Location: 245 Washington Street in Gloucester

Insights On Site

The White-Ellery House (1710) has served as the backdrop for a series of one-day contemporary art installations (Insights On Site) by local artists for six years running. This year the season begins with About Time, a collaboration between visual artist George Wingate and percussionist Gordon Williams. This event is free and open to the public.

Within the marvelous, unaltered and empty carapace that is the White-Ellery House, artist George Wingate will use paintings, sculpture and words to transform the interior of this remarkable structure. Adding another  dimension to the visual, percussionist and musician/composer Gordon Williams will enrich the rooms with sounds of nature and time, in sensitive contrast to the bustling traffic of the adjacent Grant Circle.

George Wingate is a painter, sculptor, writer and poet. A graduate of the University of Rochester, he studied extensively at the New School and at the Art Students League in New York City, and received an MFA from Vermont College. He taught drawing at Parsons School of Design in New York and in the art program at Gordon College.  He and his wife maintain a home, studio and extensive gardens in nearby Wenham. Gordon Williams is a recent graduate of Gordon College with a degree in music and education. In addition to teaching and playing music, he is on the staff of Gordon’s music department.

The White-Ellery House, located at 245 Washington Street in Gloucester at the Route 128 Grant Circle Rotary, was built in 1710 and is one of just a handful of First Period houses in Eastern Massachusetts that survives to this day. Unlike other structures of this period, the largely unfurnished house has had very few interior alterations over the years. The historic home is open on the first Saturday of the month from May through October as part of Escapes North 17th Century Saturdays. Parking is available off Poplar Street in the field behind the house.

Image credit: George Wingate, And, 2013. Courtesy of the artist.