Last year, on June 22, the artist Richard Lee died at the age of 79. Mr. Lee was beloved as an artist and as a friend. On Sunday, Sept. 15, from 4 to 6 p.m. there will be a retrospective of his work held at Featherstone Center for the Arts. The exhibit is guest curated by his wife Claudia Cannerdy and Hudson Lee.
Richard Lee was born in 1933 on a farm in Pullman, Wash. He moved east for college and first entered the world of the arts through dance.
Crisscrossing the country from California to Hawaii to Alaska and back again to the East Coast, he worked at a variety of jobs and eventually found his way to a particular type of art, reverse paintings on glass. Galleries from Beverly Hills to Paris showed his work. In the mid-1970s he discovered the Vineyard and throughout the next several decades his work was presented at galleries all over the Island. For a brief time he owned the Dessert Gallerie and Restaurant in West Tisbury. He also made masks and during a certain era most Islanders seemed to be wearing one or hanging them at their places of business, from Shirley’s Hardware to CB Stark Jewelers.
In the words of Susan Klein and Hudson Lee, spoken at his funeral, “His art, which is now included in many private and public collections, is indistinguishable from the man. He was magic spun from gossamer and sinew.”
The Richard Lee exhibit will run through Oct. 6. Call 508-693-1850 or visit featherstoneart.org.
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