Over 60 artists hung their paintings, photographs, illustrations, collages and mixed-media along the metal fence encircling the Tabernacle for the 61st annual All-Island Art Show on Monday. On the other side of the foot-path, many artists displayed an additional portfolio of their work for those who were hooked by the exhibits and wished to see more.
The All Island Art Show is a longstanding tradition on Martha’s Vineyard with roots that stretch back to 1956. The only qualification to enter is that the artist, or the art, has some connection to the Island.
“The show is designed to provide a venue for artists not showing in galleries,” said committee chairman Bob Schaefer. “We aim to provide a venue for amateur and emerging artists.”
He continued: “There are a lot of professional artists on the Island and many got their start here.”
Kathy Poehler is one of those artists.
Ms. Poehler is a local artist who uses different types and colors of seaweed to create collages of animals, plants, mythical figures, landscapes and abstract designs. She collects all the seaweed herself in various Island waters. As seaweed has its own natural adhesive, it is the only component to her artwork besides the paper it is dried on.
“I like to think of seaweed as a medium as well as beautiful specimens to be mounted on paper as they occur in nature,” she wrote in her portfolio display. “Different types of seaweed lend themselves to different types of art and expression.”
Ms. Poehler has displayed her work at the All Island Art Show for the last eight years and won the award for best collage last year. Since her first year participating in the show she has opened her own gallery, Ebb and Flow, in Vineyard Haven.
Other artists, such as Jana Konatar Rahovic, were introducing themselves to the Island’s art community this year. Ms. Rahovic uses eggshells, dyed with different types of vegetables or cloth, to create detailed mosaic landscapes of her two homes, one on Martha’s Vineyard, the other in Montenegro.
Ms. Rahovic was recently engaged on Martha’s Vineyard and is currently on her honeymoon. She has an emotional connection to the Island, she said, and hopes to express her appreciation through her display at the show this year and in years to come.
As the revolving procession of onlookers continued, winners of the show were announced based on the review of 11 teams of judges. In a show that champions artists both old and new, the Best of Show award this year went to Jordan Burnham for his oil-painting, Gift.
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