So Long, NSAA, See You in the Spring

Today is the day that the North Shore Arts Association closes for the winter. I always find it sad in a strange way. The artists who winter here will still be around. The snowbird artists left weeks ago. Trudy and I will continue to meet for pizza or Chinese food through the winter, meetings will go on as usual, Mark and I will continue to rendezvous in the parking lot to watch the sunset and talk about writing, the building will still be there - just closed. I’ll miss it.

There is something about that building, especially for those of us who served on the board the last few years and spent countless hours discussing its physical health and well-being. The outside hasn’t changed much in the past six years but just come inside!

The first time I entered the NSAA it looked exactly like what it was - an old livery converted into an art association. The wooden floors were rough, battered and stained from close to a hundred years of use. The walls were rough, the lighting was barely adequate, as to climate control - ha! The interior in six years has changed dramatically with gleaming, highly polished floors, sparkling track lighting, carpeted walls, ceiling fans and wall heaters. It is a beautiful, warm, welcoming place. In the summer Trudy, Ruth, and Helen make sure it is filled with flowers. And of course there is the art.

The porch of the art association is still one of my favorite places on earth (above left showing Rocky Neck Art Colony and Gloucester Marine Railways in background). I have spent many, many hours there reading, writing, talking, and just savoring the view. That porch has been a joy in my life. From it I spent time watching the restoration of the Mayflower II at Gloucester Marine Railways across the cove, and saw the Bluenose make its entry into the harbor from Lunenberg, Nova Scotia. On summer evenings we have gathered there for picnic dinners and wine.

One summer we experimented with sangria which we made at home and then brought there to drink as the sun went down. I’ll never forget a luscious white sangria made from a particularly fruity chardonnay poured over halved white grapes and fresh sliced white-flesh peaches, steeped overnight, and then enhanced with a cup of peach schnapps. The sunset that went with that one had tough competition in the scrumptiousness department. (Right, sunset behind Gloucester's City hall from the NSAA porch)

We often hear music coming from the clubs across the water on Rocky Neck. One night the music was especially good and the crowd wildly enthusiastic. We learned later that Billy Joel had stepped in off his yacht for dinner at The Rudder and allowed himself to be persuaded to play that evening.

Tuesday night we had an end of season dinner in the Gordon Grant Room. Everyone brought food and Terry made a memorable shrimp scampi. We ate and drank too much wine and told stories. The telling of stories is one of the art associations finest traditions. Every time a few members gather it seems to happen. Someone will tell a funny story, “I saw Bruce Turner last night and we got talking about the time that...” and then it goes on and on. “Tell about the time Emile Gruppe tried to go painting with Aldro Hibbard” and “remember that story about Don Stone painting the grass”. It can go on all night.

Mark moored his boat, F/V Black Sheep off the art association (left) for all the years that he fished from it. It is still moored there, now owned by another lobsterman. Mark wrote much of his book sitting in his truck in that parking lot. When we first met I thought it was an astonishing coincidence. We have promised ourselves that over the winter we will get that book to press. By the time the art association opens in the Spring, F/V Black Sheep will be a book as well as a colorful boat moored there. As always, I already look forward to Spring.

Thanks for reading.