Mellie and Janis
The mermaids of Coffin Street
BY SHARON LORENZO INDEPENDENT CONTRIBUTOR
Do you know Mellie Cooper and Janis Aldridge, the mermaids of Coffin Street on Nantucket? Mermaids are magical women who can lure any sailor off course with a wink and a smile. At the Aldridge Gallery at 6 Coffin St., you can see the work of this dynamic duo - Mellie, the artist who makes her own paper and paints works with Nantucket flora and fauna in magnificently framed boxes highlighted with nautical stars exhibited by Janis Aldridge, the gallery owner and manager.

This year's series features the "Red Boat," the Nantucket lightship, not the rainbow fleet, in all its magnificent array of color and tradition. From the first voyage to the South Shoal on June 15, 1854, this lightship idea was endorsed and funded by the U.S. government as part of our coastal security to protect our merchant fleet from running aground. The initial Congressional report noted, "Many a gallant ship lies buried in one common grave," as there are reported to be remains of over 400 shipwrecks in the waters around Nantucket.

My favorite of the new series poses two mermaids on the beach at Brant Point, sunbathing under umbrellas as the Lightship turns the bend into the Harbor. Mellie often composes her work with island shells, which appear in 3-D relief on her handmade paper, a process that makes each piece unique. For island connoisseurs who capture her works before they fly off the walls of the gallery, my message to you is to hurry on down to see these mermaids on Coffin Street who will delight your eye and beguile your wallet with their humorous embrace of a unique Nantucket summer

painting tradition. I