Winter in New England might be the season you look forward to all year, or it might be the season you endure, but no matter — we’ve got all of the tips, treats, and must-see places to make winter fun all season long. Grab your mittens and let’s go! #1 Build An IglooFirst, brush up […]
maine
Alice Spencer has been an important member of the Portland, Maine, arts community for 30 years. In addition to being a fine painter and printmaker, she is a co-founder of the Peregrine Press printmaking collaborative, a former member of the Maine College of Art board of directors, and chair of the City of Portland Public […]
Travel
Skiing Maine: 17 Mountains
The invitation was irresistible: join Ski Maine executive director Greg Sweetser as part of a team of eight with the goal of hitting all of the Pine Tree State’s 17 ski mountains in a single long weekend last January. I agreed as soon as I was asked. We’d travel more than 1,000 miles, with time […]
When a New England artist attracts attention it usually starts locally and spreads regionally. If the artist is fortunate and talented enough, that attention sometimes leads to great visibility around the country. One of the New England artists getting a lot of attention at the moment is Kirsten Reynolds of Newmarket, New Hampshire. A Virginia […]
Magazine
Maine Reflections
In Maine, virgin soil is still tilled as I walk; oxen strainto pull a large fieldstone from its place.The hard crack is heard of stone on stone–Get Our FREE Yankee Best New England Vacations Guide! Email(Required) Subscribe each one upon the last as walls are built up.Women in long dresses bend, pluck blackberriesfrom the sun. […]
Magazine
Poetry of K. A. Markee
The Blind On Sundays too he would rise before dawnand brew a pot of coffee over the fire,then call the dogs with a backwards yawnGet Our FREE Yankee Best New England Vacations Guide! Email(Required) Subscribe before packing up decoys, weights and wirein a wicker backpack and two homemade hods.I’d wait until I could not see […]
[feature slug=”the-popcorn-myth”] Faculty art shows at colleges and universities all over the universe tend to be wonderfully democratic yet wildly incoherent free-for-alls lacking any cohesive idea or theme. For that very reason, I stopped reviewing them decades ago. It’s just not possible to say anything meaningful about a show of random works by a bunch […]
Dennis Pinette is among my favorite contemporary Maine painters. In fact, he is among my favorite all-time Maine painters. Born in Belfast, where he now lives and works, Pinette is a native Maine artist who looks beyond the picturesque to the more piquant, poignant, and pungent aspects of the Maine reality. Though he still primarily […]
Magazine
Best Bookstores in New England
There’s nothing quite like curling up with a good book, or picking one out at one of the best bookstores in New England. Susanne Strempek Shea, one of the Pioneer Valley’s best-loved writers, chose these beloved shops as the best bookstores in New England. She is the author of five novels and three memoirs, including Shelf […]
With a past both sad and even sordid, Dogtown has drawn painters, writers, lovers of history, and seekers of solitude. What is its secret?
Magazine
Norwood, MA: Pauline Alighieri
Mel Simmons never cared much for pink. Still, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, she embraced the color’s symbolism: solidarity and support in the face of a disease that kills 40,000 women a year. During her battle, Mel spoke publicly, raised money, and somehow managed to keep her sense of humor. She […]
To stoic Yankee stock, I’m that most unnatural of New Englanders: a person who wears her heart on her sleeve. I exude enthusiasm and fail to mask disdain. A feeler and a talker, I understand, and at times, over-share. It’s no wonder I’ve never been much of a card player. A close-to-the-vest stance seems to […]