This week, some 87 local artists showcased their work along the walls surrounding the Tabernacle. The annual show features work in a variety of media created by artists ages 16 to 99.

Each year, artist Gertrude (Gee Gee) Barden and her family plan their annual trip to Martha’s Vineyard around one event: the All-Island Art Show.

In London, the Olympians are battling it out in feats of strength and endurance. Here on the Vineyard, we have our own contest coming up, no less feverish in its pursuit of glory, ribbons to the victors, too, but with the scales tilted to right brain activities rather than speed and brawn. Welcome once again to the All-Island Art Show.

For one artist, the term all-Island art is literal. Amid the paintings, pastels and photographs, the seaweed collages by Kathy Poehler hung on the wire fence at the Tabernacle yesterday for the 54th All-Island Art Show.

Splashed with sun and circled by artists and admirers, 418 pieces of artwork hung from a wire fence roped around the perimeter of the Tabernacle yesterday, shaping the 52nd annual All-Island Art Show and Sale itself into the scene of a fine painting.

When artist Nancy Blank was 16 years old, she gave watercolor lessons to Vineyard Haven resident Millie Briggs, who had asked to learn the technique behind the misty, ethereal nature of the medium.

The Tabernacle wore a dress of paintings, collages and photographs, hung on a wire mesh, yesterday as it played host to artists of all ages entered in the 53rd annual All-Island Art Show.