The art colony and the sea
By Rain Harbison • Contributing Writer
Maritime on Nantucket may sound like an unnecessary combination of words, but when it comes to Nantucket's maritime art, it is anything but redundant. This collection of art encompasses such styles as impressionism, surrealism, lithographs, collographs and sketches. Then there are the different mediums including watercolor, acrylic, oil, pastel, pen and ink, and bronze. There are black and white and color, old and new, minimalist and flamboyant, real life and fantasy, plus humor. Besides being all nautically themed these paintings also share another common bond, they all belong to the Artists' Association's permanent collection.

From top: The artwork of John Devaney, Jumian Yates and Frank Swift Chase.

Every piece of art is as different as the artists who created it. So it is either a miracle or utter genius that Robert Frazier (Bobby, to his friends), the curator for the Artists' Association, could divide maritime art on Nantucket, spanning the years of 1884 - 2007, into categories. Frazier has managed to allocate them into four general groupings. The categories are Wildlife, Commercial, Recreational and Man against the Sea.

Maritime wildlife may sound like a crazy yacht party, but it is more along the lines of the creatures we may not see often but know that they are nearby - whales, fish, seabirds, seaweed and deserted seashells.

David Lazarus has a monochromatic study of whales. Pat Gardner created a simple pen and ink drawing of seaweed and another of a shorebird in pencil. Peter Johnston has a maritime piece in bronze and John Sharp has created seagulls in an eternal swirl of blues and greens. These are just some examples of what is offered under the umbrella of 'wildlife' at the AAN. The Commercial group is not meant to be about marketability, it is there to remind us of how the ocean is a provider, whether it is gathering mussels for dinner, seaweed for our gardens, fishing as livelihood or the ferry bringing us our rice and sake. Just a few representatives of this group are George Thomas' lithographs from the Moby Dick series and Janet Ball McGlinn's hand-colored collography of two scallopers bringing in their daily catch. Janet Ball McGlinn also has a numbered print from her own Moby Dick series. There is also Anita Coffin Dammin's ominous 'Old North Wharf' and Jack Weinhold's 'lightship baskets'.

The third category is Recreation. This category is all about summer. It will literally transport you to times of sandcastles, fishing comfortably in shorts, seaside cook outs, windsurfing, sailing and kayaking. This category is explained through the works of artists like, John Egle, Maud Millicent Clapp, George Thomas, Andrea Dugan and Gretchen Weeber.

The fourth and final group in the opening is Man verses the Sea. This series entails how the sea can be brutal and some of the ways we humans deal with that brutality. Whether one is trying to prevent disasters from happening through the use of lighthouses and lightships, or the entities that help us when disaster strikes, namely the coast guard and life saving stations. Some of the artists who comprise this assemblage are; Jeannette Carl, Maud Millicent Clapp, Nathaniel Benchley, Elwyn Chamberlain and Wendell Macy.

Even with the knack for categorizing that Robert Frazier has shown there is one painting that refuses to be pigeonholed. It is the humble humanitarian yet legendary queen of Madaket: Commander Millie. Painted in 1955 by Gladys Milligan, 'Commander Millie' stands as if a sentry. Only now she is guarding over the irreplaceable works of art instead of over her treasured Madaket.

The Artists'Association has put together an amazing collection of themed art. They have one of the largest collections of contemporary art that is accessible to the community and they continue to preserve and maintain irreplaceable pieces of Nantucket's art. So join the Artists' Association on January 30 and be transported through time, seasons and the many

facets of Nantucket's Beauty. I

- The Artists' Association will host opening on Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. This opening complements 'One Book One Island' community venture. The inspiration this year is Ernest Hemingway's, 'Old Man and the Sea'. The Artists' Association's contribution is, 'The Art Colony and the Sea'. Over 40 artists will be represented, with pieces dating from 1884 - 2007, in this maritime collection. There is also a significant presentation from the original art colonies from the 1930s to 1950s.