MassoniArt in Chestertown will be offering a unique gallery experience this month in that it will be more of a museum exhibition than a typical showing of an artist’s work. Part of the reason for that is that quite a few of the 40 pieces of art are not even for sale, but more importantly, it was its gallery owner, Carla Massoni, who envisioned a retrospective exhibition that spanned over 40 years of Mid-Shore artist Marc Castelli’s breathtaking documentation of competitive sailing and those who sail them entitled Chasing the Silver.

The Castelli exhibition presents an opportunity to widen the lens on subjects Marc has painted during his long career. Chasing the Silver is the first time such a collection has been gathered from Marc’s personal portfolio for exhibition. This retrospective features watercolors of major world yachting events over the last 40 years.

Showcased will be paintings, pen and inks, posters, cartoons, and prints featuring America’s Cup challenges and defenses from 1987 to the last traditional monohull America’s Cup in 2006, as well as the Whitbread races in 1997-98, the sea trials and starts for the Global Challenges 2004-05, the 2006 Soling World Championship, the Star Boat World Championship 2016, and the USNA’s Kennedy Cup Regatta and the J-Class Yachts Regatta 2015.

The Spy sat down with Marc a few weeks ago to talk about his approach to painting racing boats, but it was also fitting to include his personal memories of growing up along the shores of Lake Michigan and falling in love with these extraordinary vessels and who he developed as an artist to paint them.

This video is approximately three minutes in length.

June 7 – August 7, 2024
Massoniart – Cross Street Gallery
Chestertown

June First Friday Reception – June 7, 5-8 pm

Artist Talks
Saturday, June 8, 12 noon
Sunday, June 9, 12 noon

July First Friday Reception– July 5, 5-8 pm

For additional information please visit www.massoniart.com. A portion of all sales will be donated to support sailing scholarships. 

Chasing the Silver for Forty Or So Years by Marc Castelli can be read here.

Having a title like chief executive officer is an appropriate one for the individual tasked with running a multi-million dollar budget as well as overseeing a vast physical campus but Irma Toce never sees her job through the lens of a traditional business leader. Her decades of experience in leading residential retirement communities had told her well before she took on the CEO role at Londonderry at Tred Avon in 2014 that her job was building a unique sense of place there.

For Irma, that rebuilding started with the staff. With morale suffering from the impact of the 2008 recession and high occupancy rates, that sense of place (and purpose) was the missing ingredient. In fact, she still recalls visiting Londonderry during the interview process and was bewildered that such a beautiful place with such wonder residents was having any problems at all.

And that personal mission has been very much in evidence at Londonderry for almost ten years. With full occupancy, healthy financials, and a culture of authentic community, Irma not only helped steady the ship but clearly had a great time doing it.

The Spy continues with our ongoing series of exit interviews with some of the Mid-Shore’s most talented individuals as they come to the close of long-term impactful leaders of our leading community organizations and businesses, of which Irma is at the top of the list.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information about Londonderry on the Tred Avon please go here.