A man dances on the beach at lowtide in Eastham, MA.
A man dances on the beach at low tide in Eastham. (Julia Cumes Photography)
Planning a trip to the Cape? There’s a 100 percent chance that you’ll interact with nature during your Cape Cod vacation. No matter what type of artist you are – aspiring, novice, or expert – the outdoors can serve to inspire your creativity.
“Immersion in the landscape is a deep part of what I do,” says Provincetown-based visual artist and writer Pete Hocking. “I often go for a walk in the dunes or a Cape Cod landscape and recharge my batteries and come back to my studio. I’m looking and absorbing the feeling of this place and the feeling of the temperature and light and all the sensory experiences we have and channeling it through my own inner self.”
On Cape Cod, nature – the beach, the ocean, ponds, walking trails – is never far away. And it’s a great place to dive into your artistic side, whether you’re a writer, painter, photographer, or simply want to immerse yourself in local culture.
While Hocking is an artist, he’s also an instructor, sharing his passion for painting with others. Through the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, he teaches a class in late summer titled, Walking & Painting, which starts with walks in Provincetown and Truro; students use the landscape as inspiration for pieces they create independently en plein air or in an indoor workspace.
For painters, Hocking recommends several areas on the Cape to explore, including Fort Hill in Eastham; Great Island in Wellfleet; and the Cape Cod Province Lands Trail which extends to Herring Cove Beach, Race Point Beach, and Bennett Pond in Provincetown.
While the familiar response to what draws artists to the Cape is the light, Hocking adds this gem: “For me, it is the mutability of the landscape and the weather of the place. As much as I paint the land of a place, I’m also painting the land and the weather. Looking out my studio right now, there are these weird storm clouds in the far distance over the bay and it’s absolutely gorgeous in town. You always have three things going on at once on the Cape. I think the other thing when you have such a layered history for the arts in a place, coming here feels like an opportunity to connect with the past while making a contribution to the future.”
Throughout the Cape, several cultural organizations lead workshops that connect artists with nature. Along with the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, the Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis, the Cotuit Center for the Arts, the Cape Cod Art Center in Barnstable, the Falmouth Art Center, the Creative Arts Center in Chatham, and the Sandwich Arts Alliance all offer a variety of nature-inspired arts classes.
At the Cultural Center of Cape Cod in Yarmouth, resident artist Julia Cumes utilizes the Cape’s natural beauty to inspire her photography students – she teaches group classes as well as private lessons – to take the next step in their creative journeys.
“There are so many beautiful seascapes and landscapes on Cape Cod,” she says. “I’m really inspired by the landscape and reflective light here. There’s just a lot of beautiful, reflected light because we’re surrounded by the ocean.”
For nature photographers, she recommends the Cape Cod National Seashore as well as the dunes in Provincetown. “I also love Brewster Bay and the flats in Brewster. Because of where the sun sets there, you can shoot the sun setting into the water,” she says. “I feel like you can’t go wrong with so many of the little marshlands here and obviously the beaches. I also really love Crowes Pasture in Dennis.”
Cumes, who leans more towards photojournalism, also recommends Hyannis Harbor and Provincetown. Of those, she says, “Provincetown is unbeatable, in terms of finding characters and getting some street photography. I always end my last class for my Shoot and Critique workshop in Provincetown. Between the art and the characters and the beautiful harbor, you have everything in one place.”
While most visitors prefer enjoying the Cape by day, a growing number are doing so at night. Falmouth’s Timothy Little, owner of Cape Nights Gallery, has been leading night photography workshops across Cape Cod for more than a decade.
“One of the things is it allows me and others to be in environments that are normally fairly busy at a time when they aren’t busy at all,” Little says. “You have access to places – even if they have good parking, you wouldn’t be able to access during the day. That allows you to get this nature-immersion feel with no people, no sounds of people, no music, and no evidence of people around. You get to hear and feel the sounds of nature, whether it’s the owls or coyotes or even the waves of the ocean. Everything seems a little louder at night because you don’t have the daytime stuff.”
What makes Cape Cod unusual from a night photography perspective, Little says, is that the region has dark skies along the Cape Cod National Seashore that are contrasted against “these beautiful foregrounds of lighthouses and the beaches. And with this being the eastern edge of the United States, it’s one of the best places to see great sunrises as well.”
The Cape is also a setting where Little says photographers have an abundance of variety, from the busier Falmouth and Hyannis to the more still, quiet towns of Wellfleet, Eastham, and Truro. And with an abundance of lighthouses – Highland Light in Truro, Nobska Light in Falmouth, Chatham Light, Nauset Light in Eastham, and Race Point Light in Provincetown, among others – as well as the Sagamore and Bourne bridges, photographers have plenty of options when it comes to showcasing the beauty of the Cape.
Not only is the Cape the ideal place to inspire artists, it’s the perfect setting for visitors to enjoy art. In downtown Falmouth, Mashpee Commons, and the Hyannis Village Green, families are invited to enjoy outdoor movies on a weekly basis for free. And then there’s the Wellfleet Drive-In, a staple of Cape Cod since 1957, which is a throwback to simpler times.
Movies aren’t the only entertainment visitors can find on their trips to the Cape. There’s live music that includes free weekly shows at the Music and Arts Pavilion overlooking Falmouth Harbor, Mashpee Commons, the Dennis Village Green, Kate Gould Park in Chatham, Drummer Boy Park in Brewster, Buzzards Bay Park in Bourne, the Hyannis Village Green, and the Barnstable Village Courthouse Stage.
There are also the art shanties and cottages in Hyannis, Orleans, and Provincetown, where visitors can meet local artists and shop for locally-made art, all while taking in the wonder and magic of Cape Cod’s natural beauty.
For places to stay on the Cape, click here. For dining options on the Cape, click this link. And for additional things to do during your visit to the Cape, click here.