BUILDING COMMUNITIES: ART, CONFLICT AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION ON CAPE COD

Read Dr. Ian Saxine’s narrative “The Story of the First Encounter at Nauset.” Copies will be available to borrow at the library soon.  Limited copies will also be distributed.
Funded by Mass Humanities

BUILDING COMMUNITIES: ART, CONFLICT AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION ON CAPE COD – – Panelists: Karen Kollar, Artist and art educator; Alex Tureaud, Artist, author and educator; Napi Van Dereck, Art collector and Provincetown historian. Moderated by artist Willow Shire

“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable”  Banksy
“Creativity takes courage”  Matisse
”Art is either plagiarism or revolution” Duchamp

400 years ago, an experiment began when William Bradford and the pilgrims removed themselves from the ‘old world’, came to America and brought their vision for a new social order with them.  This vision was not the same as the visions held by the Native American peoples and we are the heirs to this story.  Over 400 years there have been numerous competing visions for what life should be like and, for every conflict, art has played a role. The conflict of competing visions for what the new United States should look like resulted in the Civil War which was captured in photography for the first time. The World Wars were reflected in posters, Hemingway novels and poetry.  In our lifetimes, we have experienced generational conflict in the 1970’s, reflected in the music of Joan Baez and Bob Dylan.  And conflict continues today.  Some are new and others have been with us for 400 years. Today we have three ‘expert witnesses’ who will share their experiences about how art has impacted our vision of who we should be and where we want to go.  They will engage with all of us in discussing how we think art can support our transformation of the ever-evolving vision for Cape Cod.
Location: Eastham Public Library          Funded by Mass Humanities