New Bedford – There is a herring gull named Glenn who flies across the whaling city, and he is about to make his debut in an upcoming youngsters’s guide.
“New Bedford has a lot historical past, a lot future, and a lot to supply as an artist,” stated Margo Connolly-Mason, writer of And Then… Glen.
The kids’s guide is about following the feathered citizen into downtown in hopes of catching him inflicting a nuisance within the metropolis. As a substitute, society embraces him and makes individuals chuckle together with his wit and attraction.
“It is nearly exploring the locations the place he lives,” stated Connolly-Mason. “We notice that he belongs right here as a lot as anybody else—how the town belongs to everybody right here.”
Respecting the seagulls of New Bedford is likely one of the many priorities of the New Bedford Wheeling Nationwide Historic Park. In July 2021, the park Indicators have been posted asking drivers to be careful for little seagulls on the road.
“Folks simply fly out of right here!” stated Jennifer Smith, superintendent New Bedford Wheeling Nationwide Historic Park Within the earlier Customary Instances Article. “I felt there have been numerous little seagulls round and we wanted to search for them.”
Connolly-Mason was impressed to write down the guide after assembly “the precise Glenn” whereas eating at Moby Dick Brewing Co. together with her son, Roger.
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“When individuals have been getting up and leaving their tables, there was a seagull that saved exhibiting up on the tables and snatching up the fries,” she stated.
“We have been laughing at him, and the waitress came visiting and stated, ‘Oh, that is Glenn.'” He is right here on a regular basis. I actually appreciated the title and that it had that persona.”
Hatch Road Studio Artist in New Bedford
As one of many artists in Hatch Road StudioAnd Connolly Mason isn’t any stranger to the native artwork scene. She additionally sells her work by means of the Etsy store MargoPaints Co. In accordance with the artist’s assertion on her web site, Connolly Mason’s artwork “depicts the objects and scenes she found whereas roaming seashores, salt marshes, working waterfronts, and coastal neighborhoods in Massachusetts, Alaska, and South Carolina.”
A local of New Bedford, she has a level in Biology, Environmental Research, and Environmental Schooling from the College of Pennsylvania and a Certificates in Pure Science Illustration with Rhode Island Faculty of Design.
Connolly-Mason has served because the after-school program director at Pals Academy, and is a reader for Brown’s admissions software UMass Dartmouth In addition to the Admissions Counselor for Alaska Southeast College. She was additionally a senior educator at Buzzards Bay Alliance Fisheries Technician for Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.
Artist-in-Residence at New Bedford Whaling Nationwide Park
In 2022, Connolly-Mason is artist-in-residence at New Bedford Whale Nationwide Historic Park Artist-in-Residence Program, which consists of 4 artists, one per quarter, of varied disciplines, working of their capability for a interval of three months, In accordance with the positioning.
Of the 420 nationwide parks in the US, solely 50 at present supply one of these program.
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“New Bedford understands the worth of creativity and getting artists to inform tales,” stated Lindsay Compton, park ranger and residency program supervisor.
Compton stated this system is a inventive strategy to storytelling and group engagement in a means that isn’t a proper lecture.
For the reason that launch of this system in 2018, the park has hosted 15 artists. In 2022, this system hosted their first Kentucky artist from the New England space. This yr, they are going to host artists from Boston, Windfall, New Bedford and Portland, Oregon.
“Margo is an incredible artist. The tasks that actually float to the highest, particularly like Margo, are those that discuss one thing particular in New Bedford, utilizing New Bedford as a supply of inspiration,” stated Compton.
“And Margo made it very clear what she needed to do, how she needed to do it and the way she was going to have interaction the viewers whereas doing all these items.”
New scenes from Bedford in “And Then… Glen”
In October, Connolly-Mason stated she had began engaged on her concept. As a mom of two, she is most conversant in youngsters’s books.
“I attempt to pay numerous consideration to what we’re studying and what the illustrations are,” she stated, including that “Jabari Jumps” by Gaia Cornwall, “The Snowy Day” by Ezra Jack Keats and “Let’s Go! A Harvest Story” by Hannah Lindoff have been Certainly one of her most vital sources of inspiration is the appear and feel of her guide.
“I actually needed to mirror the range of cultures that we’ve got, in addition to the companies downtown,” she added.
“I am all the time in downtown New Bedford. So simply the expertise of being in yoga lessons and listening to seagulls screaming outdoors the studios and going to The Baker each weekend and seeing Victor [Fonseca] Greetings clients, I needed to point out that.”
Taking photos of the realm the earlier summer time, stated Connolly Mason, the guide contained illustrations from bakerand the YMCA and downtown waterfront, though New Bedford is just not particularly talked about within the story.
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She stated, “I would like it to be interesting to a variety of audiences and for individuals to find out about issues concerning the locations within the guide that they could suppose is the place they dwell.”
Listings from native eating places, a map of the nationwide park, and downtown space brochures about Frederick Douglass and Abolition Row Park have been additionally used as supplies for the collage artwork.
“She’s unimaginable. Margo is de facto charismatic,” stated Compton. “I used to be actually impressed together with her work ethic, her professionalism, her creativity, and the way in which she effortlessly interacts with our guests and the group at giant.”
Compton stated the plan is for the park to print about 100 books and provides them away without spending a dime to the general public. After that, it will likely be Connolly-Mason’s determination on proceed.
“I hope to do extra,” she stated. “I undoubtedly must spend a while determining the subsequent steps, however there are extra tales I can undoubtedly inform about Glen,” stated Connolly-Mason.
Customary-Instances workers author Seth Chitwood could be reached at schitwood@st.com. Comply with him on Twitter: @worker.Help native journalism by buying a digital or print subscription to The Customary-Instances immediately.