The new poster for the 163rd annual Agricultural Fair was released today, featuring a colorful design by local artist Abe Pieciak, and an initial peek into one of the busiest weeks of the year on the Island.
“[Pieciak’s] poster captures what makes the fair and the Island special, from flowers to farm animals, to — if you look closely — fish. It rewards those who look closely!” an Agricultural Society representative wrote in a statement about the poster release.
Pieciak, the winning artist for the poster this year, is originally from Maine, but has lived on Island for 16 years. He currently has work featured at the Copperworks Gallery in Menemsha.
“There was a special energy I felt when I arrived on the Island,” he said in a statement. “Instantly I knew it was a place I could chase my dreams and try to make it as an artist.”
His medium for the poster was watercolor, and he said he was inspired by the joy he felt at an event at the Agricultural Hall this past winter — the Christmas Pageant.
“While hundreds of people were singing Christmas carols, I looked up into the rafters at all the fair posters, and said to myself, ‘I want to be up there,’” he said.
Now, he will be.
From fried dough vendors to the Ferris wheel, the annual Agricultural Fair draws thousands of attendees each year to the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society on Panhandle Road in West Tisbury.
Happening from August 21 to the 24th this year, the fair is a vibrant, busy celebration of the Island — an event that many Islanders have been attending for most of their lives. The art and food contests, held in the Agricultural Hall for the week of the fair, are a favorite of many locals and visitors alike, and are epitomized early with the poster release.
What a lovely poster, depicting a beautiful Rooster. The tradition of Fair Posters is something very special to our community, and an announcement we all look forward to every year.
I would like to add that the inclusion of the succession flag, as a sailboat durkee, and the Ukraine sunflowers are also a wonderful artistic statement. Art institutes change.
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