Oak Bluffs artist Andrew Moore didn’t believe it when he was asked to send art to an exhibit in Gov. Maura Healey’s office.
”I got an email from the governor’s office, which I thought was spam, saying the governor’s office would like to you bring some paintings for a show representing the Cape and Islands,” Mr. Moore said Friday.
His art is now part of the fourth exhibition that Governor Healey has brought to the State House this year in an effort to highlight works from across the commonwealth. The show will be on display through Sept. 15.
“Tens of thousands of visitors from across the world come here to experience our rich culture and history, so it was important to us that we incorporate a range of inclusive voices and art to help tell our shared Massachusetts story,” said Governor Healey said in a statement.
Two of Mr. Moore’s paintings are part of the exhibit. The first, Into the Blue, is an oil on linen painting of bunches of goldenrod flowers growing along a path to the ocean. The painting is displayed in a frame lined with painted monarch butterflies, which rely on the flowers for nectar during their migration.
The second painting, The Rigger, depicts Gary Maynard working on repairs to a schooner called the Alabama. Mr. Moore painted it while living off-Island.
“They had hauled the hull of Alabama out in Fairhaven, and I happened to have moved there when I first got married. Happened the year that I moved there and I was kind of missing the Vineyard,” said Mr. Moore. “Then there were all these Vineyard guys in the next town over from me, so I spent the next year painting the process of rebuilding Alabama.”
Mr. Moore has since moved back to Martha’s Vineyard with his family. His gallery, which first opened in 1990, is now called the Moore Family Gallery. It showcases the work of Mr. Moore and his two children, Hannah, who is a watercolor painter, and Gordon, who is a ceramicist.
“It’s just a wonderful place to live as an artist. So much changes seasonally, and with the ocean and the coastline and the inland, there’s so much variety,” said Mr. Moore. “It’s been a really nice place to live as an artist. I’ve found lots of support here.”
