that feels especially vital to me in this moment of global climate crisis. 


Second Prize: Steve Negron, Faith Abandoned Hope at Land's End

My imagination was captured by this mysterious nocturnal meditation by the sea captured with an auteur-like perspective. The intricate repeating pattern of the waves in the moon-glow is particularly mesmerizing and skilled. Laden with psychological intrigue, this work echoes the surrealist paintings of American artist Gertrude Abercrombie and highlights the emotional and physical significance of the sea in American experience.  


Third Prize: Karen Hosking, King's Beach in Infrared 

I love this work for how the artist perfectly captures the intersection of humanity and nature. The perspective, looking at the beach from the side, is unusual in American depictions of the shore, and I think it beautifully captures a sense of otherworldly exploration as these intrepid visitors meet the threshold of the shoreline where sand and water converge.


Inspired by PEM Honorable Mentions:

Diane Fawley, Beverly Harbor Night Moorings - This immersive harbor nocturne draws the viewer in on many sensory levels. The deep cobalt blue pigment, the harbor lights blurring in the moist air, and the unexpected orientation from the water all combine to create an immersive marine scene where you can almost hear the night sounds of the harbor. 

Janet Schwartz, Salty Dogs - No maritime themed show is complete without a depiction of ships. Through vibrant color and dynamic perspective the artist captures this quintessential mode of marine transportation in a compelling style. 

Dewa Raka-Goncalves, Waves in the Water - This work is impressive in scale but what really won me over was the intricate depiction of water and waves in motion.




An exhibition of images inspired by the landscape, cities and people of Massachusetts’s North Shore.   Subjects include but are not limited to seascapes, woods, historic buildings, local attractions such as diners, depictions of events and portraits of the people of the North Shore.

The North Shore Exhibit is filled with both prototypical moments that were captured from an unusual vantage point and with perspectives that are idiosyncratic of how we as artists perceive and represent our home as New England artists. It was difficult to choose ribbon-winners, as each piece was unique and authentic. - Annette Sykes, Guest Juror

Our Juror: Annette Sykes - President and Gallery Director, Galleries at Lynn Arts (GALA)

Annette Sykes is an objective painter who works in media ranging from oil to watercolor to pastels, especially when she is painting her favorite oceanscapes and cityscapes. She also works with a range of drawing materials especially when doing life drawing and portraiture.  She works mostly from direct observation. As an observational artist, Annette draws and paints what she sees. Annette has a studio at at the LynnArts building and is the Gallery Director for GALA (the Galleries At LynnArts). She has also been appointed to the Lynn Public Arts Commission. Annette studied fashion design in New York in the mid-90's but then transitioned to fine arts when she moved to to Boston. 


Award Winners


Best of Show: Ryan G. Mason, Lone House by the Sea – Gloucester, MA

A photo that immediately captures the viewer's attention and draws one over for a closer look. The possible comparison in composition to Andrew Wyeth's "Christina's World" with the figure being replaced by the delicate tendrils of the wiry grass in the extreme foreground makes this an intriguing image on numerous levels, especially in a show called North Shore. It allows the viewer to imagine themselves in a dream-like landscape, where light and texture create atmosphere.



Second Prize: Janet Schwartz’s Gloucester Harbor

A painting in which pastels are used to grand effect. It is a traditional painter's challenge to paint boats lined up along a dock. This artist not only paints these boats in a refined manner with the pastels, but also renders the water and light. If you have ever observed such a scene for any length of time, it's the reflecting colors that change minute to minute as a sun is setting that cast light and shadow along these buildings and the light that dances along the surface of the water that they have captured so artfully.



Third Prize: Robert Beauvais, Salem Woods 

A photograph in which the photographer has bravely distilled Autumn on the North Shore to its essence. By cropping this scene to pure color and texture of leaves and the tiniest flecks of sky and branches, the environment is tasked to encompass the viewer in a warm autumn day. Viewed from a few feet away, this becomes a simple color field piece of art, a color that in itself is all about the perfect fall day, but once the viewer draws closer to inspect the piece, they will note that the season is in the details.


North Shore Honorable Mentions:

Chuck Anzalone, Long Hill, Oil Painting

Ed Bradstreet, The Waiting, Photograph

Deborah Perez, Rocky Shore, Oil Painting

Ruth K. Rooks, Fried Dough, a Salem Pop-Up, Gouache


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