Sail Martha’s Vineyard is presenting an exhibit and sale of maritime art, jewelry, crafts and note cards by several Island artists and photographers. The exhibit opens with an artists’ reception from 4 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10, at the office of Sail MV located at 110 Main street in Vineyard Haven and transformed for the holidays into an art gallery,
The hours of the show are from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily throughout Dec. 23. A portion of proceeds from any sales benefits Sail MV’s free sailing programs for Island kids.
The sight of an old barn, a beacon of red in the midst of a green and yellow field, not unlike that of a lighthouse, often brings up visions of the past, and a more idyllic time when cows owned the earth and people, well, just milked them.
Artist Richard Dunbrack sees furniture.
Using recycled materials from old barns and antique oddities that have fallen from grace (he does not pillage), Mr. Dunbrack fashions whimsical yet functional furniture. Art you can take a nap in, if you will.
Next week’s spotlight shows at the Shaw Cramer Gallery include woodcut paintings by Ruth Kirchmeier and multi-layered acrylic on canvas paintings of barns and stone walls by Wendy Weldon.
On Tuesday, August 30, at 6 p.m. Ms. Kirchmeier will discuss the intricacies of woodcut carving, painting and printing. On Thursday, September 30, Ms. Weldon will share her inspirations and thoughts about exploring new concepts and techniques in painting. Her paintings originate as handcarved woodblocks.
There is art being made on Martha’s Vineyard Island. Or to be more precise, there is a lot of wonderful art being made here. And while there are numerous galleries to visit, and some days an Islandwide gallery crawl is the perfect vacation experience, other times you just want everyone to come to you.
Island painter Traeger di Pietro is the featured artist this week at Dragonfly Fine Arts Gallery in Oak Bluffs. A reception will be held for him at the gallery on Saturday, Sept. 10, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Mr. di Pietro’s work focuses on landscapes, seascapes and figurative imagery depicting the Island and its working fishermen. This year three off-Island galleries have also begun to show his work.
It’s summertime and Martha’s Vineyard looks like one big landscape oil painting. Simply perfect and bursting with both subtle shades and vibrant colors. Shame the Island is too big to pop in the trunk of the car and take home to remember such perfection all winter long. We have tried, but no go, even with one of those clamshells on the roof-rack. Chappy keeps blowing off midway home and ending up in the tall weeds somewhere off 95.
Even for an established weaver with 45 years of experience, it seems the essence of tapestry art is best explained by the reaction of an outsider to the art. While at a tapestry show in Philadelphia, Julia Mitchell witnessed the raw and pure reaction to her craft. A man passing by stopped in front of one of her woven linen tapestries and gawked momentarily before approaching the piece. Then he took the cloth in his hands, thrust it to his nose and sniffed deeply.
Featherstone Center for the Arts has attracted an especially random group of Island artists for its new show, The Art of Personal Altars. This is not the usual show of landscape painters or photographers, sculptors or fabric artists — no such mundane grouping applies here. These personal altars cross all categories of the visual arts. Ann Smith, executive director at Featherstone, hopes this will be a new way for artists to express themselves. “We’ve had an incredible response,” she said.
Don’t forget about Vineyard Haven. The town, hit by the one-two punch of the July 4, 2008 fire that destroyed Café Moxie and severely damaged the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, and the recession, has struggled to match the crowded, bustling streets of Edgartown and Oak Bluffs.
Tonight, July 15, from 5 to 8 p.m. local business leaders hope to turn things around with an event billed as an art stroll but that in fact includes a variety of businesses along Main street.
