Director鈥檚 Choice: In Memoriam: Napi Van Dereck
Historically, my Director鈥檚 Choice exhibitions have focused on contemporary women artists 鈥 not all of them and not because I have limited myself to those parameters. This year is different. This year is bittersweet. This year, my choices are not really my choices 鈥 they are Napi鈥檚. Napi Van Dereck was a steward of Provincetown art for decades, and incidentally, he was a champion of women artists.
This exhibition will feature over 40 artworks from the collection of Napi and Helen Van Dereck. Napi passed away on Christmas Day and this exhibition is a way to honor his legacy and his keen eye. Every picture has a story 鈥 the scenes of Town represent 鈥渢he way it used to was鈥. Each artwork was carefully selected for a personal reason and he could tell you, in detail, the back story. Some of Provincetown鈥檚 most iconic vantage points and important pieces of history are represented by artists such as Gerrit Beneker, Nancy Maybin Ferguson, Blanche Lazzell, Ross Moffett, B.J.O. Nordfeldt, Pauline Palmer and George Yater among others. We are so grateful to Helen Van Dereck for allowing PAAM to exhibit this unprecedented collection and I would personally like to thank Jim Bakker and Bill Evaul for their assistance in getting this body of work together.
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Historically, my Director鈥檚 Choice exhibitions have focused on contemporary women artists 鈥 not all of them and not because I have limited myself to those parameters. This year is different. This year is bittersweet. This year, my choices are not really my choices 鈥 they are Napi鈥檚. Napi Van Dereck was a steward of Provincetown art for decades, and incidentally, he was a champion of women artists.
This exhibition will feature over 40 artworks from the collection of Napi and Helen Van Dereck. Napi passed away on Christmas Day and this exhibition is a way to honor his legacy and his keen eye. Every picture has a story 鈥 the scenes of Town represent 鈥渢he way it used to was鈥. Each artwork was carefully selected for a personal reason and he could tell you, in detail, the back story. Some of Provincetown鈥檚 most iconic vantage points and important pieces of history are represented by artists such as Gerrit Beneker, Nancy Maybin Ferguson, Blanche Lazzell, Ross Moffett, B.J.O. Nordfeldt, Pauline Palmer and George Yater among others. We are so grateful to Helen Van Dereck for allowing PAAM to exhibit this unprecedented collection and I would personally like to thank Jim Bakker and Bill Evaul for their assistance in getting this body of work together.