Year In Review

The months pass pretty quickly for us here at PAAM.

One minute, we’re gearing up to take advantage of the quiet of January to dig into a winter project; what seems like the next minute, we’re celebrating another successful Secret Garden Tour. To help us take a moment to pause, I asked the staff what some of their 2024 highlights were. Here’s what they had to say:

Rebecca Bruyn, Visitor Engagement Associate

When I began working at the front desk at PAAM in the spring this year, I had no idea what it would be like to be greeting the public, talking about the exhibits or working in a bookstore. What surprised me the most was that every day there’s a nice connection with someone who’s story stands out to me and makes me smile. It’s as if I’ve been handed a small gift to briefly know a stranger’s life, their interest in art or what it’s like for them being at PAAM or in Provincetown for the first time. And then there is the PAAM team. Since day one I have felt welcomed and cared for as I begin to learn more and more about this amazing team of people and what PAAM has to offer the community. I look forward to a new year here at PAAM in 2025!

Amy Davies, Digital Content Officer

“I’d like to submit a video, obviously.”

Grace Emmet, Curator of Community Education

Perhaps my favorite memories from this fall were every Tuesday when the kids of the Little Artist afterschool program greeted me with huge smiles as they got off the bus. Whether working with watercolors, clay, or printmaking, our young students always take on the day’s project with boundless energy and infectious enthusiasm.

Mark Enright, Membership Director

The most meaningful moments this year for me have been when I connect with new members and encourage them to submit for member openings. So many people who join PAAM want to think of themselves as artists but have difficulty calling themselves artists. It’s a scary proposition to stake that claim. When submitting to a show, the new member discovers the museum is more than an exhibition space, it becomes a place for artistic growth. Becoming a member establishes a commitment to one’s creative self. I’ve been moved by the many folks who have pulled me into the gallery to show me their first submission. They all share a feeling of joy that comes from seeing their work on a museum wall for the first time—and discover that being vulnerable through their art can be liberating.

This year was a first for me, too. I was inspired by these artists and submitted my first piece to the 12 x 12 exhibit. Fear was followed by excitement and ultimately, elation. I could not have done this without the backing of our community of artists. I encourage any members who haven’t yet exhibited to take the plunge—you’ll be glad you did.

Madeleine Larson, Registrar and Collections Manager

This year I had the opportunity to curate my first exhibition, which highlighted signatures and personal inscriptions on artwork from PAAM’s Permanent Collection. The idea for this exhibition came out of my experience working intimately with PAAM’s artwork over the past few years as the Collections Manager, and especially during the massive collection inventory and digitization project we have been working on over the past year. I find moments of discovery and delight almost every time I walk into our artwork storage room, and it was really fulfilling to share these finds with visitors and invite these moments of connection with our artwork.

Annie Longley, Chief Communications Officer

In her poem Art Sanctuary, Nikki Giovanni wrote “Everyone deserves Sanctuary a place to go where you are safe/Art offers Sanctuary to everyone willing/to open their hearts as well as their eyes.” 

The highlight of my year at PAAM has been watching my children, freshly four years old, play in the sculpture garden at PAAM. Usually my feeling of joy at this scene involves a moment of panic: “Oh god, should I be letting them do this?” 

The answer, like most given to those their age, is a yes tempered with a no: Yes, you can touch Derek Oliver’s SSP32, but no you cannot climb it; Yes, you can lay down beside Richard Pepitone’s Untitled reclining nude, but no you may not sit on top of her. This push-and-pull is important: a sanctuary is a place of both reverence and intimacy, apart-ness and connection.

The sculpture garden is steeped in parent-child memory and mythos: the iconic Dancing Mother and Dance Rhythm by Chaim Gross; Birthstone #2 by Sidney Simon; Penelope Jencks’s Dune Woman, which conjures feelings of my postpartum mood. I have memories from childhood of running my hands along the scratchy, curved hedges marking the boundary between PAAM and Commercial Street, a satisfying sensation shared now with my own children and surely so many others of all ages that walk by us daily. A sanctuary indeed.

In order to be a sanctuary, I think art must invite us in some way–and communicating this invitation is part of the responsibility of the keepers of the art. Installing sculptures outside on a busy street achieves this, as does a well-placed bench inside a gallery, or staying open during these quiet days of winter. I’m left wondering, what are other ways we at PAAM can make the art that we care for a sanctuary for others?

Chris McCarthy, Chief Executive Officer

For me, 2024 was a year of transformation and growth – literally and figuratively.  PAAM continues to thrive in all areas and I could not be more proud.  However, Irma Ruckstuhl’s passing in June has been the biggest adjustment – Irma was a mentor, leader, and unprecedented part of PAAM for decades.  I didn’t realize how much I depended on her wisdom, experience, and friendship.  Her no-nonsense approach to almost everything resonates with me, and I frequently ask myself, “What would Irma do?”  Irma’s impact on PAAM and me will always be present and I am incredibly grateful to her.

Lydia Vivante, Visitor Engagement Associate

Some highlights for me included The PAAM Party Artist Honoree Megan Hinton exhibition in the Moffett gallery worked some magic — beautiful, personal, local. In the Land, Place, Identity exhibition, I loved seeing a small early Provincetown painting by Herman Dudley Murphy called ‘Fire on the Beach’ — a dim orange fire just barely visible on a pale grey/blue beach — every time I walked by it had a calming effect.

A PAAM member visited in November–she said her relatives (grandmother, great grandmother, and others) posed for the Charles Hawthorne painting, His First Voyage. She pointed them out. I think she said they were paid 5 cents for the sitting.

Jim Zimmerman, Archivist and Preparator

Here is an image of myself and Dr. P.J. Eaton. He was one of the handful of founding folks who thought establishing an art association in Provincetown would be a good idea. His wife took the minutes of the first meeting of that nascent association. Dr. Eaton lived another 24 years to see the Association blossom. Mr. Beneker lived another 20 years and painted many portraits and scenes of Provincetown that we treasure today for their beauty and historical value as a record of that time. I am proud to have been a small part of that history devoting half my life to working at PAAM. The future looks bright for our organization. I am excited to see our growth continuing in 2025.