Anastasia Venti began to paint 
to pass the time four years ago, 
during her first winter on the Island. 
“It was just quiet,” she remembered. 
“And I just started cranking out a ton 
of paintings…to keep myself occupied.”

The following summer, while 
waiting tables at the Beach Plum Inn 
in Chilmark, the restaurant manager let Venti hang her paintings in the dining room. They started to sell. From that moment on, she set her sights on being an artist. This past spring, she opened AK Venti, a gallery-boutique hybrid storefront in Edgartown that highlights her artwork and sells silk wrap dresses featuring prints of her paintings.

Venti, a self-taught artist, finds inspiration from the Island’s most iconic locations. One such place is the airfield in Katama, which prompted her to paint the piece at left. “I love old things. And the biplanes were just totally funky to me – especially the red one,” Venti said. Even more special: she captured the scene before the original World War II–era hanger was demolished in the fall of 2020. “I’m super happy I did [this painting] because the old one had so much character,” she said.  

Working mostly from a photograph, Venti paints her large-scale pieces on canvas using two types of paint. “Most 
of the oil [paint] that I use is metallic,” she explained. The tones of either gold, silver, or copper “draws your eye so much, especially if it is hanging in a spot that has good light.” Bright and bold strokes of acrylic bring the rest of her paintings together.

To finish a piece, Venti hands the painting over to an Island friend, who creates a frame from either barn wood or driftwood that he has collected over the years. “Weathered is kind of the look I go for,” Venti said. “I feel like the frames don’t take away from the painting, which…they can. And the paintings are already so potent with color.”          

To view more of Venti’s work, visit AK Venti in Edgartown or go to anastasiaventi.com.