The Gale, 1934, Charles Kaeselau
PAAM Exhibition Celebrates 50 Years of the Center for Coastal Studies
by Steve Desroches
In the Ross Moffett Gallery at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM), the small exhibition space is full of art that captures an enormous subject: the ocean. Take a quick peek outside and you can see Provincetown Harbor just across the street. It is of course no wonder that so much of the art work created here reflects Provincetown’s maritime ecosystem as, after all, the town is a sandbar jutting out into the North Atlantic. And it is also no wonder that the town’s economy has always been largely dependent on the sea, be it whaling, fishing, whale watching, tourism, or pleasure boating. But what might not be as apparent is the crucial role science and research play in the economic and cultural life of the town. Just as it’s always being painted and photographed, it’s also being studied.
The symbiotic nature of art and science in Provincetown is the subject of a new exhibition at PAAM, which at over 100 years old is paying homage to the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) 50th anniversary with Persistent Curiosity: Charting the Rippled Fabric of the Sea. Co-curated by PAAM CEO Christine McCarthy and CCS scientist and artist-in-residence Mark Adams, Persistent Curiosity utilizes the museum’s permanent collection and the work of contemporary artists to explore Provincetown’s marine history as documented in art. In particular, the exhibit relies heavily on works donated to the museum by the late Napi and Helen Van Dereck, who were huge supporters of both PAAM and CCS, with the couple’s large art collection going almost entirely to the museum and the eponymous restaurant’s building and others nearby being left to the Provincetown-based marine research organization.
“Both the Provincetown Art Association and Museum and the Center for Coastal Studies are rooted in a shared love for the Outer Cape,” says McCarthy. “Celebrating their 50th anniversary through this exhibition is a meaningful way to honor that legacy and bring our community together through art, science, and a commitment to protecting our coastal environment.”
PAAM and CCS have been collaborating for about 25 years, says McCarthy, particularly in educational programming for the Outer Cape’s school children who visit both institutions as part of their course work. For instance, students participate in beach clean-ups with local scientists to learn about plastic pollution and then use the debris collected to create works of art that express what they learned that day. This exhibition shows how artists throughout Provincetown’s past and present have interpreted the marine environment and economy with works like Clamdiggers by Lucy L’Engle, Moby Dick I and Moby Dick II by Bert Yarborough, 3D prints of the Cape Cod seafloor by Pedro dos Santos, Marine Debris Plastics by Sara Landry, and a series of sea creature brass belt buckles by Carl Tasha. The center of the room features Mark Adams’ Global Ocean Seafloor Map, a new piece printed on a marley dance floor framed by the exhibit itself.
“I must say working with Mark is the best tornado ever,” says McCarthy. “He’s a total maximalist and I’m a minimalist.”
As art, the pieces intrigue with their brush strokes, mediums, or methodology, but they also are historical artifacts unto themselves, capturing old cultural practices or landscapes that have dramatically changed since the work was created. Globally, scientists have increasingly used works of art to help track environmental changes, with researchers recently using the collection at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester to compare to modern views of the same landscape to measure coastal erosion and the effects of climate change. Scientists have yet to contact PAAM to use the collection in that manner, but a process is already underway for the Art Association to consult experts on how best to prepare for climate change and the obvious effects it is already having on the Outer Cape. Last year, the town released its Coastal Resilience Plan outlining improvements to Provincetown’s infrastructure that will need to be made to handle rising sea levels and more frequent and intense storms, especially for Commercial Street with several low-lying spots already vulnerable. It’s estimated that by 2070 the sea level will rise 51 inches, threatening 15.7 miles of roadway and potentially causing $1.2 billion in damage. Over her tenure at the helm of PAAM McCarthy has noticed environmental changes, including wind driven water going over Angel Foods and hitting the second floor of the museum, something that didn’t use to happen. And while safe, the collection is kept in an underground storage space, requiring a plan if that is no longer feasible at some point.
“With our proximity to the water we are definitely looking at a climate study,” says McCarthy. “With coastal erosion and rising tides, it is very much going to affect PAAM’s future.”
Persistent Curiosity: Charting the Rippled Fabric of the Sea: The Center for Coastal Studies 50th Anniversary is on exhibition now through July 19 at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) 460 Commercial St. Admission to the museum is $15. For more information call 508.487.1750 or visit paam.org. For more information on the Center for Coastal Studies visit coastalstudies.org.
