Bill and Dale

Hurricane Bill, contrary to dire predictions made by the talking heads on television, skirted Nantucket without major incidents earlier this week, except for high surf and accompanying beach erosion. I shot the photo above on Sunday morning out on the west end of the island at Madaket when the surge was at near its peak resulting in the cancellation of a weekend surf contest. A sign alerting surfers to the cancellation said it all: "And we were worried that the surf would be too small."

Summer has already begun to wind down as Labor Day approaches but we're still getting lots of daytrippers and seasonal visitors to galleryblue down on Old South Wharf, where I'm working through Columbus Day. Our exhibition right now, through this Thursday, features work by talented artist Dale Bradley, whose wife Cindy has been my valued colleague at the gallery since June. She leaves the island later this week to return to their North Adams, Massachusetts home to resume her work there as a high school English teacher. We will miss her at galleryblue.

The current exhibition marks the third year that Bradley, an artist, master printmaker and inventor, has had an exhibition at galleryblue. As our press release states, "his eclectic work shows a curiosity that pulls him in many directions. His paintings are archaeological stories brought out in mixed media, allowing him to present shades and twists that envelop the viewer. Independent in spirit, Dale has produced works of art in nearly all of the traditional mediums and has researched and developed new printmaking processes, as well as designing and building some of the world’s largest presses for artists."

Below is a detailed look at one of Dale's recent works on display at galleryblue. It's hard to believe he's color-blind but easy to detect his background in archaeology. Kudos to a very talented emerging artist and all around nice guy!