February 12 - February 29, 2012
Artists Collections – 
What Island Artists LOVE To Collect
Opening Reception Sunday, February 12 from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
in the Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone.
Continues through February 29 12:00 - 4:00 p.m. Daily









March 4 - March 9, 2012
Truda Silberstein - MVRHS Senior Photography Student of Chris Baer
Opening Reception Sunday, March 4  4:00 – 6:00 p.m. 
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone, Oak Bluffs. 
Continues through March 9 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Daily

"I am enthralled by the visual experience that is the human form, the way each body part expresses its owner. I admire a hand that frames an emotion, or a knee that jitters, as though bouncing a baby. The way light hits an ear or an arched neck creates a moment of art. It is beautiful. From that moment on I am hooked on the dance that is that body’s life. I long to catch that dance the way it has caught me. Sometimes, with my camera and video camera, I do. I take pictures and video to seize those moments because I am unable to resist the organic artwork that is the physique."

Vineyard Gazette Article

March 11 - March 16, 2012
Holga Heaven - Photography Students of Sam Hiser 
Opening Reception Sunday, March 11 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone, Oak Bluffs. 
Continues through March 16 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Daily

MVTimes Article 



March 18 - March 30, 2012

Winter into Spring Painting Show
Opening Reception Sunday, March 18
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone, Oak Bluffs. 
Continues through March 30 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Daily

MV Times Article: Featherstone Center for the Arts Hosts New Painting Show

April 1 - April 18, 2012
The Art of Intaglio 
featuring Washington Ledesma, Beldan K. Radcliffe & Nick Thayer 
(Copper and Zinc Etchings)
Opening Reception Sunday, April 1 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone, Oak Bluffs
Continues through April 18 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Daily

MVTimes.com Article 

The Art of Vineyard Architecture- Celebrating Vineyard ArchitectsApril 27, 2012

April 22 - May 9, 2012
The Art of Vineyard Architecture-
Celebrating Vineyard Architects 
Opening Reception 
Sunday, April 22 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, 
Featherstone, Oak Bluffs. 
Continues through May 9 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Daily

Participating Architects: 
Patrick Ahearn Architect, Architecture Indigo, LLC, Hutker Architects, MacNelly Cohen Architects, Mashek MacLean Architects, South Mountain, Sullivan O’Connor Architects, Stephen Pogue Architect, Judge Skelton Smith Architects, Terrain Architects

MVTimes Article: "Art : Martha's Vineyard architects show us how they think"

May 13 - May 25, 2012
The Art of Flowers 
with Guest Curator: Holly Alaimo
Opening Reception Sunday, May 13 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone, Oak Bluffs
Continues through May 25 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Daily

MVTimes Article 







May 27 - June 6, 2012

The Art of Costume Design 
Celebrating 30th Anniversary at the Vineyard Playhouse 
with Guest Curator: MJ Bruder Munafo
Opening Reception 
Sunday, May 27  4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, 
Featherstone, Oak Bluffs
Continues through June 6 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Daily






June 10 - June 27, 2012
The Art of iPhone Photography
Opening Reception Sunday, June 10  4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone, Oak Bluffs
Continues through June 27 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Daily

July 1 - July 18, 2012
Martha’s Vineyard Artists of The Copley Society

Opening Reception Sunday, July 1 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone, Oak Bluffs
Continues through July 18 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Daily

Featuring Artists:

Leslie Baker
Laurene Krasny Brown
Stephanie Danforth
Mary French
Nancy Furino
Anne Grandin
Barbara Leiner
Meg Mercier
Jessica Pisano
Rosalie Shane
Jeanne Staples
Max Stern
Ovid Ward

copleysociety.org

July 22 - August 1, 2012
"Metamorphoses: Change and Transformation" –
featuring Nancy Blank and Roberta Gross
Opening Reception Sunday, July 22 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone, Oak Bluffs
Continues through August 1 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Daily








August 5 - August 22, 2012
The Art of Jazz
Opening Reception Sunday, August 5 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone, Oak Bluffs
Continues through August 22 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Daily

August 26 - September 12, 2012
The Art of Flight Ceramics Show 
with Guest Curator: Washington Ledesma
Opening Reception Sunday, August 26 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone, Oak Bluffs
Continues through September 12 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Daily

September 16 - October 3, 2012
The Art of Handmade Paper 

with Guest Curator: Sandy Bernat
Opening Reception Sunday, September 16 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone, Oak Bluffs
Continues through October 3 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Daily



The Art of Handmade Paper show is an exhibition of work by 13 artists who work with handmade paper as a source for art expression.  Sandy Bernat, wet fiber artist and proprietor of Seastone Papers, a hand papermaking and book arts studio in West Tisbury, is the guest curator. Four months in the planning, this show at Featherstone Center for the Arts highlights work from artists throughout the country as well as the Vineyard that is both unique and expansive in scope. From sculptural installations to paintings rendered in pulp to “wearable” paper art, the common thread in the work of artists in this show is plant fiber which inspires and informs personal artistic expression. 

The show features Deborah Baldizar's paper sculptures, Sandy Bernat's wearable paper art, Shannon Brock's pulp painting narratives, Laurie Krasny Brown's paper assemblage, Melissa Jay Craig's mushroom book installation, Jane Eccle's pulp paintings, Sheila Fane's pulp paintings and sculpture, Carol Brown Goldberg's drawings on cornhusk paper, Aimee Lee's hanji (Korean) paper pieces, Kanta Lipsky's pulp painting landscape, Betsy Rogge Miraglia's handmade paper collages, Franny Werthwein's seaweed laminations, and Beck Whitehead's flora and fauna paper sculptures. A video installation will run throughout the show depicting the nature of wet pulp fiber and methods that a few of these artists use in creating their work.

Artists who work with handmade paper may begin by creating their own pulp: extracting cellulose fiber directly from plants in a cook, rinse, and beat method,
or they may process cloth that originated from plants. Some artists may create their paper art by working with fibers that have already been prepared but which they color, form, and manipulate into two and three dimensional art using tools unique to papermaking such as the mould and deckle. Other artists may work with handmade paper fibers together with other media. The fibers, tools, and paper methods are as varied as the artists’ thoughts, ideas, and philosophies. It is the artist who has sustained this ancient craft of making paper, elevating paper from being just an expendable material to an art form.

Saturday & Sunday, October 6 & 7, 2012
The 9th Annual Art of Chocolate Festival
12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Each Day
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone, Oak Bluffs
2 tastes for $5 or 5 tastes for $10

October 14 - October 31, 2012
Island Faces Portrait Contest – 
People’s Choice Awards
Opening Reception Sunday, October 14, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone, Oak Bluffs
Continues through October 31 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Daily

November 4 - November 13, 2012
The Art of Politics 
with Guest Curator: Richard Limber
Opening Reception Sunday, November 4, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone, Oak Bluffs
Continues through November 13 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Daily

Friday, November 16, 2012

The 10th Annual Holiday Gift Show Preview Party
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone, Oak Bluffs
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

November 17 – December 19, 2012
The 10th Annual Holiday Gift Show
Virginia Weston Besse Gallery, Featherstone, Oak Bluffs
12:00 – 4:00 p.m. Each Day

MVTimes Article 

Participating Artists:

Ruth Adams, Carol Barstow, Larissa Bernat, Donna Blackburn, Nancy Blank, L.A. Brown, Rose Campbell, Laura Caruso, Claire Chalfoun, Louise Clough, Marston Clough, Helayne Cohen, Charlotte Cole, Frank Creney, Deirdre DeCarion, Michael Ditchfield, Betsy Edge, Karen English, Samantha Folts, Janice Frame, Debra M. Gaines, Warren V. Gaines, Fred J. Hancock, Susan Handy, Andrea Hartman, Joan Hewson, John Holladay, Eleanor Hubbard, Genevieve Jacobs, Nancy Kingsley, Erika Kuryla, Washington Ledesma, Floy Miller, Nancy Morris, Cammie Naylor, Amy Nevin, Alida O’Loughlin, Oak Bluffs Homemakers, Dan Parker, Barbara Peckham, Doug Peckham, Kathy Poehler, Lucinda Sheldon, Donna Straw, Mary Thomson, Lisa Vanderhoop, Cynthia Wayman, Eva Weinstein, Stefanie Wolf

Special Thanks to 
Amy Custis, Kate Hancock & Minor Knight