PLUM ISLAND TURNPIKE – Sandy Tilton captured a photograph of the Pink House on its last day standing in the morning fog; flowers, a wreath and a pink heart attached to a utility pole next to this highway; the pickup trucks of the demolition workers barely visible as they made ready to tear down the 100-year-old beloved icon.
That was March 11, a year ago, but for most of the Pink House supporters – the painters, photographers, writers and those who found solace just in its being there — the house’s still unexplained demise seems like it has been much longer or only yesterday.
Grief does that for a loved one, a favorite pet or a house that stood alone on the great salt marsh between Newburyport and Plum Island.
Alison Odle, an artist herself and founder of the Save the Pink House non-profit organization, included Sandy’s photo as the final one in Alison’s new hardcover coffee-table-style book. She hopes her book, bound in the same shade of pink, will help keep the memories of the house alive.
Over 144 pages, Alison, who identified herself only on page three in an editor’s note, has captured the paintings and photographs created by more than 40 artists and fans, who were drawn to the lonely house that stood on one of the few dry plots of marsh.
“Monet is said to have painted one scene, his water garden at Giverny, at least 250 times, each image conveying something unique. I think we’ve given Monet a run for his money here,” Alison wrote. “Our wonderfully strange Pink House, chameleon-like, has been interpreted and portrayed from every angle and perspective possible. In every weather condition and astronomical event, every time of day and night, every season and mood, and we never grew tired of her.”
Alison’s coffee table book, The Pink House, A Photographic Memoir, briefly chronicles the 10-year, all-consuming battle by local residents, led by the indefatigable Rochelle Joseph, who mobilized store owners to hang signs in their windows, and public officials, although not enough of them, to fight the bureaucrats of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service from demolishing it.
Losing that mis-matched battle, Alison wrote, “still stings, and it’s still rage-inducing to look at the empty space where she stood for an entire 100 years before being so cruelly cut down.”
Artists who share their Pink House paintings and photos plus short biographies and reflections in the book include:
Alan Bull, Edith Heyck, Lani Shumway, Pam Older, David (Stoney) and Susan Stone, Sandy Tilton, Timothy Thomas, Heather Karp, Jon Elcock, Joyce Wood, Sam Davis, Laura Hughes, Gillian Byck Overholser, Rebecca Klementovich, Ellery Sanchez, Tina Rawson, Heather Corbett Ortiz, Leslie Scott-Lysan, Ana Smyth, Robin Thornhill, Kathleen Hartley, Kelly Kieslich Page, Betsy Malenfant, Laura Hughes, Lizzie Abelson, Dean DiMarzo and Carrie Hershenson.
“As the founder of the movement in 2015, and as an artist, my focus has always been on the creative community,” Alison wrote. “The Pink House inspired countless works of art and supported many local artists, becoming an enduring symbol reimagined in beautiful and meaningful ways.”
This book brings that legacy together, she wrote.
In June, a few months after the house was demolished, supporters, including Gov. Maura Healey, gathered to pay respects to the house on its 100th birthday. Healey declared June 14 to be the Pink House Centennial Celebration Day.
In this memoir, Alison wrote that she finds herself thinking about that celebration and remembering the tribute by state Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester. Delivered to a packed party at PITA Hall, Tarr summed up what the Pink House means for future generations:
“While structures in time can fade, become weak, and sometimes go away, a mindset and a belief in each other can last forever. That is the most important thing that is happening here today: the expressions in art, in photography, in words…We didn’t get exactly the result we wanted, but I want us to think today about the result we got. The shining example of civic engagement, believing in something bigger than yourself, and being willing to carry that forward.”
If you want to own your own copy of The Pink House, A Photographic Memoir, it can be ordered at www.thepinkhouse-aphotographicmemoir.com [or https://tinyurl.com/
pinkhouselegacy]. Save $5 off the $65 price using the discount code Alison. Shipping is free, but it may take several weeks to arrive.
