Sculpture to Serve as Pops by the Sea Commemorative Art

HYANNIS – For the first time in the 34-year history of the Pops by the Sea concert, a sculpture will serve as the event’s commemorative artwork.

The Arts Foundation of Cape Cod selected Sandwich artist Joyce Utting Schutter to be this year’s commemorative artist last summer.

Each year, the regional arts nonprofit selects a local artist to create a piece that epitomizes the concert which brings the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra to the Hyannis Village Green in August.

“This is the first time in the history of the Pops that we’ve had a sculptor as our Pops artist. We felt it was time,” said AFCC Executive Director Julie Wake.

“It’s fun to introduce this new medium to the Pops which has never been done before. Joyce’s work is innovative and modern. We’re really excited to see what she will do.”

The sculpture will be unveiled April 17 at the Cape Cod Theatre Company/Harwich Junior Theatre.

Schutter, who holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa, said she has always had a passion for the arts.

Born in Boston and raised in Guilford, Connecticut, Schutter spent two decades in the Midwest where she balanced work as an artist and an art professor while raising a family with her husband, James Schutter, who currently serves as a hospice chaplain in Southeastern Massachusetts. The pair have two daughters.

Along with plants, Schutter’s work draws heavily from the intricacies of bones, seeds, feathers, roots, thorns, and similar items found in nature.

As for the Pops by the Sea piece, she hinted that it will combine elements of music with the ocean, tying into the event as well as the Cape’s proximity to the water.

Her art has been shown on Cape Cod as well as galleries, museums, and juried shows throughout the country. To learn more about Schutter or to view her work, visit www.artbyjus.com.

Schutter’s piece will be auctioned off at the AFCC’s Prelude to Summer on June 6th at the Hyannisport Club to help raise funds for its annual grant-giving program, fellowships, scholarships, and new AFCC Access program, which connects area youth facing economic barriers to artistic opportunities.

In previous years, the paintings were used to create commemorative t-shirts for the event.

Citizens Bank Pops by the Sea is August 11 on the Hyannis Village Green.