Galleries : Libraries and banks: All that and art
Many of the Island's banks and libraries are adding another service to their multi-functional repertoires. They are using their walls and display areas to pay tribute to Vineyard artists. Some work by local artists is in the permanent collections of Vineyard libraries and banks.
Chris Stien does his banking while viewing the work of photographer Harry Beach at the Bank of Martha's Vineyard in Chilmark. Photos by Lynn Christoffers At the West Tisbury Library, Betsy Burmeister of Menemsha has her photographs on display in a show called "Bless the Beasts and Children." A photographer who focuses her work on animals and children, Ms. Burmeister's title comes from a movie of the same name that featured the hit song by the Carpenters.
Most of the 10 photographs in the show, which continues through September 30, are in black and white. Ms. Burmeister has also included calendars and DVD's featuring the photography of fifth-grade students at the Chilmark School. Both are for sale for $15.
As Recreation Director at Windemere Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, Ms. Burmeister runs an intergenerational program in which the fifth-graders are given cameras and paired with Windemere residents whom they visit once a month during the school year. The program is in its fifth year.
When Kendra Mills looks up from her book, she'll see the work of Betsy Burmeister at the West Tisbury Library.Following Ms. Burmeister's show, there will be an exhibit by Karen DiMaura in October, and one by Julia Mitchell in November.
Paintings by two Edgartown artists, Claire Chalfoun and Lyn Hinds, are on display at the Chilmark Public library until October 1. Ms. Chalfoun and Ms. Hinds frequently paint together, and they also exhibited their work together at the library two years ago.
"Our work is different," says Ms. Hinds, who has lived in Edgartown year-round since 1996 and summered on-Island since 1968. "Claire does impressionistic landscapes, while my landscapes tend to be more abstract."
Ms. Hinds has five works on display, and some are purely abstract. Ms. Chalfoun has eight paintings in the exhibit. All 13 of the works, which will be up until October 1, are done in oil.
Ms. Chalfoun, who retired to Edgartown with her late husband 11 years ago from Valhalla, N.Y., says her paintings are inspired by "living here and being outdoors and in the winter inside my studio."
Although the Edgartown Public Library does not have wall space for contemporary exhibits in its current building, it has created a graffiti wall in its computer area. Reference librarian Nis Kildegaard explains that library director Felicia Cheney decided the best way to decorate a wall made bare as a result of a furnace malfunction was to encourage patrons to write or draw on it. He calls the wall "very international, with writings in a variety languages."
Another fortuitous effect of the damage caused by the library's furnace puff-back was the cleaning of art in the library's permanent collection. According to Mr. Kildegaard, the collection, donated to the town by the late Charles Simpson of Chappaquiddick, is an impressive regional collection of landscape paintings, etchings and lithographs by artists Arthur Heintzelman, Charles Henry Gifford, Ruth Howland Sutton and Dwight William Tryon. Pieces from the collection are rotated every several months. The library also has illustrations by another Edgartown artist, the late Donald Carrick.
And as for art you can bank on: The Chilmark branch of the Bank of Martha's Vineyard will hold an artist's reception for photographer Juleann Van Belle on Friday, Sept, 25, from 4 to 6 pm. Entitled "Time Stands Still," the exhibit has two parts: Island town landscapes, and a series of Island roadside mailboxes.
"The thing I like about the mailboxes is that they tend to disappear, so the photos become a form of historical documentation," Ms. Van Belle says. "People always gripe about how the Vineyard has changed and not in good ways. It felt good to take these photos that show the old Vineyard really is still here."
On October 9, the Chilmark branch will again display photographs by Allison Colarusso, with an opening scheduled for October 16. An exhibit of photography by Noah Mayrand follows on October 23.
Work from the Martha's Vineyard Art Association's permanent collection will go on display at the bank from November 6 until Thanksgiving, followed by photography from John Wightman.
Visit the Post Office Square branch of the Martha's Vineyard Savings Bank in Edgartown through December to view Leslie Look' photographs. Ms. Look is showing a series of double exposures of Island subjects.
The Chilmark branch of Martha's Vineyard Savings Bank is displaying photographs by Bill Ewart Jr. and paintings by Jules Worthington.
As part of its business partner program, Edgartown National Bank featured scrimshaw by Tom DeMont, proprietor of Edgartown Scrimshaw Gallery, earlier this month. A seascape on a regional nautical chart by New Mexico artist Michael Protiva, a seasonal visitor, is now on display.u
