In honor of Women’s History Month, Pathways Arts hung a show devoted to women artists during the month of March. Now they have extended the exhibit through the end of April.
On the walls of the Chilmark Tavern, Pathways’ off-season home, is work by seven established female artists. The selection includes new paintings by a number of these talented women, including some of which represent a different direction in style and palette than they are known for.
Marjorie Mason, whose focus is generally on realist landscapes, has provided a series of abstract paintings she completed this past winter. According to a press release, Mason “deliberately chose the foundation relationship colors used in her landscapes, yet in distilled forms and palette. Her attention to looking, and seeing, and ‘learning to look,’ informs her illustrating the play of light, shadows, and colors she feels one can only experience outdoors.”
Marie Louise-Rouff has also contributed a series of the colorful abstract paintings that have earned her a reputation on the Island.
Another major player in the Vineyard art scene, Wendy Weldon, is showing three paintings from her earlier years, inspired by visits she took to Portugal in the 1990s. “Tuscan Treehouse” is a beautiful abstract study in greens, golds, and ochres. The painting “St. Julian,” done with broad brushstrokes in a painterly fashion, demonstrates the interest in religious iconography she developed during her travels.
Leslie Baker has contributed two abstracts, along with a charcoal drawing of a woman snuggling with her two small children. Baker executed the picture during a time when she was attending drawing classes at Featherstone some years back.
Beth Parker has a unique style, demonstrated by two large and a few smaller mixed-media pieces included in the show. Parker’s larger images feature an explosion of random colorful shapes, some resembling fanciful sea creatures, others a series of squiggles or geometric shapes.
Whitney Cleary has established herself as an up-and-coming local artist with her atmospheric paintings featuring imagined landscapes and expansive skies. Three of her newer works are featured in the exhibit.
Dena Porter has provided a single photograph called “Morning Dew.” The image, part of her new series, “Water in Its Many Forms,” shows a cluster of bright green grass waving in a sea of tiny bubbles. The photo almost reminds one of a surrealist painting.
With so much diversity, the exhibit is well worth a trip to the Pathways space, where one can enjoy live entertainment on many evenings during any given week. A series of music events will cap off the arts organization’s season. These include a concert on April 15, with a group called the Island Collective, featuring individual and group performances by Kate Taylor, Isaac Taylor, Phil daRosa, David Saw, and Rebecca Correia. The collective will be reprising a performance that took place in Nashville last December.
The following night, the Island band the Convertibles will take the Pathways stage with a celebration of Latin grooves. Boston-based saxophonist/singer Stan Strickland will return to the Island on April 22, and the Pathways season will conclude with an evening of jazz curated by Jeremy Berlin on April 28.
Other happenings can be found on the Pathways website, pathwaysmv.org. All events are free and open to the public. The art space is also open during some daytime hours, or by appointment. For more info, call Tanya Augostinos at 917-378-0662.
