Washashore Art

One clever way to clean up a beach is to collect trash and turn it into art. That’s what artist and art teacher Wendy Shalen did, using found floating debris from beaches on the Vineyard, Long Island and Florida as subject matter for her handmade paper seascapes. The series is called Washed Ashore, and was recently exhibited at the Pound Ridge Library in New York.

The images show the closeness of nature and material culture. Garbage can be collected on some beaches as easily as drift wood.

Rose Abrahamson has a history of saying this is her last art show. Who can blame her? After all, she is 90 years old. But thankfully, thus far, she has not made good on her promise.

It was fitting, maybe inevitable, that Yoko Ono and John Lennon met in an art gallery at a showing of her work in London. Now, more than 40 years later, Ms. Ono has established a tradition of exhibiting Mr. Lennon’s art around the United States to celebrate her late husband’s passion for peace and love, which she says with a matter-of-factness that restores those words to their late-1960s meaning, before they became glib catchphrases for many people.

Oak Bluffs Art Stroll

On Saturday, August 11, this month’s Arts District Stroll in Oak Bluffs takes place. The stroll is from 4 to 7 p.m. and is an opportunity to check out all of the galleries along Dukes County avenue as they roll out the welcome mat, not to mention snacks and drinks.

The Alison Shaw Gallery is hanging a show full of brand-new work as well as celebrating The Chappy Ferry Book by author Tom Dunlop with photographs by Alison Shaw.

Dressed in a simple tunic, carrying only his slingshot and a sack of stones, a poor shepherd boy approached the nine-foot-tall giant.

With courage and a steady hand, David slung one small stone right smack at Goliath’s head, knocking out the Philistine’s war hero.

It’s a tale most are familiar with and at the forefront of the underdog mentality, said liberal theologian Harvey Cox.

“We like the underdog,” said Mr. Cox. “That’s why everyone in the Boston area despises the New York Yankees.”

This Sunday, August 12, artist Samuel Close will be putting the finishing touches on one of his works featuring the Edgartown Lighthouse at the Island Art Gallery located at 66 Main street in Vineyard Haven from 4 to 6 p.m. The piece is to be raffled-off, and 100 per cent of the proceeds will go to the Martha’s Vineyard Museum.

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.

The Island’s reputation as a cultural hot spot is deserved, according to a recent study that says artistic and cultural endeavors are twice as prevalent on the Vineyard as elsewhere in the state.