(Top) Sign from the Folly Cove Designers’ barn in Gloucester’s Folly Cove neighborhood, painted wood. Collection of the Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, MA. Gift of Murray White, 2004 [Acc. #2004.49].
(Bottom) Folly Cove Designers members in front of the barn in Folly Cove, Gloucester, MA. Collection of the Cape Ann Museum Library & Archives, Gloucester, MA.
Dear Friends,
When you hear the name Folly Cove, what do you think of? A Gloucester neighborhood on the north side of Cape Ann? A location used until 100 years ago by boats loading granite from local quarries? A present-day scuba diving spot? Those are all correct. But what we at the Cape Ann Museum focus on is the group of local craftswomen (and a few men) who in the mid-20th century called themselves the Folly Cove Designers.
As a group, the Folly Cove Designers created hundreds of hand-drawn, hand-carved, and hand-printed designs. The majority of the designers had other professional backgrounds but no formal art training prior to joining the group. After in-depth instruction led by Virginia Lee Burton Demetrios, potential designs had to be accepted by group vote before being put into production. It was a unique organization that would be difficult to replicate today.
The Museum is delighted to present Designed & Hand-Blocked by the Folly Cove Designers as an expanded exhibition of their work, and invites all members to the members’ opening reception this Saturday, October 15 from 3 to 5 pm. The Museum Store also has new Folly Cove design-inspired items for sale, and a dynamic series of accompanying programs is planned and can be found here.
The formidable accomplishments of the Folly Cove Designers are an inspiration, and this is an exhibition you won’t want to miss!
With all best wishes,
Oliver Barker, Director
(Left) Susanna (Suzi) Natti, daughter of Folly Cove Designer Lee Natti (1919-2020).
(Right) Josephine Andrews interviews CAM Chief Curator Martha Oaks in the Folly Cove Designers Gallery at the Museum.
(Top left) Mary Maletskos (1918-1993), Nasturtiums, undated, ink on cotton. Collection of the Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, MA.
(Top right) Dress printed with Nasturtiums, from the collection of Ethel Maletskos Martin and John L. Martin, installed alongside a hand press formerly belonging to Mary Maletskos in the Museum’s exhibit Designed and Hand-Blocked: The Folly Cove Designers.
(Bottom) CAM Staff work with Ethan Berry of Montserrat College to install the hand press.
Pages from a mock-up of Virginia Lee Burton Demetrios’ unpublished manuscript, Design and How! From the Virginia Lee Burton Demetrios Papers of the Cape Ann Museum Library & Archives, Gloucester, MA. Gift of Aristides Burton Demetrios and Ilene H. Nagel Demetrios, 2019 [Acc. #2019.005].
Examples of designs and in-process work from participants of Mary Rhinelander's past Block Printing classes.
