There’s a paint-off going on this weekend and everyone is invited to check it out. Called Painting the Vineyard and benefiting The Trustees of Reservations, the event involves local artists painting on site at five Trustees locations on the Island and Chappaquiddick. Artists will be painting at Mytoi, Wasque Point and Cape Pogue on Chappaquiddick; Norton Point Beach (Katama) in Edgartown; and Long Point Wildlife Refuge in West Tisbury. There will be transportation available from the Chappy ferry to the Chappaquiddick sites.
For many years artist Kara Taylor’s gallery was located on Main street in Vineyard Haven. But this past summer she needed to find a new place to show her work. At first she focused on finding another spot in Vineyard Haven. A deal was almost made and then collapsed at the last minute. She widened her gaze to include up-Island, which would mean her gallery would have to be a destination spot rather than a place people might encounter on a casual stroll through town. Added pressure, of course, but over the years Ms.
On Sunday Featherstone Center for the Arts celebrated Lucy Vincent Beach with its own art reception. The party marked the opening of an exhibit that runs through May 8.
The show came into being after artist Linda Ziegler surveyed the damage done to the beach by Hurricane Sandy and wanted to find a way to honor what has long been a favorite Vineyard destination.
Two artists, Ray Ellis, 91, from Edgartown and Joshua Chase, 10, from Hudson, will be featured this morning on the Today Show. The two are new best friends. Joshua earned the attention of talent scouts when pictures of his paintings were submitted by his mother, Chantel Chase, to the television program’s nationwide search. One of the signature paintings is an interpretative copy of Mr. Ellis’s painting Moonrise over Edgartown Harbor which includes a sloop and a ketch sailing towards the Edgartown Lighthouse.
Pilot John Levinson said the first time he took painter Kara Taylor up in his single-engine Mooney Acclaim she didn’t say a word. “She was transfixed,” he says of her response to viewing the Island’s contours at 1,200 feet.
A painting of a well-known Menemsha-based trawler by Heather Neill has been given to the Martha’s Vineyard Museum by an anonymous donor. The eight by four-foot painting, titled Strider’s Surrender, evokes the decline the local fishing industry.
The Quitsa Strider II is owned by respected Island fishermen Jonathan Mayhew. In a move symbolic of the dire state of the local fishing industry, Mr. Mayhew sold his federal permits last year, giving up his license and putting up the vessel itself for sale.