The legendary former owner of the topsail schooner Shenandoah will receive the prestigious Creative Living Award for 2020-2021, the Martha’s Vineyard Community Foundation announced Wednesday.
The sound of bagpipes greeted guests as they arrived at the Grange Hall Thursday evening for the presentation of the 32nd Creative Living Award. Only the strains of Scotland the Brave, as played by Tony Peak, would do.
When Steve Ewing learned he would be given the 32nd Creative Living Award, presented each year by the Permanent Endowment Fund, he wasn’t initially sure why he had been chosen. But his contribution is a little bit of everything, from a work ethic forged by an ordinary life to a gift for poetry.
Poet, conservationist, dock builder. Steve Ewing will be honored for his many talents with the 2014 Creative Living Award. The prestigious award is presented each year by the Permanent Endowment for Martha’s Vineyard.
Nominations for the 2014 Creative Living Award are open. The award recognizes members of the Vineyard community who have contributed significantly to the quality of life on the Vineyard.
With Rez Williams’s paintings hanging on the walls of the Grange Hall Monday, artist Ruth Kirchmeier recalled one of his art exhibits at the former Nye Gallery. His signature boat paintings were placed on dark walls and lit from above, she said. “One felt surrounded by looming giants of every color and description, with skies that were more vivid than and unlike any sky a mere mortal might experience. Fighting with the sky for attention was the equally mesmerizing water. It was glorious.”
Rez Williams, the renowned Vineyard artist and conservationist, will receive this year’s Creative Living Award, the Permanent Endowment Fund for Martha’s Vineyard announced this week.
“He has painted landscapes and portraits, but is best known for his paintings of hulking fishing trawlers using a vibrant palette and sure, determined brushstrokes,” the fund said in a press release about the award.
Mr. Williams will be honored in a ceremony on Oct. 21 at 5:30 p.m. at the Grange Hall in West Tisbury. The public is invited to attend.
