We are warming up during this cool spring and thinking about summer here on Block Island and in the Jessie Edwards Gallery. Please join us in person, or on-line, to discover what our artists have been creating over the winter months.
We are pleased to be welcoming back many of our known and favorite artists with new works which capture the beauty of this island and the feel of summer. We are also thrilled to announce we have a few new artists we are representing in this space. Our list of shows for the summer season is available on our website and we kick off the exhibits on June 23rd with William Talmadge Hall’s new work exhibition ‘Times Past’. All exhibits will be available to view in the gallery as well as on-line during the dates listed.
For now, though, grab a beverage and enjoy this visual tour of summer.
For anyone who has travelled to and from Block Island in all sorts of weather, William Talmadge Hall’s watercolor ‘Yankee Ferry Boat, Rough Crossing – 1950s’ will feel familiar in a visceral way. Hall uses his art to convey the story of island life in a historical context. In this piece, we see a fishing boat in the sea alongside the ferry, depicting a real part of island life once upon a time.
The breathtaking portrayal we see of the Bluffs in ‘Ethereal Coastline’, an oil on paper painting by Whitney Knapp Bowditch, reminds us how lucky we are to be in this beautiful place. Whitney captures the feel and color of the light playing on the land and sea just in front of us. The hazy view keeps us immersed in where we are, seeing this place again in this different light, seemingly perhaps, for a first time.
In ‘Beach Grass’, an oil on canvas by Carrie Megan, we can feel the air around us as we are guided down a sandy path, beach grass to either side, as the stormy sky beckons. Will we make it before the weather comes in? Or will the sky clear as the wind blows the clouds away? Summer in all its weather glory is portrayed here in rich and subtle hues and tones.
Kate Knapp portrays an oft seen view here on Block Island in her oil on canvas ‘Clothesline in Afternoon Sunlight’. We can feel the late sun, the refreshing breeze and the scintillating scent of laundry dried in the island air as we gaze at this summer scene full of movement and light.
In Heidi Palmer’s ‘Aerie’, an oil on canvas piece, we arrive at a summer house and are torn on which way to go: directly into the house to drop our things and explore? Or directly down the path to the ocean below to find what waits for us there? Both choices offer new memories and neither is wrong, but which way draws you first?
Gerard Blouin’s ‘Finding Beach Glass’ is a watercolor with a quintessential view of summertime along the shore. This family-friendly activity is poignantly portrayed here through Blouin’s eye. We are reminded of the intersection between beach and sea and what happens in the space where they meet.
We’d like to introduce you to new artists you will find on the walls and pedestals in the Gallery this summer. Ashley Roane is a ceramist in RI and will be sharing an exhibition with Sarah Verardo beginning August 16th. Chelsea Kinch is an oil painter and mixed media artist with roots in RI but now based in Maui. Christine Tanson is a ceramics and raku artist based in CT. Laura Zindel is based in VT where she creates ceramics which are both functional and whimsical. We are excited by what all these artists bring to their medium and we can’t wait for you to see them this summer here at the Jessie Edwards Gallery on Block Island, upstairs in the iconic Post Office Building overlooking Old Harbor.