Our Island only became an island during the last Ice Age, when glaciers carved out our coastlines, separating us from the mainland. For the Wampanoag, it was the giant Moshup who formed this beautiful place they call Noepe. Thus, from its inception, the Island has continued to evolve over the centuries through colonization, farming, ongoing development, and, of course, the effects of climate change.
The exhibition “Human/Nature: Art and Conservation on Martha’s Vineyard,” at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, invites us to explore the Island’s sacred and protected open spaces, each with its unique story to tell through the eyes of artists.
“This exhibit is meant to think about art as a part of conservation,” says curator of exhibitions Anna Barber. “These artists are capturing landscapes that continue to change, even those that are conserved places.” The exhibition tells us, “They reflect moments in time that are a visual record of what has changed and what remains at risk. Through their eyes, we gain insight into the Island’s past and present.”
A stunning selection of work offers views into different conservation efforts on the Island. “Cedar Tree Neck, White Trail” by Rez Williams (1943–2024) provides an entry into the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, established in 1959. Williams himself was an active conservationist, serving as president of Sheriff’s Meadow, and one of the longest-serving board members of the Vineyard Conservation Society. His striking, abstracted bare-tree landscape in cold-weather colors captures the stark beauty of one of the trails winding its way through the preserve. It is one of a series of paintings Sheriff’s Meadow commissioned him to create that they turned into posters.
Adjacent is Jack Yuen’s bold autumnal-toned “Booming Ben.” The legendary endangered heath hen is tied to the State Forest/Heath Hen Preserve. Sections of the forest were cleared to create the Heath Hen Reservation, in an ultimately failed effort to save the endangered species. By 1929, only Booming Ben remained until 1932, when he failed to return to his breeding ground and was never seen again.
Andrew Moore’s breathtakingly meticulous “Quill,” in which a single white swan feather is lodged between white blossoms overlooking Tisbury Great Pond, a Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank barrier beach property. For him, “a swan’s ‘Quill’ writes the story of wildlife that lives and dies in this unique environment.”
Lovely watercolors by Amelia Montague Watson from 1888 capture scenes of Squibnocket, which in 2020 the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation and Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank jointly acquired from the Jacqueline Onassis family.
Nearly a hundred years later is Kib Bramhall’s startling green and white beachscape, “The Dunes of July [Squibnocket],” from 1981, that rolls deep into the distance.
Dan VanLandingham’s large view in “The Brickyard” captures the remnants of the brickmaking works, dwarfed by the spectacular beauty of the setting sun.
A familial pairing represents the Aquinnah Cliffs, sacred to the Wampanoag. Those not tribal members are prohibited from using the gorgeous multicolor clay. Jennifer Staples’ mesmerizing bowl reflects their red, brown, yellow, and cream colors. To the right is a 1940s painting of the Cliffs by Grover O. Ryan Staple’s great-great-uncle.
Allen Whiting’s evocative “Afternoon Light” captures the field around his family farm, which is conserved, and has provided decades of inspiration for his artwork. “Like other farms on the Island,” the label says, “this conservation relationship ensures that Islanders can continue a centuries-old way of life into the future.”
There is a rich selection of supporting material to help enhance the stories, including maps, films, photographs, and objects that speak to and support the stories behind the properties. For Deep Bottom/Long Point, there is a basket by Jemima Easton, a Deep Bottom Wampanoag, who used plants from the area around her home to create such items for her use and sale.
The label for the accompanying 1852 and 1854 petitions explains that land conservation movements of the past century can obscure longstanding issues around land use that began when colonizers first settled on the Island. Easton’s family, which had lived in the Deep Bottom area continuously for generations, was forced off their land by neighboring whites.
Barber explains, “We included the use of natural materials to talk about how land loss has also been a part of conservation, and is part of the conversation … She was writing to the state to ask them for help because her land was being encroached on — being taken over, and she couldn’t do what she needed to survive. That speaks to that balance that conservation was a land in balance with who lives on it. Colonization started that breakdown we are trying to build back up with conservation work today. It’s not just that there is a rescue; there are many more chapters to that story.”
There are two small rooms off the main gallery. One includes tables with art supplies and works by photographer Marjorie Wolfe of Sepiessa Point Reservation, and Leslie Baker’s dreamlike “Pink Comes to Rest,” a view of Crab Creek at Quansoo that can inspire your inner artist.
The other includes stunning prints and a fascinating film by Linsey Lee and Indaia Whitcombe of Ruth Kirchmeier at work, a renowned Island woodcut artist with a passion for the Vineyard’s natural places.
Barber says about the show, “I want people to come in and experience the art, and maybe think about that art when they go back out onto the Island. And the role art has, and the role you might play, in conservation.”
“Human/Nature: Art and Conservation on Martha’s Vineyard” is on view at the M.V. Museum through Jan. 12.
