Our history/herstory

The present-day Sail Loft Art Collective reimagines the historic Provincetown women's art club, The Sail Loft Club, founded in 1916. At that time, the original Sail Loft Club was created specifically as a social and intellectual hub for women artists. The original club met in a space where sailmakers stitched canvas designed to catch the wind. In that same loft, women gathered to share their art and ideas - to support one another and build momentum. But the Sail Loft was not the only grassroots community organization supportive of artists and writers in that timeframe - others include Group 7, the Nautilus Club, and the UpAlongs. These groups built on the work of Martha Dewing Woodward and her partner, Laura Louise Johnson, who had established the Cape Cod School of Drawing and Painting in 1896 (Lawless, 2011). Notably, this predates Charles Hawthorne’s well-known Cape Cod School of Art; Woodward and Johnson’s venture was the very first formal art school operating in Provincetown.

To mark the 110th anniversary of the original Sail Loft Club and its sister groups, present-day Sail Lofters Nika Feldman and Elspeth Slayter will lead a tem in researching and recording the history of the Outer Cape's women and non-binary creators.

The focus of this project is on the following research questions:

(1) Who were the members of the original Sail Loft Club (as well as Group 7, Provincetown Printers, Nautilus Club and the UpAlongs)?

(2) What did those people make?

(3) Why did they make what they did? 

Ancillary research questions include:

  • What catalyzed the formation of independent women's arts/other organizations in early 20th-century Provincetown? 

  • What were the activities of the Sail Loft Club?

  • How was the Sail Loft Club’s landmark 1919 exhibition described? 

  • What technical art innovations were pioneered by women in Provincetown?

Please get in touch if you have information about any of the following artists:

CCSDP = Cape Cod School of Drawing and Painting

Nautilus = Nautilus Club

SLC = Sail Loft Club

  1. Bacon, Peggy – SLC (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)

  2. Bean, Caroline – SLC

  3. Boxell, Althea – Nautilus

  4. Brigadier, Anne (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)

  5. Brown, Florence Bradshaw – Nautilus (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)

  6. Burlingame, Sheila – Group 7

  7. 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)

  8. Chaffee, Mrs. Melzar possibly Naomi Mackenzie – SLC

  9. Curtis, Ida M. – SLC

  10. Davis, Bertha – SLC

  11. Ferguson, Nancy – SLC and this link (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)

  12. Gilmore, Ada – Group 7 and this link (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)

  13. Gregory, Dorothy Lake – SLC and Group 7 (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)

  14. Hackett, Mary – Group 7 and this link (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)

  15. Hawthorne, Marion C. – SLC (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)

  16. Hiebert or Hebert, Emily – Nautilus

  17. Hopkins, Edna Bois - Provincetown Printers

  18. Houstis, Louise L. – SLC or this link

  19. Howella or Howells, Alice – SLC

  20. Johnson, Antoinette Thackwell – SLC

  21. Johnson, Laura Louise – CCSDP

  22. Kelly, Arianna – SLC

  23. L’Engle, Lucy – Nautilus

  24. Lazzelle, Blanche – Group 7 and SLC

  25. Levy, Beatrice – SLC

  26. Loeb, Dorothy - possibly SLC

  27. Mars, Ethel - Provincetown Printers

  28. McMillen, Mildred - Provincetown Printers

  29. Mears, Helen Farnsworth – SLC

  30. Monroe, Sara – SLC

  31. Morrow, Julie Mathilde – SLC

  32. Morse, Jessie C. – SLC

  33. Nicholas, Juliette - Provincetown Printers

  34. Paxton, Elizabeth – SLC

  35. Pfeiffer, Hope Voorhees – Group 7

  36. Pfeiffer, Mab – Nautilus

  37. Patrick, Hilda Winslow – Nautilus

  38. Rayner, Ada – Nautilus (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)

  39. Ried (sp?), Bertha – SLC

  40. Rogers, Mrs. A. – SLC

  41. Scudder, Annette – SLC

  42. Schofield, Flora - Provincetown Printers

  43. Smith, Helen - SLC (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)

  44. Squire, Maud - Provincetown Printers see also this link

  45. Tarvers, Mary “Molly” (Silva) – Nautilus (see work at Hidden Treasures on Comm. St.)

  46. Taylor, Elizabeth - Provincetown Printers

  47. Weinrich, Agnes

  48. Woodward, Martha Dewing – CCSDP (search for some of her art in PAAM’s collection)

  49. Zorach, Marguerite – SLC

References of interest from research to date:

Abel, K. (December 25, 2025). In search of Helltown. The Provincetown Independent. https://provincetownindependent.org/history/2024/12/25/in-search-of-helltown/

Ahrens, N. (1997). Provincetown: The art colony: A brief history and guide. Cape Cod Pilgrim Memorial Association.

American Art News. (1917, September 15). Provincetown news notes. American Art News, 15(36).

American Art News. (1919, August 16). American Art News, 17(37), 1–12.

American Art News Co. (1919, August 16). American Art News, 17(37), 1–8.

Brook, A. (1923). The purity of Provincetown. The Arts, 4(1), 49.

DaSilva, A. (2025, October 22). Spencer Keasey selects five historic women artists. Provincetown Independent. https://provincetownindependent.org/arts-minds/2025/10/22/spencer-keasey-selects-five-historic-women-artists/

Feldman, N. (2024). Research notes on Provincetown sail lofts and studio spaces [Unpublished research document].

Isaacs, V. (2024). Interviews and field notes on Cape Cod women's clubs [Unpublished research document].

Krahulik, K. C. (2005). Provincetown: From Pilgrim landing to gay resort. New York University Press.

Lawless, D. (2011). Provincetown: A history of artists and renegades in a fishing village. Arcadia Publishing.

Lazzell, N. B. (2023). Reflections on the early Provincetown art scene (My Daily Art Display, Ed.). (Original work written 1915/1918).

Lindenmuth, T. (1923). Fishermen [Artwork print]. The Arts, 4, 52.

McHugh, H. (2023). Historical research on the Nautilus Club and Group 7 [Unpublished research document].

Moffett, R. (1989). Art in narrow streets: The first thirty-three years of the Provincetown Art Association. Cape Cod Pilgrim Memorial Association. (Original work published 1964).New York Times. (1919, August 17). Art notes: Sail Loft Club exhibition. The New York Times, Section 3, p. 35.

Provincetown History Preservation Project. (1907). The first scrapbook of the Nautilus Club. Town of Provincetown Archives.

Sieminksi, M. and Renn, M. (2018). Dewing Woodward and the Cape Cod School of Drawing and Painting. Provincetown Arts. https://archive.org/stream/PtownArts2018/PtownArts-2018_djvu.txt

Smith, N. P. (1927). A book about the artists. Colonial Press.

Storer, A. (2023, March 29). The artistic legacies of Mary Hackett. Provincetown Independent. https://provincetownindependent.org/arts-minds/2023/03/29/the-artistic-legacies-of-mary-hackett/

Storer, A. (2023, March 22). Discovering an early generation of Provincetown artists. The Provincetown Independent. https://provincetownindependent.org/arts-minds/2023/03/22/discovering-an-early-generation-of-provincetown-artists/

Theriault, J. (2014). Bohemian lifestyle takes root in Provincetown 1914. Town of Provincetown History Timeline.

The Arts. (1923). [Reflections on the Beachcombers, the Sail Loft Club, and the Provincetown art scene]. The Arts, 4(1), 51.

The Provincetown Advocate (March 12, 1953). Provincetown History Preservation Project.

The Touchstone. (1919, January). In the Touchstone Galleries: Four Provincetown Painters. The Touchstone, 4(4), 347–348.

Ada Gilmore (1883-1995)

Sail Loft, c. 1916

Color white-line woodblock print, 10.75" x 11"

From the Helen and Napi Van Dereck Collection, Courtesy of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum.