After six years of exhibiting the work of local artists on the Island, the Galaxy Gallery on Dukes County Avenue will be closing its doors for good in mid-October. In order to honor its mission of providing a home to Vineyard artists — many of whom are otherwise unrepresented on the Island — the gallery is hosting a final, all-inclusive exhibit titled “Artist Choice Show.”

“We have so many fine artists on the Island that haven’t been gobbled up by galleries,” says executive director Holly Alaimo. “We’ve been able to allow them to participate in a way that really showcases their work.”

The Galaxy Gallery has been in the habit of hosting about a dozen themed shows every summer, after putting out an invitation to any and all who would like to participate. This time around, Alaimo has foregone any guidelines as to subject matter, and given the artists free rein to show whatever they please.

“We wanted to give artists an opportunity to express their inner passions,” she says. “To show something new and exciting, or something that they feel has impacted other projects that they are developing. This is a time for them to show whatever it is that speaks to them in their quest for personal expression.”

The Galaxy Gallery is a cooperative artist’s space, provided and overseen by the Martha’s Vineyard Center for the Visual Arts (MVCVA), a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1990 with a mission of promoting the arts and artists of the Island.

In the mid-1990s, the MVCVA purchased the building that formerly housed the Oak Bluffs firehouse, and opened its first gallery. Eventually the organization sold the building to Alison Shaw for use as a gallery to showcase the renowned photographer’s own work. The MVCVA then relocated its gallery across the street, and it has since become a mainstay of the Dukes County Arts District.

“We have had a very positive response to this gallery,” says Alaimo. “We’re going out feeling like we did everything we could to make this a successful venture.” Alaimo notes that the MVCVA will continue to support local artists through grants and other efforts to foster the visual arts on the Island.

The “Artist Choice Show” features the work of more than 30 artists and artisans working in a variety of media. The offerings include paintings, drawings, photography, sculptures, ceramics, woodwork, clothing, jewelry, and more. Some artists, like Marston Clough and Renee Balter (whose charming large-scale paintings of Oak Bluffs homes and businesses are featured on their own dedicated wall) have been showing at the gallery since its inception. Others, like Lynn Combs, Richard Skidmore, and illustrator Linda Wurm Bryant are exhibiting at the gallery for the first time.

Among those who have shown work at the gallery over the years are such notable figures as Ruth Kirchmeier and Linda Taft. Others, such as painter Beth Smith and photographer Anthony Austin, have been afforded their first opportunity to exhibit on the Island. All four are represented in the current exhibit.

The show includes work in a wide range of styles, from a huge geometric abstract by Kaz that hangs in the front window to some interesting, simple, figurative drawings by Elizabeth Langer, to stylized images by Theresa Yuen, to more traditional landscapes by a number of the participants.

As its last hurrah, the current show offers a great overview of the talent to be found on the Island. Following the exhibit, the Galaxy Gallery will conclude the season with the annual “Habitat Secondhand Art Show,” which will take place on the weekend of Oct. 11 through 13, and an “Artists Yard Sale” on Oct. 13 that will give artists an opportunity to sell any unwanted craft and art supplies, as well as original artwork.

Those interested in either donating work for the “Secondhand Art” fundraiser or participating in the “Yard Sale” can contact the Galaxy Gallery at [email protected].

“It’s been a really good season,” says Alaimo. “We’ve had lots of participation, lots of activity. I think we’ve done very well in engaging the artists in our community.”

The “Artist Choice Show” will hang through Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Galaxy Gallery, 99 Dukes County Ave., Oak Bluffs. The gallery is open Friday through Sunday, from 11 am to 5 pm.