PROVINCETOWN GALLERISTS REFLECT ON THE SEASON: EVERY SUMMER HAS ITS UNIQUE RHYTHMS
The Provincetown Independent
Wednesday, September 16th, 2026 // Arts & Minds
By Pat Kearns
Mike Carroll at Schoolhouse Gallery. (Photos by Pat Kearns)
Provincetown’s art galleries may not be closing for the winter yet, but the summer is winding down, and the Independent asked some of the town’s gallerists to take stock of this year’s busy season. Smaller paintings, it seems, were the focus for collectors (and thieves). One gallery is closing, and another is moving. In general, though, these purveyors of art sound pleased with how the summer went.
Schoolhouse Gallery
Gallerist Mike Carroll is standing in a slate gray room between two meditative abstract paintings. He knew when the season began that he wasn’t “moving the needle” in terms of art world edginess. “I asked myself, ‘Should I be concerned about that?’ ” he says. “I was being too self-conscious,” he concludes. Carroll held fast to his longstanding roster of artists along with a few additions, such as Karin Schaefer, whose abstract portals hang behind him.
Carroll keeps Schoolhouse Gallery open all year except for one week in January. “I like the idea of being a warm, dry place with a friendly face,” he says. But the summer has its unique rhythms for the gallery. “We were in a lot of houses in July suggesting artwork and helping people think about what they felt like having on their walls,” says Carroll. “It is the sign of an older gallery when people ask for your opinion.”
Rice Polak Gallery
Marla Rice is on the second floor of her gallery hanging a show. She descends from her ladder holding a hammer and takes a break on a carpeted staircase. “Something felt off until the last three weeks,” she says. Rice notes there is always a fall uptick, but the summer season felt uneven and different. “The last few years, we were selling large, expensive works,” she says, “and now more people are buying smaller pieces.”
Rice has to make decisions before the summer and tell artists what to ship to the gallery. “I can’t say, ‘Oh, bring another few midseason,’ ” she says. “You want to make predictions based on the past, but you can never predict.” This year, Rice brought on Tyler Berry, a young artist who paints classical realist portraits. One of his paintings, of a nude white-haired man leaning against a rock, hangs next to the staircase. Warren Lenoir, the gallery’s assistant director, says he noticed collectors taking fewer risks this summer.
