Volunteer day
Work for wildlife on Saturday, April 28, at the fifth annual Mass Audubon Statewide Volunteer Day at Felix Neck. Birds, butterflies, and Fern and Feather campers will benefit from volunteers working in the butterfly garden, building picnic tables, and removing bittersweet. Relax afterwards with a thank-you barbecue lunch. Volunteer from 9 am to 12 noon, and the BBQ follows. To sign up, call 508-627-4850 or visit massaudubon.org/workforwildlife.
Garlic mustard pull
The Nature Conservancy, Sheriff’s Meadow, and Polly Hill Arboretum are teaming up to reduce patches of garlic mustard on the Vineyard and they are looking for volunteers to help them. There is still a chance to limit the spread of garlic mustard, an aggressive biennial invasive plant from Europe that arrived here in the past few years, according to The Nature Conservancy. If you would like to volunteer, meet at 1 pm at Uncle Seth’s Pond in West Tisbury on Thursday, April 26. RSVP if you would like to join: 508-693-6287, ext. 15; eloucks@tnc.org.
Spring String Concert
More than 100 young string students will take the stage together for the All-Island Elementary Spring String Concert at 6 pm on May 3 at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School in Oak Bluffs.
Those who have witnessed the scale and intensity of the all-Island elementary string concerts are inevitably moved by it. Three different levels of orchestra will play music that they have been perfecting over the school year, including Telemann’s “Concerto in D Major,” Beethoven’s bucolic “Shepherd’s Hymn,” The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine,” and less-known pieces such as “Tune-A-Rumble” by Doris Gazda. Suzuki students will also play selections from their repertoire up through Volume 2 on violin, viola, cello, and bass.
The concert is free.
Gretchen Feldman: Love Letter to Earth
Gretchen Feldman, the late wife of Chilmarker Sam Feldman, is being honored at the American Visionary Art Museum in Maryland in a show called Gretchen Feldman: Love Letter to Earth (1934-2008). More than 40 paintings are on exhibit.
“Among Feldman’s bright, abstract works are vibrant, colorful landscapes and scenes depicting idyllic country life, contrasted with an artful examination of cancer cells which cut short the artist’s most loving and happy life,” the museum’s website proclaims.
The opening reception is this Friday, April 27, from 5 to 7 pm at the museum. Visit avam.org for directions and to see her work.
Last comedy night
Art by Limber
Daybreak art show
Know your trees: Bark basics
The traits most often used to identify trees — leaves, buds, and twigs — are often not clearly visible or, in the case of leaves, absent more than half of the year. Join author and naturalist Michael Wojtech on Saturday, May 5, from 9 am to 12 noon at Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury for an exploration of bark, the tree characteristic that is always visible in every season. After an indoor presentation, the group will go outside to practice. Admission is $20; $10 for Polly Hill members. For more information, call 508-693-9426 or email karin@pollyhillarboretum.org.
