With Christmas less than a month away, art galleries on Martha’s Vineyard are showing their most gift-worthy wares, sized and priced for holiday shoppers. Two current group shows, with another opening on Dec. 13, bring together Island artists and artisans working in dozens of media, from the traditional studio disciplines to jewelry, needlework, ceramics, glass, wood, paper and more.
At the Featherstone Holiday Gift Show, daily from noon to 4 p.m. through Dec. 14 at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs, prices start as low as $4 — for Julie Prazich’s small and colorful glass pocket charms — and range into the thousands for larger works of painting and photography.
A number of established Island artists, including painters Deborah T. Colter, Wendy Weldon, Marston Clough and John Holladay, are showing smaller works for gift-giving, priced from $50 to $300. In a similar spirit, metal sculptor Steve Lohman has assorted tabletop “wire sketches” for $250.
Among the smaller paintings, both Mr. Holladay and Sheila Fane pay tribute to Steamship Authority vessels. Ms. Fane’s mixed-media ferry portraits are made with actual paper tickets from the SSA, while Mr. Holladay’s arriving-Islander paintings are a series of small celebrations, no two quite alike.
Island photographers in the show are also making their work available in multiple sizes, including on coasters with images of Island landscapes, birds, town signs and the like. Many other artists have added smaller items, such as greeting cards and ornaments, to their customary offerings.
Seaweed artist Kathy Poehler is showing her fine art collages alongside ornaments made from other treasures she finds along the shore. With a touch of gold or silver paint and a loop of ribbon, the oyster shells, small horseshoe crabs, skate egg cases and fragments of driftwood take on a festive appearance while retaining their essential wildness.
Apparel joins the fine arts and crafts at Featherstone’s holiday show, with fleece mittens, mufflers and warmly whimsical hats by Elizabeth Edge Designs of Edgartown. And if someone on your gift list deserves the royal treatment, Rona Newmark has knitted some lacy crowns of plated wires that will never weigh heavily on the heads of those who wear them.
For dogs and their walkers, Paige Guizzardi’s brightly-patterned collars and leashes come with a 100 per cent donation to Featherstone.
There’s even gift-wrapping paper, designed by Charlotte Hall, available in patterns of Island lighthouses, Vineyard outlines, waves interspersed with the six towns’ zip codes, and a medley of town and place names.
At Louisa Gould Gallery in Vineyard Haven through Dec. 20, the annual Small Wonders show is another place to find petite works by Ms. Colter and Mr. Holladay, including his friendly white whale, and the Islander series.
Other gift-sized pieces include Island scenes in oil by Donna Blackburn, mixed-media abstracts by Bricque Garber, Sally Martone’s wintry chickadees in oil on gold foil and mixed-media Vineyard landscapes by Christie Scheele. The Carnegie in Edgartown opens its second annual Gifts of Art show with a reception Dec. 12 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., showing small works by Kate Taylor, Margot Datz, Elizabeth Whelan, Jeanne Staples, Anna Lowell Finnerty, Julianna Healy, Colin Ruel, Mr. Clough and Ms. Weldon. The exhibition remains on display through Christmas Eve, daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the exception of Dec. 16, 17 and 18, when the Carnegie is closed.
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