Participating Artists:

Joe Henry Baker, Sarah Bedford, Chris Bogia, Peter Dayton, Nathan Dilworth, Andie Dinkin, Matthew F Fisher, Christian Franzen, Evan Goldhagen, Cody Heichel, Daniel Heidkamp, Ryan Johnson, Craig Kucia, Jennifer Langhammer, Noel de Lesseps, Anders Lindseth, Maud Madsen, Tommy May, Eileen Murphy, Tessa Greene O'Brien, Sarah Palmer, Colin Ruel, Sarah Schlesinger, Tania Skeaping, Beth Smith, Benjamin Staker, Mika Takahashi, Mary Temple,  Demetrius Wilson, Marlon Wobst

Blue Door Gallery, Half Gallery, and Mrs. are pleased to present A Beach Scene, a collaborative exhibition on Martha’s Vineyard, on view from July 3–5, 2026 at the Tashmoo Springs Pump House, a historic location positioned near the island’s distinctive tidal landscape.

This collaboration marks the second curatorial project at the Tashmoo Springs Pump House for Half Gallery, while Mrs. returns to the island after previously hosting a pop-up in Edgartown in 2019. The three galleries are united by a deep affection for Martha’s Vineyard, an attachment forged over many seasons of return, shaped by the salty air, changing coastal light, and the gentle rhythms of island life.

For these galleries, the island has become a chosen home, defined not by permanence, but by familiarity, return, and emotional connection. Shaped by family histories and fleeting summer moments, these ties are both personal and evolving, grounded in memories that linger long after August fades.

Martha’s Vineyard is a place where exceptional natural beauty meets a deep artistic legacy. The island, featuring over 124 miles of tidal shoreline and six distinct towns, has historically been a refuge and a source of creative inspiration. Its unique atmosphere, where the landscape and human experience are interwoven, has influenced cultural figures like Loïs Mailou Jones, Carly Simon, Thomas Hart Benton, and Dorothy West. The island is not merely a setting, but an active partner in the work it inspires, naturally fostering a space for observation and reflection.

For A Beach Scene, each gallery has selected artists whose work engages with, reflects upon, or reinterprets the notion of the beach, whether as physical landscape, metaphor, memory, or idea. The exhibition brings together artists from both on and off the island, creating a dialogue between those shaped by Martha’s Vineyard directly and those responding to it from afar. Across a range of mediums and perspectives, the exhibition considers how coastal settings influence perception, emotion, and artistic form. Some works directly depict the shoreline as subject; others approach it more abstractly, using it as a conceptual framework.

This presentation offers a contemporary and layered interpretation of a timeless subject, positioning the beach not as a singular image, but as an idea shaped equally by individual perspective and collective memory.