West Tisbury Free Public Library
February 2021
Valentine Estabrook
Valentine, an island artist, teaches a series of art classes, virtually via Zoom, from her studio in West Tisbury. She says "In May we began with the basics: composition, drawing, lights and darks. We learned that shadow and light tell us the time of day and the direction of the sunlight. These variations bring weight to our painting, a theme familiar to all but presented within the artist’s vision. Each class is different in scope. Through several classes we’ve worked with pastels, acrylic paints and charcoal sticks and pencils. Each medium offers new opportunities in expression.
Children are fearless." Valentine was raised to believe that every child is born with an artistic instinct. "It is a part, in varying degrees, of our nature…a beautiful artistic sense to tap and hold forever."
With a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism, and a minor in Art, from Northwestern University she has displayed a multi-faceted approach to creative practice. She went on to study at the Kansas City Institute of Art and the Chicago Art Institute as well. While her career path once led her to a position in News and Documentary Film at NBC, and PBS, she has most recently been concentrating her focus on working with oils, acrylics, and varied forms of functional art.
Valentine is a member of the local Plain Air group AIRE MV, with her work featured in Martha's Vineyard's own Old Sculpin Gallery and many galleries off the island as well. She has worked in conjunction with Featherstone Center for the Arts, the Vineyard Conservation Society Art Auction, and the MV Artisan's Fair for selected exhibitions among a number of other exhibitions on the mainland. She is also a member of the New York Art Student's League and of the BBBS (Big Brothers Big Sisters) Community outreach program.
She creates out of her West Tisbury studio, Gallery Gallery, and has made a commitment to pursuing her art practice as a full-time career.
To get in contact directly please email:
Featured
Student
Artwork
Students are given a prompt, an example of an image to replicate, and asked to apply the techniques or concepts they have learned through the West Tisbury Library virtual art class in order to replicate that shared image. The following galleries display a compilation of student creations based on those examples.
-Waterlily Series-
-Winter Mountain Series-
-Unicorn Series-
-Fox Series-
-Sailboat Series-
Swimming Horse Series
Giraffe Series
Ducks on a Pond Series
Charcoal Series
Charcoal Series
Beach Path Series
Other Artwork Series
Virtual Beginner’s Charcoal Class – Fridays from 4pm-5pm
This virtual art class for kids, taught by Island artist Val Estabrook, will be running through the end of the month. This class is an introduction to charcoal. The class is intended to be an introduction to charcoal and will help students to get a feel for the medium and learn how to apply soft, medium and hard charcoal to textured paper. Charcoals, as a medium, are not often taught. They are a great tool for illustrating shading, shadowing and highlighting in art.
Supplies will be provided by WTFPL to island students.
Email mlawson@clamsnet.org for the ZOOM log in to join. Classes will meet 1/22, 1/29, 2/5, 2/12, 2/19, and 2/26