Enjoy free admission to the Cape Ann Museum every First Friday from 6:00 – 8:00 pm during Art After Hours! Each month, CAM partners with a practicing, contemporary artist to interpret the Museum’s collections. Watch art come to life through dance, music, performance, painting, and more.

In March, Gloucester-based painter Vanessa Michalak will share paintings from her ongoing Nurse Project paired with Always at Your Service by Emile A. Gruppé. This painting was donated to the Museum last year by VNA Care, a nonprofit visiting nurse association. 

The Nurse Project, a collaboration of writings by nurses and portrait paintings by Vanessa Michalak, grew out of Michalak wrestling with her dual life as an artist and nurse. The project strives to honor nurses by recognizing each individual in a way that only portraiture can. The large scale of each painting is intentional: each is a monument to the nursing profession. The Nurse Project was displayed at the Sargent House Museum from July – September, 2021 and was supported by the Manship Artists Residency. 

Two examples from The Nurse Project will also be on display during the Second Annual Cape Ann Museum COVID Memorial on Thursday March 10 from 6:00 – 8:00 pm.

Watch past programs from First Fridays: Art After Hours in the CAM Video Vault.