The Trustees of Reservations’ three-acre garden Mytoi on Chappaquiddick is the inspiration for an art exhibit in Oak Bluffs that opens today and continues through the coming two weeks. Two artists, Don Sibley of West Tisbury and Robert Baart of Brookline, have stories to tell about Mytoi. They tell it through words, in ink and paint.

The two-hour opening reception begins tonight at 6 p.m. at Dragonfly Gallery, 91 Dukes County avenue. Close to 40 works of art will be on exhibit.

Though the two artists have very little in common when it comes to the media they use, their shared interests are nature, art and teaching art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The school is a big city institution located in the bustling Fenway cultural district. There are 40 teachers and as many as 450 students. Mr. Sibley, 68, has taught full-time at the art school for 38 years. At least once a week, the two men were coincidentally in adjoining classrooms, on Wednesdays. Mr. Baart taught on Mondays and Wednesdays. Mr. Sibley taught Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

“It is only the last 15 years we two became good friends,” Mr. Baart said.

Mr. Baart works in oil, acrylic and pastel. Mr. Sibley works in pen and ink, graphite on clayboard and mixed media.

The art on the gallery walls may be linked to Mytoi but the exhibit marks the connection of two art teachers, their talent, and an appreciation for nature.

Mr. Baart, 61, has taught at the art school for 35 years. He teaches traditional painting, the work of the early Italian masters going back to the 14th century. An expressionist painter himself, Mr. Baart’s works in the exhibit look as if they were inspired by a garden: the reflecting pool of water in the pond, treescapes, branches missing foliage.

When Mr. Baart was on sabbatical from the museum more than two years ago, he chose to do a series of works of art based on the garden’s four seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter.

Mr. Baart’s inspiration to apply for a grant and to do the Mytoi series came from conversations he had with Mr. Sibley about the Japanese-inspired garden.

Mr. Sibley is also the Mytoi gardener.

Through the years, Mr. Sibley told Mr. Baart about this amazing Japanese-inspired garden on Chappaquiddick, a quiet place. Mr. Sibley told him how after Hurricane Bob, in August of 1991, he stepped in to help in the restoration effort. During the hurricane, the small garden was decimated by a microburst, the closest thing in nature to a tornado without the sight of a funnel cloud.

Mr. Baart said he listened and decided to make the place the subject of a year-long painting project. It became obvious to Mr. Baart that not only should he put in some time painting the place but that he would benefit from plotting out a bigger effort, one that covered the span of two years. Mr. Baart said he was touched by the oriental influences that are incorporated in the peaceful place.

By doing the four seasons, Mr. Baart said, he could step out of the world of Brookline and the hubbub of the city, come to the Vineyard and step into the quiet of the garden. He often stayed at the Ashley Inn, and would walk from the Chappaquiddick ferry ramp to the garden, a long hike by foot. The walk itself helped in setting the mood.

The paintings came out of those journeys. There are scenes of the water in the freshwater, managed pond. He illustrated the scenes that struck him.

The largest oil painting measures 33 by 60 inches and is of tall grasses coming out of the water. The painting’s title is a play on words: Water Sedge. Say the title quickly and another phrase appears: “water’s edge.”

“This is my personal perspective, how I relate to the world when I step away from the crowds,” Mr. Baart said. “Nature is comforting, inspirational.”

During this process, Mr. Baart earned a friendship with the place. He said: “I really felt good going to Mytoi to slow down.”

Mr. Sibley noted that Mr. Baart is also a serious birdwatcher.

Mr. Sibley describes himself simply as the Mytoi gardener, though the title his friends have given him is more accurate: he is the garden’s botanical curator. He oversaw the redesign and construction of the garden after the hurricane. Chris Kennedy, superintendent of The Trustees of Reservations, said of him this week: “He lives that garden.”

Mr. Sibley’s work at the gallery may not say Mytoi obviously either, but the message in every painting is of an artist who is deeply aware of the voice of the natural world.

Mr. Sibley’s work does not fit in a box of words. Rather, Mr. Sibley’s artwork invites the viewer to step into a world where the major principle behind the work is nature’s presence, whether the artist is depicting a boulder or the shimmering of frost.

Those two views of nature, by two artists, make for a stunning show. There is a rainbow of color present in the different ways people experience nature and obviously more ways to express nature through art if the subject is Mytoi.

The artists share something else this month. On June 30, they retire as long-time teachers at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Mr. Baart will be available at the gallery tomorrow from 2 to 3 p.m.

On Sunday, Mr. Sibley will give a talk at the gallery about his work at 2 p.m.

The show will hang until June 28.