Galleries often rely on a stream of art produced by known talent to quench the desires of their clientele. Occasionally new artists are introduced or a gallery will bring in the work of a known artist who has never shown at their gallery. Not only does this expand the range of the gallery’s choices and sometimes change the look of a gallery, it also gives the new artists a chance to expand their market.
Island artist Wendy Weldon has been “in more galleries than you can count” over the years here on the Island, in the mid-west, and in California. She is now showing at North Water Gallery in Edgartown for the first time. She said that she loves being in a new space with new gallery staff to work with.
“It brings a renewed interest for me and a chance to be seen by new people,” Ms. Weldon said. She thinks that being shown with different artists gives her art a different perspective for the viewer. Her painting, “Royalton to Chilmark,” uses acrylic and gold leaf on canvas.
Here are some of the other artists in new spaces on the Vineyard this summer.
Jim Zwadlo is new to the Eisenhauer Gallery in Edgartown. Mr. Zwadlo grew up on a dairy farm with 50 cows in northern Wisconsin. He received a BFA in Fine Arts from SUNY-Potsdam in upstate New York. He worked in New York City and its environs for about 20 years and now lives on the south side of Milwaukee.
The Granary Gallery in West Tisbury is showing work of Stephen Filmus, another new artist. He paints still-lifes and landscapes in the studio that he designed, surrounded by gardens and forests in the Berkshire mountains in western Massachusetts. One oil painting by him, on linen, is entitled “Block & Tackle with Mussels.”
In Edgartown, North Water Gallery’s new artists include Traeger di Pietro, an artist who lives and works on Martha’s Vineyard who has been painting for more than 10 years.
Carolyn Warren is showing at the Cousen Rose Gallery in Oak Bluffs for the first time. One of her oil paintings is titled “Fall.” She has lived on the Vineyard year-round for more than 15 years. “I am constantly taking in all the natural beauty and light that the Island has to offer and hope to convey the effects of color and light that surround us,” she says.
Ketz Weiler is a Boston artist showing on the Vineyard for the first time at PIKNIK in Oak Bluffs. In one of his works, “Untitled,” he uses oil stick and ink on paper.
Samuel Close has art on display at the Island Art Gallery and Kennedy Studios for the first time. A regional artist, he began painting the Cape and Martha’s Vineyard in 2001 after starting his artistic career as a wood carver in the early 1970s. Painting first in watercolors and eventually acrylics, his work, including “Vineyard Haven Harbor,” has been highly regarded for its ultra-realism.
Deirdre Leber is one of Dragonfly Gallery’s new artists. “My paintings arise from the interplay of observation and imagination,” she says, and an oil titled “Dapple” illustrates her point. Growing up in New York City, she received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and her MFA with a concentration in painting from Brooklyn College. For the past 12 years she has lived and worked in New Paltz, N.Y.
Claire McArdle is one of the new artists showing at Shaw Cramer Gallery, with a terra cotta sculpture called “Cavallina Piccola 4” on display. An internationally recognized sculptor, Ms. McArdle has been inspired by sculpture of the European modern masters, Old Europe and Africa.
Louisa Gould Gallery has six new artists this season, and they include Carol Rowan, who has studios in Washington, D.C., and Maine. Work like her oil-on-board painting “Single Handed” is widely collected by both private and corporate collectors.
