This Saturday, August 16, at sunset, two widely respected Vineyard artists will combine their talents with technology to create a unique performance art event on the beach at the Edgartown Lighthouse at the end of North Water Street.
Traeger di Pietro and Kenneth Vincent, friends and fellow Island painters, plan to share their creative vision, dubbed Street Light Art, with a live audience as they collaborate on a new mixed media work that will be simultaneously projected onto the side of the historic lighthouse.
The subject? While remaining mum, they hinted that it could quite possibly be their interpretation of the Island’s current VIP visitors, the President and First Lady, Barack and Michelle Obama.
“We wanted to do something together,” Mr. di Pietro said, explaining the purpose of the artists’ joint venture. “We’ve been talking about it forever.”
They explored the possibility of a mural in Edgartown but faced town restrictions. Then, inspired by graffiti artists, they devised a way to create public art without making a permanent statement. Thomas Bena, founder and executive/creative director of the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival (TMVFF), offered the use of his organization’s projector. Chris Mara, TMVFF’s technical manager/projectionist, will mastermind the cinematic elements.
“We’re excited about sharing the process of creating art with people,” Mr. Vincent said. “Too often all you see is the finished product. We wanted to get people involved in how art is made, starting with a white canvas and ending with a complete painting.”
Mr. di Pietro, known for both his impressionistic landscapes and his conceptual mixed media works, is represented by both North Water Gallery in Edgartown and the Field Gallery in West Tisbury. Mr. Vincent, an Island native whose descendants date back to the mid-17th century on the Vineyard, lends a contemporary geometric edge to the vivid landscapes that he shows at both North Water Gallery and at The Granary Gallery in West Tisbury.
Painting Edgartown Light begins at the Edgartown Lighthouse public beach at the end of North Water Street, Edgartown, at sunset, Saturday, August 16. Admission is free.
