CALL FOR ART
Open Call for SLAC Members
Some Adventures of Two Vagabonds: Against the Grain, Then and Now
Women’s History Month March 2027
Wellfleet’s Preservation Hall
Curator: Nika Feldman (nikabilt@gmail.com)
The aim of this exhibition is to recognize the work of current SLAC members while simultaneously paying homage to those who inhabit the archives of history. Through an act that synthesizes the past with the present, SLAC members are invited to create an artwork inspired by a predecessor who was a member of one of the following groups: (the original) Sail Loft Club, Group 7, Provincetown Printers, Nautilus Club, or the UpAlongs. Inspired by research that began this past summer, we have identified approximately 50 artists. It is no surprise that there is no record of the art made by many of the women who have been identified as members of these groups. For this reason, among others, this exhibition seeks to bring light to those artists from then and now, who have chosen to live and work against the grain of societal expectations. The title of the show pays homage to Martha Dewing Woodward and Laura Louise Johnson, two life partners who created the very first art school of Provincetown (1896) called the Cape Cod School of Drawing and Painting, predating Charles Hawthorne. Specifically, the title of the exhibition, Some Adventures of Two Vagabonds, mirrors the title of a book written by Woodward under the pseudonym, Wealthy Ann York (1908).
Submission Instructions:
Accepting for consideration, one art submission per SLAC member, created as a direct inspiration from a historical artwork, photograph, or related ephemera of an artist who was a member of either the original Sail Loft Club, Group 7, Provincetown Printers, Nautilus Club, or the UpAlongs. This includes identified artists where there is insufficient or no data; in which case, you are invited to create a work of art inspired by the lack of recorded information and/orlack of recognition. Please choose an artist from the list below or through a method of random selection using the name you pull from a hat during our November SLAC meeting. Please be aware, due to space restrictions, not all work submitted to this call will be accepted. When submitting an image of your finished work, please include a few sentences (no more than one paragraph) regarding your inspiration/interpertation of the artist who is your subject. All submissions of image and text will go through the above link starting in February. Dimensions of work, date/time for drop-off/pick-up, etc. TBD
To help you respond to this call for art, our research team has identified 52 artists who were either members of the Sail Loft Club or were connected to other contemporary grassroots women’s groups in the early 1900s. We did this by reviewing newspaper articles and announcements from the period. You can learn a tiny bit about these women via these links - some have more information than others. It may help to search old Provincetown newspapers here: https://provincetown.advantage-preservation.com/
Bacon, Peggy – Sail Loft Club (SLC) (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Bean, Caroline – SLC (no data other than name available so far)
Boies Hopkins, Edna - Provincetown Printers and possibly SLC (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Boxell, Althea – Nautilus Club and possibly SLC
Brigadier, Anne (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Brown, Florence Bradshaw – Nautilus Club and possibly SLC (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Burlingame, Sheila – Group 7 and possibly SLC
Caliga, Elizabeth Howland – SLC and this link and search for her as Elizabeth Howland at PAAM (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Carr, Myra Musselman - possibly SLC
Chaffee, Mrs. Melzar possibly Naomi Mackenzie – SLC (no data other than name available so far)
Davis, Bertha – SLC (no data other than name available so far)
Ferguson, Nancy Maybin – SLC and this link (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Gilmore, Ada – Group 7 and possibly SLC and this link (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Gregory, Dorothy Lake – SLC and Group 7 (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Hackett, Mary – Group 7 and possibly SLC and this link (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Hawthorne, Marion C. – SLC (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Hopkins, Edna Bois - Provincetown Printers and possibly SLC
Johnson, Antoinette Thackwell – SLC (no data other than name available so far)
Johnson, Laura Louise – (Cape Cod School of Drawing and Painting) CCSDP
Jones, Mary Bacon - possibly SLC (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Kelly, Arianna – SLC (no data other than name available so far)
L’Engle, Lucy – Nautilus Club and possibly SLC (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Lazzelle, Blanche – Group 7 and SLC (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Levy, Beatrice – SLC (no data other than name available so far)
Lokke, Marie possibly SLC (no data other than name available so far)
Loeb, Dorothy - possibly SLC (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Mars, Ethel - Provincetown Printers and possibly SLC (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
McMillen, Mildred - Provincetown Printers and possibly SLC (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Miller, Nan - Nautilus and possibly SLC (items are in PAAM archive but not online)
Nicholas, Juliette - Provincetown Printers and possibly SLC
Paxton, Elizabeth – SLC (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Pfeiffer, Hope Voorhees – Group 7 and possibly SLC see also this link
Pfeiffer, Mab – Nautilus Club and possibly SLC (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Patrick, Hilda Winslow – Nautilus Club and possibly SLC
Ried (sp?), Bertha – SLC (no data other than name available so far)
Rogers, Mrs. A. – SLC (no data other than name available so far)
Scudder, Annette – SLC (no data other than name available so far)
Schofield, Flora - Provincetown Printers and possibly SLC (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Smith, Helen - SLC (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Squire, Maud - Provincetown Printers and possibly SLC see also this link
Tarvers, Mary “Molly” (Silva) – Nautilus Club and possibly SLC (see work at Hidden Treasures on Comm. St.)
Taylor, Elizabeth - Provincetown Printers and possibly SLC
Weinrich, Agnes possibly SLC(search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Woodward, Martha Dewing – CCSDP (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)
Zorach, Marguerite – SLC