Martha’s Vineyard Arts & Ideas magazine is published by The Martha’s Vineyard Times. A&I is available at newsstands, galleries, and bookstores, free of charge. Below are all the stories printed in the 2026 edition.
From sea to table
Stacks of lobster traps line the corridor of Menemsha Harbor, and gear is piled haphazardly so high among brightly painted buoys and plastic totes that it reaches to the roof…
The art of healing
Art has the power to move us. It can soothe our souls and shift our perspectives. Not surprisingly, then, research reveals that art has a positive effect on health. We on the Island are fortunate to experience this firsthand at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, which boasts a unique collection of artwork. Every one of the more…
Gloves in!
Travel back 100 years ago to Martha’s Vineyard. It’s the end of the Roaring Twenties, which will soon collapse into the Great Depression. The Island population is under 5,000, and by the early 1930s, one-third of the population is on some form of government relief under Roosevelt’s New Deal. In this uncertain and relatively idle…
Publisher’s note:
A note from the publisher: The Island’s Living History
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…
Click below to flip through the print edition magazine.
Galleries + Studios
Profiles
Michael Johnson at the Inkwell
Michael Johnson knew he was witnessing something special when he first encountered the Oak Bluffs Polar Bears at Inkwell Beach in 2010. His iconic black-and-white photograph of about 20 participants…
The legend of Roy
Roy Scheffer’s hands mapped a different era of the Martha’s Vineyard waterfront. Etched by decades of running thick, tar-treated longline and calloused from the rough skin of swordfish, Roy was…
Playing the field
Tom Maley’s larger-than-life, frolicking white sculptures have brought joy to countless people since he displayed the first figure in front of his home and studio in 1970, in a meadow…
Essays
The math of a merger
After graduating from theater school, I never imagined my career in the arts would require so much math. To my surprise, I learned to love the numbers. They offer another…
The Revolutionary War and the Island of Martha’s Vineyard
Vineyarders active during the American Revolution have names sounding familiar to 21st-century ears: Mayhew, Daggett, Norton, Look, Smith, Cottle, Bassett, Athearn, and Manter. Some Islanders were sympathetic to the rebel…
Music and Dance
Going underground
Every Islander knows the drill: stuck in a line of traffic, slowly navigating one of the inescapable left-turn-fueled bottlenecks that bedevil our Island. Bored and possibly annoyed, we turn to…
Free for all
Serendipity, some say. Inspiration, say others. A feeling of belonging. Intimacy. Support. Inclusivity and openness. A magical experience. Like coming home. Unmatched and overwhelming in the best way. The bomb-diggity.…
Not just fiddling around
The Flying Elbows is a foot-stomping string band that has kicked butt around Martha’s Vineyard for the past half-century. Its roots go back to Gale Huntington. Huntington is a legend…