The Cook Foundation is pleased to announce the opening of the Fine Arts Museum of Gloucester on June 13, 2023, and the acquisition of more than 300 works and artifacts by Kacey Carneal (1935-2022), a self-taught naïve folk artist who painted at her home in Gloucester every day for nearly fifty years. We would like to extend our deepest thanks to Kacey’s daughters, Vicki Henderson and Susie Mains, for their collaboration and generosity.

The opening exhibit is a Carneal retrospective entitled “Back Home” featuring 90 works spanning the 1970s through 2020, with Carneal’s last completed work “They have suffered a great something and yet stood proud.” (2020)

The acquisition of her œuvre includes oil on wood and canvas. Her folk-art style is characterized by her painting of the frames as extensions of the works themselves. Also, included in the acquisition are artifacts and objets d'art the artist painted. Carneal’s works are documented in the American Folk Art Museum and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, has a personal record of Carneal in its archives.