There’s No Place Like Home

Local artist Alexandria Boudreau has created a career shaped by experiences, people, and the place that she calls home. 

A common story shared by artists living and working on Cape Cod is that they once called somewhere else home. Whether it was coming to these sandy shores for a vacation, visiting friends, or being inexplicably drawn here, they came and stayed—even if just for part of the year. For others like Yarmouth native Alexandria Boudreau, this is all they’ve ever known, or needed, for inspiration. 

When Boudreau’s grandfather, John Alexander Banks, arrived in the United States from Scotland he began his new life in the Beacon Hill area of Boston but later relocated to the village of Osterville when he was offered a caretaker position at the estate of an industrialist heir. He took up a particular interest in horticulture while on the job and would use his talents beyond his occupation as a landscape painter and judge at regional flower shows. 

When Boudreau was a child, she would take her sketchpad with her everywhere and draw just about anything. While she has fond memories of accompanying her grandfather through the gardens, it wasn’t until she reached Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School that she would meet her greatest influence, the chair of the school’s arts department, Polly Hopkins. Hopkins taught in the school system when she first moved to Yarmouth in 1957 until she retired in 1974.During Boudreau’s four years at the school she was under the guiding wing of Hopkins the entire time. “She was very encouraging and just had an eye for art,” says Boudreau. 

This fostering approach led Boudreau to realize her...