Art as a Family Affair

Artwork by members of 37 Cape Cod families is the subject of “Familial,” an exhibit currently on view in the Hope McClennen Gallery at the Cape Cod Museum of Art (60 Hope Lane, Dennis). Along with works from the museum’s permanent collection, the show includes gifts from Provincetown’s Berta Walker Gallery that allowed “a more complete picture of these creative families,” according to Museum Director Benton E. Jones in a statement accompanying the exhibition.

Twenty-two museum docents contributed research, exploring family ties among the artists represented. “There were a lot of relationships we were not entirely familiar with,” says docent Priscilla Hutchinson. Each docent who researched a particular family is identified in the wall text that accompanies the works on display.

Docent Shawn Dahlstrom, for example, researched the connections in the work of Ada Rayner and her husband, Henry Hensche. Hensche’s 1952 Portrait Study of Francis McWade demonstrates the hypnotic and vibrant use of color that became a signature of the style he taught at the Cape School of Art. The work is not quite as simple as it first appears. The patch of blue that McWade looks toward — representing either sky or water — shows up as reflected light on his shirt and nose. The sun is above and behind him. Squint your eyes, and beach grass emerges from a cool blue shadow. The portrait represents Hensche’s work at its best.

Rayner came to the U.S. from London in 1928 and became Hensche’s best student — and in 1936 his wife. She became well known for her garden and landscape paintings and floral portraits. In an untitled piece in the exhibition, Rayner shares Hensche’s focus on bright color and simple shapes. The triangle formed by the three figures points the viewer toward a child, arms open to the waterfront.

Docent Judy McElroy researched the artistic connections between husband and wife Lillia Frantin and Herb Edwards. Otoño, View of Pedernal, Frantin’s oil painting on canvas from 1995, is an exciting work of bright color and abstracted nature. There are no straight lines: Frantin’s thick slanted brushstrokes give the work a spirited sense of movement. Meanwhile, Edwards’s Cranberry Bog, Early Spring has a quieter energy and a more subdued subject: his view from a low vantage point in the landscape contrasts with Frantin’s perspective from above the lush hillside.

Dozens of other juxtapositions in the exhibition show similar relationships between works and even generational shifts in style within particular families. The exhibition is on view until April 14. See ccmoa.org for information. —Pat Kearns

The Musical World of James Bond

High-speed jet ski chases, exploding helicopters, Aston Martins, and martinis — shaken, not stirred — have all been part of the mystique of James Bond since the first movie (Dr. No) adapted from Ian Fleming’s novels was released in 1962. But the music from the two dozen films in the series since then has arguably been the most recognizable and enduring part of 007’s pop culture legacy over the past six decades.

This weekend, the Cape Symphony will celebrate the “music behind the legend” in a pair of concerts at the Barnstable Performing Arts Center (744 West Main St., Hyannis). “The James Bond Experience” will feature a program of 21 instrumental and vocal arrangements — beginning with Calvin Custer’s medley of iconic themes from James Bond films including For Your Eyes Only, Live and Let Die, and Goldfinger — that span the James Bond cinematic universe as well as songs from other films, such as Bernard Herrmann’s theme for Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, Henry Mancini’s theme for The Pink Panther, and Isaac Hayes’s theme for Shaft.

The two-hour program will be conducted by guest Gerald Steichen, and vocalists Hugh Panaro and Morgan James will perform songs made famous by artists including Shirley Bassey, Paul McCartney, Adele, and Billie Eilish.

The concerts are on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 25 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $16 to $72 at capesymphony.org. —John D’Addario

Joe Flood Does What He Was Put Here to Do

Growing up in a house with 10 older brothers and sisters who played music there were a lot of instruments around, Joe Flood says.

“Musician friends of mine say I should be grateful to my older siblings for being so cool,” he says. His family collected records, too. “I grew up listening to all kinds of music.” He mentions Elvis and Johnny Cash, Motown and folk, big-band jazz, swing jazz, and blues.

These days, Flood plays guitar, fiddle, and mandolin — along with banjo, steel guitar, and bass. He also sings. And he’s a prolific songwriter: he’s written five albums, with another that will be released this fall. Flood, who lives in Hamden, Conn., has traveled widely and has played music across Europe and North America. He says he was able to make a living as a musician in Europe because he understood the blues: a kind of universal musical language that transcends labels and definitions.

“I play American roots music,” he says. “I think of blues as the lingua franca of American music.”

After his son was born, Flood and his wife, a freelance illustrator, realized that one of them had to get a regular job. (“For health insurance, really,” says Flood.) In the past, he’s taught college-level French. “I’ve done all kinds of things over the last 29 years that have taken me away from music,” he says. He now teaches Spanish in a middle school in Guilford. But when he performs his music for an audience, he says, “that’s when I feel like I’m doing what I was put here to do.”

Flood will play selections from his original music, including songs from his new album, at Snow Library in Orleans (67 Main St.) on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 2 p.m. The concert is free. See snowlibrary.org for information. —Dorothea Samaha

Long Time Traveling Makes Its Way to Wellfleet

Jim Rohrer, Katie Hickey, and Alice Malone are the members of the musical trio Long Time Traveling, named after a 19th-century gospel song. They will perform at Wellfleet Public Library (55 West Main St.) on Saturday, Feb. 24, at 3 p.m.

Rohrer and Hickey explain that their genre is hard to define. “It’s traditional American music,” says Hickey. “Largely Appalachian-based, but not exclusively.” Adds Rohrer, “It’s got its roots in gospel, old-time string band music, country music, and bluegrass. And it’s very slightly Celtic.” Hickey and Rohrer share vocals in the trio, while Malone plays the fiddle. Rohrer also plays mandolin, guitar, and banjo — though “not all three at the same time,” he says.

“I’ve been playing traditional music and bluegrass my whole life,” says Rohrer. “To tell you the truth, traditional and bluegrass are the only kinds of music I know.”

Hickey also found herself drawn to traditional music at a young age. “There’s just something about it that feels very raw and human,” she says. “It often comes from anonymous people who were expressing the conditions of their own lives, especially when their lives were hard.”

While Rohrer and Hickey, who are married, have been performing together for decades, they joined forces with Malone — who they knew through fellow musicians — only in the past year. “When Alice joined us, it was like going from mono to stereo,” Rohrer says. “All of a sudden, there was this great depth to the music.”

At the library, Hickey says the trio will play “a bunch of old songs,” including traditional ballads, gospel songs, and songs written and originally performed by the Carter Family. “People have always told us our repertoire is very diverse,” Rohrer adds. “You can be diverse in your repertoire and still not lose touch with tradition.”

The concert is free. See wellfleetlibrary.org for information. —Eve Samaha