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Exhibition 2
The Artists' Association of Nantucket has 200 artist members, many of whom have been tucked away in hibernation, busy producing work for the summer season. One hundred of those members – some of them new – will be showcased in the Gallery’s Exhibition 2, opening Friday, May 20 with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. The AAN Gallery has a changing exhibition every two weeks, usually with a theme or a featured artist. “This is a cross-section of all the artists,” said Robert Foster, the Gallery director. “It’s a good start of the season.” And it is a chance to see what artists have been up to over the winter in all mediums, he said.
Fresh face Josh Azar’s only professional training as a photographer came from a 10th grade film developing class in Connecticut. His teacher submitted one of his photos to a University of Connecticut contest, unbeknownst to him, and he won first place.
Days later on New Year’s Eve, at a party where Azar remembers there certainly were no parents, his camera was stolen. Sick about the incident, he did not tell his parents and did not take another photograph for 12 years. “I was just being adolescent. After a week or so, you’ve got the junior prom to think about,” said Azar. But they say bad habits die hard, and so does innate talent. Azar is a Vermont transplant to the island and has been living here since November, avidly taking photographs in the spare time that his schedule as a Veranda House manager allows. The Artists’ Association Exhibition 2 is his first show on the island. He has previously shown work in New York City and Vermont. He maintains a studio there outside of Woodstock. Azar’s journey back to photography began five years ago when he ran the sales and marketing department for a ski resort in Stowe, Vt. He took photographs of the wildlife around him that were well-received by his co-workers. “They convinced me I should be promoting my photographs, not the hotel,” he said. He moved to the Caribbean to hone his skills, but lost his inspiration shooting blue water and palm trees over and over again. A friend suggested he become a tour leader for Bike Vermont – he would be paid to travel all over the state, as well as Maine, Scotland, Ireland and Iceland. Having to trail the slowest cyclist in the group often meant a three mile per/hour pace and Azar had plenty of time to stop and shoot photos, he said. Being forced to slow down allowed him to notice more. And in every tour group of 20 or so cyclists, Azar had an eager audience. “People saw something that I didn’t really see (in my photos). I saw how they touched other people. They would stir up memories in their past,” said Azar. His images are nature and wildlife-oriented and highlight the landscape of the places he has traveled. He will have two photographs in the exhibit: “Aqueduct” was taken in Kyoto, Japan. In “Morning Breeze,” waving lavender grasses could be mistaken for an impressionist oil painting. After spending more months out of the year traveling than in one spot, Azar decided he needed a permanent home and chose Nantucket, where he had spent vacation time. “Nantucket is a perfect fit,” said Azar. The Veranda House closes from December to April and he is free to shoot most nights by 7 p.m. He will leave to photograph the sunset on Madaket and not return until 10 p.m., losing track of time, he said. “I don’t want to lose what I’ve worked so hard to get – in here,” he said, gesturing to his chest. Azar’s return to photography has been therapeutic, and he likens it to the way others use yoga or running. “I do photography to stop time for a moment,” he said. Azar shoots with a digital camera and does not enhance or retouch his photographs.
Veteran talent Joan Albaugh has been an AAN member for 10 years and is widely recognized on the island, most recently for her spare paintings of solitary houses, some hauntingly cold and some inviting. Albaugh describes them this way: Edward Hopper meets Grant Wood. Wood was an Iowa native and a regionalist painter in the first half of the 20th century who focused on rural American subjects. His “American Gothic” (1930) – a stern farm couple standing in front of their white house, he with a pitchfork in his hand – is most well-known. Albaugh’s combination is “more stylized, naïve,” she said. While Albaugh has not always painted houses – she has a series of oils that feature her son in scuba gear – some of her collages from the 1980s that hang in her funky and colorful house-slash-studio on Miacomet Avenue belie a future fascination. Albaugh came from Jersey City before she brought her four-year-old son (now 14) to the island for good. She was not able to make a living from painting until she moved here and found a niche. “It’s a supportive community to sell art,” she said. “Now it’s my whole income.” She has been painting all winter. “Everyone’s pretty broke this time of year, waiting for sales,” she said. As much as artists plan and save, it is never enough, she said laughing. As for the houses, Albaugh continues to paint them because they continue to sell. “You kind of get pigeon-holed into doing something,” she said. People ask Albaugh where a particular house in her painting is located, but most come from her mind, or are a combination of houses on Nantucket or elsewhere. She adds or takes away dormers and doors, mountains and trees. Albaugh has fantasies of going to Antarctica to paint icebergs, a landscape that intrigues her. Albaugh received her BFA in fine arts through the Boston Museum School, which is associated with Tufts University. She shows her work at the Old Spouter Gallery and Nantucket Looms, but the AAN remains crucial. “It’s a great place to show your work when you’re new on the scene. It’s the first step on the island,” she said.
The show runs through May 30. AAN Gallery, 19 Washington St., 228-0294. |
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