Our Heritage
Meet Peter Macara
It was predictable that Peter Macara, the son of a Portuguese fishing family, would become an artist; he has been surrounded by artists his entire life. Across the street from his Brewster Street childhood home, he observed Henry Hensche as he instructed his students in plein air painting. He liked to watch artists, like Fritz Bultman, whose studio was nearby, and Taro Yamamoto, who painted large, abstract canvases on the beach behind his gallery/studio, and others. As a youth, Peter modeled for traditional artists, like R. H. Ives Gammel and Robert Douglas Hunter. And it was Fred Tasch who introduced Peter to painting in acrylics, still his preferred medium. These early experiences with artists were important influences in this young artist’s life. He studied under John Grillo and others at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Grillo became a lifelong friend and encouraged Peter in his pursuit of mural painting.
Peter’s paintings express his fascination with relics of things from the past. He likes to give a sense of the material, making each painting look like a material it is not. The paintings suggest an image or pattern that requires a conceptual leap to complete and give viewers the sensation of a material manifestation of a culture. Peter works mostly in collage and acrylics. He might occasionally make a fresco using modern materials, but more often, these are paintings that merely resemble fresco.
Macara was Assistant Director/Museum Registrar of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM), and an occasional instructor at PAAM’s Museum School from 1979 until his retirement in 2016. While at PAAM, Peter had direct contact with all the artists there—a virtual Who’s Who of Provincetown artists. Peter was a 1978-79 Visual Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center and was nominated twice for membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Peter has had many solo exhibitions at galleries in Provincetown, Amherst, Portland ME, Boston and New York, and has shown his work in exhibitions as far away as Japan.
