For all the sights and sounds that delight the eyes and ears of the Vineyard’s summer visitors, it is a rare event that brings pleasure to multiple senses simultaneously. But today, August 14, visitors to the beautiful gardens of the Decorator Show House in Edgartown will be pleased to hear the chirping of birds and smell the sweetness of the garden’s healthy blossoms as they stroll among the paintings, prints and sculptures of a great many Island artists.
An exhibition of Lisa Vanderhoop’s photography and giclée prints opens today at the Chilmark Sovereign Bank and continues through February.
The wildlife and nature images were shot on the Vineyard, Africa, the Galapagos and Costa Rica. Ms. Vanderhoop’s humorous Vineyard Sea Dog valentine cards also will be for sale.
Artists Traeger di Pietro and Adam Thompson are featured in the Dragonfly Gallery’s new Rising Stars show, which opens tonight and runs through July 12.
Adam Thompson, whose interest in painting began during summers spent with his family at their Trinity Park Camp Ground cottage, studied under the tutelage of artist Charles Danielson. Over the years, Mr. Thompson’s art has evolved from highly textured expressionist landscapes with bold colors and shapes, to a more stark, architectural and graphic style.
When the glossed ponies of The Flying Horses Carousel in Oak Bluffs halt their whirling prance, the expressions of the children mounted atop their wooden backs sour. The ride is over. But for Island artist Sandy Bernat, the slowing spin of the merry-go-round on a bright day earlier this summer marked her moment.
As the riders slid down the saddles, Ms. Bernat rushed into the ring to snap a photograph of the bridled horse heads, hooves and mystic aesthetic of America’s oldest operating carousel.
An artist since the 1950s, Jack Greene recently reached into his archives to retrieve a number of airbrush drawings and paintings he created 30 years ago, and will present a small revival of the retro-artistic style for an exhibition opening at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs this weekend.
Vineyarders and visitors have another chance for a last ride on the iconic and beloved MV Islander ferry boat, at the West Chop Club where photographer John Budris is showing some of his rare and favorite photographs of the vessel and her crew through July 29. The exhibition is open to the public. Mr. Budris will donate all proceeds from the exhibition to charities benefiting families of veterans wounded or killed in action and children with cancer.
With a quiet, unerring regularity, two groups of life drawing artists have congregated at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs each and every week for years, slowly improving their ability to conjure living, breathing images out of flat white paper.
The best work from members of both the Tom Maley and the Firehouse figure drawing groups will go on display this Sunday, May 31, in Faces and Figures, an exhibition at Featherstone’s Virginia Weston Gallery.
The opening reception is Sunday from 4 to 6 p.m. All are welcome.
Dragonfly Gallery’s Treasures to Preserve show, which runs through August 23, features artists Elizabeth Lockhart Taft and Ann Christensen. Their paintings reflect contemplation, intuition and analysis of landscapes, while each artist employs a different color palate and approach.
Refreshments will be served on Saturday and Sunday, August 15 and August 16.
John Holladay offers a wealth of art for the connoisseur. His Web site (Johnholladayart.com) brims with vivid watercolors, iconic posters, inviting paintings, stately lighthouses, as well as comfortable scenes like the Flying Horses, Alley’s store and the Camp Ground. His acrylics are bright and vivid. Way Too Much Stuff explores a Menemsha fishing scene, overburdened with gear.
Featherstone Center for the Arts will open a retrospective of Mr. Holladay’s work on Sunday, Feb. 8.
Forsythe Studio Gallery, a new modern art space in Edgartown, will open its doors for the first time on Friday, July 3 with an opening reception from 5 to 8 p.m.
Forsythe is located at 15 North Summer street, half a block off of Main street. Refreshments will be served.
Owner Ashley Bostrom, the gallery’s sole artist, both works and exhibits in the studio gallery. The broad range of her subject matter and media creates a combination of work that is innovative and engaging.
