Written by Larry Lindner

Photography by Michael Gaillard

The Artists Association of Nantucket honors photographer Michael Gaillard

As to drive home the point, collector Katherine Bucknell points out that while she has more than a dozen Gaillards in her Nantucket and London homes, she curates the work of no other photographers, only painters—including, perhaps not ironically, an ink-on-paper work by David Hockney. She spoke of a Gaillard photograph showing “a window on an old Sconset house, painted that pale green color on so many Nantucket houses—weather-beaten. The window is slightly open with an old-fashioned stick. So many people see this picture and think it’s a painting from the school of Andrew Wyeth,” she said. "His photos feel so intimate.”

Gaillard described his efforts to capture what he does as a spiritual experience. “The primary tool the photographer has is the frame,” he said. “It’s a challenge I find endlessly fulfilling, potent and rich with symbolism—a revelation—I don’t know what my life would be without that discovery.”

That process of discovery, which has landed Gaillard’s work on the cover of Veranda, in the pages of House Beautiful and in a book called Artistry of Home by celebrated luxury interior designer Nicole Hollis, no doubt also played into the choice to feature him as this year’s honoree at the Artists Association of Nantucket’s annual gala. The celebration, AAN’s largest fundraiser of the year, will take place on Saturday, July 19, at the Great Harbor Yacht Club.

“Michael is the first photographer that the association has ever honored, so it’s kind of a big deal,” said AAN Executive Director Tracey Sears. One of the ways money is raised at the gala is via the auctioning of donated artwork. The funds help underwrite year-round activities, including arts programming and youth and adult education.

“Michael has been a contributor for many years and is always a top seller, so he has raised a lot of funds over the years,” Sears said. “We’re super grateful for his generosity and support.” Gaillard, for his part, called the recognition “a great honor and really surprising.” “Choosing a life as an artist is by no means a traditional trajectory,” he said. “It’s filled with hardship, especially in small communities that aren’t close to urban centers. AAN supports artists on this difficult trajectory. It provides the necessary community—you can’t make art in a vacuum.

 This year’s gala will pay homage not only to Gaillard’s talent but also to his deep roots on the island and his intergenerational connection to the AAN. His paternal grandmother was Gwen Gaillard, proprietor of the Opera House Restaurant, which opened in 1945 on South Water Street and was one of Nantucket’s first fine-dining establishments. It turns out the restaurant’s chef for the first 20 years, Lucien van Vyve, was also an AAN member. Gwen Gaillard’s cookbook, Recipes with Love, was illustrated by fellow AAN member Roy Bailey.

There will be an Opera House ambience at the gala, as well. Just as there was a piano played during meals at the Opera House—one restaurant guest, Judy Garland, sang for diners when she visited—there will be a piano played during dinner by local musician Matt Hutchinson.

Gaillard has only what he calls “gauzy memories” of the Opera House, which went out of business in the mid-1980s when he was about 5 years old. But he brings his grandmother’s knack for conviviality to his work. “I am a very private person and pretty much don’t talk to people I don’t know,” Bucknell said. But when she first met Gaillard, “there was some magic chemistry. I felt so open to him.” When she and her family chatted with him, she said, “we just liked him so much and appreciated his appetite for everything. He is so curious and interested and excited by new ideas.”

There’s an earnestness and carefulness people also remark on. Renowned architect Andrew Kotchen commented, “Michael comes across as a very compassionate, committed person in the work that he does.” The two recently collaborated on a project to put about a dozen of Gaillard’s works throughout the Nantucket home of a resident who spent their entire childhood on the island. With that in mind, Kotchen said, “Michael took certain shots of the island that were meaningful to them, specifically for their home—bespoke pieces.”

“He’s playing in a sandbox with a lot of copycats—computer-generated rather than skill-generated,” he continued. “I very much appreciate the quality he brings to the table through his process.” Designer Nicole Hollis sees it similarly. She has collaborated with Gaillard on a home in Pebble Beach, California, and a public space in Hawaii.

“He’s very thoughtful about the work that he does—and considered and enthusiastic. He gets really hyper-involved, which is great,” she commented, noting that he throws himself not just into the shoot but also the framing and the location of art on a property.

O’Shea of The Brant also spoke of the unique way in which his art reaches people. “I think everyone loves the interpretation of the island through Michael’s viewpoint,” he said. “With Cape Cod and the islands in general, there tends to be a lot of very literal photography—the lighthouse, the beach, the whale. I think what Michael does is capture these beautiful moments that really make a place. People comment that his are not the expected depictions of Nantucket. This is not a repatriation of the iconic moments but capturing the day-to-day beauty of the little quiet moments, the little corners.