Come August, all eyes will be on the blue ribbon winners for best beach plum jam, most beautiful zinnias, best looking goat and tastiest coffee cake. But the excitement begins much earlier with the annual unveiling of the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society Livestock Show and Fair poster.
The wait is over to get a peek at the 2015 poster, which was revealed this week. The poster for the 154th annual fair is a mixed-media collage depicting a rooster created by Kathy Maghini of Bristol, Conn.
Ms. Maghini has been coming to the Vineyard for about 15 to 20 years, she told the Gazette Wednesday. One of her best friends, Traci Cavanaugh, owns a home in Vineyard Haven. “So we go up quite a bit all different times of the year to have girls’ weekends,” she said. Some trips have included the fair.
Ms. Maghini is a special education teacher and a mixed-media artist, and she also teaches art classes in an afterschool program. Ms. Cavanaugh, who has a collection of fair posters, has been encouraging her to enter the contest for some time. “I kept saying ‘I’m going to, I’m going to,’” Ms. Maghini said. “I finally, this year, said ‘you know what, I’m going to do it.’ So I was thrilled when they called me and told me I won.”
“I’ve always had an affinity for roosters,” Ms. Maghini said. “I just think they are kind of a cool thing to paint. I have liked Picasso’s rooster and taught that in some of my art classes.”
“I was worried that it wouldn’t be picked because I know they’ve had rooster posters before,” she added. But “I just kept going with it.”
The rooster was created with painted papers, some with textures created by bubble wrap and carpet samples that were painted and pressed on the paper. She also used texts torn from magazines and catalogues. “There are a bunch of different things in it,” she said. The end result was a hit. “My family said even if it doesn’t win, they would like a copy of it.”
But the agricultural society was equally pleased. The theme for this year, in keeping with the poster, is Rise and Shine.
“First time out and I won,” Ms. Maghini said. She will attend this year’s fair, which takes place August 20 through August 23, and will be available to sign posters. “I look forward to seeing it all in print and on tote bags,” she said. “It’s a very cool thing.”
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