Aquinnah, MA – Consenses Walks

AquinnahPhotograph by Peter Simon

There are thousands of pictures of this particular point on Martha’s Vineyard so to take this shot is almost a cliché’. I drove up to Aquinah on a very windy day and hoped the “Do Not Trespass” fence. There was a lot of volatility in the atmosphere that day as a result of a strong cold front that had just passed. The sun was coming in and out of clouds with some rain falling intermittently. It was a mixed bag of activity and the lighting was really perfect to make a really dramatic shot. Between the wind, the sky, the sea grass blowing in the wind, and the alternating red and white flashes of the lighthouse I felt the intensity and passion of Mother Nature. The lighthouse to me represents a safe haven, a homecoming, and a security. I chose to shoot my frames as the red light was flashing from the lighthouse to give the scene a sense of urgency. These cliffs are fast eroding and photos rescue the physical moment in time from disappearing forever.

Artist

Peter Simon Peter Simon is a nationally acclaimed photographer and author. Throughout his nearly 40-year career, he has covered an eclectic range of subjects, documenting everything from protest-filled 1960s, to the scenic beauty of his beloved Martha’s Vineyard. In 2008, Simon fulfilled a decade long dream and opened up his own gallery, the Simon Gallery, in Vineyard Haven. Simon’s work has been featured in many publications, including Time, Newsweek, People, The New York Times, and Rolling Stone.

Location

Cliff Overlook31 Aquinnah Cir, Aquinnah, MA 02535, USA Open in Google Maps › Open in Apple Maps ›

What do you See?

RubiconSong by John Common

I felt the vastness of space in the photograph I interpreted [from stop 1]. The little lighthouse staring into it struck me. I was on tour years and years and years ago and played at a hotel that had a music venue in it in Flagstaff, AZ. I remember feeling tired, alone, jaded, and road-worn. There were two girls in the bar that night, drinking and talking after we finished. I remember looking at the dark-haired one and imagining she and I having a conversation that flirted with disaster. The song is about doing that, flirting with disaster. The perfection of the interchange was perfect in my head and I never acted out on my impulse but I felt the lighthouse that night.

Artist

John Common Common spent most of his youth in Pensacola, FL where he found his brother’s guitar and began writing songs when he was 13. There, he founded and fronted Bunkhouse Jones, released two records, and toured small venues around the country. He built a reputation for writing gritty, honest songs. His band, Rainville released two albums to critical acclaim nationally and in Europe, and toured from 1999 to 2004. Common then explored different musical territory that surfaced on Good To Be Born (2006) and Why Birds Fly (2007). Backed by the Blinding Flashes of Light, a large group of musicians from Denver’s indie scene, Common released Beautiful Empty in 2011.

What do you Hear?

Ele Keats, Santa MonicaPhotograph by John Huba

I remember the song I interpreted [from stop 2] making me feel emotions of love lost and flashbacks to relationships when they were at their best. The song drew up images of “the quintessential woman.” If I had to describe the music in one word I would say it felt “Raw.” It conjured up desire but I wanted my photograph to represent an emotional landscape rather than a physical one.

Artist

John Huba For more than a year now, photographer John Huba has been collecting vintage picture frames that he is now filling with some of his favorite images in what has become his first-ever travel-themed exhibition. Using their color palettes as a guide, Huba paired picture frames of different periods and styles—Baroque to Art Deco—with photographs taken in all parts of the world—from the beaches of Bali to the lakes of New York. “Usually you make a photograph and pick a frame for it,” explains Huba. “This time I did it in reverse.” The combinations are on view in a salon-style show at Sawkille Co., in Rhinebeck, New York. With his motto that “there’s never a wrong turn when traveling,” Huba takes viewers along on his many journeys to some of the least-traveled places in the world. VF.com spoke with Huba to hear more about the stories behind the frames.-Exerpt from Vanity Fair By Erica Singleton.

What do you See?

Offering a SipTea by Holly Bellebuono

Holly interpreted the photograph from stop 3 and created a tea blend called “Offering a Sip.” The flavors: lemongrass is heady and bright, cardamom is earthy and delectable and exotic and enlivening, and vanilla is soothing and sweet. Together, these combine to express the waiting Lover reclining in her sunny boudoir.

My first reaction to the image was (with a smile), oh that is provocative. It felt very raw and visceral. The parts of the image that most informed my interpretation, I think, were the woman’s skin, and the soft yellow colors of the room. Everything about her and the room seemed golden, suffused with light, natural, soft, and expansive. The archetype of Lover came to mind– she who offers herself freely and also with all strings attached—for immediate pleasure as well as for long-term relationships. I immediately “felt” lemongrass and cardamom. Then vanilla popped into my head, just enough to balance the fire of passion with the sweetness of seduction. Together I think these combine to express the waiting Lover reclining in her sunny boudoir.

About The Tea: The parts of the image that most informed my interpretation, I think, were the woman’s skin, and the soft yellow colors of the room. Everything about her and the room seems golden, suffused with light, natural, soft, and expansive. Lemongrass and cardamom came first, together.

Artist

Holly Bellebuono Holly Bellebuono is a 19th-year traditional and certified herbalist, professional speaker, forager, award-winning formulator, and, writer. She is the author of The Essential Herbal for Natural Health and The Authentic Herbal Healer; her third book will be released this fall: Women Healers of the World (hardcover, SkyHorse), featuring the incredible stories of 31 women from 20 countries and their contributions to more than a dozen powerful world traditions of botanical healing. Holly operates Vineyard Herbs Teas & Apothecary LLC, a retail and wholesale apothecary, where she sells original and award-winning plant-based medicines, including a line of original black, green and herbal teas. Holly also directs The Bellebuono School of Herbal Studies, providing training and certification in Western herbal medicine to students from all over the country. She teaches Soulful Apothecary™, a joyful exploration of creation with plants. Her dynamic lectures about herbal medicine, natural health and women’s empowerment are enjoyed by arboreta, universities, corporations and non-profits, as Holly has a welcoming style that combines education with inspiration. She lives on Martha’s Vineyard with her husband and two teenagers in a mini-homestead with their apothecary garden, chickens, rabbits, blacksmith forge, and soccer nets.

What do you Taste?

SteepDance by Lionel Popkin

The tea I interpreted [from stop 4] was yellow and smelled of licorice. It felt cleansing. Before tasting it I wrote a list of questions to ask myself after my initial impression. What would I wear when drinking this tea? Where would I drink it? Would I be alone? What kind of cup would it be in? How would it make me move? I had also hired an assistant who was also a dancer to help me out.

I was not really sure what she would be doing, but I knew that I would need help. We tasted the tea. The first image to arrive was one of me, wrapped in a bright yellow fishnet floating in a deep blue swimming pool. It wasn’t a rational image, but when I look at it now and dissect it, I realize I was becoming the tea bag.

The object that flavor was emanating out of and into a body of water – a small contained parcel that sent flavor outward. Then I wrote in my notebook in big bold letters, “YELLOW”. A visual world was starting to take place. I started to think that beside me would be little men, little figures. I would be porous like the tea and they would be solid like the cup. The next image to form was of tiny toy men coming in and out of my mouth. The desire to have a full-bodied experience originating in the mouth spurred this idea.

At this point, an hour or so had passed and it was time to go shopping. The toy store was first, but they only had army men and big angry yellow transformers. I thought about spray-painting the army men and cutting off their guns but I couldn’t see that working (the tea did not have a militant bone in it.) On the way to another toy shop, we passed a party supply store. Bullseye. They had so many things that were yellow. Yellow cups, yellow plates, yellow tablecloths, yellow sunglasses, yellow wigs, yellow gloves, yellow boxer shorts, yellow toy men, tiny yellow dogs, big yellow hands, and more. I was in a yellow sea. I was in a gold mine. And they had a blue bucket – a small deep blue bucket. So we came home and set up shop in the backyard. The footage was shot of men folding in and out our mouths. We were dying fish sucking on a dried tea bag.

The fervent desire for an experience was in every image. Then we became yellow people. Dressed and painted head to toe in yellow we tried some static images and some small movement ideas. We were getting nowhere, but it had only been one day. After trying to cram ourselves into the blue bucket, we started putting the small yellow men into it. They looked lost. The dog did not. He belonged there. Then we soaked them in water. At this point, I was still assuming we would be in the project, but I had the idea of a through-line being the filling of the bucket with water and having the men and the dog floating. We shot it. The dog didn’t float. We loved it. Day two had been a success. On our third day of working we tried every idea we had rejected the previous day with gusto, but the slowly filling bucket just wouldn’t go away. It was irresistible to me and it held the relationship to the tea and my initial image. Everything else vanished. We took a couple days off while I thought about it and then gathered again with a video artist to shoot. We spent two days trying all sorts of variations on how the bucket filled and how the men should spin. Providence played a role, as that unbidden quality was what I loved about it and besides, tiny plastic men have minds of their own. Something just made them keep spinning. At the end of the first day of shooting we had the take we ended up using. We spent the second day trying to improve on it. We didn’t. Too many fantastic accidents had happened in that shot. The dog had left the frame and I had managed to use the water’s force to have him reenter. The bubbles forming in the water started having tiny reflections of the dog. Toward the end of the second day of shooting we spent a few hours in video codec hell, but by the end of five days of work we had the tea dance response. This project took me by surprise. There was something treasonous about making a dance with no dancers. I kept thinking I was getting away with something. It felt delicious.

Artist

Lionel Popkin Lionel Popkin has had his choreography presented nationally and internationally at numerous venues. As a dancer, Lionel has performed throughout the US and Europe in the companies of Trisha Brown (2000-2003), Terry Creach (1996-2000), and Stephanie Skura (1993-1996). Lionel served on the faculty of Bates College, London’s Laban Centre, Sarah Lawrence College, Temple University and the University of Maryland. Currently Lionel is an Associate Professor of Choreography and Performance at UCLA.

What do you Hear?

The RescueSculpture by Christina Zwart

The very first thing this film I interpreted [from stop 5] was, “I need to save the dog!” I became totally fixated on the dog: “What about the dog?!” “No one is paying attention to the dog!” My overwhelming feeling was one of helplessness. Fear and panic set in. I wanted to plunge my hand into the water and lift him to safety. I experienced a couple of water-related incidents as a child and, ever since then, I’ve always thought that the worst way to die would be to drown. When the paratroopers flipped over and I saw that they weren’t carrying parachutes, my immediate thought was that I wanted to give them some. That led to thinking about using parachutes to save both them and the dog. In interpreting the film, my thoughts boiled down to DOG, PARACHUTE, RESCUE, YELLOW, BLUE. And in thinking about my piece being interactive, I decided to create a way for the viewer to actively participate in rescuing the dog. I made a crank out of a Milk Bone and, after spending way too much time searching high and low for the right-sized dog, I ended up spray-painting our Monopoly dog.

Artist

Christina Zwart Christina Zwart creates work that challenges people’s perceptions of reality. What often appears to be one thing from afar is, upon closer inspection, something else entirely. She takes items that have been constructed for specific purposes and transforms them into something that has nothing to do with their intended use. She works with materials as simple and easily-recognizable as flour and snow, or harder-to-find items like horseshoe crabs and plaster teeth models, giving solitary objects new life as she multiplies them to yield an overall piece. Some of her work is simply abstract, but much of it serves as social commentary, blurring the lines between organic and manufactured, humorous and disturbing. Zwart is a member of the Boston Sculptors Gallery, and lives and works in Wayland, MA.

What do you See?

Take a Walk Around Aquinnah, MA