A show of 'Bliss' at the Wenniger

"The Bliss of Being" is the title of a new show openings tomorrow at Rockport's Wenniger Gallery, with a public reception with the artist from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The exhibition displays the colorful woodcuts by Illinois printmaker Cathie Crawford. The free meet-the-artist event will include a talk about the work by the artist, who has been a printmaker for three decades.

"These color reduction woodcuts are alive with texture," said Mary Ann Wenniger. "They celebrate the blissfully magical moments of life."

Wenniger said that many of the images are abstractions of the landscape. Recent prints celebrate places the artist has lived or traveled.

Crawford lived overseas with her husband for three years in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and three years in Grenoble, France. In that time, they also traveled to 25 countries. Some of her prints involve a close-up view of an underwater world.

Crawford has won more than 30 awards at the national and regional levels. Her work has been included in more than 250 exhibitions, 40 juried national shows and 10 international juried exhibitions. Her woodcuts have been exhibited in 18 states as well as France, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom.

The Little Art Cinema in Rockport will present a special showing of "The Proposal" tomorrow through July 13, literally bringing home the movie that was filmed last year in Rockport, Manchester and Gloucester.

The film will be shown nightly at 7 and 9 p.m. in Spiran Hall at the corner of Broadway and School Street in downtown Rockport. For film schedules or ticket information, call 978-546-2520.

Alison Brown, a Grammy Award-winning banjoist and the co-founder of Compass Records, will perform with her quartet tonight at 8 at the Rockport High School auditorium.

Brown is in Greater Boston to perform tracks off of her new album, "The Company You Keep." Brown is a Harvard alum, received her MBA from UCLA and worked as an investment banker before joining Alison Krauss and Union Station for a three-year stint in 1989.

She has received three Grammy nominations for her solo recordings, a Grammy Award in 2001 for Best Country Instrumental Performance, and the International Bluegrass Music Association's award for Banjo Player of the Year.

To buy tickets or for information, visit www.rockportmusic.org or call 978-546-7391.

Dave Sag's Blues Party kicks off the weekend music schedule at the Rhumb Line tonight, featuring Bob Davis, Greg Tower and Roger Brocklebank.

Elegant Trash will perform at Elliott's at the Blackburn in Gloucester tonight from 8 p.m. to 11:30, while Dan King also plays tonight at 9 p.m. at The Gull, at 75 Essex Ave. That acoustic show will also be with Inge Berge and Joe Cardoza.

King also performs Monday as the guest host at the Open¬ Jam¬ at The Rhumb Line.

Sunday, SAFETY will perform from 6-8 at the Manor Inn, with a DJ before and after. That event will also feature a Fisherman's Brew beer tasting with food for $10.

Colleen and Justin Kleya of The Grass Gypsys, a jazz/folk acoustic duo from Boston will perform Sunday Morning Live at the Seaward Inn in Rockport this Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon. These traveling troubadours of old are on tour promoting their CD's "Legends, Myths and Fairytales" and "Lessons from Eden". For more information visit www.seawardinn.com.

The Rockport Art Association is holding a free lecture next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., featuring "Arrive, To Look: The Natural Stone Photography of Leslie D. Bartlett."

Bartlett is known for his quarry photographs and ability to capture light and its most incandescent and fleeting qualities in nature.

The talk will last for 45 minutes with time for questions at the end. He will cover how his early life prepared him for an appreciation of the horizon, how the stage magic, light and juggling at the Cabot Street Theatre imbued him with immediate light in imagery. He will discuss the impact of how waiting in the stone quarries of Cape Ann and more recently, photographing the hands of the master stone sculptors in Barre, Vt., has affected his art.

This event will be in conjunction with Bartlett's outdoor photo quarry workshop the following day. The event will be followed by a wine & cheese reception. For more information on the event or quarry workshop, call 978-546-6604 or email rockportart@verizon.net. For more information on Bartlett, visit www.followthegleam.com.

Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House, 75 Eastern Point Blvd., will open its seaside lawn and terrace for picnickers to observe the Friday night Fourth of July fireworks over Gloucester Harbor tomorrow from 7 to 10 p.m.

Visitors are encouraged to bring blankets, chairs, food and beverage of your choice. Cape Ann Brewing Company will also be offering free samples of fine local beers. The house will also be open for abridged tours on the half hour.

The event is for adults only, with a cost is $10 per person for members and $18 for nonmembers. There are no refunds in case of rain, and reservations are required. Please call (978) 283-0800.

The house museum is also offering a behind-the-scenes tour of the 40-room mansion and grounds on Wednesday, July 8. The three-hour guided tour begins at 9 a.m. and includes a break for light refreshments. Cost is $15 for Historic New England members and $22 for nonmembers. Reservations are required. Please call 978-283-0800.

Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House Museum, will also host Rockport Day, offering free hourly tours to Rockport residents on Thursday, July 9. First tour begins at 10 a.m. and the last at 4 p.m.

Reservations are not required but residents must bring proof of residency. Discounted memberships in Historic New England, which entitle the holder to free admission to 36 house museums throughout New England, will also be offered. For more information please call 978-283-0800.

The Haiti project is having a sale on July 4 in Annisquam, on the lawn across from the Annisquam Exchange, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The proceeds will benefit the women's cooperative in Fond des Blancs, Haiti, which employs 80 women from the village. They have been lifted out of poverty through this program. These goods now sell in boutiques in Haiti and at events like this in the United States and Europe by "Friends of Haiti."

The tags state: "When you purchase a hand made article from Haiti Projects, Inc. you help poor women from a rural area of Haiti send their children to school, buy more food, better shoes, fix a roof or buy a pig. Your purchase provides the women with an earned income that helps not only the family but improves the economy of the whole village of Fond des Blancs."

A small selection of photographs by Philip Reisman (1904-1993) is currently on view at the Cape Ann Museum.

The photographs of St. Peter's Fiesta are part of the museum's collection of approximately 450 color slides by Reisman from the 1950s. The photographs are on view through the end of August.

St. Peter's Fiesta — or, more properly, Fiesta di San Pietro — honors the patron saint of fishermen and it is the largest, most colorful of the new celebrations which Sicilian immigrants brought to Gloucester. It began in the late 1920s as a neighborhood novena and expanded to a city-wide event in the 1930s.

Reisman as known as a Social Realist painter. He was also a printmaker, illustrator and amateur photographer. Born in Warsaw, Poland, his family fled to the United States to escape the pogroms when he was four years old. He lived in New York where he studied at the Art Students League and privately under Harry Wickey.

In the spring of 1944 he was persuaded by his friend Sol Wilson to escape the city and spend the summer in Rockport. Reisman, however, found the gritty working waterfront of Gloucester more to his artistic taste. He became fascinated with the fishing industry spending hours sketching, painting and later photographing the waterfront and the people who lived and worked there.

The Museum has a collection of 28 of his drawings, oil paintings and watercolors in addition to approximately 450 of his color slides from the early 1950s. The Museum presented an exhibition of his art work titled Men and Machine in the summer of 1985.

Funding for this program was made possible through a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which promotes excellence, access, education and diversity in the arts, humanities and interpretive sciences, in order to improve the quality of life for residents and to contribute to the economic vitality of our communities.

The Cape Ann Museum is located at 27 Pleasant Street in Gloucester. For more information call: 978-283-0455. Additional information can be found online at www.capeannmuseum.org.

The Jane Deering Gallery in Gloucester will open with its summer exhibition of new photography by Youngsuk Suh titled "Calm in the Landscape: American Wildfires and Wilderness."

Suh's recent work investigates wildfires and the unexpected atmospherics he encountered within those zones, and continues an exploration of the changing myth of the American wilderness. The work also reveals his close observation of man's relationship with nature. His work is informed by the language of 19th and 20th century landscape painters and photographers whose scenes of grand natural beauty inspired wonder in the viewer.

Suh holds a BFA in Photography from the Pratt Institute, New York and an MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where he taught large format photography and digital printing. He is currently Assistant Professor of Photography at the University of California at Davis.

The gallery will also feature an installation in the studio building titled BEAUTIFUL Just the Way You Are. This conceptual work is an art action piece and invites the viewer's participation. Open daily by appointment and Saturdays 1-4 pm. Contact the gallery at 978-281-8051 or info@janedeeringgallery.com for directions.

Latitude 43 Restaurant & Bar, at 25 Rogers Street on Gloucester Harbor, will host a Samuel Adams Beer dinner Tuesday night, with a six-course dinner prepared using beer both as an ingredient as well as being paired with each course.

Guests will be hosted by Corporate Chef Jeff Cala and Kelly Larosa, a Sam Adams representative.

First Course: Grapeseed oil quick-fried Samuel Adams Hefeweizen dipped Cod Cheeks served with a Gherkin Tartar and Mango Jicama Slaw. Paired With: Samuel Adams Pale Ale.

Second Course: Carpacio of Meyers Beef, local Portabellos, Vidalia Onion Jam, Chiffonade of Arugala with a Samuel Adams Summer Ale Gastrique. Paired With: Samuel Adams Boston Lager.

Third Course: Super Spicy Scallop Roll with Tempura Stuffed Shell Crab accented with a Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat Fried Soy Reduction. Paired With: Samuel Adams Summer Ale.

Fourth Course: Samuel Adams Honey Porter soaked and aged Tenderloin of Beef with Onion, Garlic Confit, Grilled Peppered Yam and local Zucchini served with Grilled Vegetables and Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes. Paired With: Samuel Adams Boston Lager.

Fifth Course: Samuel Adams Irish Red steamed Alaskan King Crab Legs with sizzling chili butter. Paired With: Samuel Adams Boston Ale.

Dessert: Belgian Chocolate Flourless Torte with Zabaglione and Samuel Adams Cream Stout Caramel topped With Cream Stout Caramel Syrup. Paired With: Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat.

The cost is $50 per person (tax and gratuity included). For tickets and information, call the restaurant at 978-281-0223.

The Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport is hosting its art gallery with the works of Susanne E. White beginning tomorrow and carrying through July 30.

She received a BFA in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art. She is a signature member of the International Society of Acrylic Painters, a member of the Rockport Art Association and the North Shore Art Association.

The Rockport Garden Club will host its annual garden tour July 10 and July 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine.

This year's tour titled "Seaside Gardens" consists of ten stops, some of which feature multiple gardens. Many of these private gardens will be open to the public for the first time. Most of the gardens are on the waterfront.

There will be a plant and art sale and refreshments at three of the gardens. Tickets are $25, and may be purchased at Toad Hall Bookstore in downtown Rockport. Tickets will also be on sale July 10, 9-2 p.m. and July 11, 9-1 p.m. at the Community House, 58 Broadway. For mail or phone orders, contact Elaine Hassler, 978-546-7871, e.hassler@comcast.net. Visit www.rockportgardenclub.org for more information.

Around Cape Ann is a column devoted to events happening on Cape Ann and artists from Cape Ann performing elsewhere. If you would like to submit an item, contact reporter Gail McCarthy at 978-283-7000, ext. 3445 or gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com. All items need to be sent 10 days before the event.

Photos

Courtesy image Pictured here is ÒHealing WaterÓ by Illionois printmaker Cathie Crawford. Staff Photographer

Staff Photographer