In person, Marianne Goldberg is evocative of the ocean that inspires her. From the soft waves of her hair and the deep turquoise shades of her flowing garments, to the translucent sea green frames of her eyeglasses, she seems perfectly at home in her secluded Chilmark home overlooking the water of the south shore. Even the stones set in her silver rings look as if they could have been treasures dug up from the sand.
“The Island has always been a place of focus and clarity for me, at any point where I needed to make an important decision in my life,” said the lifelong artist and scholar in her home studio this week. “It’s the connections with the ocean here, in particular, that are so alive and vibrant for me.”
For many years she envisioned a place where people could come together over a shared sense of creativity and community, to nurture the seeds of the artistic process. The concept has been in the works for some 25 years, she said, but came to fruition only last year, as Pathways Projects Institutes. At first, she imagined the project wherever she was living. But in time, the Vineyard became its clear destination.
“The desire to form a project that would facilitate the arts and the creative aspect of things happening comes from being a choreographer, a writer and a visual artist. All of those, and wanting to be able to bring the different art forms together so that people can collaborate on projects across art forms,” she said. “Pathways is also connected to nature and the environment . . . I find that the ocean here in Chilmark in particular is just so helpful in generating that kind of creativity.”
And so the project was launched late last year inside the Chilmark Tavern, which stands empty in the off-season. The space is set up to accommodate the eight art forms that Ms. Goldberg thinks are most relevant to Island artists, including visual arts, music composition and lyrics, landscape architecture, and stage direction.
“I try to delineate different areas of arts for the Vineyard, if people are working in these different areas. Then, if they wanted to work with another artist, we could support that happening. For example, if a visual artist was a poet, or a musician with a landscape artist,” she said.
On Valentine’s Day, a poetry reading, open to poets of all ages and experience filled the Pathways gathering space with performers and spectators. Some 25 people sat at tables in a loose semi-circle, with a few stragglers in the back, to listen to poems ranging from clever ballads to a tirade toward the ocean, to a vicious reflection on a failed relationship.
One goal was to experience the old as something new, old themes or poems read in a new light, said event leader and West Tisbury poet laureate Fan Ogilvie. People were encouraged to bring a poem to read, although it was not required that performers write their own work. Ms. Ogilvie read selections from Rumi, Emily Dickinson and James Wright.
“I was surprised by how much each poem had a sense of clarity,” said Ms. Goldberg after the event. “And the courage to get up and read! I think each person was really involved with each poem presented.”
One person in the circle remarked on the power of a poem read aloud: “I’d read it but hadn’t heard it read, it’s different,” she said. “The spider bite [part of the imagery of the poem] didn’t mean anything reading it, but hearing it . . .”
Reflecting later on the event, Ms. Goldberg too spoke to the sense of discovery that marked the event. “It actually was quite surprisingly emotional for people. But at the same time, the reading of the new pieces seemed to be really meaningful to the person reading them and everybody listening. And for the entire period of time, almost two hours, there was clarity and focus in the room,” she said. “Everybody was just riveted on whoever was reading.”
Two more poetry readings are tentatively planned for March 14 and April 10 at the Chilmark Tavern, but poetry is just one of the many art forms embraced in the Pathways mission. Last week began a series of life-drawing classes, led by Island artist Greg Watson.
“I hope to encourage people . . . by helping them build their understanding of the human form and build their confidence,” said Mr. Watson, who also teaches at Featherstone Center for the Arts. He said he hopes the Pathways classes will open up the form to less experienced artists.
“I think [people] may be a little intimidated with drawing a nude. There’s just so much to know about doing it,” he said. “I’m going to treat it as if it were geared towards beginners. I want to start with the basics of proportion, and I want to cover some . . . basic anatomy, gestural drawing, shading techniques. Stuff like that I think is pretty crucial.” The series is held on Thursday nights from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
Though Pathways launched slightly behind schedule, the off-season was always an important part of the plan in bringing artists together in a sustained way. “I think in the winter on the Vineyard it’s particularly a really rich time for in-depth creativity because we’re not so focused every second on what’s coming to us from seasonal activities,” said Ms. Goldberg.
Another upcoming winter project, a collaborative effort between Pathways and Vineyard Voice offers a videography fellowship to new or experienced filmmakers. Two individuals or teams, led by instructor and videographer Patrick Phillips, will develop short films related to coastal change over a period of two months. One film will be an artistic rendering of the subject, the other a documentary.
Ms. Golberg said the project will touch on the sense of loss that comes from the constantly changing landscape, but also will focus on the artistic splendor. “It’s just extremely beautiful to see all the changes that are happening,” she said.
Even as new projects continuously emerge at Pathways, Ms. Goldberg is developing new ideas for nurturing relationships among Island artists. These include an art bar for video screenings of various works of art, a writing room that creates a soothing environment for composition, and a roving program schedule for the coming summer, when Pathways will leave its current location to make way for the reopening of the Tavern.
“I feel it’s so important for me to listen and learn about all different artists’ groups on the Island, from traditional whittling, knitting . . . to abstract art, which many people say doesn’t live or thrive on the Vineyard,” Ms. Goldberg said. “I’m most interested in innovation in the arts. The very beginnings of projects that usually aren’t supported. What I’m really interested in, because of coming to it as an artist, is the actual act of creativity, so that there’s time and focus for each artist to be able to explore the very beginnings of a new idea.”
Gazette winter intern Jonah Lipsky contributed to this story. For more information about the Pathways program, call 508-645-9400.
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