The Art Colony

Detours and Contours with Eric Lesh

This week, we bring on Eric Lesh, a figurative artist now in his fifth season, describes his path from musical theater to LGBTQ rights law (including work at Lambda Legal and directing the LGBT Bar Association of New York) and how figure drawing at the NYC LGBT Center and Zoom sessions during the pandemic grew into commissions and queer art fairs like Barnwood and Art Gaysel. He explains his whimsical, expressive line-based nude work and influences (Al Hirschfeld, Keith Haring, Jean Cocteau), his shift from digital to acrylics and oils, and his business model of private live portrait sessions and group commissions. He discusses managing public reactions to nudity, hosting pop-up artists, running the Tuesday life drawing group at the Gifford House, and serving as president of the Provincetown Business Guild to help sustain Provincetown’s queer identity.

Avital Sagalyn: A Return to Provincetown

This week, we welcomed returning guest Christine McCarthy of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) plus Elaine Grossman and Daniel Sagalyn to discuss the exhibition “Avital Sagalyn: Mid-Century Provincetown,” on view through August 2, 2026. McCarthy describes the exhibitions committee’s excitement at discovering Sagalyn’s “breathtaking” works and their maturity for an artist in her 20s. Daniel and Elaine explain Sagalyn’s life: born in 1925 in Palestine under the British mandate, raised in Brussels, fled WWII to the U.S. in 1941, studied art via MoMA teen classes and later Cooper Union, and worked in Provincetown in 1945–46 amid the Hofmann era. They recount her Fulbright to Paris, encounters with major artists including Picasso, and an Admiral McMillan/Monhegan Island story, while noting she rarely exhibited until late-life encouragement led to a UMass show and now PAAM. Resources include avitalsagalyn.com, @avitalsagalyn on Instagram, and PAAM.org, with related Outer Cape Chamber Orchestra concerts.

Everyone’s Favorite Showgirl! with Ryan Landry

We have finally brought in the amazingly talented performer and artist Ryan Landry to talk about his life and work. Landry recounts growing up in Wallingford, Connecticut, moving to New York City, and arriving in Provincetown in 1979, describing the town’s earlier “Wild West” atmosphere and his early jobs. He explains how his prop-heavy performances in “Puttin’ On The Hits” led him to create the long-running Monday-night competition Showgirls in the late 1980s, emphasizing its curated, audience-participatory, mentoring spirit and celebrity guest stars; he previews a Sesame Street-themed set and venues including the Crown & Anchor and Provincetown Inn. Landry discusses studying art, painting intensely during COVID, exhibiting annually at the William Scott Gallery, his studio habits, plans for a puppet project, his theater company the Gold Dust Orphans and Boston Christmas productions, and his rock band Space Pussy.

From the Pitcher's Mound to the Sculptor's Workshop with Cole Cook

This week, we interview Cole Cook, a sculptor who was born in New York, raised in Los Angeles by actor parents, and spent summers on Cape Cod. Cook describes being shepherded into baseball, playing professionally across all minor-league levels, then becoming unhappy and eventually leaving the sport after an eye-opening trip around artists in New York. After studying improv at UCB, writing, and working as a pitching coach, he moved to Cape Cod during the pandemic with his cats and began making wood sculptures, drawn to trees, woodworking, and the “truthfulness” of carving. He discusses learning tools through observation and experimentation, wood selection and sourcing.

Provincetown Stories with Russ Lopez

This week, we welcome author, editor, and publisher Russ Lopez to The Art Colony to discuss his new book, Provincetown Stories. Lopez recounts first visiting Provincetown in January 1981, returning for decades with his husband, and eventually buying a home before COVID, while noting changes such as higher costs, heavier tourism, and evolving attitudes around race and performance. He describes his earlier LGBTQ history book Hub of the Gay Universe (2019) and explains that fiction offers freedom to convey “truths” without strict documentation. Provincetown Stories is a linked collection of short tales with recurring characters, renamed locations, frank depictions of sex and partying, and magical realism, including an immortal Cuban figure, Luna, and a made-up Feast of St. Bonaventure. Lopez reads excerpts about arriving over the Truro hill and Provincetown’s artistic creativity rooted in unconventional freedom, then shares where to find the book and upcoming local events.