Falmouth Artists Guild
Early Members Show
January 5 – February 2, 2026
This show features the work of artists who were involved with the Falmouth Artists Guild in the 1970s and 1980s, the early years of the Guild.
Falmouth Art Center began in the 1950s when a group of painters began studying with Angelo Cangiamila, an engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. They met at his home in Falmouth Heights.
When the group became too large to fit in his garage, they began looking for other places to meet and ended up at the town’s Recreation Center, now known as the Gus Canty Community Center.
Next door was an unused town-owned historic building known as the “Poor House.” The members of the Artists Guild asked the town if they could rent the “Poor House” to use as gallery space, and the town granted the Guild a lease, for five-year intervals beginning in 1962.
In 1966, with exhibits and classes underway in the space, the group incorporated as a non-profit called the Falmouth Artists Guild, Inc.
In 1998, the Falmouth Selectmen opted to use the Poor House for town offices and evicted the Artists Guild. A period of using several spaces (the Falmouth Mall, Falmouth Community Television, the Community Center) ended with the Guild renting basement space on Main Street, across from the Library Lawn.
Years of looking for a new home for the Guild resulted in the Guild being gifted the lot on the corner of Gifford Street and Dillingham Avenue by Chris Wise, who developed Dillingham Place next door. Guild leaders fundraised for the new building, which was completed on time and on budget in 2009.
In 2014, the lower level of the building was completed, opening up the Clay Studio. In 2016, the second floor was completed, adding a weaving room, classroom, gallery space and meeting room.
This year, 2026 marks 60 years from the incorporation of our organization and we are holding a number of events to celebrate. In January 2025, the Founder’s Show featured the artwork of more than 20 artists who were involved in the Guild in the 1950s and 1960s.
In January 2026, we are featuring the work of the Guild’s Early Members, artists who were involved in the 1970s and 1980s.
If you have memories to share from those years, or if you want to comment on the show, please feel free to write comments in the book at the entrance to the Hermann gallery.
