Nancy Furino Retrospective Fills Two Galleries

Last Saturday night, two Oak Bluffs galleries came together to celebrate the life work of one of the Island’s most prolific artists, Nancy Furino. and collaborated to host a retrospective exhibit of the painter’s work from the 1950s to the present.

The 82-year-old Furino has been living and painting on Martha’s Vineyard for more than 20 years. Her résumé is impressive, starting with a degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston with highest honors and a two-year travel fellowship in Italy, but even more so when you add that she did that in 1951. Sixty years later, Furino writes in her artist statement that she feels “as if I am now just getting the hang of it. It is quite as if I am assimilating all I have learned and am getting it all together – style, feeling, knowledge, and my ability to make original statement of my own vision.”

Most of Furino’s pieces are inspired by the world she sees around her. Be that the hills of Italy or the view of the trees outside her window. “Usually, if I am painting outside in plein air, I just try to make a study, in other words just paint the subject the way it is. There really isn’t time to do anything else as the light changes quickly. When I return to the studio I work from my imagination to make changes and see if I can take it as far as it can go.”

Furino is both a member of the Copley Society of Art and a Copley Master. And it is apparent in each of her pieces how deeply Furino has studied other masters as well. “There are such a variety of influences in her work, that’s what I love about her,” said Shephard Fine ArtSpace owner Melissa Breese. “You see Thomas Hart Benton, Wolf Kahn, traditional Dutch masters, German impressionists, Hopper. And she makes her own mark; her color palate is consistent. Not a lot of artists can use purple and she nails it.”

The show includes an array of Furino’s Island landscapes and many of Italy as well. There’s even a few drawings from her time in school—complete with A- grades. At this point in her career, Furino is finding herself returning to pieces she once put aside. “One can only paint as well as one’s own taste allows; and taste improves with age. At this point in my life I am particularly keen on going back to paintings that did not quite work out the first time and fixing them.”

The well attended dual openings for the retrospective this past Saturday night started in the Dragonfly Gallery and ended at Shephard Fine ArtSpace. The concept of a dual gallery show is a new one for the Island. Don McKillop and Susan Davy of Dragonfly proposed the joint effort to Breese early in the summer. Furino had such an abundance of work to show, the gallery owners decided to come together and put Furino’s interests first. According to Breese, “It worked out for everyone, it was really delightful.”

McKillop photographed and produced a retrospective catalog of some 65 images of Furino's paintings. The catalog and a giclee on canvas of Furino's "Illumination Night” are both available for sale at both Dragonfly Fine Arts and Shephard Fine ArtSpace. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of books and giclees will benefit two of Furino's favorite charities, MV Drive for Life and the Martha's Vineyard Animal Shelter.

A selection the show will remain up at Shephard Fine ArtSpace through the end of October.