When Art, Whimsy and Mentorship Bloom

Artist Tom Maley first visited the Vineyard in 1946 with his wife, Helen. His exhibits, paintings and sculptures made from cobbled-together materials brought him recognition long before he built the Field Gallery in 1971.

Constructing the gallery behind his family’s West Tisbury residence took two summers and relied on family and friends for labor. It has been a home for Mr. Maley’s larger-than-life, dancing nudes ever since.

This week the Martha’s Vineyard museum highlights his legacy with an exhibit entitled Tom Maley: Dancing in the Field. There will be an opening reception on Friday, March 6, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

The exhibit showcases 22 of Mr. Maley’s drawings, paintings, sculptures and prints and is accompanied by oral histories collected from his family and friends. The museum hopes to document his impact on the Vineyard community beyond the Field Gallery, as well as convey the sense of whimsy, joy and inclusion in his art.

“He was so beloved, and this is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Bonnie Stacy, the chief curator at the museum. “He really pulled together the art community here, and it continued on.”

Visitors will recognize smaller versions of the dancing nudes of the Field Gallery which flank the exhibit. There is also a section on the artist’s mythological works of Venus and Adonis, Brunhilde, Dido, and a resin sculpture of Icarus soaring above the paintings.

“People who are familiar with the gallery and pose for pictures, striking poses themselves, they think of [Tom Maley] as the sculptor of the figures in the field,” said Eileen Maley, Tom Maley’s daughter-in-law. “He was so much more varied, he did everything in the art world.”

Ms. Maley is married to Tim Maley and their home is filled with a collection of Mr. Maley’s work.

“His process was just ‘oh, I’ll try that,’ and he would,” said Tim Maley. “He always wanted to be a painter, and he continued to be. He was self taught on the piano and flute, and he just had a very capturing personality of what was going around him.”

One wall of the exhibit is devoted to sketches from Mr. Maley’s life drawing sessions, a group that Tom and his wife Helen led each winter for 30 years in their living room.

Ms. Stacey said these sessions, along with his outdoor gallery, helped inspire the next generation of Vineyard artists. Allen Whiting, Ruth Kirchmeier and Hermine Hull all attended the drawing group, and are represented in the oral histories explaining how Mr. Maley encouraged them as artists early in their careers.

“Everyone who described Tom said he was very serious about his work, but it was always paired with a sense of whimsy,” said Indaia Whitcombe, the oral history curator at the museum.

In the museum exhibit there is a quote by artist Allen Whiting echoing this idea: “He took whimsy seriously," the quote from Mr. Whiting reads.

Even during bouts of illness, Mr. Maley never stopped creating. A colorful collage of fish, bread, produce and a knife will be part of the exhibit, produced during a stretch of sciatic nerve inflammation that left him bed-ridden for months in 1987.

When Mr. Maley died in August 2000, Islanders gathered at a memorial service at the Field Gallery to share stories while standing beside his dancing white figures. His work is showcased not only on the Island, but also across the country and in Europe.

The most important thing for Tom was that art was accessible, said Ms. Whitcombe. She recalled visiting the Field Gallery growing up, playing on the lawn and attending each Sunday exhibit opening.

“The overwhelming sentiment is that Tom really offered this sense that art is for everyone to share, to partake in, from artists, to fishermen, to teachers,” she said.

Behind Tom was his wife Helen, supporting her husband and crafting her own long-lasting impact on early child education on the Island.

“Tom gets all the attention, but Helen was really a towering figure in her own right,” said Ms. Whitcombe.

The works were donated by the Mr. Maley’s daughter, Sandra Caruso, who also created a documentary that will be playing in a separate room. Ms. Caruso is featured in the center of the exhibit, a portrait of her as a young teenager.

After the exhibit closes in September, the artwork will be stored by the museum, to be brought out in the future to accompany and illuminate other relevant exhibitions.

“There’s a sense of permanency that doesn’t happen to every artist out there,” said Eileen Maley. “I think it’s wonderful that his work is in the museum.”

Tom Maley: Dancing in the Field begins this weekend, with a opening reception to be held on Friday, March 6, in the museum’s pavilion from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

This article appears in March 6, 2026.