On May 21, the Mattapoisett Museum’s Education Committee and Curator Connor E. Gaudet were delighted to present “Women’s Day” to the fifth graders of Old Hammondtown Elementary School. The Museum and OHS teachers Katherine Trudell, Amy Casi and Stacy Barrows collaborated to develop a program of workshops to dovetail with their unit of study on women’s rights.

            The morning began with a presentation, “Women Leaders,” from Select Board Chairman Jodi Bauer and Lois Ennis, Mattapoisett’s town clerk from 1966 to 2000. Both explained what the job entailed and gave examples of things they did.

            Bauer explained how she listens to citizens and tries to handle their concerns to the best of her capabilities. She talked about opening the Mattapoisett Bike Path, the creation of a parking lot at the Hammond quarry, and the repaving of the basketball courts at Center School.

            Ennis explained the process of voting to students, using documents to illustrate it. She talked about her years as the president of the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association and how she facilitated the town’s transition from paper records to computers.

            Connor Gaudet, Katherine Gaudet and Robbin Smith presented the workshop, “How to Interpret Artifacts.” Using PowerPoint, Gaudet explained primary and secondary resources, and how to evaluate them using a four-step process: Observation, Reflection, Questioning and Further Investigation. Using a World War I Navy uniform from the museum’s collections, Gaudet modeled how to take notes using the four-step process.

            Then groups of four students were given an artifact related to women’s rights to explore and evaluate through the process. Students eagerly jumped at the chance. After washing hands and hearing how to handle antique artifacts, they engaged in being historical detectives themselves!

            One group had a photo from the 1890s of three people riding bikes on Church Street in Mattapoisett, one of whom was a woman wearing pants. An astute student inferred, “she is taking a stand by wearing pants and riding a bike to say she can do it like any man can.”

            There was a bathing suit designed by Annette Kellerman, who was once arrested wearing one of her bathing suits that was deemed scandalous because it showed too much skin!

            Another group of students held a commemorative rubber stamp created by Mary Ransom, the first female postmaster of Mattapoisett.

            Finally, a group had the List of Mattapoisett Women Voters from 1920, the first year women were able to vote. After taking notes on their artifacts, students shared what they had learned with the class, and Connor Gaudet provided additional information where needed.

            Concurrent with this group, Gail Roberts, Carole Clifford and Pauline Hamel presented “Mattapoisett’s Important Historical Women” to another fifth-grade class.Roberts and Clifford engaged students with anecdotes about Mary Ransom, Florence Eastman, Huybertie Hamlin, Cecil Clark Davis, and Elizabeth Barstow Stoddard, who all championed women’s rights through their work, art, nursing, writing or social engagement.

            Then students were handed a short biography of creation of a parking lot near Hammond Quarry, each woman telling “the rest of her story.” After reading through it and highlighting important facts, students shared what they had learned and answered the questions, “Why was this Mattapoisett woman important to history? and “What part did she play in championing women’s rights?”

            At the end of a productive day with these curious, avid learners and student historians, the Mattapoisett Museum looks forward to their visit to the museum on Thursday, May 30, to learn more about Mattapoisett history from Curator Connor E. Gaudet and complete the 5th Grade Treasure Hunt.

            Carole Clifford and Jenn McIntyre will give the students a walking tour of the Mattapoisett Village to share points of interest with them to enrich their understanding of Mattapoisett’s history and storied existence.

            Editor’s note: Katherine Gaudet, M.Sp.Ed., is an educational consultant and the mother of Mattapoisett Museum Curator Connor E. Gaudet. It is believed that this foray by the Mattapoisett Museum into local public education is a first.

Mattapoisett Museum

By Katherine Gaudet, M.Sp.Ed.

The first impression we got upon entering the Marion Art Center on May 24 was all the color pouring out of paintings done by Robert Abele and Mary Moquin, whose works now grace the gallery walls through the month of June.

            These works, nearly all of dwellings, cottages and tenements, are given over to the color wheel. The two featured artists use color in different painting styles, but for each color is a main ingredient that speaks to the viewer.

            Looking at a tenement painted by Abele caused one to think of a layer cake, heavily frosted and nearly dripping with lusciousness. Abele said that he had been advised by professors to give his work time, that a theme would emerge in its own good time. Did it ever!

            The body of work now on display is an open, colorful love story with tenement buildings that take center stage in Abele’s paintings. This artist has masterfully softened edges and employed bright imaginative colors that produce a joyful feeling.

            When asked, Abele said that some of the dwelling units are close to true-life depictions, while others have either been a work of imagination or transformed.

            We found ourselves on the outside of tenement buildings wanting to look in. The charm of Victorian structures coupled with fanciful colors gives these works depth and beauty, as well as surprise and a desire to see more. In his 2018 thesis, an inquiry into domestic spaces, Abele wrote: “A distillation of time is compounded in my tightly composed, brightly colored and lushly painted domestic interiors.” We thought that perfectly explained exteriors as well.

            Moquin’s use of color takes a different approach.

            “I use color to set the mood or to accentuate an angle,” she said. “I’m endlessly fascinated by angles.”

            Moquin said that her use of color is intentional and that some of her works on exhibit are “slightly” abstracted. What we saw was the use of color and angular images that evoked a range of emotions. While human images were absent, we did not get a sense of loneliness. Instead, we felt we had been invited to attend an event, but we had gotten there early before the hubbub created by noisy humans.

            These paintings are restful and powerful at the same time. “I let the shapes tell the story,” she said.

            From Moquin’s website, we found her artist’s statement that contained a few sentences that made her artistic point-of-view succinct.

            “For several years I have focused on two motifs that serve as my metaphors to explore these questions. One example from nature – the tree, another man made – the house. Both of these endure the hostility of the ever-changing environment. Both serve as shelter. Both are equipped with different methods of coping and both ultimately decay. They bear witness to time’s constant wearing away on any notion of permanence, while I watch.”

            Moquin’s structures are angular. Triangle shadows, rectangle roofs, square exterior walls sometimes abstracted by a lack of windows, spaces that have been replaced by color blocks and whose geometry play off each other. And play they do with precision and with color that completes the story.

            This exhibit is a master class. It elaborates on a theme, dwellings, and takes the viewer right up to the edge of peaking into an open window. A must-see exhibition.

Marion Art Center

By Marilou Newell

            Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll stopped by Island Wharf on May 22 to view the development of Marion’s new Maritime Center. During her tour, she got an inside look at the construction that will serve as the new headquarters for the town’s Harbormaster Department.

            Marion Harbormaster Adam Murphy and Secretary of Economic Development Yvonne Hao took Driscoll and multiple other officials throughout the project, walking up the steps to the lookout and beneath the hub.

            In the visit to Marion, Driscoll, alongside state and local officials, spoke about the state Seaport Economic Council’s grant program, which provides funding to support waterfronts, local tourism, coastal resiliency and more across Massachusetts. According to Mass.gov, the SEC “helps coastal communities develop and improve local assets to improve economic growth.”

            The Maritime Center project has received $1,600,000 in grant funding from the SEC. The existing Harbormaster facility is set to be demolished soon after construction is completed.

            “Our administration is committed to putting every region and industry on a path towards prosperity,” said Driscoll in a ceremony at the site.

            Marion is one of 78 coastal communities in Massachusetts benefiting from the program. Town Administrator Geoff Gorman said he was pleased to have received funding from the Healey-Driscoll administration.

            “As a historical coastal community, these grant opportunities are pivotal to our smart growth and support the maintenance of our harbor resources,” said Gorman.

            The grants are part of a $3,500,000 investment in the complete facility of a harbormaster’s office and maritime center with more space and efficiency used for waterways in the town.

            Construction is projected to near completion in September.

By Jared Melanson