In rooms filled with his colorful, fantastical artwork, friends and admirers gathered Sunday to tell stories about Richard Lee. It was a fitting tribute for the kind of artist who found canvases everywhere — from panes of glass to the trees in his yard — and the kind of person who had a story for everyone, who found hidden beauty that others overlooked.
A dancer, a mystic, an artist who painted fish swimming through the sky, anything was possible in Richard Lee’s world.
Last year, on June 22, the artist Richard Lee died at the age of 79. Mr. Lee was beloved as an artist and as a friend. On Sunday, Sept. 15, from 4 to 6 p.m. there will be a retrospective of his work held at Featherstone Center for the Arts. The exhibit is guest curated by Claudia Cannerdy and Hudson Lee.
Richard Lee was born in 1933 on a farm in Pullman, Wash. He moved east for college and first entered the world of the arts through dance.
Martha’s Vineyard Museum points out that you can’t spell Martha’s Vineyard without ART as they sponsor the annual fall art extravaganza featuring Vineyard artists such as Tony Holand, Meg Mercier, Kara Taylor, David Wallis, Wendy Weldon, Allen Whiting and more. The art party takes place at a private Edgartown home and offers an opportunity to view some Vineyard treasures and gain insight from the artists as they discuss their work.
Glenn Tunstull treats an art exhibition like a fashion show.
Whereas fabrics and patterns decorate a model, swatches and brush strokes dress his canvas.
“Each painting represents where I am today,” Mr. Tunstull said.
In 1985 painter Andrew Moore spent his first full year on Martha’s Vineyard. He lived in a one-room cottage that housed the essentials: a bed, a wood stove, an easel, his dog and a surfboard. Mr. Moore had recently graduated with his bachelor’s degree in architecture and this was his leap into a life of full-time painting.
How often in nature do we see a single standing beetlebung tree? Not often, thinks Kara Taylor.
“A beetlebung alone is a really unique sight to see,” Ms. Taylor said last week in her new Chilmark gallery space. “Alone, the tree takes this amazing shape. I can only remember one place where I’ve seen this.”
So she decided to paint it.
The wood panel oil painting with 23-karat gold leaf, entitled West Tisbury Beetlebung, is one of 13 paintings in Deciduous, Ms. Taylor’s first show in her new location.
