AAN's 61st summer
A rich diversity of work on view
BY SHARON LORENZO CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Most of us hope that as we age we don't get old, we just get better. That certainly seems to be the case at the Artists' Association of Nantucket where the work of five contemporary artists is on view. Since its doors first opened in 1946, the AAN has graced the summer season with a rich diversity of work from the arts community on this fair isle, which boasts to have been a passionante venue for painters since the 17th century.

From left: works by Katie Trinkle Legge, Stephen Pitliuk and Paul Rudd

In this show entitled, "Exhibition- Four." the artists themselves are as intriguing as their work. Beginning with Stephen Pitliuk, a resident radiologic technologist at the Nantucket Cottage Hospital. In his art work, one can see the two strains of American modernist theory represented: abstraction and realism. Pitliuk adds a dash of satirical humor to his canvases of intense acrylic color, which are sealed with resin and peppered with graffiti. From the sublime to the ridiculous, Pitluik is poking fun at the Nantucket community: "Maatha, our child wants to marry outside the Yacht Club," reads one canvas, which is a collage of figuration and text. Another litany on the complex traffic patterns at the island rotaries is a vision near and dear to every driver who struggles with whether to yield or engage the oncoming traffic. Reflecting the pop culture of Warhol's lithos or the intense textual painting of Basquiat, Pitliuk has created a style that will endear him to those who venture into the collection of modern art; it challenges the intellect and tickles the funny bone at the same time.

Edwin Rudd is a relative newcomer from New Zealand. Working at the Egan Institute, Rudd trained at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Florida and is much sought after by the teaching communities on island and in his native country. His masterful handling of the watercolor medium is evident in this show as his works flow from local scenery to far away venues. His discerning eye has captured some little known monuments such as the kerosene storage building located next to the Brant Point lighthouse. In 1901 when the lighthouses were converted from lantern light to electric power, this structure was essentially abandoned, but it stands today as a witness to Nantucket's rich whaling heritage. The watercolors of Rudd in my opinion are as good as his mentors in technique and ingenuity: Sargent, Homer and Hopper to mention a few American stars in the field.

Jane Schnitzer is a fresh face on the horizon as an avid Nantucket semi-native whose lyrical works of the fields near Miacomet Pond capture her dedication to the apprenticeships she made at the New York Arts Students League and National Academy of Design. As a chartered financial analyst for many years with the U.S. Trust Company, Jane spent a later decade as a 19th-century art dealer. In a third career, she began painting as a copyist at the Metropolitan Museum and Musee de Louvre. As she noted, " If you can see, then you can paint," and her training in discerning between the real plein air works of the 19th century masters and the forgeries of same prepared her for a new career as a dedicated artist of her own right. Her meandering lanes and silent banquets of shade are familiar refuges to all who enjoy a quiet walk down one of our island's sandy, secluded paths. Jane haunts these locales for inspiration when she is not sailing with her women's group in the Nantucket Sound known as the Echo Girls.

Loretta Yoder is another renaissance soul whose creative energies have moved from theater to painting in her recent past. Prior to coming to Nantucket, she owned and operated a summer theater operation in Saugatuck, Michigan. As she planned "Act II" of her life, she decided to embrace her early proclivities for painting with vigor. One can see in her works in this exhibition two themes: the still life tradition as well as the outdoor landscape style with restless brush work and heavy impasto paints. With waves crashing on the beaches, one can see the rugged shores of Rockport, Maine, and Nantucket, Massachusetts soothing her soul as it searches for visual inspiration in each venue she frequents. One work in the show notes the view from the Grossman estate in Polpis, a sacred spot to all those who treasure this quiet knoll at the apex of that harbor

Linda Zola is a language arts teacher at the Nantucket New School, which provides her with free summers to pursue her passion in painting. Her work is a bifurcated mix of realism and abstraction as she weaves her acrylic canvases with underpainting for depth and brilliant color for emphasis. Her literary bent is obvious in the inclusion of text in some of her works as she rides the fine line between organic and industrial imagery. Wrestling with the limitations of acrylic paint, which dries faster than one can often control, Zola has a dedication to pursuing her range of talents. From the beaches to the bogs, Linda is looking for her inspiration in all she sees and her canvases reflect that dedicated discipline.

In summary, this show at the AAN is a convenient companion to the exhibition at the Nantucket Historical Association, which documents the range and depth of the Nantucket arts community at its inception. Artists, dealers, collectors, and patrons of the arts can share the glory of the vibrant summer art market on this island, where visual acuity is at a premium and often exceeds our wildest

dreams. I

The AAN gallery is locted at 19 Washington St.