Art Reception-Virginia Stone

On Sunday, May 7th, from 2:00-4:00 PM, a reception will take place at the West Tisbury Library to celebrate the art of Virginia Stone.

The drawings of Virginia Stone, Chilmark resident, will be on display in the Community Room of the West Tisbury Library for the month of May. These drawings reflect her impressions of the early days of Covid, up-Island. Stone recalls that because she could no longer meet in person with her Featherstone drawing group, she started recording the world around her as a daily drawing practice. Stone says, “I drew in Aquinnah, Chilmark and West Tisbury, capturing scenes that reflected the reaction toward Covid.” Her observations brought home how many radical changes were occurring in our community, in order to keep people safe. In those uncertain early days, Stone says, “We wondered who would get it next and how badly. There was fear and hope and also humor in our situation.” The small 5”x7” Prismacolor sketches are mostly realistic renditions, instantly recognizable to up-Islanders, with occasionally, artistic choices made for either composition or to add emotion. “At the Chilmark Church, services were held outdoors, and I replicated the  mask a  seagull was carrying near the steeple as a rainbow mask to indicate a symbol of hope,” she says.Another scene she portrays is the Black Lives Matter daily gathering at Beetlebung Corner in Chilmark.  Here, Stone says, one hand-made sign seemed to sum up  all that we all were feeling physically and mentally in a hand-written  signs supporting the George Floydoutrage, “I can’t breathe.”

The show is free and open to the public during library hours, from 10am to 6pm Monday through Thursday, and 10am to 5pm Friday and Saturday.