The City & The Sand
Artist, Eli Portman

September 3 - October 31, 2025

Artist Statement: “A display of watercolor paintings capturing the beauty of both the natural Cape Cod environment and the bustling Boston streets. Using detailed line work and heavy colors, I illustrate moments of 'unique' isolation that we all share. The feeling of walking alone while viewing social excitement through nighttime windows or working while others play to their contentment.

With controlled ink lines, I capture shadows and lights. Familiar angles, familiar feelings brought on by time of day or night, placement and presence in one’s environment. I manipulate the openness and tightness of visual spaces and interiors to reflect the claustrophobia of society's open space and the endless emptiness of being crowded and crushed.

With strong colors, I attract the viewer’s eyes to specific spaces within the composition, reminding them of their own perceptions of the environment, and that I, like them, find myself in there too. By capturing these scenes, I present the commonality between them and me. Though they do not know me, we are united by the sameness of the humanity we all share.”

 Eli Portman was born and raised in the Greater Boston area. He graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton with a bachelor’s degree in studio art in 2014.  Portman has created murals and custom artwork for Starbucks, Walmart, General Electric, Salem State University, the Punto Urban Art Museum, the Downtown Boston BID and the City of Boston, and displayed his work in the Fountain Street Gallery, the Selfless Art Gallery, The Torosiete Gallery, the UMass Boston Harbor Arts Gallery, the Spring Bull Gallery, and more.  He is a member of the Copley Society of Art, and regularly has his illustrations published in various media. Portman helped create the largest watercolor painting on record with a traveling Holocaust history exhibit in 2024 and was featured on the GBH Community Canvas in 2025.

https://eliportman.weebly.com/

Tree-Book Sculpture
Artist, Sheryl Jaffe

February-December 2025

The Tree-Book-Sculpture was inspired by Sheryl Jaffe’s loving relationship with the trees and the poem “On the Pulse of the Morning” by Maya Angelou. Angelou’s poem features the profound process of reconciliation, acceptance of the past, and hope for the future. Trees have personality and spirit, they give generously of shade, oxygen and habitat, and they emanate profound beauty. The installation is meant to honor the dignity and express the oneness of all people, plants, trees, and the earth.

Sheryl Jaffee has been exhibiting her artwork throughout New York and New England for over 30 years. She works with organic materials, handmade paper from local and exotic plant fibers and found objects to create 2 and 3-dimensional works. Jaffe studied traditional hand papermaking in Japan and China and has taught papermaking at home and abroad with students aged 4-84. Jaffe was a resident artist at The Barn, Edward Albee Foundation, and at Yellowstone National Park where she explored fibers found in those unique locations. She now volunteers in the community with the ArtPeace Makers and with Delilah’s Healing and Educational Collective in bringing Wampanoag culture and education to the Outer Cape.

Steve Swain - Frying Pan Gallery

Healthy Food Chain
Long Term Exhibit - Generously Donated by John & Patricia Kenney 2022

Steel sculptor Steve Swain is an accomplished artist, architectural designer, craftsman, and boat captain. He is responsible for creating several notable local restaurants and buildings. His last project before switching to art full-time was designing and overseeing construction of the restaurant Pearl in Wellfleet and the restoration of Duffy Gardinier’s Tug Boat shack, saving the last of old clam shacks from the wrecking ball and creating The Frying Pan Gallery on Wellfleet Harbor Pier where Steve designs and hand builds steely renditions of marine life. In the fall of 2019, a second Frying Pan Gallery was opened in Orleans.

In his secluded studio Steve seeks inspiration in nature and credits the great outdoors for his creativity and compositions. His custom marine installation at the Museum is an amazing design and work of art highlighting the ocean world of bait fish, bass, and great white sharks.

For more information on Steve’s work go to: www.fryingpangallery.com

James Prosek

Award Winning Artist, Author, and Naturalist
Long Term Exhibit

CCMNH is proud to present the work of artist, author and naturalist, James Prosek. His book Ocean Fishes, is a collection of 35 Atlantic fishes, all of which were painted life size based on individual specimens he traveled to see, a journey that started right here on Cape Cod. Naturescape Gallery is exhibiting two of his life-sized Fine Art prints; a Swordfish and a Blue Fin Tuna. His work has been shown in numerous esteemed galleries.

For more information about James and his work go to: troutsite.com