Renee Balter
October 16, 1934 – August 26, 2025
Renee was born in Wilmington, Delaware on October 16, 1934 to Ethel and Benedict Denby. She
grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut. Her high school Home Economics teacher knew the owners of
the Menemsha Inn and got Renee a job as a waitress there for the summer of 1954, her first
summer on the Vineyard. After that summer, Renee attended the University of Connecticut at
Storrs. She married in 1959 and had two daughters, Denby and Dana.
Renee worked as a Realtor in Norwalk and the family vacationed on the Vineyard every August,
staying in a magical “camp” on the waterside of Abel’s Hill where she began to paint, the
beginning of a long successful artistic career. In the spring of 1975, Renee was awarded second
place in the Society for Creative Artists of Northwestern Connecticut. During the next several
years, she exhibited at the New Haven Paint and Clay Club each year and showed at the
Greenwich Art Barn. She also worked as the editor of a weekly newspaper, the Norwalk News.
In the middle of a divorce, Renee visited Martha’s Vineyard and together with a friend, bought a
guest house in Oak Bluffs that was called Titticut Follies. The mortgage interest rate was 19%. It
was a big gamble.
On August 27, 1983, Renee married Bruce Balter whom she’d known since college and he
became Renee’s partner at Titticut Follies. They lived in an 11’ x 22’ cottage, running Titticut
Follies from May – October. Titticut Follies is still a busy guesthouse today with a third
generation of loyal guests. In the early 90s, Renee was invited to have a “show” in a vacant
garage on Circuit Avenue. It became the Oak Bluffs Metropolitan Gallery. After that, Zita
Cousens, whose gallery was just next door, invited Renee to show at her gallery which she did
for almost two decades. She also showed at the Dragonfly Gallery every fall and illustrated the
MV Guide book Magic Time.
Renee was also interested in town politics, attending many Selectboard meetings. She and
Dennis daRosa started the Oak Bluffs Association, determined to help the town better know and
love its business community. For over 20 years, they worked to build the OBA membership.
They created Harborfest, the Inn Tour and resurrected Tivoli Day. Renee’s deep love of the
Vineyard, particularly Oak Bluffs, led her to chair the OB Historical Commission, work to pass
the Cottage City Historic District legislation and work with the Friends of Oak Bluffs. In the
mid-90’s, Renee and eight others bought the old firehouse on Duke’s County Avenue from the
town and turned it into Firehouse Gallery, a place for artists to gather and work, hold shows,
lectures, and workshops. Years later, after selling the Firehouse to Alison Shaw, the Martha’s
Vineyard Center for the Visual Arts, with Renee as President, opened the Galaxy Gallery, now
GalaxyArtsMV.
Renee’s artwork is distinctive and lives in homes on and off the island. Her paintings,
illustrations, monoprints and notecards are contemporary and primitive, reflecting an Oak Bluffs
cottage style.
Ever busy, ever energetic, Renee took great joy in life and brought that joy and love to many
others, easily spotted as she drove around town in her bright yellow Mini. She leaves a legacy of
friendships too many to count. She was a force of nature who brought beauty, art and historical
recognition to the town and the island. Her life and her memory are cause for celebration.