The Vincent House, one of the oldest residences on Martha’s Vineyard, was built in 1672 using traditional techniques that date back to medieval England. Walk inside this summer, through August 30, and you’ll be in for a delightful surprise. Visiting artists William Pettit and Candice Smith have explored time, transforming the colonial setting into a mind-bending experience.
Presented in celebration of the Vineyard Preservation Trust’s 50th anniversary, artists have invited visitors to experience 13 generations of domestic life through the lens of art and history. Using the historic house as a baseline, Smith and Pettit have transformed each of the six rooms into an intriguing investigation of the passage of time by layering furnishings, original artwork, and everyday objects from various periods.
“Our Golden Hours” nods to the three families — the Vinsons, Vincents, and Mackentys — who made the home theirs for more than 300 years. While the artists conducted historical research, they did not recreate the space as a historical representation of any specific era. Instead, they mixed and matched items from various periods. The smorgasbord of vintage and modern objects and furniture, analog photography, paintings, digital recreations, and evocative sound effects intertwine to create a dynamic work of art and history.
Every room is a treasure trove of intriguingly incongruous objects. A small sample in just a single room, dedicated to timekeeping and memory, features clocks from various periods that line the fireplace mantle. A hot red electric guitar rests on a modern wooden chair, while vintage ones, including a child’s rocker, are nearby. A sampler hangs on the wall, and a contemporary cover drapes over the period bed. An old manual typewriter sits oddly on an old-fashioned writing desk, which Smith has painted bright yellow, alluding to the “golden” in the installation’s title. Lining many of the walls are paintings that appear to be from an earlier era. The artists created them, including those of sailing ships and many portraits. Some are replicas of early 19th century pieces by self-taught artist Frederick Mayhew, an itinerant painter from Chilmark; others are originals by Smith and Pettit to evoke his style.
“Part of the project is this blending of fact and fiction,” says Pettit. “That’s the fun for us, imagining what could have been.” This is not the first time the artistic educators have collaborated. In 2023, they undertook an installation, “Now, Soon & Forever,” at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, in which they combined artifacts from the collection with their own to explore themes of global whaling, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the concept of distance and missed connections. “It was a pretty big project, so we originally thought maybe we could take this somewhere else,” Smith explains.
On a visit to the Island to see a friend, the pair were intrigued when they saw the Carnegie. Meeting with Executive Director Nevette Previd and Programming Director Sissy Biggers, they toured all the Preservation Trust properties. Smith relates, “When we walked through the Vincent House, lightbulbs went off. We thought it would be great to do some sort of ‘re-inhabitation’ of it. Also, the house was bare of anything else, so it was about how we could breathe something back into it.”
The pair was particularly struck by the fact that the house was continuously inhabited from 1672 until 1977. The project embodies the concept of time overlapping as opposed to a historic house museum that might just show one period and exclude everything else. By mixing eras, time in the “Our Golden Hours” is not linear but instead moves back and forth.
The collaboration was complex, with Smith residing in Plymouth and Pettit in Rome. They visited the Island several times during the planning and installation stages, and there were numerous Zoom meetings with Preservation Trust staff.
On Tuesdays during the Edgartown Village Market, which takes place just behind the Vincent House, New England historian Norah Van Riper will be on site to engage with visitors and offer insights into the home’s important place in Island history. She will enrich the experience and add a meaningful layer of context to the art installation, connecting it to the evolving domestic life that shaped this 17th century home over centuries.
As we walk through, our minds are given free rein to invent stories and connections between the items, thereby immersing us in a fascinating visual experience. Biggers says, “We want people to come in and have their interpretation and reaction to things. The bones of the building stay the same, but the emotions and the appreciation of the art are each person’s.”
In reimaging what is possible, the installation interweaves historical artifacts with contemporary art to explore themes of memory, time, and place. “Part of our project is to show that history doesn’t end,” says Pettit.
“Our Golden Hours” is on view through August 30 in the Vincent House, 99 Main St., Tuesdays: 10 am – 2 pm, with historian Norah Van Riper. Wednesday–Saturday: noon – 2 pm. Suggested fee $5, or pay as you can. For tickets, visit bit.ly/VPT_VincentHouse_GoldenHours.
