History is like the shoreline: constantly changing and evolving based on both gradual processes and sudden, dramatic events.
History, and the way it is recorded here on the Island, lies at the center of this edition of Arts & Ideas. The phrase “living history” has always been enticing for me, one that breathes with a wonderful double entendre. On one side of the phrase, we are indeed living through history, especially these days, when we find ourselves in a truly historic moment for the Republic of the United States, as Jack Fruchtman writes in his piece about this summer’s 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. And on the other side, history itself is living, and constantly being interpreted and reinterpreted by the writers, artists, photographers and all others whose work is honored in this magazine.
The centerpiece of this issue is “Sea to Table,” a beautifully written essay by Hayley Duffy, our environment reporter and news editor, about the history of the Island’s fishing industry. Duffy takes you inside the ramshackle docks of Menemsha to introduce you to the fishermen, young and old, who navigate the waters of an industry that has always been vital to Martha’s Vineyard, from the Wampanoag culture dating back thousands of years, through the 19th century heyday of whaling ships, to today.
A tribute to the late fishing boat captain Roy Scheffer is a contribution by Will Sennott, a freelance writer who works on fishing boats.
Another sweeping piece that tells the story of the Island through time is about the art museum that winds its way through the corridors of the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. This collection is the labor of love of Chilmark residents Edward Miller and Monina von Opel. As our lead arts writer, Abby Remer, shares, Miller and von Opel believe deeply in the healing power of art and have made it available to all of us. Patients and their families, as well as medical staff, are blessed to have this extraordinary collection to explore. The works are largely by Island artists, and in many ways the art itself tells the living history of our community of painters, sculptors, and photographers.
Some of those outstanding artists are also featured here in written profiles, as are painter and sculptor Tom Maley and photographer Michael Johnson. Both artists have provided us with works that stand as iconic symbols of the Island — Maley’s joyous figures dance with sublime joy in the fields of West Tisbury, and Johnson’s compelling images trace the history of art and culture in the community of Oak Bluffs, and embody the Black heritage that shapes the shoreline of Inkwell Beach.
There are other forms of expression celebrated in this magazine, as well. Circuit Arts director Brian Ditchfield contemplates the historical moment for Island theatre as two institutions merge to become greater than the sum of their parts. The Times’ managing editor of features, Nicole Galland, covers the spirit of the all-inclusive and whimsical dance festival Built on Stilts. David PB Stephens celebrates the timeless fiddling of the Flying Elbows, and John Battelle takes us down into the underground rock of a hidden radio station in Tisbury.
And then the magazine brings it all home with a poetic ode to Chilmark’s storied softball league, which may be one of the oldest pickup games in the country. Sig Van Raan, who is among those who lay claim to the title “commissioner,” writes an elegiac piece about a century of tradition. No one is sure when exactly it started, back in the 1920s or perhaps early ’30s, but softball was born of the Great Depression as a fun way for families to gather, celebrate “America’s greatest pastime,” and endeavor to forget about the economic forces — and vast disparities of wealth — that were grinding at the time. Sound familiar? Yes, these days are filled with history repeating itself, a living history that every day is shaping our Island in new ways and old.
We hope you enjoy taking a walk along the shoreline of history with Arts & Ideas.
Charles M. Sennott is the publisher of The Martha’s Vineyard Times.