An excerpt from…
Celebrating Five Decades of Castle Hill

Provincetown Independent – October 27, 2022
By Abraham Storer

This fall, the 50th anniversary of the Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill has been marked by several group shows celebrating the vast network of artists associated with the center. The current show at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum is the most comprehensive, featuring more than 100 artists.

Presented in salon style, the exhibition includes artworks created in each decade of Castle Hill’s existence. There is no stylistic consistency in the show; the diversity and heterogeneity of the artwork reflects the free-wheeling spirit of the center. Several works in the exhibition were created this year, which speaks to the continued influence of Castle Hill on the creative community of the Outer Cape.

Five artists who made pieces in 2022 reflect on their work and their connection to Castle Hill…

John Koch Mixes it Up

Provincetown Independent – July 14, 2022
By Abraham Storer

After years as a journalist and arts editor at the Boston Globe, John Koch dove headfirst into the pursuit of painting. The itch had long been there. As a child, he found himself inspired by his grandfather, an artist.

“I loved being in his studio,” Koch recalls. Despite devoting his career to journalism, Koch says, “I knew I would do it when I retired. Art chose me.”

He has made up for lost time and has now been painting for well over a decade. On a recent visit to his Truro studio, canvases ranging from landscapes to collaged abstractions filled the space where he was putting the finishing touches on work for a show opening at the Provincetown Commons on July 12 and continuing through July 24 with a reception on Friday, July 15 from 5 to 7 p.m.

There’s an insatiable curiosity to Koch’s work. In one small landscape, he paints the woods outside his studio. The gridded structure of intersecting trees and shadows is echoed in other paintings, distilled into an abstract language.

He’s fearless with materials, scraping paint across surfaces in some works, using knives, brushes, plastic forks, and discarded doormats to make marks. He moves freely between subjects, from oil paintings of nude models to memory-laden mixed-media collages. He might have gotten a late start, but there’s
no stopping him now.

A Palette of Time, Discipline and Passion

Provincetown Banner – August 2, 2012
By Deborah Minsky

John Koch of Truro knows art and knows what he likes. A former Boston Globe arts editor, over his long career in journalism he was immersed in the arts and visited many studios and reviewed countless shows. Now, in what could be called semi-retirement, Koch is rediscovering his artistic self, putting his own canvases up on the easel as he works at becoming the painter he always wanted to be. Although he is relatively new to creating art, he shows a remarkable flair and innate talent.

He works in a range of media, often in unusual combinations of acrylic, oil, charcoal, pastels and oil sticks, all of which can be seen in his show “John Koch: Landscapes & Head-scapes.” An opening reception takes place from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5, in the COA Gallery at the Truro Community Center, 7 Standish Way, North Truro. The show runs through August.

In his studio just off South Pamet Road, he enjoys inspirational views from many angles. The summer home he has shared with his wife, Sharon, for the last 25 years rests snugly against Cape Cod National Seashore land where they will never have to worry about the encroachment of developers or the presence of too-close neighbors. That knowledge allows him to enjoy the timelessness of the surrounding wooded landscape without fearing for its impending demise. His paintings of those outdoor scenes reflect great joy in that security.

Koch has mastered the art of self- portrayal with no apologies for the varying inner moods or outward appearances of his oft-used subject. His are not simply pretty images as commissioned portraiture tends to be; instead, he paints what he perceives in the reflected face in the mirror. Through Koch’s artistry these self-images take on a life of their own, with distinctive, intriguing personalities, not so much pictures of Koch at certain stages of his life, but engrossing, stand-alone images of a complex man with a story or experience worth sharing.

“I don’t do them because of any interest in my own funny face,” he says. “I do them when I can’t really think of what else I want to do. I’m not interested in me as such. I do them as an exercise.”

A gifted draftsman, Koch also draws exquisite sun-dappled trees and sketch- es figures in repose with great grace, but his most compelling and eye-catching paintings are his semi-abstractions, where he gives himself license to experiment with tone and texture, to dig into inner symbolism and draw out unexpected images. Koch has learned well the techniques of under-painting and how to draw the most effect from every inter-play of light and tone. He knows his color values. He is also very modest about his obvious ability, almost in awe of the painterly life as it unfolds to him.

Koch acknowledges local artists who helped him get started. At various times and places — including Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, Provincetown Art Association and Museum and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown — he has studied with Robert Henry, Selena Trieff, Joyce Zavourskas, Eleanor Meldahl and William Papaleo, to name just a few. He credits artist Anne Flash for encouraging him to “mix it up,” and let loose with varying media and techniques, to really explore his painting surfaces to see what they will reveal to him as the process unfolds.

“The COA exhibit is an astonishing opportunity that came to me out of the blue,” he says. “I owe it all to Eleanor and [her son] Malcolm. I just want to say, because it is true, that I feel very privileged to have this show.”