With CAPA 2022, set for October 1–9, the Cape Ann community will once again embrace this popular week-long celebration of the arts—and the region’s unrivaled arts legacy. “Cape Ann Plein Air is an example of the vibrant cultural community here in our region,” said Susan Gould-Coviello, CAPA Executive Director and 2022 Chair of the Great-er Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce Board. “We’re thrilled with the quality of artists we attract each year and with the support we see from Cape Ann’s arts community, businesses and residents.”
While COVID-19 presented its many challenges in 2021, CAPA saw record numbers in paint sales and attendance. In 2021, CAPA presented more than $22,000 in prizes and artists sold more than 100 paintings topping a sales total of over $150,000. A portion of each painting sale is donated to the Cape Ann Community Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Chamber, to use to further art students in their pursuit of their craft. 2021 also welcomed new and exciting partnerships with the Peabody Essex Museum, Cape Ann Museum and Art Haven.
This year, CAPA will again welcome national and international plein air art-ists, and those selected to participate will spread out across Cape Ann in pursuit of views and subjects that have attracted painters here for more than 150 years. One highlight will be the awards gala, where artists display their work for judging and sale. The gala is an incredible sight to behold, knowing that these pro-lific artists created all their works in one short week, under intense pressure and, at times, at the mercy of Mother Nature.
The Cape Ann community and its visitors will also enjoy meeting the artists at the gala and at CAPA dinners, receptions, workshops, demonstrations and the wild-ly popular Quick Draw. Artists love to discuss their work, their motivations and what draws them to Cape Ann. Many of them apply to CAPA every year—a testament to the artistic inspiration, camaraderie and community they experience here, and the elusive, magnificent “Cape Ann light” they hope to capture on canvas. In 2021, no fewer than six Cape Ann artists were juried into the show, a testament to the claim that Cape Ann is the birthplace of American Plein Air.
This October, Cape Ann will once again extend this legacy, as our community comes together with some of today’s leading plein air artists to take CAPA to new heights.
Visit capeannpleinair.com for more information.