EXHIBITION AT THE COMMONS
PRESS RELEASE

Movers, Shakers, and Makers

A Portrait Project by Amy Kandall

August 24–September 4, 2021

Opening Reception: Friday, August 27, 5-7 PM

The Commons, 46 Bradford Street, Provincetown

 

Provincetown, MA – Truro-based artist Amy Kandall’s new exhibit, Movers, Shakers, and Makers, will be open to the public at The Commons in Provincetown from August 24–September 4, 2021, with an opening reception on Friday, August 27. The exhibition features approximately thirty large-scale portraits of well-loved and sometimes well-known Outer Cape community members, mostly posed in pairs of friends or family. Each work is 4 by 4 feet and each subject life-size or larger, which, together with the thick strokes of brightly colored oil, brings the work and personalities vividly to life. The subjects include artists, writers, gallerists, chefs, elected officials, and other creative contributors, including Berta Walker, Robert Henry, Ryan Landry, John Dowd, Chris McCarthy, Jim Zimmerman, Marian Roth, Mary D’Angelis, Zach Luster, and Edwidge Yingling, among many more.

 

Of the portraits, which share the spontaneity and warmth of portraits of friends by Alice Neel or, more recently, Angela Dufresne, Kandall observes, “Most of my portraits are of pairs: couples, friends, family, work partners. I am interested in what happens when you paint people in relation to each other, when you try to capture their contrasting energies and the story of their connection, the way they look at one another, the dance of their gestures.”

 

Kandall is known on social media as “the fast painter,” not only because her portrait sessions are 3 hours long and done every other day but because they are time-lapse video-taped for online viewing. “Three hours is the strangely perfect amount of time to make a portrait,” Kandall says. “Whatever happens in those three hours remains on the canvas as it is. Complete. A capture not only of the sitters but also the space we shared.”

 

This series began in June, at a time when Covid vaccinations were finally allowing people to gather again. Kandall invited subjects to her studio, a small outbuilding in her Truro yard, sat them on a velvet couch, and, while painting, talked with them about their experiences in and views about the Outer Cape. Topics ran from climate change to housing to nature and love. Documenting not only the people of our community, but also this historical moment in time as we emerge from isolation into togetherness after a global pandemic, this series is a part of a larger living history project. The conversations have been recorded and will be edited and published together with the portraits in the coming year.

 

Movers, Shakers, and Makers is not over yet. The project is being enthusiastically embraced by the Provincetown and Outer Cape community, with whose participation it continues to grow.

The public is invited to view the exhibit at The Commons, Provincetown’s community workspace: August 24–September 4, 2021, Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 10am-2pm. There will be an opening reception on Friday, August 27, from 5-7pm. Please wear your mask inside the building. Work is available for purchase through the artist.

 

About Amy Kandall
Amy Kandall’s artistic work in ceramics, collage, painting, and many other media spans four decades. She has exhibited her paintings and ceramic sculptures in galleries and museums across the country. She has also been teaching art for 25 years, working with teenagers in Provincetown, Dennis, Yarmouth, and at Nauset Regional High School. She has been represented by galleries including DNA, Cherry Stone, The Schoolhouse, East End, Esmond Wright, Patty Deluca and currently represents her own work out of Ouroboros Gallery in Truro.

 

About The Commons

The Commons is a collaborative workspace for artists and small businesses, serving the Cape and Islands all year long. As a school and community center, 46 Bradford Street, has been a Provincetown asset for more than a century. The Commons continues that tradition as a year-round coworking space for creative individuals, artists, entrepreneurs, and start-up businesses—as well as being a space for education and community gatherings.