On this week’s Newbie adventure, I had the pleasure of meeting artists in Westport and Dartmouth during the July version of the SouthCoast Artists annual Open Studio Art Tour.
If you’ve never been on this tour, artists and fans alike are invited to explore studios across the region to catch rare glimpses into an artist’s private world and maybe see them at their craft.
“It s really about connecting the community to the artists and having people be able to see how the work is made,” Lindsey Epstein, SCA communications director and participating artist said in a previous interview. “It’s for people to understand how the piece is made, what’s the process and how to take that home is the most important part of the tour.”
DARTMOUTH Ben Shattuck, 36, is embarking on an adventure with a 228-year-old friend.
The friend is Davoll s General Store, the sunflower-yellow landmark in Russells Mills Village responsible for some of Ben s most cherished memories.
In childhood, Davoll s was his pit stop on bike rides between home and Friends Academy; his penny candy headquarters; the spot where, at 9 years old, he helped sign copies of “Moonlight on the River,” a book illustrated by his father.
Again and again, Ben has been pulled to the property, as if with the current of the neighboring river for which he got his middle name: Slocum. He shares his memories with his brother Will Shattuck, 38.