Up the stairs, on the second floor of Ruth Kirchmeier’s house, is her art studio. It is cluttered with little tins full of colored pencils and cups holding different carving tools. There are posters and maps rolled up in the corner. Her woodcuts, which she has been doing for 50 years, are stored on shelves along the wall. Several desk lamps are scattered about, adding to the natural light that pours in from the skylight above. The room feels light and airy in July, but it’s easy to imagine how cozy it must be in the winter. 

 

Life Magazine photographer Gordon Parks gave a talk at the Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs on Wednesday night. For the Vineyard it was  a first. The 79-year-old black artist not only in photography but in the fields of prose, poetry, movies and music stood before an audience of 150 people and said that he is creatively stronger than ever.

 

At every opportunity, the audience applauded. Included in a program of slides were not only photographs that are known around the world but images from his latest efforts, which will be published soon in a book.

 

There is no end to Lois Mailou Jones’ creative resources.

 

The name itself is poetry. A youthful, energetic 72, Lois Jones is the veteran of a long and fruitful career in the arts. Being black and a woman, her accomplishment is especially significant.

 

As early as age 14, composer Harry T. Burleigh had advised Lois that if she wished to establish a serious career, she would have to go abroad in order to get full exposer and avoid the disadvantage of being black in the United States.

 

He was walking along the state road with his wife up in West Tisbury. He carried a suitcase, and, although he did not actually wiggle his thumb, he looked hopefully back at the car.

 

His name is Manuel Tolegian of New York city, artist and former student of Thomas H. Benton, summer resident of Chilmark. When he was picked up by the Gazette reporter, he looked slightly warm but grateful, animated and eager. He has a thin, aesthetic face and long, slender hands.

 

Bach, Beethoven, and Schubert - nothing heavy but on the classical side - and Thomas Hart Benton, painter, and author, plays them all on his harmonica. He’s got a special scheme, which he himself devised, for transposing the music into a complicated harmonica score.