The summer might be winding up with bustling roads and jammed intersections, but a new exhibit at Falmouth Art Center at 137 Gifford Street is a microcosm of what it means to live in the moment. Local creative Rita Pacheco, who has made a mark upon many area businesses and residences with her unique and innovative design that lives at the crossroads of history and creativity, has recently completed an installation titled, A Peek Inside Artist Studios.

Inspired by her personal history and connection with seven artists—some living and some remembered—Pacheco has stepped inside the space where art was not only created but lived like progeny with its elders. “The surroundings of these artists are as influential as the environment of the Cape itself,” she explains. “These are artists who were compelled to create, it wasn’t a 9-5 occupation, it was their life. They didn’t travel down a road, or even down a path to a dedicated studio. Instead, their kitchen became their workspace, or their parlor, or their bedroom, or a porch overlooking their garden.” 

Pacheco’s artist statement welcomes visitors to enjoy the styled scenarios, and says, “This space serves as both a sanctuary and a creative environment where art meets nature in a lively mix of color and character.” She explains, “By infusing the space with personality and vibrant focal points, these scenes are designed to spark curiosity and showcase the intersection of daily life and artistic inspiration.” 

She makes good on her promise with the thoughtful vignettes that present the artists’ work in a charming juxtaposition of pride and humility. Hidden elements serve as discovered treasure as they surprise and inform the viewer who might otherwise feel like a voyeur. Phyllis Hartley, whose love of the natural world, particularly her garden, constantly influenced her art; both in subject and medium.

Barrett “Buzzy” McLaughlin was a man of science by training, but the blood of the seafaring whalers of his ancestry still coursed through his veins, as he carved his scrimshaw scenes upon cetacean’s teeth and bones, during his downtime at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

James Tobey was well-known around Falmouth, as a carpenter and handy friend. Along the way, his collections of odds and ends, and a few seaside treasures, found their way into eclectic sculptures that emerged from the overflowing drawers and bins of his kitchen which doubled as his studio—even while a soup pot might be simmering in the background.

Living artists Leann Schmidt and Cynthia Cruz are imagined in their bedroom and parlor studios respectively. Schmidt, whose love for fashion and drama, finds her creative muse surrounded by her favorite things—as the dopamine rush found in the process of painting is akin to pulling together the perfect outfit. Cruz, a lover of traditional furnishings and pieces of substance, creates beautiful floral still life and pastoral landscapes in a parlor where the aroma of a fresh pot of tea is often a fulfilled expectation.

And Claude Croney—whose accolades and accomplishments in his life, exceeded the dreams of anyone who dared to dream of canvasses and paints—a library seemed only befitting to acknowledge a man who had achieved so much. His paintings on display seem to have just been completed as they dry upon the shelves of a barrister bookcase.

For Pacheco, she has created her own Still Life in the center of the room where her collections of ephemera, collectibles and found objects grounds the gallery. Along one wall a collection of a child’s art supplies and masterpieces are proudly displayed and attributed to Pacheco’s only granddaughter, Edie. 

Once again, through connections, some familial and some that become like family, Rita Pacheco has pulled back the curtain and cast a light upon the creative world that exists around us.

The exhibit is at the Falmouth Art Center, in the Hermann Gallery through June 26^th.