Last year the North Water Gallery in Edgartown held a plein air event that included several of their artists taking to the streets of Edgartown during a weeklong period and producing works of art to be sold at the end of the week. Art lovers enjoyed the event so much that this year it has been expanded to include the Christina Gallery and Piknik Art and Apparel, both also located in Edgartown.
The Gay Head Gallery is nestled amid a stand of scrub oak along State Road in Aquinnah. An electric vehicle charges in the driveway and inside the cozy home/gallery artwork hangs on every wall. The art depicts scenes from around the Island — a thunderstorm rolls in over the south shore, a stiff wind blows through a green pasture. But the art, while beautiful, doesn’t just please the eye. The current show is called Changing Coastlines, and the art details the way that erosion is shaping, re-shaping and, in some cases, destroying the Martha’s Vineyard coastline.
Julian Wise sits examining a series of photographs in his new store Island Images located in Oak Bluffs.
“Out of all of them, these four are good enough,” he says. “I could use them professionally in the gallery.”
The pair of photographers nod as Mr. Wise explains to them what works about their pictures. He encourages the artists to go with their gut, bring in a few more photographs and he will sell the work in the gallery.
Sabine and Simone Geary, aged 15 and 13 respectively, gather their portfolios and head out.
Kate Feiffer has made a name for herself writing children’s books and even transforming one of her books, My Mom Is Trying to Ruin My Life, into a play that ran off-Broadway this winter. The daughter of famed illustrator Jules Feiffer, she has not nudged up against his domain. Until now, that is.
On Saturday, August 17, Ms. Feiffer unveils her own talent with illustrations at the Vineyard Playhouse gallery located at 24 Church street in Vineyard Haven. The opening reception is from 4 to 8 p.m. and the exhibit will continue through August 29.
Curators and the simply curious will enjoy the annual Arts District Stroll in Oak Bluffs tomorrow, August 10, from 4 to 7 p.m. All along Dukes County avenue, galleries will open their doors to visitors and offer a look at new work while providing refreshments and entertainment. Each gallery will serve up its own welcome.
Vineyard Gardens continues its tradition of merging the beauty of nature with artistic merit. Each Friday evening from 5 to 8 p.m. the nursery hosts a Gallery in the Gardens event, featuring a new artist each week.
Tonight, August 2, Valentine Estabrook shares the spotlight with the foliage. There will be champagne, too.
Artist Josh Yates has spent decades painting on Martha’s Vineyard and he brings fresh offerings with his exhibit titled Off Season Work. A reception to kick off the exhibit is from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday, July 26 at Gallery 13b, Beach Road Extension at 5 Corners in Vineyard Haven. His seascapes and landscapes are created in oil, charcoal, pastel and watercolor.
If you stand in the A Gallery this week, you may notice that you are being watched. Eyes seem to pierce through the glass frames of 30 black and white photographs on the charcoal-colored walls of the newly-opened gallery on Uncas avenue in Oak Bluffs. The eyes follow you as you walk around the room. It’s a signature of the photography of Mariana Cook’s, whose show Justice opens this weekend.
Artist Tom Smith is almost breathless when he talks about his work.
“I love the line between what is formal, designed, almost constricted — and what is natural and rank,” he said. “I love the border between the cultivated and the wild.”
Gay Head Gallery is currently featuring watercolor landscapes by local artist John Nickerson Athearn. Mr. Athearn is a self-taught artist who inherited much of his inspiration from his grandfather, George Brehm, a painter and illustrator who worked with Norman Rockwell.
