Opening Reception: April 29, 4:00 – 7:00 p.m.

The SCA 2022 Spring Invitational Exhibit
April 29 – May 29

Dedee Shattuck Gallery
1 Partners Lane
Westport, MA 02790
Gallery Hours: Thurs.- Sunday, April 30 – May 29, 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m
Presented by Mott & Chace

The Opened Gate oil painting copyright 2021 by Peter Dickison
“The Opened Gate” ; 2021, oil on panel, 12×9 in.

As an active member of South Coast Artists, I’m excited to take part in the Spring Invitational Exhibit, which kicks off the 2022 season of shows and tours for this amazing organization. SCA is based in the coastal communities of Dartmouth and Westport, MA, and Tiverton and Little Compton, RI. Hundreds of artists choose to live and work in this idyllic region of New England. The Spring Invitational is always an inspiration and a fun way to be introduced to the recent work of over 75 SCA member artists, and I can’t wait for the opening on April 29!

In related news, I want to make it known that I will not be participating in the two SCA open studio tours in July and August this summer. This is due to my big project for the year: constructing a new studio at my home in Tiverton. As I will not have the studio ready in time, I must sit out the tours for this year as I will have no studio yet to open! All the more reason I’m happy to be in the Spring Invitational show, so please don’t miss it!

Why, you may ask, stay a member, if I will not be in the tours? After all, I will not have full advantage of the significant marketing, publicity and public good will that the open studio tours generate? The answer is in part that artists always seek the camaraderie and mutual support of like minded others. Van Gogh and Gauguin, Pisarro and Cezanne, and the revolution of that little a group of artists meeting in a 19th century Paris Café to discuss painting who later became known as the Impressionists, we artists naturally network with each other. And we extend that connection to the public in open studios, as the SCA website says so well:

“During the Open Studio Tour, the public is invited to view the spaces in which local artists operate and gain insight into their creative processes. Not only does the tour illuminate the intensive and challenging work implicit in any artistic career; it also demonstrates that making a living as an artist is indeed possible. Whereas a gallery exhibits only the finished product, SCA’s open studio tour allows viewers to see the artist at work and observe how a blank canvas becomes a finished painting, or how a lump of clay is shaped into a sculpture.”

www.southcoastartists.org

So enjoy the tours this season if you are in our area. I will be IN the tour in 2023, so you can count on seeing my new studio full of work next summer!

I always have a selection of my work on view at Tiffany Peay Jewelry in Tiverton Four Corners. Follow the link for hours and info.