As summer comes to a close, many will grab a weekend bike ride or drive along Marblehead Neck to enjoy the ambiance along the seaside. Homes set on grand landscapes offer amazing scenery throughout the Neck, but sounds of music may lure you to pull over onto 280 Ocean Ave., the location of “Evolutions ‘09,” an art and music exhibition for all to enjoy.
What you’ll discover in this particular backyard will surprise you. In addition to hearing some of the best music, offered by the Jazz Navigators, Rolling Few, jazz singer Heather Tobin and tween newcomer Hayley Reardon, who has taken the local music scene by storm, you’ll have the opportunity to browse through watercolors, pastels, calligraphy, sculptures, ceramics and oil paintings by some of the most amazing artists of New England.
The home is rented by Dick Buckley, one of the participating artists and mastermind behind “Evolutions,” an exhibit that offers a platform for musicians to sell CDs, and a place where artists can sell their work without having to fork over commissions.
As a result, to become one of the participating artists is quite an accomplishment.
Even if you’re lucky enough to get on the artists-in-waiting list, you may be waiting forever, or at least a really long time before you become part of the tenured group of artists who exhibit each year in “Evolutions.”
About four years ago, when watercolor artist Frank Costantino, well known as one of New England’s great fine-art and architectural artists, approached Dick Buckley, host of the Marblehead Neck exhibit, to ask if he could be part of the annual Labor Day event on Buckley’s backyard lawn, Buckley replied, “As soon as I have room.”
Being placed on the waiting list is only secondary to being part of this exclusive group of artists. To be considered, you must first receive a stamp of approval by the participating artists, such as Bob Bartlett, Jesa Damora, Carol Dearborn, Meghan Gargano, Richard Gilson, Michiko Imai, Mark Malloy, Paul McMahan and Mark Wholey.
“The most important thing is how the artists get along with each other,” explains Buckley. “It’s not necessarily how good they are. If I’m considering a new artist, I run it by the others and ask what they think.”
Fortunately, Costantino is well liked and respected, so last year, when one artist left the flock, he was bumped up to a participating-artist slot. This will be his second year at Evolutions ‘09, to be held this Labor Day weekend, Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 280 Ocean Ave., on Marblehead Neck.
Off the lawn
Unless an artist makes him or herself “persona non grata,” he or she can come back year after year to an event that began when Buckley, a former big-time marketing agency director and marathon runner, tired of the fast pace of his work life and began to focus more on his art. He began to work as a gallery manager, and show his work in the former Gallery of Modern Art on Washington Street in Marblehead, along with other contemporary artists from New York, Berlin and Paris.
His time spent with the gallery offered him the opportunity to meet a lot of artists — many without representation. He says he felt a need to help artists sell their work without commissions, so he began to recruit artists — by word of mouth — to get together on Memorial Day weekend in the backyard of his home.
Although it rained half the weekend, Buckley says the artists loved the event, and insisted he do it again.
“The best part of the weekend was the time the artists spent with each other,” he says.
Carol Dearborn, one of the tenured artists of Evolutions, told him, “You’ve built a community here.”
He named the event “Evolutions” because he wanted the artists to exhibit not only their newer work, but also the work they’ve produced over the years — so that people can see how they’ve evolved.
“Some work spans 20 or 30 years,” he says.
Buckley’s work has evolved in what he considers a spiritual endeavor. In fact, he meditates before he begins to paint.
“It’s not an intellectual process [for me],” he says of his self-described “Magellanic art.”
For other artists, it’s a mix of right- and left-brain artistry.
Take, for instance, Evolutions sell-out artist, Bob Bartlett, who exhibits sculptures and large wooden mobiles. One year, he brought a 25-foot mobile, so large that it had to be displayed by running a sky-hook cable across two trees.
Buckley met Bartlett during a period when he was dabbling in welding. He ended up starting the New England Steel Sculpturers Association, which Barlett joined. The group gathered steel shipyard pieces from the Grossman Surplus Company in Braintree and created works of art to show people what they could do with the material. But he soon realized he was better at marketing what the group was doing. He got a spot on “The Today Show,” where Gary Moore interviewed him, portraying him as “the marketing guy turning the swords of war into ploughshares of art,” he says. The Association has since dissolved.
Funding required
With no markups or commissions, one wonders how Buckley can afford to run the event?
Contributions are welcome, he says, and even though he doesn’t take a commission on works sold, most artists will offer him a contribution, especially if they sell their work.
This year, the event is partially funded through a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Marblehead chairperson Ava Lawrence said Evolutions ‘09 received a grant by simply submitting an application.
Given the amount of artists involved, the application was quickly approved.
With 350 cultural councils funded by the Massachusetts Lottery, the MCC is able to offer financial aid to all types of artists, from storytellers to poets, from painters to musicians. Applications are available at Abbot Hall, Abbot Public Library or online (mass-culture.org).
“The only requirement is that the event has to happen within the town of Marblehead, or touch the Marblehead community somehow,” says Lawrence. “We funded the Veterans for Peace Poetry Contest, which encompasses other communities, but includes the Marblehead school system.”
With funding in place, Evolutions ‘09 is destined for 12 hours of success. At age 73, Buckley is simply having fun.
“I have the best time and enjoy every minute of every day,” he says, “except when I have computer problems.”
Head to Marblehead Neck this weekend
Evolutions ‘09 will showcase a dozen artists, from traditional to contemporary, gathered to exhibit their work from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5 and Sunday, Sept. 6 on the lawn of 280 Ocean Ave. on Marblehead Neck. The rain date for the event is Monday, Sept. 7.
This year’s E’09 event has expanded to include performances by lyricist, guitarist and vocalist Donald Tower; singer and guitarist Jane Baldridge; jazz keyboardist David Ward; New Hampshire Seacoast songwriter, poet, guitarist and singer Ted Sink; and blues lyricist, guitarist and vocalist Heather Tobin. Dr. Tim Curtin and his Jazz Navigators as well as Chris Coyle and The Rolling Few will also be joining E’09 this year. Jim Merritt will serve as master sound engineer. Merritt has been the audio wizard who has helped make Marblehead Festival of Arts’ Crocker Park performances so hugely enjoyable and successful.
To find out more about the artists and see examples of their work, visit www.northshoreartists.org/artists.html. Event details can be found on the group’s Web site: www.northshoreartists.org.
