Joining the historic legacy of Provincetown, Massachusetts’s impressionist painters, John Clayton’s paintings are a testament to the beauty of Cape Cod’s light and color. After studying at the Art Students League in NYC, John moved to Provincetown and began an intense period of study at the Cape School of Art where Henry Hensche and Charles Hawthorne had established one of the country’s finest outdoor painting schools.

John’s exceptional gift for portraying the many facets of nature’s light brought him to the attention of Hilda Neily, who had been one of Hensche’s finest students in the 1970s. He became a protégé of Neily’s and furthered his explorations of color. “In my paintings I am forever exploring nature – the constant changes – the light, and the objects that dwell within it.”

John Clayton was one of eight artists selected to exhibit at the 1998 Emerging Artists Exhibition at PAAM (Provincetown Art Association and Museum.)

Visit John Clayton’s website.

Arthur studied color with Impressionist Henry Hensche and the figure with his father and grandfather. In 1989 he moved to Pasadena, California, to follow his interest in art and filmmaking. He successfully developed his own identity as an artist by fusing Hensche's color theories and his parents' academic realism with a plein air style. In 2001 he received the Award of Merit by the Portrait Society of America and the William Schultz Award for Oil Painting by the American Impressionsts' Society. In 2002 and 2004 the Portrait Society of America awarded him with a Certificate of Recognition, and in 2009, he won the figure prize at the Gold Medal Exhibition.In 2010, his painting, “The Audtion” was named as one of the best American Portraits of 2009. In his filmmaking career, he received the Jury Prize at the Hampton's International Film Festival and a Gold Medal at the Houston Film Festival for The Art of Passion, a feature film about the coming-of-age of a young painter. Arthur Egeli is an Artist Member of the California Art Club, American Impressionist Society, and the Portrait Society of America.

Visit Arthur Egeli’s website.

Judith Fulmer began to study art at Towson University in 1988, taking numerous undergraduate and graduate level art classes. Her interest in impressionism took her to Provincetown, Massachusetts, where she has spent almost every summer since 1993. In 1997 she began studying at the Cape Cod School of Art, primarily with Lois Griffel, John DiMestico, and Lee Boynton. In 2000 she accepted a summer position as a monitor at the Cape Cod School of Art living in the Pearl Street Studio and continued as a monitor for several years. She has also studied painting in the evenings at the Schuler School of Fine Art in Baltimore, Maryland. Most recently she has continued her studies under the guidance of Gail Browne, John Ebersberger, Robert Longley, and Hilda Neily. She is able to paint effectively using a variety of mediums, primarily watercolors, oils, and pastels. Her work focuses on light and color. She is known mostly for her seascapes and landscapes using her style of blending impressionism and realism. She continues to learn and share her passion about art with her students.

Visit Judith Fulmer’s website.

Mary’s devotion to light and color is evident in all of her paintings. While her work is influenced by the impressionist palette of the Cape School of Art, her work is less idealized and more contemporary by design. Mary’s plein-air paintings reflect her passion and devotion to capturing the exquisite drama of nature’s fleeting moods.

Mary has been returning to Provincetown to paint and study the cape light every spring since 1989. She has had numerous solo shows and exhibitions in Provincetown, Philadelphia and Vermont. Her work is in private collections and museums as well as all over Europe. Mary makes her home in Vermont where she lives with her husband, the sculptor John Cassin, their two dogs, Paris and Janet, and their cat, Seamus.

Visit Mary Giammarino’s website.

Over the years, I studied and painted with many of the artists that followed or studied with Hensche, . These teachers have been my guides throughout my study of light and color and promoted my love for "Plein Air"painting. I strive to create an illusion of atmosphere and mood, and record my impression of nature's beauty.

At the same time I was pursuing artistic endeavors, I learned to fly and spent 35 years as an airline pilot. The world was my canvas. Besides painting great destinations, my "aerial landscape" series has been a wonderful way to express my love of the sky in a more abstract, simplified way.

I teach summer Plein Air workshops at The Cape School of Art in Provincetown and at the Naples Art Association in Naples, Florida during the winter season.

Visit Syd Hale’s website.

Glenna Hartwell studied with Henry Hensche from 1976 through ‘79. During that time she also worked as a portrait artist in Provincetown at The Starving Artist Studio. Master portrait artist Tom Moore was one of her mentors at the studio. These two experiences have shaped and influenced all her artistic endeavors.

Following her time as a “street artist”, Glenna took portrait commissions for many years. Her portraits are in many prominent collections, including the family of actor Christopher Reeve, and the DuPont family.

Glenna has also studied with Hilda Neily, Cedric and Joanette Egeli, and John Clayton. She is honored to be of the instructors at The Cape School of Art.

Glenna has also worked as a designer and illustrator, sculptor, and 3D character designer.

Visit Glenna Hartwell’s website.

A traditional impressionist painter, Lucas’ work focuses on the ever-changing light and its effects on color in nature. “My goal is to re-create on canvas the luminous light and beauty of the four seasons.”

Dennis began his career at the Cape School of Art in Provincetown, MA. The school, inspired by the French Impressionists began over one hundred years ago.

He immediately adapted to this style of painting while living and studying on the sunny shores of Cape Cod.

Dennis paints and exhibits throughout New England and has conducted many workshops in the great outdoors.

A past Artist-In-Residence at the historic Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell, MA., Lucas’ work is in many public and private collections.

Margaret McWethy, Impressionist painter, studied art history and biology at Swarthmore College. Since graduating she has sought teachers who base their art on training, careful observation, and understanding. Master colorist, Henry Hensche and nationally known portrait artist Cedric Egeli, have been influential.

Margaret, a native of Maryland, now lives and paints in Massachusetts. Since moving here, she has spent time studying the traditions and methods of some of the famous northshore painters. “They have a very different approach which I hope to integrate with what I have learned about color and light.”

She teaches painting the Impressionist still life and landscape locally. She has won a number of awards and is a featured artist in the publications, Painting the Impressionist Landscape by Lois Griffel, Capturing Radiant Color in Oils by Susan Sarbeck, Painting the Impressionist Watercolor by Lee Boynton. She is a charter member of the New England Plein Air Painters. Her work hangs in private collections in the United States and Europe.

Visit Margaret’s website here.

Hilda Neily belongs to the prestigious community of painters living and working in Provincetown, Massachusetts. As a Plein Air Impressionist artist, Neily works outside on landscapes and paints still life inside in north light. Primarily a landscape, seascape and still-life painter, Neily’s focus is on the changing light conditions and the expression of these changes in color. Plein Air Impressionist painting is marked by its primary emphasis on how light conditions affect the eye’s perception of color.

Born in Vermont and a resident of Provincetown since 1968, Neily studied various theories of painting before developing a strong interest in Plein Air Impressionist painting. This interest led her to study at the Cape School of Art in Provincetown with Henry Hensche beginning in 1974.

Henry Hensche, master Impressionist, served as assistant to Charles Hawthorne, founder of the Cape Cod School of Art in 1899. Neily Studied with Hensche for 15 years. Neily today is a master painter in her own right, and is considered to be one of the Cape School’s most adept practitioners.

Neily’s paintings are included in many private, corporate and museum collections throughout the United States and abroad.

Visit Hilda Neily’s website.

Upon retiring from more than thirty years of Maritime work including Commercial fisheries on both the East and Alaskan coasts and finally running tugboats in and around New York Harbor,

Christopher Smeraldi wondered what he would like to do next and always felt that he wanted to pursue oil painting. Introduced to The Cape School of Art by a painter friend, his next journey began in September 2012 and has continued ever since. The school, located in Provincetown, Massachusetts, has a notable history. It was founded in 1898 by Charles Webster Hawthorne, a portrait and genre painter, whose work and teaching influenced an entire generation of painters. The school is the oldest existing Plein Air school in the United States. Later, Henry Hensche continued the legacy of the school, teaching American Impressionism and its tenets, how to see and paint color and light.

Christopher paints Landscapes and Seascapes on the Outer Cape and Coastal Rhode Island where he resides with his wife on the island of Jamestown. During the winter months, his focus turns to painting still lifes set in a North light studio.

Visit Chris Smeraldi’s website.

Lauren Byrne spent the last eighteen years owning and operating a small Garden Design Firm that serviced commercial and residential clients in the Greater Boston Area. Having a love for color and beautiful landscapes, she turned her creative energies to studying Plein Aire painting with the Cape School of Art and Hilda Neily. Lauren paints daily outdoors studying the beautiful colors of the Cape Cod Landscape and when the weather prohibits outdoor painting, spends time in her North Light Studio painting still life paintings.

Lauren is a current member of the Provincetown Art Association, a Board Member of the Cape School of Art, a member of the Cape School of Art Open Studio. Lauren is represented by the Hilda Neily Gallery in Provincetown Massachusetts.