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MV art guide: 40+ galleries from Benton at the Granary to glassblowing in West Tisbury. Free admission, First Fridays, and where to find island art.
Martha's Vineyard has more than 40 art galleries spread across six towns, and a painting and sculpture tradition going back over a century. From Thomas Hart Benton's Chilmark studio to the white dancing sculptures in West Tisbury, the island has more art than its size suggests. Nearly all galleries are free to enter, most are seasonal (Memorial Day–Columbus Day), and they cluster in walkable districts.
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1050 State Road, West Tisbury, one of the island's most photographed spots. Tom Maley (1911–2000) made the larger-than-life white dancing figures from urethane foam, fiberglass and epoxy; the gallery opened August 8, 1971. The sculpture field is free to walk through any time, day or night. The MV Museum ran a "Tom Maley: Dancing in the Field" retrospective from March 7 through September 6, 2026.
Inside are 3 gallery spaces and 25+ artists, with a Saturday afternoon reception for each new show, about every two weeks in summer. Owned by Chris and Sheila Morse (Morse Arts, Inc.). Free. fieldgallery.com
The Granary Gallery from the road in October: the red barn, the flag and the sign for fine art and antiques, with a pumpkin at the foot of the post.
636 Old County Road, West Tisbury. Its founders opened their first island gallery in Edgartown in 1954 and turned this red barn into the Granary in 1977, and it calls itself the island's oldest and largest gallery: a restored grain barn plus an art-filled courtyard, with 75+ active artists and 100+ in all, including historical estates.
The roster includes Thomas Hart Benton (50+ Vineyard summers, dozens of works available), Alfred Eisenstaedt (100+ limited-edition prints, held his first public exhibition here in 1986), Loïs Mailou Jones, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Milton Avery, Wolf Kahn, Margaret Bourke-White. Friday Premiere receptions run 4–6 PM, and the gallery is open daily year-round, free. granarygallery.com. These artists' island years, and those of other famous summer people, are in our who-lived-where guide.
For a fall trip
The Vineyard in the Fall, free
The Derby, the beaches that open to everyone and what closes when, date by date. Free with the island letter, together with our other three island guides.
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58 Dock Street, Edgartown: an 1840 building that was a sail loft, a whale oil factory and a boat builder's shop. It is named after "Old Sculpin" Manuel Swartz Roberts, who built catboats here. The building inspired Quint's shack in Jaws: production designer Joe Alves used it as his main design reference, and it was part of the Jaws 50th anniversary celebrations in 2025. Alfred Eisenstaedt helped keep the place going: for more than twenty years his slide lectures at the Old Whaling Church filled the seats and raised money for the Art Association that runs the gallery.
Old Sculpin Gallery on the Edgartown waterfront, its name painted across the old barn doors.
It is home to the Martha's Vineyard Art Association (since 1954, 60+ juried members), with exhibitions that change weekly and Sunday receptions 5–7 PM. Open Memorial Day–Columbus Day, free. oldsculpingallery.org
30 Featherstone Lane, Oak Bluffs. A year-round nonprofit arts center, founded in 1996, on a six-acre campus with gardens, sculptures and a labyrinth.
Workshops include Art Nights (two-hour evening classes in ceramics, jewelry and fiber arts) and an assisted knitting open studio; children's classes start at age 3, with a four-week session at $160. The galleries are free and open noon to 4 PM daily while a show is up. The yearly events are the Anonymous Art Show (August), the Potter's Bowl (September, $40 a bowl) and the Holiday Gift Show (early November to mid-December, 100+ artists). featherstoneart.org
A BUY ART sticker on a post in the Cronig’s parking lot in Vineyard Haven, with the web addresses of three island galleries around the rim: the Field Gallery, North Water Gallery and the Granary Gallery.
The porch and easel out front of Cousen Rose Gallery in Oak Bluffs.
Hand-carved birds by Arthur Peltier in round frames, priced on a shop shelf rather than hung in a gallery.
Louisa Gould Gallery (54 Main St) has shown ~50 artists since 2003, priced $40–$50,000, was voted "Best MV Gallery" in 2006–07 and is open year-round. Kennedy Studios (66 Main St) sells art and prints and does framing, year-round. Michael Johnson Photo Gallery (34A Main St, down the garden path between Claudia's Jewelry and Soft as a Grape) sells Vineyard photography from a tiny cottage at the end of a brick walk the artist calls the Love Garden. The garden is a nice find in itself.
The brick path to the Michael Johnson Photo Gallery, hidden in a garden just off Main Street.
The gallery’s sandwich board on a Vineyard Haven sidewalk, a Welcome plank hung over it and, taped to the corner, a notice for Tivoli Day across the water in Oak Bluffs.
Two dancing figures in a Vineyard Haven front garden, green with patina, a crape myrtle in bloom behind them, seen from the sidewalk.
Eisenhauer Gallery (38 North Water St) marked its 25th anniversary in 2025 and shows 40+ artists from as far away as New Zealand and as close as Chilmark. Free "Music in the Square" concerts in the Vineyard Square courtyard, Thursdays 6–8 PM from mid-June into early September. Christina Gallery (5 Winter St) has sold Impressionist paintings and antique maps from the 1500s for 49 years. Winter Street Gallery (22 Winter St, between North Water and North Summer) is a small contemporary gallery opened in 2020 by Ingrid Lundgren and George Newall, whose shows have drawn coverage from Architectural Digest and Surface. North Water Gallery, from the Morse Arts family, shows maritime themes.
Oak Bluffs has a formal Arts District on Dukes County Avenue (artsinob.com), and its Arts District Strolls go back 20+ years. The main stops are Galaxy Gallery (nonprofit co-op), Alison Shaw Gallery (fine art photography) and Knowhere Art Gallery (multicultural contemporary), and Cousen Rose Gallery (Black-owned, since 1980) is a short walk away at the top of Circuit Avenue. Craftworks on Circuit Ave is a contemporary American craft gallery.
MV Glassworks (683 State Rd, West Tisbury) lets you watch glassblowing for free, is known for its glass pumpkins and has been open year-round since 1992. Chilmark Pottery, in West Tisbury despite its name, has made mugs, bowls, vases and lamps since 1982. Island Folk Pottery (Chilmark) has a free half-mile fairy sculpture trail through the woods, and Kara Taylor Gallery (Chilmark) shows gold-leaf paintings. Aquinnah Cliffs have Wampanoag-made wampum jewelry and crafts.
Thomas Hart Benton (1889–1975), America's best-known Regionalist painter, first visited in 1920, bought a Chilmark cottage in 1928 and came back for 50+ summers. His ashes are buried on the family's island property, and the Granary Gallery shows his work year-round.
Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898–1995), the Life magazine photographer, spent every August on the island for more than 50 years, staying at the Menemsha Inn from 1950. His first public exhibition was at the Granary Gallery in 1986, and 100+ of his prints are available there.
Oak Bluffs has its own Black artistic heritage: Dorothy West (often called the last surviving writer of the Harlem Renaissance), Loïs Mailou Jones, Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence.
More ideas: rainy day activities, shopping guide, and budget tips.
Island tip of the day Timing No. 58 of 79 New tip at midnight, island time
Oak Bluffs restaurants are packed 6–8 PM. Eat at 5 PM or after 8:30 PM: same food, half the wait, easier parking.
All six town libraries on Martha's Vineyard, checked October 2026: hours and addresses, how visitors get a library card, free Wi-Fi, the concerts, art shows and programs, the Libraries of Things with beach chairs and stargazing kits, museum and beach parking passes, and a short history of each building.
Rain on MV? Museum, bookstore, bowling, escape rooms, breweries, spa, shopping, and 25+ indoor activities across all six towns.
The Game Room in Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard: arcade games, racing simulators, and a reliable plan for a rainy island day with kids.
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