For art lovers, history buffs, or fans of vintage photographs, the Martha's Vineyard Museum (MVM) in Edgartown will offer a preview of three new exhibits this Friday evening that will most likely suit your interests. On display will be the haunting sculptures of Stella Waitzkin; a selection of the museum's extraordinary collection of historical scrimshaw; and recently discovered glass plate photographic images of Oak Bluffs from the late 1800s and early 1900s.
A scrimshaw cup that includes inlaid metal and abalone shells. Photo courtesy of MVM
The opening reception, from 5:30 to 7 pm at the MVM Summer Gallery, marks the seasonal reopening of the 18th-century Cooke House (c. 1740), with its 11 rooms showcasing the history of the Cooke family, and artifacts from the Vineyard's past.
The summer exhibits will be on display through October 20, 2009.
Stella Waitzkin
Ms. Waitzkin began her work in the 1950s as an abstract-expressionist painter, a student of Hans Hofmann and Willem de Kooning in New York. She became a part-time resident of Music Street in West Tisbury, when the toxic and flammable sculptures she created in her Chelsea Hotel apartment drew complaints from her neighbors. Ms. Waitzkin, who died in 2003, divided her time between the Island and her one-bedroom apartment in New York City, which once served as a gathering place for iconic painters, musicians and poets of her generation.
The Tabernacle was built in 1879 to replace an enormous canvas meeting tent centered in the Campground in Oak Bluffs. With the funerary bunting and signage, the speaker appears to be eulogizing President Ulysses S. Grant, who died in 1885.
Regarded as eccentric and somewhat reclusive in her later years, she is best remembered for her haunting sculptural books, cast in colorful translucent polyester resin from vintage leather-bound volumes. Her books, always without text, appear as individual works and as elements of larger installations such as small bookcases or entire library walls, often mixed with other objects including real books as well as other cast objects.
According to Amy Houghton, MVM's director of development, Ms. Waitzkin's work will be displayed in a re-creation of her New York apartment. The exhibit is a collaboration of the Waitzkin Memorial Library Trust and the Martha's Vineyard Museum, sponsored in part by the Rotary of Martha's Vineyard.
Scrimshaw
A significant new exhibit of scrimshaw, "The Ivory Canvas," will be on display in the main gallery. Part of the museum's 100-piece collection, the works date from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s. "We've selected both everyday tools and decorative arts," Ms. Houghton said. "The exhibit will explain why scrimshaw was important to whalers and it will show how intricate the work is on a whale bone." Visitors will also be able to inspect the actual jawbone of a baby sperm whale, an artifact that still holds a tooth - the raw material of the scrimshander's craft.
One of Stella Waitzkin's sculptures.
Glass plates
The third new exhibit, housed in the Museum's Gangway Gallery, will be "Glass Plates: A Black and White View into the Past." In February, photographer Alison Shaw received 75 historic images in glass plate format from the family of the late Ed Krikorian. Being displayed for the first time, the images, found in the garage of an older Island home, depict scenes from Oak Bluffs from the late 1880s through the turn of the 20th century.
"The photographs document landscapes and scenes that are familiar to us today yet illustrate the differences between then and now," Ms. Houghton explained. The exhibit will showcase scenes including a Tabernacle service, Oak Bluffs beaches and a hotel where the Steamship Authority building now stands, as well as information about glass plate photography.
Speaker series
In addition to special exhibits and permanent collections featuring over 30,000 items relating to all aspects of Vineyard life, the museum also offers an evening speaker series throughout the summer. The aim is to stimulate discussion on historical and contemporary subjects. Programs include timely topics such as the current the financial industry, presented by Nobel Laureate Robort Solow on July 6, to a history of the NAACP and its role in the Civil Rights Movement with Patricia Sullivan, Henry Louis Gates, Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Clark Johnson on August 7,
Permanent exhibits
The museum also features permanent exhibits, including the Wampanoag Gallery, the Fresnel Lens Tower, the Carriage Shed of vehicles and vessels, Kids' Space and the Oral History gallery.
In addition, MVM has enhanced existing displays with technology such as iPods for audio augmentation in its Vineyard Voices oral history exhibit and touch-screen monitors in its Kids' Space.
The Martha's Vineyard Museum. Opeing reception, Friday, June 12, 5:30 pm. Call 508-627-4441 or visit www.mvmuseum.org.
Karla Araujo is a frequent contributor to The Times.
