Watson painting centers quiet Portuguese festival

Joan and Tom dragger featured in fundraising auction and T-shirt

Like so many artists of the Outer Cape, Thomas A.J. Watson has a working relationship with the Provincetown fishing community.

“I was really pleased to be asked to donate a painting to the Portuguese Festival,” he says. “I’ve been painting the Provincetown lobster and commercial fishing fleet for more than ten years. I've made and sold paintings of somewhere around forty of the local fishing fleet boats. The fishing community is an important part of the heritage of the Outer Cape. If that industry had never existed, Cape Cod wouldn’t be what it is, with the same character. I’m interested in the local community and I want to give something back. This is a way of doing that.”

Watson comes from a family of artists. His grandfather, Ernest W. Watson, co-founded Watson-Guptill Publications (publisher of American Artist magazine) and the Berkshire Summer School of Art. His father, Aldren A. Watson, was also an artist and an author. Watson was born on the Cape, calling himself an “accidental native.” He’s lived in Truro for thirty years with his wife, artist Francie Randolph, exhibiting and selling works out of his studio.

The painting Watson donated of Joan and Tom is featured on this year’s Provincetown Portuguese Festival commemorative t-shirt.

Joan and Tom is a 58' Eastern Rig Dragger built in 1948. “It’s a neat boat with a neat history," Watson said. "Doing research for the painting I got to meet some of the people whose families had owned it or worked on it. It was in service for a long time before it went down.”

Watson says Joan and Tom was tied up with Pat Sea at the dock in Provincetown, and the two boats sank together in 2007 when one leaking boat pulled down the other. Pat Sea was painted by Jerome Greene for last year’s Portuguese Festival auction.

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Donated paintings are usually auctioned off, with all proceeds supporting the festival. This year, since they were unable to have the annual live auction at the Red Inn due to COVID-19 restrictions, the committee arranged a sale privately. According to festival team member Maureen Hurst, the price paid earned the festival more than any previous auction amount.

“The relationship between the artists and the fishermen goes back many years,” Hurst says. “I remember Ciro Cozzi and Sal Del Deo telling me if it weren't for the fisherman they couldn't have survived here. There was a lot of barter in those days. That's why so many fishermen of my dad's generation had beautiful paintings in their homes — they were in exchange for fish. The relationship is a very important part of Provincetown.”

The history of fishermen supporting Provincetown artists is honored during the festival at an event at the Red Inn. Hurst says this annual event began as an interview with the fisherman and through the years included a reading by Mary Oliver, an appearance by Ciro and Sal, and many others.

“The event at the Red Inn has always been our tie-in to the fishermen and the artists,” she says. “Right now we're honoring the boats that have sunk in the past or have historical significance. Soon we'll start honoring the present fleet.”

With COVID-19, the Portuguese Festival will be a smaller, quieter event this year with a private blessing of the boats. The commemorative book will be available on the Outer Cape and online and the t-shirt can be ordered at provincetownportuguesefestival.com. As for Watson, he usually sells paintings from his studio at 45 Depot Road in Truro. He’s thinking about how to exhibit outdoors this summer with curbside pick-up, as well as web and phone orders.

In a press release, the festival coordinators note that “this quiet period is a good opportunity to do something we should do more often: pause, honor the past, remember the boats and crew lost at sea and pray for bountiful, safe voyages for our Provincetown Commercial Fleet.” The next festival is planned for June 24-27, 2021.