If the manufacture of oil paints were to stop, how could an artist continue to paint? This was the conundrum that Island artistic couple Kenneth Pillsworth and Jhenn Watts faced back in 2008.
For Ms. Watts, an announcement that Polaroid would discontinue its film led to a panic about how she could maintain her photographic style. For Mr. Pillsworth, a global shortage in niobium metal had him scanning the periodic table to find a material suitable for his signature jewelry.
Fifteen years later, things have settled down for the couple, each adjusting to new artistic mediums — for Ms. Watts, Velvia then Provia Fujifilm, and for Mr. Pillsworth, titanium.
On Saturday the artists will show their work, which has continued to evolve, at the first artist reception of the season for the Field Gallery in West Tisbury. The reception takes place from 4 to 6 p.m. on July 1, with painter Rachael Cassiani also displaying her work.
Ms. Watts is doing double duty, appearing in the show as an artist, and also curating it in her role as director of the Field Gallery.
“This is a huge departure for Kenny to go from wearable to hangable,” said Ms. Watts of her husband’s new work, a series of “heat paintings” made with titanium plates, a propane torch and a grinder.
For Mr. Pillsworth the departure from his jewelry work is not exactly a surprise.
“I used to paint way back when, and I always wanted to do that again,” he said. “This is kind of a happy medium between painting and metal work.”
Mr. Pillsworth shifted to jewelry after studying painting in college. He moved to the Island in 1990 — the same year as Ms. Watts, though both were dating different people). In 1995, he became one of the founding vendors at the Vineyard Artisans Festival, where he continues to show.
It was at the festival where the two of them met, said Ms. Watts.
“He would bring me coffee and cantaloupe as we were setting up,” she said of the courtship.
While Mr. Pillsworth focused on metal, Ms. Watts was developing her photographic style, she said, using a large format, monorail camera.
“I shoot full sun, in the middle of the day, against all the rules,” she said, of her approach to capturing true-to-life Vineyard scenes.
Though both artists had to deal with a forced medium change in 2008, the pandemic lockdown brought about another major creative breakthrough.
For Mr. Pillsworth, inspiration struck in the form of a YouTube video, watching another artist use a torch to discolor copper. That artist mentioned, offhand, that the technique could also be done with titanium, and a light went off in Mr. Pillsworth’s head.
The technique is not easy, he said, and “once the torch starts going, it’s over in a matter of seconds.”
When the hot flame of burning propane touches metal, it quickly moves through a spectrum, yellow to orange to purple to dark blue to light blue, then back to yellow. In combination with the torch, Mr. Pillsworth uses a grinder to lend texture to the scene, and to expose the silvery sheen of bare titanium as another addition to the color palate.
Ms. Watts, meanwhile, took inspiration from her husband during the pandemic, filming his jewelry-making process.
“I had always been a solitary photographer, without anybody near me, in the zone, but I think that’s changed now,” she said.
Turning to Mr. Pillsworth, she continued: “I do take your advice now. I don’t always follow it, but I do take it.”
The two have also begun to collaborate on jewelry pieces since then, attending gem shows together to jointly pick out stones.
And Mr. Pillsworth’s work contains inspiration from his wife’s photography. He often helps to carry and set up heavy camera equipment for her shoots, glimpsing waterfront scenes across the Island. Many of those have been the basis of his titanium “paintings.”
“Now, looking at sunsets is a totally different thing for me,” he said, of how the technique has changed his perspective. “I’m always looking at the ocean, and the reflection, and everything all around it.”
The premiere on July 1 will kick off a busy summer season for the Field Gallery, with other artists working in diverse mediums premiering over the coming months. On July 15 works from music photographer Jim Marshall will hang with paintings by Max Decker. On July 29, the work of Jennifer Christy, Susie White and Jennifer Brown will be featured.
Artist premieres will continue through September. A full list of events can be found at fieldgallery.com.
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