Some artists set up an easel by the sea. Painter Mitch Gordon put his on the flying bridge of a Black Watch sport fishing boat in Menemsha, gaining an elevated perspective of land and water alike.
Mr. Gordon now has brought his artwork ashore, quietly opening Turpentine Gallery in West Tisbury after years of painting in his spare time while working day jobs on the Island.
“I’m getting back to my heart and soul,” Mr. Gordon told the Gazette as he prepared for the July 15 grand opening reception at the gallery, which displays his paintings on the walls — inside and out. Island sculptor Steve Lohman’s works in metal are also on display on the property’s wide, deep back yard.
Painted from Mr. Gordon’s maritime perch aboard the Black Watch — which later went down in a storm, he said — two expansive oils, one of the Vineyard and one of the Elizabeth Islands, flank visitors in the gallery’s first floor.
Standing in the center of the room puts the viewer in the middle of Vineyard Sound, said Mr. Gordon, who plays recordings of wave sounds and Tibetan singing bowls to enhance a sensation of floating gently between the two shores.
A view of the Gay Head Cliffs, foregrounded by a sea of burnished gold, and a series of highly magnified seashells are among his other oils in the current show, which is titled Boundless.
A craftsman as well as a painter, Mr. Gordon has created works as varied as a folding screen with canvas panels stretched on tree limbs and a pair of outdoor installations that draw from his interest in Asian art and landscaping. A small moon bridge spans a trickle of water, and another water feature combines bamboo, plants, Island shells and stones and a wampum-colored enamel piece.
The two installations usher in an atmosphere of tranquility, just steps from busy State Road, and invite visitors to venture further onto the shaded lawn where Mr. Lohman’s whimsical metal figures perch and frolic.
Up the wooden stairs to the gallery’s second-floor loft, yet another side of Mr. Gordon’s creativity emerges in colorful abstracts and florals in oil.
“It’s a whole different show upstairs,” he said, gesturing to a densely-painted piece titled Bosons and the Hypno-Toad.
There’s also an upstairs sleeping nook where, he said, he’d like to put up visiting artists while displaying their work for Island audiences.
Mr. Gordon has posted a call for artists on his website, turpentinegallery.art.
Turpentine Gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 554 State Road in West Tisbury.
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