Feature wildlife-art giants Maynard Reece

At age nineteen, aspiring artist Maynard Reece was introduced to Jay N. “Ding” Darling, Pulitzer Prize winning syndicated cartoonist, nationally acclaimed conservationist, and fine artist. Darling soon became Reece’s aesthetic mentor commenting on the younger artist’s images of wildlife and native landscapes. They became colleagues and friends for the next twenty-three years.

Darling’s images, both cartoon and etchings, became the conscience of conservation for over half a century. While Darling has many legacies, one of his most enduring was the development, creation and implantation of the Federal Duck Stamp Program in 1934 under the U.S. Biological Survey (now the United States Fish and Wildlife Service). The proceeds of this program remain directed towards wetland refuges for wildlife where millions of acres have been rescued, restored and preserved.

“What Darling accomplished during his tumultuous 20-month tenure as Chief of the Biological Survey is dizzying—it would not be far wrong to say he single-handedly revitalized the agency—but the Duck Stamp is the thing everybody remembers.” – Tom Davis

Maynard Reece has won five of the Federal Duck Stamp competitions beginning in 1948 and continuing in 1951,1959, 1969, 1971, more than any other artist. Reece’s wildlife art has been published in many national magazines and his oil paintings are prized by collectors.

“With his design of white-winged scoters in 1969 and cinnamon teal in 1971 (just the second stamp to be issued in color), Reece became the first artist to win five Federal Duck Stamps—a record that’s still unmatched and one that makes him the contest’s undisputed king. When Reece and Ding Darling were proclaimed “perhaps the two most oil painting reproduction in the history of the Federal Duck Stamp” in the exhibition Artistic License: The Duck Stamp Story at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum, it only confirmed what everyone familiar with the program already knew.” –Tom Davis

The exhibition, In Pursuit of Wildlife Conservation: Jay N. Darling and Maynard Reece will include 75 etchings by Jay N. “Ding” Darling, including Darling’s original 1934 Duck Stamp and etching, and 30 paintings by Maynard Reece, including the five paintings for the Federal Duck Stamps. A highlight of the exhibition is a newly commissioned painting by Maynard Reece to commemorate the Reece-Darling relationship with wildlife conservation.

The show, now in its 45th year, is open to all those with a Vineyard contact address and draws exhibitors from across the country. The Tabernacle in the Camp Ground was transformed into an open air gallery, with paintings, collages and photographs hanging from wire walls ringing the structure. Artists sat just off the path, displaying items for sale and chatting with the crowds that passed through. Mrs. Barden sat near her own watercolor entries — a trio of Vineyard scenes that featured a heron, Memorial Wharf, and the Oak Bluffs Bandstand. The paintings were done back in California, she said, based on photographs she had taken while on the Island.

A slight breeze ruffled the leaves of the Camp Ground trees, and the sun glinted off the glass on the framed photographs and paintings. Earlier in the day, said show committee member Marietta Cleasby, the stained glass windows of the Tabernacle beamed their colorful light down on the dozens of ribbons waiting to be handed out.

“It’s what you always dream a summer day should be,” said Mrs. Cleasby, whose oil paintings hung on a nearby wall. She’s seen overcast days, windy days, and rainy days in the 20-plus years she has helped organize the show, and declared Monday’s “the best day we’ve had yet.”

Judges roamed the grounds with clipboards, and attendees roamed with star stickers, deciding which entry will merit their Viewer’s Choice honor. Stickers still cost just 10 cents, but each person gets only one. Decisions were not to be taken lightly.
Cousins Abaigh Flaherty, 12, and Claire Fresher, 7, walked around the entire Tabernacle studying each entry before deciding on their favorite piece. Claire decided on a Kate Murray-Joyce waterfall painting, stretching on her tiptoes to place her star, while Abaigh added hers to the three stars already on Heather Capece’s vivid mermaid painting. The painting was later awarded Most Popular, earning eight stars.

Committee member Peter Yoars said that although the number of entries was down compared to previous years, the volume of visitor traffic was the same. Artists can show no more than five pieces, in categories ranging from acrylics to mixed media, or enter the portfolio category, where a maximum of 30 pieces offered. They set their own prices for the works, but some are priceless, listed as Not For Sale.

One such painting, a watercolor by Donna Blackburn, earned the coveted Best of Show award. Mrs. Blackburn lives in Edgartown and enters the art show on a yearly basis. She began work on the still life, which features her friend Virginia’s colorful tea set against Mrs. Blackburn’s favorite brocade tablecloth, last Sunday.

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