Vineyard art happenings

0
Sondra Arkin's "Amber Shower" on display at Louisa Gould Gallery. — Photo courtesy of louisa gould gallery

Shades of Ché’s

Colin Ruel, the creator of all those totally original, clever, funky posters advertising musical events at the long-gone Che’s Lounge in Vineyard Haven, is making his debut as an exhibiting artist. Mr. Ruel joins artists Percy 14e Wright, Rick Lazes, and Jonathan Klenner in a show opening Saturday, Sept. 3, 5 to 8 pm at Shephard Fine ArtSpace, 8 Uncas Avenue, Oak Bluffs.

Granting wishes

The Martha’s Vineyard Center for Visual Arts (MVCVA) has established grants for Island artists as part of its mission to raise community appreciation of the arts and to support Island artists. Grant programs have been established for Vineyard artists of all disciplines: visual and performing arts, literary projects, film, and art-related subjects. For more information, visit artmv.org, or contact Renee Balter, 508-696-7643, rebalter@yahoo.com.

All of me

Elissa Turnbull’s installation that fills The Pebble Gallery at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs is an arranged collection of objects that collectively provide a description of the artist herself. Done with humor, Ms. Turnbull explains her installations: “Besides its aesthetic potential, the use of mass-produced ‘found objects’ in my art is a way to poke fun at the systems by which we give value to the objects we circulate.”

Shape shifting

The fourth annual Abstract Show, Rhythm and Blues, opens at Louisa Gould Gallery tonight, Thursday, Sept. 1. The exhibit, the last new exhibit of the season, showcases the work of five artists: Marsha Staiger, an award-winning artist from the Washington D.C. area; Sondra Arkin, showing a series of layered wax and shellac paintings; Roberta Gross, a Featherstone teacher and mixed-media artist who uses acrylic papers, gold leaf, and pieces of recycled art; West Tisbury resident Laura Roosevelt, making her gallery debut with four abstract photographs; and printmaker and painter Ellyn Weiss, showing a series of monoprints and small tile-like encaustics. The artists’ reception will be Saturday, Sept. 3, 5 to 7 pm.

Louisa Gould Gallery 54 Main St. Vineyard Haven. 508-693-7373.

Picture perfect

Photographer Emily Drazen captures images from her travels with medium format cameras, 120mm or 35 mm film. No digital adjustments; no filters. Her photographs include land- and sea-scapes from Bali, Lombok, Japan, and Martha’s Vineyard.

Sponsored by the Martha’s Vineyard Art Association, the opening reception for the show of Ms. Drazen’s photographs, Nancy Blair’s plein air oil paintings, Ovid Ward’s realist paintings, and a retrospective of artwork by the late Renee O’Sullivan is tonight, Thursday, Sept. 1, from 5 to 7 pm at the Old Sculpin Gallery on Dock Street in Edgartown.