A self-taught artist from a family of Dutch artists, Ellen McCluskey has been drawing or painting since she was a young girl. She moved to the Island 37 years ago, helping to establish a prominent gallery in Edgartown and later working as Artist Coordinator at the Granary Gallery.
It wasn't until she had lived here for a few years that Ms. McCluskey settled on pastels as the ideal medium for portraying the Vineyard landscape's multitudinous moods, muted colors, and the interplay of light and form. "I've painted every part of Martha's Vineyard in every season," she says, "but Farm Neck was a new and inspiring subject for me. I feel as though I could just keep going back to this special place, looking again and finding something I missed."
Ellen McCluskey now teaches the art of pastel painting at the Featherstone Center for the Arts. Her work can be seen at the Granary Gallery in West Tisbury.