Ever wondered what it’s like to live cheaply for a month and to paddle 325 miles in a kayak? Try the Maine Island Trail.
landscape
Magazine
Inside Yankee: Finding Summer
We wait so patiently, don’t we? We find all sorts of ways to enjoy winter–snow sports, cozy inns, reading by the fire, bragging about snow tires and wood piles–because we either do that or be miserable, or join the snowbirds. So we wait. And spring comes. Café tables appear like welcome blossoms; we put away […]
Yankee
The DeCordova Gets Tired
Forgive the tired pun of the title. When it comes to sculptor Chakaia Booker’s art, it’s hard to avoid. Rubber Soul. Retread Retro. Rubber Made. Rubber Maid. Where the Rubber Meets the Museum, etc. Suffice it to say they’ve all been used. That’s because Chakaia Booker makes fantastic sculptures out of old tires. I first […]
Yankee
Joe Nicoletti Has the Blues
Though I have known Joe Nicoletti for more than 30 years now and have admired his paintings even longer, I had forgotten, if I ever knew, that he was born in Italy. The occasion of his upcoming retrospective exhibition at the Bates College Museum of Art in Lewiston, Maine, where he has taught since 1981, […]
Yankee
Bits of Sea in Concord
Unbeknownst to both of us, I played a small part in the development of painter John Bonner’s career. Back in March 1991, Bonner saw an article I wrote about noted Boston cityscape painter George Nick in Yankee and, struck by the aesthetic similarity to his own paintings, he wrote Nick a letter. Nick, an influential […]
Magazine
Out of the Zone
Spring came in a rush, a tumble of images. A month ago, I saw a bear amble across the back field. It might have been my imagination but he appeared to be sleepwalking, loping along almost in a daze. It was hardly spring, still cold, grass not yet green. But time enough for the bears […]
Massachusetts
Massachusetts Best Attractions 2010
Best Men’s Sportswear THE BROWNS, Williamstown From durable U.S.-made Bills Khakis to Jack Victor sportcoats and a lot of quietly cosmopolitan designer clothing in between, this attractive, friendly shop will help redefine your wardrobe without breaking the bank. 16 Water St. 413-458-1618; downtownwilliamstown.com Best Mountain View STONY LEDGE, Williamstown Stony Ledge, accessible from Mt. Greylock’s […]
Maine
Maine Local Secrets 2010
Best Cheese Selection THE CHEESE IRON, Scarborough Gorgeous presentation, rare varieties, a ripening room, and a knowledgeable staff add up to a treat for cheeseheads. Add wine and gourmet goodies, and you’ve got a first-class picnic. 200 Route 1. 207-883-4057; thecheeseiron.com Best Damn Swimming Hole BRISTOL DAM, Bristol Mills Mosey down the Pemaquid Peninsula to […]
Vermont
Lake Willoughby
Lake Willoughby sits in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, its southern end wedged spectacularly between a pair of shaggy, slouchy mountains that flank the lake like bookends. Mountains have the merit of always adding grandeur to a landscape, and when mixed with a shimmering expanse of water, the whole scene can approach the sublime. The lake nearly […]
From the Atlantic Ocean to New England’s lakes and rivers, we’ve found terrific meals served up with stunning water vistas.
Yankee
The Interstate-95 Triennial
Any juried group exhibition is bound to be something of an eclectic grab bag. That’s just the nature of the beast. But the I-95 Triennial at the University of Maine Museum of Art (in downtown Bangor, not on the Orono campus, April 23 to June 12) is shaping up to be even more eclectic than […]
Yankee
The Intellectual Landscape
Tula Telfair is a New York artist who teaches painting at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and exhibits her large, panoramic landscapes at the Forum Gallery, a bastion of figurative and super-realist painters. To be taken seriously as a contemporary artist while painting firmly in the landscape tradition is no easy feat. The late Neil Welliver […]