Board of Directors
Beverly Hall has
been a professional photographer on Nantucket for over 40 years. She first came
to the island “by accident” in 1964 and the next year opened the Children’s
Gallery on Old South Wharf, and later an open door studio in the Centre Street
Meeting House. Her photographs burrow into the island’s soul and emerge with
elements of its heart: joy, love, laughter, like minds, neighbors, tranquility,
discovery, passion, and, not least for Beverly, spirituality. Her photographs,
often of seemingly mundane subjects—a snow fence, a watering can, a feather, a
seagull, or familiar landmarks, capture an inner truth about the island that is
deeply affecting. A profoundly spiritual person, Beverly earned a Master of
Divinity degree from the Episcopal Divinity School in 2002. She is the founder
of Nantucket’s annual Shakespeare in the Garden performance and celebration,
and long time member of the Nantucket Arts Council Board of Directors.
John Belash was born
in Boston and graduated from the Milton Academy in 1948, Williams College in
1952, the Harvard Law School in 1955 and the Georgetown Law School in 1963.
After working for the Securities Exchange Commission in Washington D.C. for
five years, he joined a Boston law firm in 1963 and practiced Securities Law until
1985. He then joined a New York City law firm and became an Adjunct Professor
at the Fordham Law School for eleven years. John moved to Nantucket with his
wife Judy in 2002 where they have immersed themselves in many of the town’s
civic, historical and cultural activities.
Judy Brust is an
internationally known artist whose body of work spans over 30 years. She holds
an M.A. and M.F.A. from SUNY Albany and has exhibited extensively in both group
and solo shows in the United States and abroad. She founded gallery blue in
Rochester, New York in 2004 and moved the gallery to Old South Wharf on
Nantucket in 2006 when she and her husband, Bob, moved to the island. Judith
works in layered monoprints on paper and canvas, paintings and sculptures, and
with her team at galleryblue has developed community outreach exhibits and
shows that have benefited local non-profits such as the Nantucket Marine Mammal
Conservation Program and the Nantucket Arts Council. She has also exhibited at
Modernism and ART20 at the Park Avenue Armory in New York and at an
international juried two-part exhibition in Seoul, Korea. Her works are
featured in numerous private and public collections, including the permanent
art collection at the five-diamond Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Boston. She has
recently entered into a new affiliation with The Gallery at 35 Main.
Dan Driscoll is the
president and founder of September productions and has been working in the film
industry for over 30 years filming all over the globe. Along the way many of
those efforts have been rewarded with Clio, Emmy, Hatch, Telly, AICP, One Show,
New York Festival and Andy Awards. Dan is also a still photographer; he took
his first picture when he was ten years old, thanks to his mother, who was a
painter and a strong artistic influence on him as a child. Since then he has
continued to pursue images of all types whether its motion pictures for TV
commercials or documentaries, or grabbing his Nikons to capture still images of
Nantucket’s natural beauty.
Jack Fritsch came to
Nantucket as a research biologist in the fields of Animal Behavior, Evolution
and Salt Marsh Ecology. After studying and teaching at the University of New
Hampshire, the Institute of Marine Science at the University of Alaska and at
the University of Massachusetis, his love of history and New England culture
quickly led him to the antiques trade in which he managed a successful auction
gallery for over 20 years and co-founded the Antiques Depot on Nantucket in
1990. His experience also included working with other antiques shops on and
off-island, participating in antiques shows throughout the Northeast,
exhibiting at the respected York Antiques Gallery, as well as providing his
expertise to a number of premier New England auction galleries. His scholarly
approach to antiques has also led him to becoming a professional Qualified
Personal Property Appraiser and an Associate Member of the American Society of
Appraisers.
Gene Mahon is a
former President and currently Secretary of the Nantucket Arts Council. He is
the owner and publisher of the email newsletier Mahon About Town, owner of
Nantucket Digital Imaging and Pocomo Productions and Publishing, and a
freelance photographer for N Magazine, the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald and
Cape Cod Life Magazine. Gene was formerly the Owner of the Camera Shop,
Nantucket Video, Nantucket Print and Poster Gallery, Nantucket Copy Center,
Nantucket Sound on-island record store, and the Quintessence Photography
Gallery. He a founded Nantucket Television, co-owned the legendary Roadhouse
nightclub, published the first Nantucket Restaurant Guide, and taught
photography at the Nantucket Boys and Girls Club.
Gene has served in numerous non-profit organizations
including the Nantucket AIDS Network, Nantucket Behavioral Health, The Opera
House Cup Committee, the Cable Television Advisory Committee, Nantucket
Community Television, Friends of the Nantucket Film Festival, Nantucket Arts
Alliance, Nantucket Visitors Services, Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce,
the Nantucket Film Festival Board of Advisors, the Nantucket Comedy Festival
Board of Advisors, and the Nantucket Music Festival Board of Advisors. Gene was
awarded Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce Achievement of Merit in 2007.
Reggie Levine has
been a witness to the arts and culture of Nantucket Island for many decades and
has been at the center of Nantucket’s arts renaissance. The founder and
Director of the seminal Main Street Gallery in 1970, over the course of a 30
year career he personally knew and exhibited the work of most every important
artist on Nantucket. He has also been a professional art conservator and
restorer, set designer, actor, lecturer, and an accomplished artist painting in
a variety of media. Formally trained in Art History with a Degree from Queen’s
College, he was also a member of the Brooklyn Museum School and the Arts
Student League.
Reggie was a founder, former President and once again
current president of the Nantucket Arts Council; President of the Nantucket
Theatre Workshop; President of the Nantucket Atheneum; founder and President of
the Nantucket Arts Alliance; Vice President of the Nantucket Historical
Association; volunteer Program Director at the Fair Street Museum; Junior
Warden, Senior Warden and Secretary of St Paul’s Episcopal Church; and mentor
of the Nantucket Arts Festival. He has long been an advocate for a Nantucket
Community Arts Center: a proponent that “The arts are the answer for the
island! ...I believe the arts have an extraordinary thing to give to a
community, and I believe that is particularly true of Nantucket now.”
Dr. Gerald R. Mack
is the Director of the Nantucket Art Council’s highly successful Winter Concert
Series. He was the Founder of the Great Waters Music Festival in Wolfeboro
(NH), was formerly Music Director of the Worcester Chorus (MA), and was
Director of Choral Activities at the Hart School of Music at the University of
Hartford. He has gained a national reputation for his expertise in the field of
choral music and is in constant demand as a guest conductor, lecturer and
clinician. He has conducted extensively on national TV and has performed at
Carnegie Hall and Tully Hall as well as at many of the renowned concert halls
of Europe. His festival appearances include the New York Mostly Mozart
Festival, the Salzburg and the Dubrovnik International Music Festivals, and he
has concretized throughout western Europe and Russia. He was selected for the
first annual Connecticut Choral Conductor of the Year Award and has been a
guest clinician and conductor at both Eastern and National ACDA Conventions. He
has served on the grants committee for the Connecticut Commission on the Arts
and as Executive Director of the Nantucket School of Music.
Leslie Malcolm grew up in Summit, NJ and graduated with a BA in Art History from Randolph-Macon Women’s College in Lynchburg, VA. She has worked for the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Smithsonian Institute (New York), Christie, Manson and Woods (Beverly Hills), and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Since moving to the Island in 1995 she has served on the Board of Directors of the Nantucket Atheneum and the Nantucket Arts Council where she served as Treasurer for a period and held the position of Director of Operations until October 2011. She earned her MA in Library and Information Science from Simmons College in 2005. She currently works as the Head of the Weezie Library for Children at the Nantucket Atheneum.
Arlene O’Reilly is a marketing & branding consultant and owner of Mind’s Eye
Productions ('93). She has a BFA from St. John's University and a MA in Conmuncation Design from Syracuse University. Arlene has been in design and marketing profession for over 20 years. She has also been the publisher
of Arts: Nantucket, going into its 10th year in promoting the arts on island.
Arlene’s extensive non-profit work includes serving as
president of the Nantucket Junior Miss Scholarship Program; co-created the Island
to Island Program providing financial support to those fighting at Ground Zero
and a scholarship program for the 9/11 orphaned children; consultant with the
Nantucket Planning Board; public relations chairman for Habitat for Humanity
Nantucket; and member of the marketing committee for the Nantucket Chamber of
Commerce. Currently, Arlene is the Marketing Chair for the NAC and the South
Church Preservation Fund and is on the advisory boards for Nantucket Network of Wellness and the Nantucket Island Acadmeny of Music.
Arlene received gold and silver awards in the Pyramid Design & Print awards 1997-2001. She was also awarded
“Best of Nantucket Business Award” in Communication Design by the U.S. Commerce
Association for “outstanding marketing success and exceptional business
strategic planning” in 2009 and 2010.
Dr. Mike Ruby is
Nantucket’s local Eye Doctor. After practicing in Boston for several years, he
fell in love with the island while on vacation in 2000. For the
next four years, Mike would take each September off from seeing patients to
return to the island and work as a charter fishing guide with Captain Tom’s
Charters. He began to practice here for two days a week year-round in 2004. After
five years of weekly commuting from Boston, Mike purchased the Eye Practice on-island
and has expanded it into a fulltime enterprise. Unfortunately
this means he has much less time for charter fishing. Dr. Mike feels strongly that
one of the strengths of Nantucket is the diversity of our Arts community and he
is consequently an avid supporter of the local arts.