After more than six decades of mostly behind-the-scenes work on behalf of the Island’s natural environment, Tess and Kib Bramhall stepped into the spotlight Wednesday evening to accept the Creative Living Award from the Martha’s Vineyard Community Foundation.
Community foundation board chair Alec Walsh told a throng of well-wishers at the Grange Hall that the Bramhalls have set an enduring example for their contributions in conservation, fishing and the arts, both as a couple and individually.
“We are also honoring . . . how they have lived their lives, always with a family-first focus, typically outside in the beauty of nature, and always recognizing their responsibility to be stewards of the land and of the community,” Mr. Walsh said.
The couple also have authored books, including Ms. Bramhall’s In Praise of Protected Lands and Special Places on Martha’s Vineyard and Mr. Bramhall’s Bright Waters, Shining Tides: Reflections on a Lifetime of Fishing, both illustrated with Mr. Bramhall’s paintings.
Now in their early 90s, the Bramhalls listened quietly in the front row of seats at the Grange Hall on Wednesday as a series of artists, fishermen, environmentalists and family members followed Mr. Walsh at the podium with their own words of gratitude and praise.
Ecologist David Foster and Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank executive director James Lengyel both credited Ms. Bramhall with unifying the Island’s many individual land protection groups into a coalition, the Conservation Partners, allowing the nonprofits to work cooperatively instead of competing for the same resources.
“Tonight, we honor Tess and Kib for their commitment, for their vision, for their seriousness of purpose, but we also acknowledge the underlying philosophy: We are all on the same side of the table. Thank you,” Mr. Lengyel said.
The enthusiastic crowd erupted into applause many times during the two-hour celebration.
Island artists Allen Whiting and Andrew Moore said Mr. Bramhall’s career as a painter was key to their own creative development.
Mr. Whiting, a 1994 Creative Living Award recipient, said he was still an aspiring painter with a job mowing lawns when he saw an early one-man show by Mr. Bramhall in a gallery that rented space in the Davis House, the Whiting family’s West Tisbury farmhouse.
“I was so impressed that it sent me back to art school,” said Mr. Whiting, who makes both his home and gallery at the historic house on State Road.
Mr. Moore, who attended college with the Bramhalls’ son, said Mr. Bramhall’s home studio led him to switch his own focus from architecture to art.
“Most paintings start with a visual moment that plants the seed for a future composition. Kib’s studio planted the seed for the composition of my life,” said Mr. Moore.
Mr. Moore also paid tribute to Mr. Bramhall’s fishing mastery by unboxing a bonus award: an absurdly extended series of fishing flies linked together and dubbed The Kib.
“It reveals details of a scientific level, but with a visual impact the Impressionists would be proud of,” said Mr. Moore, drawing cheers and laughter as he described his creation.
“It is . . . a parade of a sand eel, a silverside, a cinder worm, a bay anchovy, a tiny krill, a peanut bunker, a tinker mackerel, a squid and a crab, a baby lobster and an adult bunker, all caboosed by the undulating form of an eel,” he said, presenting the mounted extravaganza to Mr. Bramhall.
Outdoorsman Nelson Sigelman saluted Mr. Bramhall’s dedication to sportfishing and his leadership, more than 40 years ago, in calling for the first moratorium on striped bass catches during the Vineyard’s annual derby.
“In 1985, under pressure from sponsors and fishermen, the derby committee removed striped bass from the competition, a change that remained until stocks recovered,” Mr. Sigelman said.
Community foundation executive director Paul Schulz and his predecessor, the Bramhalls’ daughter Emily, welcomed the audience as the evening got underway.
“What a pleasure to learn that the community foundation board has chosen my parents . . . to be this year’s recipients of the creative living award,” Ms. Bramhall said.
Mr. Schulz noted the presence of prior-year award winners including Mr. Whiting, Mary Beth Grady and Clarissa and Mitchell Allen.
Everett Bramhall closed the proceedings with an eloquently recalled account of his first night-fishing trip with his father, a man who loved surfcasting in the dark.
“It was a bond forged between us, an understanding of his deep connection to the natural world,” said the younger Mr. Bramhall, who also was inspired by his father’s art, becoming a fine furniture craftsman himself.
“I could see that Dad was living a life and pursuing a career he was truly passionate about, [and] it made me realize how important it is to follow your own path,” he said.
“Dedication, perseverance and staying true to your values: these are themes both Mom and Dad have lived by,” Mr. Bramhall said.
The Creative Living Award is the community foundation’s annual celebration and, on this occasion, doubled as a one-night retrospective of Mr. Bramhall’s paintings — from a contemplative portrait of his wife to the scenes of the Island in all weathers — hung by curator Tanya Agoustinos.
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