Special Exhibit: Dodge Macknight

Dodge Macknight: A Life in Color 

Nov 14 2025 - March 29 2026

Step into the colorful world of Dodge Macknight (1860–1950), the prominent artist who made Cape Cod his home. For more than half of his long life, Macknight lived in East Sandwich’s historic Spring Hill neighborhood, transforming a former Quaker boarding school into his beloved residence, The Hedges.

Postcard of ‘The Hedges,’ approximately 1920. Collection of the Sandwich Glass Museum and Historical Society

 
This exhibition presents a reappraisal of Macknight’s work and offers the most comprehensive look yet at his art, life, and legacy. Visitors will encounter rarely seen works—including four watercolors returning to Sandwich after more than a century, and five sketches from the New Bedford Free Public Library, on public display for the very first time. Archival photographs, personal objects, and materials documenting his career and community enrich the story, along with works from his Cape artistic circle of friends.

Garden at Sandwich, Massachusetts, undated, Portland Museum of Art, Maine. Gift of the Estate of Grace Nichols Strong 

A sense of place was integral to Macknight's life and art. Popular and successful in his day, his art endures with his intensely colored watercolors, displaying confident, fluid brushstrokes, for his vivid portrayal of nature. An accomplished horticulturist, Macknight created gardens that fed both the household and his art, providing another palette for creative expression that astounded guests to The Hedges. This landscape will be recreated through his art, archival photographs, and contemporary accounts. Gardening was only one of the passions he shared with his friend and patron, Isabella Stewart Gardner, one of the many Bostonians and others, including John Singer Sargent, who journeyed to East Sandwich for Macknight and his art. 

East Sandwich Marshes, before 1922, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Zoe Oliver Sherman Collection with the Glass Factory in the distant background 

Join us in rediscovering an artist whose life was full of color. And of the Cape of the first half of the 20th century, which served as Macknight’s important base and that he portrayed in his landscapes with saturated hues and luminosity.  

Portrait of Dodge Macknight by George E. Tingley, undated photograph but likely 1897-1898; Courtesy of the Mystic Museum of Art 

Exhibit Opening Event & Talk - Nov. 14th 5 pm

Join us on November 14th from 5 - 7 pm for a celebratory evening event in which we not only open the Dodge Macknight exhibition, we also unveil the Glassblowers Christmas trees in the Gift Shop! The event will feature a talk by Special Exhibition Curator Julia Blakely. Light refreshments will be served.

November 14th 5-7 pm

 

The Dodge Macknight exhibition is supported by a generous grant from the Fund for Sandwich - Cape Cod Foundation.

Winter Break Camps

February 18th & 19th 10:00 -12:30 PM

Spend the morning exploring the magic of glass! Campers will watch a live glassblowing demonstration, tour the museum with an interactive scavenger hunt, and create their own colorful glass pendant in a hands-on fusing class.

Register Here

Spring Break Camps 4/20 - 4/24

Spring into Art

4/20 10AM - 2PM

Campers will get to create three amazing projects including a garden inspired fused glass nightlight and a "stained glass" watercolor painting. 

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Nature and Art

4/21 10AM - 2PM

With the guidance of the teacher, campers will learn about the amazing connections between nature and art, creating three amazing projects, including a unique spiral mosaic piece.

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Spring Animals

4/22 10AM - 2PM

Learn about the amazing animals that call the Cape their home! Create three awesome art projects inspired the animals we learned about, including an adorable bunny drawing and a frog glass fused sun-catcher!

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Art in Bloom

4/23 10AM - 2PM

Campers will create three stunning projects inspired by the plants and animals of the season. Projects will include a unique bird mosaic and a beautiful wildflower painting.

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April Showers

4/24 10AM - 2PM

...bring May flowers! This Spring art camp takes inspiration from the rain (and beautiful rainbows) that happen during the season. Campers will create three projects, including a fun rainbow nightlight.

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