Gould Goes Abstract

August is the month of abstract at the Louisa Gould Gallery in Vineyard Haven. The new art show, which opened this week, features the abstract imaginings of six artists as they interpret The Emotions of Color and Passions of Gesture. The artists include Wendy Weldon, Marsha Staiger, Joan Konkel, Laura Roosevelt, Roberta Gross and Craig Cahoon. The show continues through August 29.

Pottery, Soup and Music

This weekend Feathersone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs is holding its third annual Potters Bowl with guest curator Washington Ledesma.

The idea behind the event is both basic and beautiful. Visitors to the show are asked to buy a ceramic bowl for $25 and then they get a free bowl of soup plus a roll, drink and dessert. Talk about art literally satisyfing an inner hunger.

This weekend, the A Gallery in Vineyard Haven introduces a pair of contemporary Island painters, Lily Morris and Billy Hoff, in new show featuring their recent work. Ms. Morris’ partly blurred but vibrant paintings depict dreamlike moments of transformation. Mr. Hoff’s landscapes and figurative paintings are inspired by illustrators like N. C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle, and combine large brushstrokes with intensity of color and emotion.

When Tanya Augoustinos and Maria Westby opened A Gallery in July, they set out to bring contemporary art to the Vineyard. This goal was evident last Sunday at an opening for Cindy Kane’s show Inheritance, her first on the Island since 2008. Ms. Kane’s work is provocative, yet unobtrusive. She creates visually-pleasing assemblages that subtly carry a political undertone, a quality that separates her from more traditional Vineyard artists.

When eating out, diners typically only have to choose the food that goes on their plate, not the plate itself.

Not so at the Potters’ Bowl, the annual Featherstone fundraising event held last Sunday evening. Now in its third summer, the Bowl is based on a simple concept: buy a unique, locally crafted bowl (or two), and get free soup. All proceeds in turn go to support Featherstone’s clay studio.

“People were lined up at a quarter to four,” committee chair Debbie Hale said. “We’re bringing out every bowl.”

The paintings of Anne Martin will be on display at the West Tisbury Library for the month of September.

Two robins perch together on a dogwood branch, chests nearly touching. They appear to be conversing — one’s beak is cocked open, while the other looks on, comprehending, engaged. Situated slightly off center of the painting, the birds are framed by an abundance of delicate pink dogwood flowers, some just budding, others in full bloom.

Some people can do everything. Case in point, artist Elizabeth Langer not only creates magnificent artwork, she was also a successful lawyer working for the U.S. Depatment of Justice in Washington, DC and later in private practice.

But all that legal eagle stuff is behind her now, the creative lure so much more sharp and potent than the scales of law. Good for her. After all, the world is full of lawyers, some are even nice people, but an artist’s work is always a solo show.

At the open air market in Oak Bluffs last Sunday, Billy O’Callaghan sat in a lawn chair at the back of his tent crafting a small gray whale out of clay. A woman moseyed into his tent and examined the small clay figurines and the charming driftwood furniture. “These are fantastic,” she exclaimed. “Just beautiful.” The artist, an Irishman with graying hair and kind blue eyes, nodded in appreciation. A construction worker by trade, Mr. O’Callaghan has lived on the Island for 26 years.

In London, the Olympians are battling it out in feats of strength and endurance. Here on the Vineyard, we have our own contest coming up, no less feverish in its pursuit of glory, ribbons to the victors, too, but with the scales tilted to right brain activities rather than speed and brawn. Welcome once again to the All-Island Art Show.