It is with great pleasure that the Louisa Gould Gallery on Main Street in Vineyard Haven presents the Ninth Annual Group Abstract Show, “Personal Visions” opening on August 25, 2016 and continuing until September 11, 2016. The artists’ reception will be on August 27 from 5-7 p.m., with a curatorial talk about the exhibit by Roberta Gross on Tuesday, September 6 at 5 p.m. The exhibit showcases the work of six (6) artists, all with long time connections to Martha’s Vineyard: Jennifer Ellwood, Michaele Christian; Joyce Silberling, Martha Mae Jones; Laura Roosevelt and Roberta Gross. These artists create very individualistic works of art by creatively employing a variety of media: oil, fabrics, digital photography; monotypes, pastels, screen prints and mixed media compositions. Come by to meet the artists at the opening and enjoy light refreshments. Also, join Roberta Gross for a curatorial discussion of the exhibit on September 6th at 5 p.m.

Jennifer Ellwood’s abstract oil paintings, often inspired by nature including Vineyard landscapes, reflect a command of composition and a movement of forms and color. Throughout her career, Jennifer has explored the territory between pure abstract and near-representation. She typically works large scale, creating her paintings over long periods of time.  She develops a layered and complex surface that records the history of her work and her experience in the process of painting.  This surface is often interrupted with more immediate marks and lines on the surface that are in tension with the history of the piece. Jennifer not only is a talented abstract landscape artist, she is also a practicing psychotherapist who grew up in Pittsburgh, moved to Boston to attend Tufts University and graduated with a BA/BS in 1993. Jennifer has studied painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, at the University of Fine Arts in Hanoi, Vietnam, and privately. Her works, exhibited throughout New England, have been selected for numerous public installations including the Boston Seaport Hotel, Gateway Terrace Residence, Beauport Equity Corporation, the Bridgeport/New Haven Hospital, and others

Michaele Chamblee Christian is a retired oncologist who returned to her early love of art and painting by pursuing monotype printmaking at Featherstone Center for the Arts on Martha’s Vineyard beginning in 2004. She has studied with several instructors there including Linda Ziegler, Leslie Baker, and Nick Thayer. She has also studied with Skip Barnhardt and Penny Barringer in Washington, D.C. She uses monotype, collagraph, chine colle and collage techniques to explore themes related to nature and politics as well as more abstract themes. She most commonly works with oil-based inks and paints, but also uses water-based inks, water colors and crayon when it fits her artistic expression.

Martha Mae Jones turns to fabrics as her muse. In creating her original, coloristic assemblages, she uses textiles she creates as well as remnants of silk, cotton, rayon, bamboo, hemp, and other fibers. She is primarily interested in creating a harmony between the sedate and the wild, the new and the vintage, the bold and the subtle, the floral and the geometric. Trained as a sociologist, she went to Sweden studying weaving and textile design. For more than thirty years now, she has practiced her deep passion for textiles, exhibiting her fabric-centric creations in boutiques, including in New York City and in the Vineyard. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Martha’s Vineyard Magazine, Essence Magazine, Martha’s Vineyard Times, Shuttle and Dye, The Pittsburgh Business Times and the Amsterdam News.

Laura Roosevelt, a year round resident of West Tisbury, uses many different ways to express her artistic insights: she is a poet, journalist, and photographer. She is once again presenting her abstract photography for this exhibit. Her photographs reflect her continued interest in bodies of water in which she responds to visual images of the boats, pilings, docks, buildings -- seemingly solid objects -- as they become distorted and transformed by the water’s movement. She aims for the photographs to appear painterly rather than more hard edged and presents colorful compositions of swirling patterns and distortions.

Joyce Silberling primarily works in water media but also incorporates fiber as well as hand dyed papers into her monoprints and collages. She also is a skilled print maker. Her work often highlights figures in their journey through life, searching for a home, whether it is one that is social, political or spiritual. These figures exist in “a great cloud of witnesses” ( Hebrews 11) leading her to ponder the individual and collective conscience in the world today.

Roberta Gross, the curator of, and a participant in this exhibit, is a resident of Aquinnah and Philadelphia, PA. She shows her work in galleries in Philadelphia and on the Vineyard. She often can be seen at the Featherstone Center for the Arts where she teaches abstract and mixed media art courses. For this exhibit, she is showcasing both her abstract pastels inspired by life models and a group of playful geometric screen prints. Both series, though in very different media, demonstrate her love for strong colors and shapes as well as bold contrasts. Roberta has studied at the Smithsonian Institution, the Corcoran School of Art, the Torpedo Factory (all in the Washington, DC area) and is a member of and on the Board of the historic Plastic Club of Philadelphia.

Louisa Gould Gallery is located at 54 Main Street in the historic cultural district of Vineyard Haven. View the online show at www.louisagould.com and call for directions at (508) 693.7373. The Louisa Gould Gallery is open daily from 11am to 5pm.