Arts & Minds
Celebrating the creative and sometimes quirky culture of the Outer Cape.
Browse all Arts & Minds stories below or dive into a topic:
ICONOGRAPHY
The Restaurant Sign That’s a Magnet for Artists
The neon lobster may say ‘P’town’ louder than any other landmark
It happens from time to time: Tim McNulty, the owner and executive chef at the Lobster Pot in downtown Provincetown, will step outside and find an artist peering up at […]
BOOKS
The Work of Art Is Worth the Effort
Adam Moss records his search for the secrets of creativity
In 2019, when Adam Moss left his powerful perch as top editor of New York magazine after 15 years, he decided to devote himself to painting. It didn’t go well. […]
ABSTRACT EXPRESSION
Rosalind Pace’s Mysteries on Display
The painter’s career has been guided by instinct and a ‘universal energy’
For three years in the late 1970s, Rosalind Pace worked on a series of paintings: eight large canvases in black and white that would read like a visual language. She […]
PHOTOGRAPHY
Travelers and Townies
Michael Joseph photographs wanderers at home and on the road
Michael Joseph’s first visit to Provincetown left him underwhelmed. “I don’t understand it,” he thought. “Why do people love this town?” The photographer made the requisite stroll down Commercial Street […]
Arts Briefs
Arts Briefs for May 9, 2024 through May 16, 2024
Twenty Summers Expands Its Space and Season Every spring, the Twenty Summers cultural program extends over five weeks in Provincetown. This year, it seems program director Alice Gong doesn’t want […]
ROOMFUL OF ART
The Charmed Life of R.C. Patterson
With paint, cloth, and paper, an artist finds more in memories and moments
“My great-grandmother used to say, ‘Idle hands are the devil’s workshop,’ ” says Provincetown artist R.C. Patterson, “so I like to keep busy.” Patterson’s space at the Foley House on […]
PERSONAL HISTORY
Time Travel With Kurt Vonnegut and My Dad
Two prisoners of war and their linked stories
My father, PFC Arthur Kuttner, was in the Normandy invasion of June 1944. His unit, the 28th Infantry Division, was not in the first wave, so he survived that ordeal. […]
Once Again, Taylor Swift Exposes Herself
Fans often call Taylor Swift’s music “diaristic”: at their best, her lyrics feel like the delicate and sometimes ugly truths most of us don’t dare utter aloud. “And I hate […]
RENEGADE
Food, God, and Art According to Rossi
The WOMR host, writer, and chef on being The Punk Rock Queen of the Jews
At four years old, Slovah Davida Shana bas Hannah Rachel Ross — she prefers the simpler “Rossi” — was already irate about gender inequity in the synagogue, and she was […]
Arts Briefs
Arts Briefs for May 2, 2024 through May 9, 2024
Cold Chocolate at Wellfleet Preservation Hall Boston-based Americana band Cold Chocolate comes to Wellfleet Preservation Hall on Friday, May 3. The band is currently on tour for its latest album, […]
THE MODERN MIND
The Unfinished Business of Provincetown’s Forum 49
Discovering a new mythology of the heavens
In the summer of 1949, a series of avant-garde art seminars and exhibitions took place in Provincetown. They covered a wide range of subjects, from painting and poetry to architecture, […]
VISIBILITY
Creating an Archive of Women’s Stories
Michelle Axelson records a trove of lesbian tales that won’t disappear
Michelle Axelson grew up in Framingham, where her mom’s closest friends were Joyce and Judy. Former nuns, they’d left that life to run a child-care business. They lived together and […]
THINKERS
Judith Butler Would Like Us to Love Without Fear
The philosopher’s latest book asks Who’s Afraid of Gender?
Before she was a transphobe, J.K. Rowling was a writer. In her Harry Potter series, the villain Voldemort is so feared that everyone believes it is dangerous to utter his […]
INDIE SCREEN
The Pitfalls of Growing Up
Two recent films explore the hurdles facing lost young souls
Southern California teenagers can be a shallow bunch, especially in the movies that are made about them. From the beginnings of the postwar “youth” film — Rebel Without a Cause […]