Falmouth ArtMarket Features Country Flavored, Artisans, and Books on July 28
The Falmouth ArtMarket features music by Country Flavored on Thursday, July 28, at Falmouth Marina Park, 180 Scranton Avenue. The ArtMarket is open every Thursday through September 1, offering fine arts and crafts from 11 to 5 PM, a Book Booth featuring local authors from 11 AM to 2 PM, and musical entertainment from 2 to 4 PM.
Country Flavored, led by Frank Carotenuto, plays traditional country music and modern folk with a country twist, including the pedal steel guitar.
The featured author is children’s book author and poet Christina Laurie, who will have on hand copies of her children’s and poetry books. “The Lobsters’ Night Before Christmas” is an undersea retelling of “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement C. Moore. Under the waves and surrounded by swaying ocean eel grass, Sea Santa makes his yearly Christmas journey, pulled in his clamshell sleigh by his eight faithful minnows. Delicate watercolor paintings illustrate his visit to a family of lobsters.
“C is for Cape Cod” is a children’s alphabet book with colorful photographs by Steve Heaslip. Each letter features a four-line poem for early readers and an essay with more details for older readers.
An award-winning poet, Christina Laurie has written hundreds of poems and haiku, which have been published since 1976 in Canada, England, Japan and throughout the U.S. She has received numerous prizes for her works and has presented workshops for elementary schools, book clubs, community colleges and senior centers.
The Falmouth ArtMarket features over two dozen artists and craftspeople. Among them is Mimi Schlichter, who has been painting Cape Cod seascapes and for over two decades. She describes her primary style as impressionistic realism, and, more recently, has delved into abstract art.
During the pandemic, when the Falmouth beach parking lots were closed from April 1 through May 24, 2020, a period of 54 days, Schlichter was unable to paint beach scenes from the front seat of her car, which had been her practice. A year later, she decided to celebrate the reopening of the beaches and the return of some level of normal life, by painting a series of 54 alla prima oil paintings (painted at first attempt, or paintings completed on the spot, without further studio refinement) in 54 days. The paintings varied in size from 4” x 12” to 9”x 12”, with many at 5” x 7”, and were often completed with a palette knife, rather than traditional brushes.
She received many positive responses after posting images of her paintings online and decided to print the images in a paperback book, The 54: 54 Falmouth Beach Paintings in 54 Days. Due to the overwhelming demand, she followed that up with a hardcover book with an additional 46 paintings, 100 in all. Both books contain short descriptions of her time at the beaches and QR codes that link to descriptions of her painting process.
Schlichter is selling her paintings, prints, and copies of her books at the ArtMarket. “The small paintings are perfect for travelers,” Schlichter said. “They are affordable, easy to tuck into luggage, and provide an inspirational memory of their vacation at the beach.”
For more information on Mimi Schlichter, visit mimisart.com.
For more information on the Falmouth ArtMarket, including a schedule of musicians and a list of vendors, visit FalmouthArtMarket.com.
Notes on The Arts 