Arts & Entertainment
As he sits for an interview in the kitchen of his mother’s Oak Bluffs cottage, Paul Padua seamlessly breaks into and out of character — not just one, but many of the roles he’s played over the years as a member of the Vineyard Playhouse performance group the Fabulists.
Vineyard-born artist Max Decker tends to mold his artistic personality to match his environment. His Island summers inspire classic landscape paintings, but come fall, his return to his home in Brooklyn seems to trigger a more aggressive and figurative form of expression.
“I guess by osmosis, what’s around you is kind of what you start producing,” said the artist. “When I’m in New York, it’s kind of loud. Here [on the Island], I get a little more atmospheric, a little more subdued.”
Island Theatre Workshop presents PigPen Theatre’s latest show, The Old Man and the Old Moon, for a limited engagement at the Katharine Cornell Theatre on Sunday and Monday, July 5 and 6 at 8 p.m. The Old Man and the Old Moon is a tale of an old man who must abandon his duties of refilling the moon every month, to cross the seas in search of his missing wife. The show runs just under one hour and is appropriate for all ages, both children and adults. Tickets are $10, available at the door.
There are unmistakable signs of Gary Mottau’s artwork nestled throughout the rolling up-Island countryside on Abel’s Hill in Chilmark. They blend with their environment, just as he intended; that is his art, his ability to take a cue from nature and create exquisite sanctuaries from wood, stone and seed.
His artwork extends to other media as well; a collection of his wired drawings, which he describes as “three dimensional line drawings,” are on display at Carol Craven Gallery in Vineyard Haven.
The African Artists’ Community Development Project and the Chikumbuso Widows’ and Orphans’ Project are collaborating to produce a concert this July in order to raise awareness and funds for Zambian children, widows, and artists. Please come to the Vineyard Haven Library Tuesday night, July 7 at 7 p.m. to learn about these two organizations. Help us wage peace.
Summer Reading
Children may register any time for the Island libraries’ Summer Reading Program, a prize incentive program that began July 1. The Oak Bluffs library is adding a charity element.
