Scotty Chapman thought Cotuit would be the perfect spot to open Chapman Art Gallery because there aren’t many art galleries on the south side in the mid-Cape area. Yet, Cotuit is already something of a cultural center, being home to the Cahoon Museum of American Art, Cotuit Center for the Arts and a surprising number of artists. And as our visitors are discovering, Scotty couldn’t have found a more perfect location than 5 Main St. The building started life as a late 18th-century barn and still has the wide-board pine floors and exposed beams to prove it. Bay windows and skylights were added much later – possibly when Barbara and Richard Sparre had a shop here in the 1970s and ‘80s, showing her needlework designs and his paintings. The main floor was already tailor-made for showing artworks, but the basement was unfinished before Scotty took it in hand. Now it’s a lovely finished area with works by impressionist Sam Barber, local folk art legends Ralph and Martha Cahoon, and Pop Art pioneer Jim Dines hanging on the walls. We don’t call it the basement anymore. It’s the Lower Level, or even – when we’re feeling especially good about everything – the Museum Room! Meet our artists
To appreciate a work of art is it okay to like what you like, and the heck with the art critics and experts? Absolutely.
THOMAS HOVING
Former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
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