OFF SEASON / PEACE ON : enjoy the season of Peace in Provincetown with visit-provincetown.com

Prepare your peaceful break in Provincetown with visit-provincetown.com.

This winter, Provincetown is yours! During these cooler seasons, Town is still open and hot spots are lively. You just have to choose where to be amused, stay, eat and shop, all at attractive, low-season prices. Explore the opportunities to indulge in an invigorating body massage or facial; read some of those classics or write the novel that has been waiting in your heart to come out for so long. Amazing artists and art abound in museums and galleries and sumptuous, enticing dining abounds. Find serenity as you wonder the serene forests, ocean beaches, Provincetown Harbor, peaceful dunes and infinite sky. Visit-provincetown.com will show you the best of winter in one of the world’s most beautiful areas. Enjoy the site and your next stay in wonderful Provincetown.

• Discover the winter guide of Provincetown
• The Winter lodging in Provincetown
• The Winter restaurants in Provincetown
• The Winter shops in Provincetown
• The Winter Beauty in Provincetown
• The Winter Galleries in Provincetown

By M.Sebastian Araujo

In 1998 Mike Carroll opened his gallery in an old school house in the East End of town….taking the Ptown Art scene to a new level.
It always amazes me to walk thru those doors …presentation, ART and the entire vibe of the place is truly unique and very conducive to not just buying Art but also appreciating and really getting a sense of the creative process. It is with his Artist’s Eye that the shows are curated and always uniquely presented. Recently as the pace slowed down a notch we had a chat about just what makes this Artist and Gallery Owner do what he does SO superbly!

What in the Crazy World around us affects what you do?
Everything, and at times some things more than others. When people, ideas and sometimes material things take hold in our mind’s eye and capture people’s interest they can approach or contribute to some forward motion or critical mass. This helps popular notions, memes, schools of thought, movements, and coincidences happen. Also celebrity and commercial successes.
So one strong influence on art is context and another is whether the (artist’s) studio is isolated (maybe rural) or urban. Nature or architecture, right? There’s the work that addresses mass, volume, scale, and impact that’s likely meant to be viewed by a lots of people: municipal or public looking, and then there’s the more personal kind of thing. Maybe this personal version of looking comes from a relationship with nature or the landscape or the elements so the idea is that a relationship can be established between an individual viewer and the image or idea. This is often a bodied notion and occurs in space and time. There’s also work that uses language or is about language or being part of a dialogue. This includes things that feel like commentary, things that take a previous idea or notion a step further, and also art that talks about what language is or can do, like artwork that’s about currency or information or the ways that things are transferred or understood. There’s so much and so much more too.

What changes do you see in the Ptown ART scene today…?
The main change is that we’re no longer an island. Technology has made a bridge for us and media has popularized the town’s refugee status, so we are no longer as far away as we were. We have to concentrate more if we are to develop separate ideas and social orders. Plus our larger society is more mainstreamed than in the past so we see the eccentricities that people love about outliers being medicated, our behaviors pathologized, our art making seen as a business opportunity and acquisition a means to safety. So the people who speak to these circumstances from the outside or from separate societies within the society as a whole are figuring out how to come out from having become ‘embedded’ for about the last 25-30 years during which we were presented with the notion that artists could succeed in a capitalist mainstream. The particular challenge from Provincetown is the economy and how the people who make things can find a way to stay in a place with small work spaces, a spare studio-to-studio dialogue, and the need to find a workable value system that can respond to the greater shifts in art making in the rest of the world in a meaningful way.
That said, I have come to see Provincetown as a rambling, periodic re-gathering of events, languages, makings, chosen families and chances taken. I spent many early years here concerned with being part of the town, to understand where the center of things are and what makes the place happen; to belong. My particular experience in the gallery world has changed that. I think Provincetown is endlessly wonderful but also functions a bit like a cruel mother; one that accepts everything while retaining very little. It is transient and people appear here in chapters. The extreme seasons are a fabulous re-set button but can also erase histories. For these reasons I think historians and journalists like yourself are vital, but also that at the end of the day the Provincetown you have is the one you make – the culture that one makes from the ground on which they stand. This is what we have and this is our town. Objects resonate and relay our stories and can bear witness to our history. But I think it is possible to become confused and lost unless you make something. It’s not a place for consumers to live, despite the party vibe. But when you’re putting on the play you’re not usually the audience too so that can create conflict for people.

What in Your Life inspires your work?
I get super cranky when I don’t make art, and that is impolite. I also have a screw loose, I think.
Somewhere in me there is this notion that I’d rather leave behind a descent piece of art than almost anything else. So it’s a little selfish, but you know I was raised through the narcissism of the 70’s and that’s a filter for me still. The challenge from that position is to find a good place or good self inside me from which to be operate, one that is inclusive and generates possibility for others. That’s a win.
Real life inspirations are: the effect that certain works of art have on me and the desire to make that happen, the observation that the more immersed in one’s art-making practice you are the more naturally animalistic you become, and – also- I am inspired by the sense of tribalism that happens between artists. I want that.
I couldn’t say what inspires me in the gallery part of my life except that I’ve been putting artwork on walls since I was in my late teens. Then it was an expression of love. I put art up at punk rock concerts because my friends were making music and pictures so why not? It was an expression of the tribal kind of love and support we all had with each other. I thought the art ought to interfere and participate in the urban tableau I lived in. There was never a ‘no’ to it.
Now I run a business it’s different. I want to support my household and my partner and to feel safe. Probably I’m in the wrong business, you think?
What makes People respond to? Love.

Was there a « shining lightbulb » moment in your career when you realized that you were and Artist?
You know there wasn’t one ‘aha’ that really opened a door. I’m really a Luddite and have been plodding along for as long as I can remember, continually structuring homes and lifestyles around the possibility of making things. At times the studio has been the center of my life and at other times I’ve been very far away from it. Certainly there have been moments of clarity, joy and release but as often it’s a challenge. I have this thing that happens where I get excited and go into the studio and then as soon as I get there I forget why I came and have absolutely no idea how to proceed. I really have to stay through that and engage with my materials and tools and then I begin to have some smartness in my hands.

How hard is it for an Artist to survive in the world we live in today?
It’s hard I think. But despite that, and despite the fact of that almost always being the first response to that question it’s also important to make a history of one’s successes. For many artists these are any articulations or connections between the work, the studio, themselves and some outcome….moments of non-violent visibility that make culture occur. Every little thing contributes to a studio practice. I remember a long time ago deciding to begin to paint after a number of years of distractions and being so stuck. It’s why I came to Provincetown and stayed. I wanted my studio legs back and the people in town were very supportive of that effort. At that time it was quite literally impossible for me to stay in the physical studio…I was like a moth. I remember once during this period I went into the studio, walked through the door, and the next thing I remember I kind of ‘came to’ chipping ice out of the freezer in the kitchen. It felt pretty strange and hopeless so I made a deal with myself. I decided to believe that everything I did was ‘not different’ than my studio practice; that things like cooking, bathing, basic physical movements, eating, conversations, specially interacting with my dog, pretty much everything (except possibly paperwork) was exercising the same muscle that made art. It really helped and soon I had a better discipline. The whole trip of making art is about the removal of the obstacles to do it.But I think this question is probably more about money. It’s hard I think to survive and be successful that way if you compare success as an artist with contemporary definitions of success or entrepreneurship. I really don’t know if it’s the right and most realistic thing to ‘be an artist’. I mean as soon as you label it you become incorrect, so the language should really chase the experience not the other way around. Plus in the gallery world part of the criterion that is used to support value is expertise and the ways that artists are considered experts often come from conventional or broad definitions of success. Many artists teach, write or curate and as admin jobs people like that – they are accepted vocations and don’t raise as any questions about safety, continuity and uncertainty. These things can also be used to defend prices in some markets. So it’s important to develop a relationship with something besides your own self-reliance, like friends that believe in you or a faith that the actual doing of it is valid. There’s a lot to it but I’d say can be hard, it can be unique, but it isn’t special. Specialized problems create an attitude of entitlement whereas pursuing an understanding of value steers one towards a relationship with human rights. This is why poetry is so important. You have to be willing to make a poem while no one is looking that no one may read and still be okay. Then you can bring it out into the light if that’s your thing.

What is it about Ptown that keeps you and other creative people living there or coming back?
This is a tough question.
Provincetown is not an easy place in ways and many people live in a constant state of questioning whether or not it’s their right place. It’s a gnarled condition of mind. I’ve seen many people come here swinging internally as extremely as the elements and conditions do externally. Then after a time they find a steadier rhythm inside and wonder how to stay in a place of such extremes. I wonder it almost every day. But I am still drawn to the space, the light and the response to the elements that happens here.
But I’d say that for many people Provincetown can be a place where we can pursue our most basic, natural and joyful desires: that of immersion and touching the world; our lives. The sensuality, the openness, and the tossed salad of values and standards make things feel possible and relaxed. Plus the seasons are timed perfectly for pretending. You can be anyone you want for three months at a time, right?

For More About the School House Gallery Click Here:
http://www.galleryschoolhouse.com/

As we approach this new year full of possibilities….it is so good to know that Provincetown is someplace we all can find on a map. Some in our daily lives or just in our dreams. How Good it has been to watch the time pass while Mike and his gallery have grown and given Ptown Art and its devotees a place to see new ideas and creativity amid this crazy old world! Luckily Provincetown will continue to grow and create and step into the future while cherishing the past…

By M. Sebastian Araujo                      

 The word Troubador is a noun – From the French – A Lyric Poet/Minstrel/Singer/Balladeer-

A Poet who writes verse to music. That word always pops into my mind when I think about a day some years ago when I first spied a handsome lithe woman peddling a natty old bike down Commercial street wearing a bowtie with a ukulele under her arm! I was very intrigued… Her wit, charm and  musical stylings have been a gift to this crazy quilt of a town, and the world all around . Recently I had the chance to catch up with her and find out just what keeps her creating and sharing music and so much more with the everyone she meets!

What in this CRAZY World around us affects your Creativity?

The craziness, whatever that is really, is one of my many inspirations. Anything that hits you, offends you, touches you, is worthy of a song and for me. If I want to escape the »craziness, » I head to nature and solitude and that’s where I find my muse most easily.

 What changes do you see in the music scene these days…?

The way that people discover music these days has changed significantly. It boggles my mind how different it is to get the songs out there. Now, the more internet presence you have the better. The more people who film your show the more chances it can go viral. You can spend all your time trying to work on this and forget to write the songs if you’re not careful. The undiscovered can suddenly be discovered over night and that’s inspiring but for me, I just keep on playing and writing and performing and the songs have a journey all of their own.

What in your daily  Life  inspires your work?

I used to find that when « hit the road » and traveled to far off places I would become like a musical sponge picking up grooves and song ideas. I had new eyes and ears for everything that was around me but now I find when I’m home I can often see things in that way too. I’m continually inspired in Provincetown. Everyday I’m in nature, every day it’s different and I discover new things even though I’ve lived there for 25 years. The place changes constantly and it keeps me fired up.

 What makes people tap their toes and want to sing along with Music?

That’s the invisible power of music, that’s what I love about it. It stops people in their tracks, it can completely undo you or make you high as the clouds. It’s the rhythm of life. Often, traveling the world I make friends through music. We may not speak the same language but when we play together we most certainly do. It’s a tremendous feeling.

Was there a  « shining lightbulb » moment in your career when you realized that you were an artist? If so what was it?

I think everyone can be an artist if they choose to be. Everyone has the ability to be creative if they are encouraged. I was born singing and knew I always had to follow music. I can’t really do anything else. It’s my job and my love. It’s almost like food for me. I have to have it. I remember joining a band in England and deciding not to go to University, much to my parents chagrin. That was the moment I started saying I was a « Musician » because people kept asking me what I was doing.

How hard is it for an Artist to survive in the world we live in today?

I’ve always managed to survive on my music. I learned early that if you want to live off your art then you have to live small. Not going to University was one of the best things I ever did because I didn’t have huge student loans! I didn’t owe anyone anything. I always lived within my means. That meant being creative in surviving too. I played on the street, I performed long piano gigs in bars and restaurants, I learned to be versatile. I always looked at those as my « job » gigs and then I started to play my originals in listening rooms and that’s what I loved most. Now, fortunately, I can make my living from those shows.

What is it about Ptown that keeps you and other creative people living there or coming back ?

It’s brash and exciting and beautiful. It has so many layers and just when I think I’ve found all of them there are more to discover. I love the land, I love getting to know it deeply, I love how I can escape and not see a person all day if I choose, even in the height of summer. We live on the edge, out in the middle of the sea, exposed to the elements. The rents have risen, the developers have arrived but there are still a few of the old artists and town characters who hang on to the underbelly of the place reminding me of why I fell in love with it all those years ago.

How groovy it is to see someone who truly lives there dream and makes the world a better place for it. Lets face it without Music and Art this world of ours would be a very different place indeed. My hats  off to Zoe and all the other Troubadors where ever they may be!

To Find out More about All that Zoe Lewis has going on Click Here:

http://www.zoelewis.com/

 By M. Sebastian Araujo

Mike Albo is a Writer with a Capital W. Comedienne, Performer and Chronicler of Gay Life in the era of Gay with a  Capital G. Ok enough with the capital letters! I have always been an avid reader and fan of this extraordinary chap!  So you can imagine how lucky I was to have had a chance to find out more about what makes him do what he does …

What in your world affects your creativity?

Negatively: my feelings and emotions surrounding money and the lack thereof affect my ability to feel free enough to be creative. I can get very sad and stultified by my lack of funds. I can begin to feel very alone and isolated when I don’t have money (which is often). My new ebook, Spermhood, is about my year long journey donating sperm to my two friends, a lesbian couple, but it also is about my journey to understanding this sadness and anxiety of mine, getting my arms around it, giving it love, and finding faith. Seriously it’s so weird but jerking off in a cup for a year became a spiritual journey!

Positively: the outdoors, trees, the ocean, expansive space, like the landscape of Ptown, are crucial to mental clarity. Also exercise, especially swimming…but as much as i value solitude, being in a vibrant artistic community, collaborating and helping other people with their work is hugely important to me!

With all the changes in technology, how do you feel they may have changed the « Art/Performance/Writing scene today…?

Again there are positive and negative aspects. I love communicating — I am pretty active on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram — and feel that more than ever before I can build an audience/community and connect with people. On the down side, our brains are turning into screens that we touch and fondle, and work that isn’t easily digested or doesn’t dazzle the eye in a certain way suffers.

What makes people respond to what you do?

 I think it is because I am funny and sad at the same time? I’m one of those clowns with fake tears coming out of his eyes and a droopy flower.

Was there a « shining light bulb » moment in your career when you realized that you were an artist? If so what was it?

I have always wanted to be a writer, ever since i was in 5th grade. I have kept a diary since then. I think I am a thwarted poet. I started as a poet in those diaries, and all through college and grad school, then I started getting on stage and writing prose and mixing in the poetry i guess.  It’s like I have been trying to get back to the purity of poetry, by way of theater, fiction, comedy and solo performance…searching for that door I opened way back when I was 7 years old.

How do you begin your creative process?

I usually start with an idea or purpose — a “What if…?” or “I want to express how….” statement, or sometimes an image or bit of dialogue or even a weird sign I may see on the street. I write it down in my nutty notebook/diary/idea depot. I decide, after much thought (usually while swimming) if this idea is worth expanding upon…if it is a performance, character, monologue, play, poem, work of fiction, or article. Then I flesh out the idea on paper. Then there is a very long process of printing out pages, editing, entering edits onto the computer, then printing out again, drafts and drafts and drafts. I believe that ideas are energy and its our job to give them form.

What is it about Provincetown that keeps you and other Artists either living there or coming back again and again?

 Provincetown always recharges me. I come there and its like my little cellphone battery of a heart is on its last bar of power, and I get there and just soak up the energy. Its very much about the physicality of the town. Biking, running, swimming every day and getting back into my body. But it is definitely also about the spirit of that town — the legacy of the arts is so powerful and palpable. I love going to shows, and seeing friends work in the galleries. Just talking to other people about their creative life is so vital to me!

To Find out More about Mike Albo’s New Book Click Here:

http://www.amazon.com/Spermhood-Diary-Donor-Kindle-Single-ebook/dp/B016LQPHLI

Creativity can come in many forms. Sometimes it finds a time and place to flourish…and sometimes it finds a permanent home. Provincetown is such a place and that seems to be the thread of life that runs through the place and the lives of so many. Connecting the past to the present and making us all Provincetown-ians no matter where we may roam, Ptown will  be on the compass.

 By M.Sebastian Araujo

As the cranberry bogs begin to fill with autumns deliciousness and we all begin to head indoors once again,creativity is still surrounding us.To me there is nothing more creatively surrounding than music…Recently I had the chance to find out how the groovy music of Anne Stott is created…..

What in this CRAZY World around us affects your Creativity?

 Everything.  But in particular the fact that the world is so crazy and yet has some kind of syncopated asymmetrical order to it.  Of course our “developed” technical culture has taken that paradox to surreal extremes.  But I digress. All the work I’ve made is informed by everything I’ve seen or felt.  If I’ve done my job right that is.   

 What changes do you see in the music scene these days?

The music world is full of changes right?  The record labels are a dying empire (though they are holding on hard), internet streaming is undercutting musicians pay by about 1000%, our experience of live music is changing all the time.  In a way the doors have blown open because anyone can make music and throw it up on the internet.  On the other hand, people’s lives are so saturated with (often useless) information that reaching people on the internet or finding the people who will dig what you do is a challenge to say the least.  The most positive change I’ve seen in the last two years is the development of a new kind of crowd funding where music fans can support their preferred artists on an ongoing basis.  Some artists start subscription services where people can give per month, but i have just started a Patreon campaign where people can support me per music video I make.  Just like Kickstarter or Indiegogo you can give at different levels and get bonus cool rewards but we have an ongoing connection rather than just raising money for one big thing.  Here’s my patron page (yes, this has descended into a shameless plug): https://www.patreon.com/theannestott?ty=h

What in your daily  Life  inspires your work?

Other artists of any medium making their work.Last week I saw Time Out of Mind, the new film by Oren Moverman with songs by Billy Hough.  When an artist can take something as painful and difficult as homelessness and make a beautiful uncompromising film then I want to go home and make more work.  And it doesn’t have to be a whole film or even an entire painting or song.  It can be one line on a canvas or one section of a photograph or one sentence in a  book.  Just a little touch of an artist reaching for the magic can help me reach again.

CLICK Here to See Anne’s Video

What makes people tap their toes and want to sing along with Music? 

I don’t know. There have been mountains of research on this.  Some people say that it starts with the beating of our hearts.  Others say we’re trying to imitate the birds.  I know that when I sing or move to a rhythm it changes how I feel and I like that.  The really interesting part is different tastes in music.  Why do some people need the heavy metal experience and others can only stomach classical.  What gives me ear fatigue might feed another person’s soul.  I find Indian chanting (kirtan) incredibly moving and powerful, but some people find it boring and annoying.  Of course some of this is culturally informed, but not all of it.  No one in my life was playing Indian chanting when I was growing up.  I think almost everyone loves music; the vibration is a direct hit to our hearts.  But which music and whose hearts?

Was there a  « shining lightbulb » moment in your career when you realized that you were an artist? If so what was it?

 I think my bulb was on a dimmer and has turned up ever so slowly over a long period of time.  There have been many milestones along the way.  It’s funny, when I first started making music again, I was very concerned with whether or not I was an artist or a writer or a performer.  What to call what I was doing.  The longer and more that I just make my work, it doesn’t really matter what people consider me or even what I consider myself.  It just matters that I keep making the work, whatever that might be.  So, the shedding of the need to be seen as an artist or to prove that I’m an artist was probably as important a development as any other.  It helped free my work from agendas and allowed it to just be.

What is it about Ptown that keeps you and other creative?

It’s hard not to sound cliched, but the light and the water are, well, they’re just more.  And we live on the edge physically which can encourage exploring the edge creatively.  Even with the economic and cultural challenges that the town is facing, there is a freedom here that is unique.  If an artist comes here with a desire to go further than they’ve gone before, this town will support that effort.  I say this in spite of the fact that I’m a musician and I don’t really consider this a live music town.  There are great musicians whom I admire living and working here, but the most predominant creative communities here are visual, for all the obvious reasons.  And yet, I still feel when i sit down to write that I’m getting a little extra help from the surroundings.  That the forces are aligned here for exploration

Click Here to See Anne’s Video.

As You Begin to settle in for the Cooler Days ahead have a peek here to find out more about Anne and her Amazing Music Here: http://www.annestott.com/

 Creativity is Alive and Well and Ptown is the place to go and seek it out…The cooler days will inspire  in so many different ways. Keep Warm,and remember to LOVE one another after all that is the best Creative Force of All!