Artists use museum for inspiration on new exhibit

Jun 27, 2019

MATTAPOISETT — Mattapoisett artist Dick Morgado started a painting of the now defunct E.A. Walsh General Store when he was 12, and finished it after he retired. 

Inspired by a sign at the Mattapoisett Museum, Morgado used old photographs and his memory to complete the painting, which is now on display as part of the museum’s Inspiration: Time and Texture exhibit. 

At the exhibit’s opening on Thursday, June 27, Morgado said that the painting represents a simpler time when his life “revolved around the village.”

Katherine Staelin created visualizations inspired by a teapot on display at the museum.  In one visualization she painted teacups spaced apart to represent a tea party, but one without guests. She said that teacups placed higher up in the painting represented people standing with their drinks, while those lower in the painting were placed on an imaginary table.

In another visualization she created a timeline showing how teacups have evolved over time. She placed two microwavable tea cups next to the antique tea pot featured in the museum for contrast.

Photographer Peter Mello chose to look to the future instead of the past for his piece. He photographed his daughter Joy and her friends Ava, Martha and Maddie at a location that has been significant in their lives, but will likely be impacted by sea level rise in the year 2100. Short statements from the girls about the consequences of climate change were also included.

Mello tied his work back to the museum by saying that the purpose of the museum is preserving the town’s nautical culture and history, and that sea level rise poses an existential threat to future generations in the town. 

Hoyt Hottel created an abstract painting with a fiery sky and an 1821 fire truck from the museum that has fascinated him since he first saw it on a school field trip as a child.

Anthony Days also drew inspiration from his childhood, painting The Arch Bridge over the Mattapoisett River. Days grew up near the river and went fishing off of the bridge as a child. He used a photograph from the early 1900s as his reference point for the painting.

Sophia Deery went to observe the exhibit and support her friend and featured artist Anna Van Voorhis. She said it was interesting to see the town she grew up in reflected back to her through the exhibit.

Van Voorhis used a series of three photographic prints that come out in blue shades to pay homage to Mattapoisett’s early history as a salt-works. The blue and white prints are symbolic of saltwater evaporating over time.

The exhibit also features art from Peter Michael Martin, Ryan McFee, Jo Mogilnicki, Tucker Aufranc, John Middleton, and Kent McCormack. It will be on display until spring 2020.