Featherstone Center for the Arts

08/13/2025

INTERIORITY, curated by Sandra Grymes, continues in the Francine Kelly Gallery through this Sunday, August 17th. Read more about the show in this week’s Vineyard Gazette article ‘Interiority Photo Exhibit Speaks Volumes’ (🔗 in bio).

“It gave me an opportunity to bring together 10 outstanding artists who really document the lives of people, center Black life and extol our shared humanity,” said Ms. Grymes. “That’s what I try to do.”

“The process of curating is engaging and challenging and fun,” said Ms. Grymes. “It brings some fresh energy to the gallery space, to the Island. Their work plays off of the other, and all the work is in dialogue with each other.”

The exhibit features the work of: Rahim Fortune • Genevieve Gaignard • Lyle Ashton Harris • Ayanna V. Jackson • Fabiola Jean-Louis • John Pinderhughes • Sienna Pinderhughes • Frank Stewart • Carrie Mae Weems • Deborah Willis


✍️ by Eloise Christy
📷 by

Featured images:
1) Valerie Francis admiring Genevieve Gaignard‘s work.
2) Ayana Jackson posing with one of her images.
3) Photography by Carrie Mae Weems.

08/12/2025

Tonight! The final Photographers Salon of the season is Tuesday, August 12th at 6PM! Join photographers and enthusiasts for Open Salon, where anyone is welcome to bring one printed photograph to share with the audience. The Open Salon is always interesting, with known and new artists stepping up to share their work.

This photo was taken at last year’s Open Salon, while a grandfather and granddaughter presented together 💙.
Refreshments and Q&A, free and open to the public.

Hosted by Michael Johnson

featherstoneart.org/photographerssalon

08/10/2025

Guess who? ANONYMOUS ART show & FUNdraiser is TODAY! Stop by later today - Sunday, August 10th to see all of the 6x6 inch pieces of art that have been donated to Featherstone to auction off during this fun event!

• All art will be sold for $100 at the Anonymous Art show on August 10th from 4:00-6:00PM.
• From student entries to professional artists, guests at the event will not know who created each piece until the end of the event!
• You can sign up fo your chance to win individual pieces. Bid sheets determine the winners by the roll of a 🎲.
• The event is a fundraiser for Featherstone, $25 admission (free for participating artists) with all artwork being donated and art sale proceeds benefitting the art center.
• Anonymous Art show is a fun art show & fundraiser of affordable artwork, drinks and small bites!
• $25 tickets are on sale at: featherstoneart.org/anonymousart
✨ small art. big fun! ✨

08/09/2025

Next week! We look forward to hosting Visiting Artist Douglas David next week for a one day beginner oil painting workshop and a two day seascapes workshop! David’s classes are incredibly informative and students always leave with impressive paintings. He is also thoroughly entertaining! Come learn the basics or brush up on your skills and further develop your technique.

Basics of Oil Painting with Douglas David
Friday, August 15, 9:30AM - 3:30PM
This beginner friendly workshop will cover the basic principles of oil painting and get you painting simple and easy to understand objects in a short time. The class includes discussions on all the basic elements of painting including, composition, massing, building form, light and shadow.

Dynamic Skies & Seascapes in Oil
Saturday & Sunday, August 16 & 17, 9:30AM - 4:00PM each day
This studio seascape painting workshop will yield several waves and seascapes with dynamic skies over a 2 day period. Sunrise, sunset and various cloud formations will be covered. Class will include the basic principles of oil painting with regard to seascape painting. Discussions and lectures on basic composition, massing, building form, light and shadow, near and far, capturing and developing atmospheric distance and knowing when a work is finished.

Learn more at: featherstoneart.org/painting

08/07/2025

We had a visit from Garden Gate children last week to view INTERIORITY. Come see this beautifully curated show by Sandra Grymes in the Francine Kelly Gallery through August 17th, 12-4PM each day. As part of the exhibition’s programming, we are hosting two guest speakers, both art historians and curators - today and this coming Monday:

Thursday, August 7th at 4PM
Dr. Adrienne Childs Award winning art historian will discuss her newly released book Ornamental Blackness: The Black Figure in European Decorative Arts.

Monday, August 11th at 4PM
Dr. Madeleine Haddon Art historian, curator of V&A East so will discuss the future of museums and the vision behind V&A East, the newest campus of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

All events are free and open to the public.

08/06/2025

Join us this Thursday August 7th at 4PM for award winning art historian Dr. Adrienne Childs’ discussion of her new book, Ornamental Blackness: The Black Figure in European Decorative Arts.

“Ornamental Blackness is a book project that creates a framework for understanding how the decorative arts figure into the larger discourse of representing blacks in European visual culture of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.”

Dr. Childs is an independent scholar, art historian, and curator, currently serving as Senior Consulting Curator at The Phillips Collection. Childs was awarded the 2022 Driskell Prize in recognition of her contribution to African American art and art history from The High Museum of Art.

Ornamental Blackness Book Talk with Dr. Adrienne Childs
Thursday, August 7th at 4PM in the Francine Kelly Gallery. This talk is offered in conjunction with the current exhibition INTERIORITY, on view through August 17th.

Free registration available at: featherstoneart.org/adriennechilds

08/05/2025

Today! Join us Tuesday, August 5th at 6PM for this week’s Photographers Salon featuring Larisa Stinga. Learn about her creative process while she shares images and her inspiration with us.

“I embarked on an unbelievable journey to capture the highs, the lows, and the beautifully mundane moments of human life through my lens. To me, life is a grand adventure filled with captivating stories and unforgettable characters.This medium is more than a form of expression for me—it is the secret language of my soul. Passionate about telling people’s stories, I now create images on the island, that aim not just to be seen, but to evoke strong emotions.”

Photographers Salon at Featherstone Center for the Arts hosted by
Tuesday, August 5th at 6PM, featuring
Refreshments and Q&A, free and open to the public!

featherstoneart.org/photographerssalon

08/03/2025

We were thrilled to host A’Lelia Bundles this past Wednesday at Featherstone! Read more about her recently released book Joy Goddess in the Cape Cod Times: https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/local/2025/07/30/alelia-bundles-author-joy-goddess-marthas-vineyard-ma-madam-walker/85378901007/

A'Lelia Bundles fascinated a standing room only crowd at the Featherstone Center for the Arts on Wednesday with stories about her great grandmother, A'Lelia Walker. Walker's life as the daughter of Madam C. J. Walker is demystified in Bundles' new book, Joy Goddess. The book talk was hosted by the Cottagers, Featherstone and ASALH.

08/03/2025