Artists Association of Nantucket (AAN) is returning to Straight Wharf this April when it opens the Big Gallery on the second floor of the Thomas Macy Warehouse. This exciting collaboration with the Nantucket Historical Association (NHA) brings together two island institutions that share an important history with an iconic and historic Nantucket landmark on Straight Wharf. The Thomas Macy Warehouse, which dates back to 1847, was home to AAN’s Kenneth Taylor Galleries, administration offices, and educational classes from 1945 to 1988. This year AAN will showcase Nantucket works of art in eight different exhibitions from April into December 2022. This is the first time that AAN artwork will once again, after 33 years, grace the walls of this building. These exhibitions will run in concert with the regularly scheduled shows at the association’s downtown Cecelia Joyce and Seward Johnson Gallery. One of the highlights of the season will be an exhibition of artwork by local students from grades 1-12. Another exhibition will highlight historically important island artworks from the AAN’s Permanent Collection.
The newly created gallery space has been affectionately named “Big Gallery” as a tribute to AAN’s “Little Gallery,” that occupied the small, shingled building next door to the Thomas Macy Warehouse for about fifty years. The Big Gallery will provide even more exhibition opportunities for AAN’s artist members.
“It is with great excitement and pride that AAN returns to the Thomas Macy Warehouse,” says Robert Frazier, AAN artistic director and curator of the exhibitions. “It is a moment of historical significance to AAN.”
The Big Gallery will officially open to the public on April 11, 2022, for the start of AAN’s annual Spring Sweep online auction preview. Some of the artworks that will be showcased in the online auction will be hanging in the Big Gallery.
“We are overjoyed to host a season of exhibitions in this beautiful and historic landmark,” adds Courtney Bridges, AAN’s executive director, “and delighted to collaborate with the Nantucket Historical Association in this important way.”
AAN welcomes the community to join in this vibrant 2022 season of exhibitions, artist talks, and Big Gallery events on the second floor of the Thomas Macy Warehouse.
To learn more about the Big Gallery, please visit the website at nantucketarts.org, call the Visual Arts Center at 508-228-0722, or the Cecelia Joyce and Seward Johnson Gallery at 508-228-0294.
