TOM DRESSER
508-693-1050
Oak Bluffs library will host a technology fair on Saturday, March 21, from 2 to 4 p.m. Reference librarian Mat Bose says anyone can come and learn about a variety of technologies related to business, entertainment, energy, personal computers and home networks. Programs range from Vineyard Energy to WiFi update and a video-discussion with Valerie Becker.
Fred Hotchkiss will present his starfish lecture on Thursday, March 19, at 6:30 p.m. at the library. The talk is based on a poem, Song of Starfish, written by a Japanese scientist. A selection of fossil starfish books will be on display.
Nancy Phillips, chairman of the Oak Bluffs park commissioners, invites residents to start a Friends of the Oak Bluffs Recreation and Parks group to advise on recreational aspects of the beaches and parks. “The park commissioners envision a cooperative public/private partnership in this community effort,” she says. Interested parties are invited to the park commissioners’ meeting at the Council on Aging on Monday, March 16 at 4:45 p.m.
Oak Bluffs School congratulates sixth grader Samantha Potter who won a girls’ division at the Mid Cape Tennis Club tournament.
The next PTO Meeting is Tuesday, March 17, from 7 to 8:15 p.m.
The Martha’s Vineyard Democrats will hold a platform hearing, to prepare for the state convention, at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 14, at the Howes House, West Tisbury. “We are particularly eager to hear from voters who were reenergized by the Obama campaign and want to see changes in our national policies,” says the council’s Paddy Moore. The state convention will be June 6 in Springfield. Oak Bluffs delegates are Mimi Davisson, Ron DiOrio, Bill Stafursky and Margaret Stafursky. For more information, contact Ms. Moore at 508-693-6716 or e-mail her at mooreii@aol.com
Featherstone invites the public to Ray Ewing’s photography show entitled Visual Stimulus, which opens Saturday, March 14, with a reception from 4 to 6 p.m.
New classes at Featherstone include Stained Glass and Sewing with former teacher Gabriella Camilleri, and Songwriting with Jay Segel which starts March 24 for 4 weeks. Curious? Call Featherstone at 508-693-1850.
Personal News
Nadia Beard McGourthy and her new husband, Tim, celebrated their honeymoon on East Chop last week. Nadia is an attorney at Bourgeois, Dresser, White and Beard, and Tim is director of economic development in Worcester. They reveled in the wintry Vineyard experience.
Dan Perry turns 50 on the Ides of March and plans a trip to Mohegan Sun with his poker pals, Bruce Desmaris, Alan Counsell, Bob Priore, Ed Charter and Brett.
On March 14, Susan Desmaris takes her next set of Buddhist vows on the five precepts: avoidance of lying, stealing, killing, unfaithfulness and intoxication. Good for you, Susan.
Town Profile: Renee Balter
“I always wanted to paint,” says Renee Balter, known as much for her town committee work as her artistic talents. As a former children’s clothing designer, she has always been working creatively.
Although she and her husband, Bruce, moved here year-round in 1987, Renee has been coming to the Vineyard since the 1950s, working at the Menemsha Inn and bringing her family here on vacation. “I fell in love with the Vineyard but didn’t stay [at first], I just kept coming back,” she says.
In 1978 Renee and her friend Jacquie Maskovsky composed line-drawing note cards which sold at Bunch of Grapes and Book Den East. “That’s how it started,” she smiles. Last summer she submitted a letter to the editor of Martha’s Vineyard Magazine which included one of her line drawings, one that had been denied publication in the Vineyard Gazette in 1978, “as it was deemed inappropriate.” (It was a line drawing of a nude beach, complete with an airplane flying over with a pilot with binoculars! Shows how times change.
In 1981 she bought Titticut Follies, a rental property on Narraganset avenue. “I got a foothold on the Vineyard, then decided to just stay here,” she says, adding, “We’re so happy to be here.”
Her first gallery show was in the early 1990s. “Will Elliott of the Oak Bluffs Inn suggested we have a show,” Renee recalls. “Alan Schweikert had a one-car garage and Maggie Pepp and I had an art show in it. Zeta Cousen brought roses and invited me to Cousen Rose. That’s how I got into painting.”
Then community service took over. “I was fairly new in town. I had this dream that this is where community is. It’s very important how community life is; it has to be small enough to manage it. I could fit in and feel part of something.
“Then I got swept up in the Oak Bluffs Association,” which she revived and revitalized. Renee promoted an understanding between commercial operators and townspeople. “The focus is to integrate the business and residential communities. It’s been a great experience.” She is still quite involved with the organization, which now boasts 59 members and 134 Oak Bluffs businesses. She describes it a great community of people, so, although it was a lot of work, she loved every minute.
Renee loves town meetings, which she calls a wonderful experience, even when they involve difficult issues or people fearful of change. “You try to work with people to make it the best you can,” she says, acknowledging that it demonstrates how everyone is just a part of the whole.
Politics, like painting, takes time. Renee sits on the Cottage City Historical Commission, the Oak Bluffs Historic Commission, Community Development, and the chamber of commerce.
Between it all she returns to her art. “This is my third year at Dragonfly [Gallery]. There’s been great reception to my work,” she says, delighted. While she won’t have a show this year, her work is available through her Web site, reneebalter.com. And she keeps on painting. “I’m building a stockpile of work to show next year,” she winks.
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We enjoyed reading Holly Nadler’s Vineyard Supernatural: True Ghost Stories from America’s Most Haunted Island.
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