Annual Memorial Day Weekend Open House

A great variety of new works by gallery artists and an artist new to the gallery this year, Carrie Megan, opens the 23rd season of the Jessie Edwards Studio. Works on exhibit include “Blue Sky,” Tom Martinelli’s large oil-on-canvas, a near-abstract image of silvery surf swirling over rocks and sand under an expanse of sky cast in the many shades that we call “blue.” “First Greens, Ninigret” is a delicate oil-on-linen by Gerard Blouin. The dappled soft light of late spring falls on trees coming into full leaf along a grassy path beside calm blue water. “Calla Anderson’s House,” an oil-on-canvas by the late William Sommerfeld, will be on exhibit for the first time in the gallery. The gallery, on the second floor of the Post Office building, will be open on May 25 and 26 from 10am to 5pm. Light refreshments will be served both days.

In “Destination Unknown,” a large oil-on-canvas in subtle greys and blues, Cynthia Guild conveys her sense of the mystery and adventure in a freighter’s journey out to a sea shrouded in mist, unifying the boat, the sea, and the sky. This exhibit opens June 28th.

Whitney Knapp Bowditch’s fascination with color relationships, texture, and tonal contrast can be seen in her oil-on-paper “Bluffs at Twilight.” Highly textured sweeps of a deep blue sea and crisp white surf roll in against the dark green and grey tones of the bluffs. The rough texture merges into warmer tones and gentler strokes in the light of the unseen setting sun, which casts shades of purple, peach, pink, and blue across the sky and will open July 12th.

“Windy Laundry Line, Block Island” an oil-on-canvas by Kate Knapp, is a classic scene of a sunny, breezy day on the island. Fresh laundry snaps in the wind on a clothesline in the foreground. A warm sun sends shadows along the stone wall and across the lawn, and brightens the trees, sea, and sky in the background. The Knapp show opens on July 26th.

Carrie Megan’s “Graphic Fields,” in oil and cold wax on canvas, is a view of a white building seen against a blue sky. The building links the sky to the green sward that dominates the foreground. Streaks of red and dark blue run between sky and field giving further definition to the scene, while a combination of blurred edges and sharp strokes adds texture. The show opens August 9th.

William T. Hall’s watercolor “Island Belle, Old Harbor,” takes us back to an earlier era on Block Island. In meticulous period detail, Hall depicts the wooden steamer “The Island Belle” arriving on Block Island in the early summer of 1921. Double-enders are tied to pole moorings and beached onshore, and an ox-drawn cart is arriving with cargo to go aboard the steamer. Originally named “The Juliette,” the steamer had been ferrying passengers to the island since 1918. In 1924, while bringing workers to the growing community on the Florida Keys, she broke up and was lost in the waters off the Keys. This exhibit opens August 23rd.

In addition to the new art, there are hand-carved antique-style shorebirds, hand-crafted tables made from reclaimed wood from Charleston, S.C., hand-blown glass, sculpture, and jewelry.