Daughter of super god Zeus and the Harvest goddess Demeter, young Persephone went out for a stroll one day and, as the story goes, was suddenly abducted by Hades, god of the underworld. The earth beneath her feet literally opened up and swallowed her.

Zeus, it turns out, was a bit of a laissez-faire father. He didn’t even notice his daughter had disappeared. Mom took up the fight alone visiting a drought upon the world until her daughter was returned.

If two is company and three is a crowd, it might follow that 10 is chaos.

But if the 10 in question are the group of artists behind the Night Heron Gallery, the newest addition to Vineyard Haven’s formidable Main street lineup, the more appropriate word would be “community.”

Fifteen artists for fifteen years. That’s what Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs is planning this Spring. No word yet on whether each artist will have to tackle a certain year. And how would you represent 1997, for example, anyway? Clinton started his second term, scientists cloned Dolly the sheep, Princess Diana died in a car crash trying to evade paparazzi, the possibilities are endless.

Time to stand up and be counted - for the arts.

The Martha’s Vineyard Arts and Culture Collaborative is beginning a census in order to create an inventory of those involved in arts and culture on the Island. At the same time the collaborative is prospecting for ideas about what initiatives could offer the greatest benefit to the arts community of the Island.

Getting counted doesn’t hurt at all, either. Merely fill out a survey online at marthasvineyardarts.org.

Dana Nunes perched naked on a pedestal of pillows and blankets inside a studio at Featherstone Center for the Arts.

“I get a kick out of the flea market go-ers who look through the window and back up . . . and then look again,” she said.

Ms. Nunes was the model for the Tom Maley Life Drawing class which last Tuesday morning was experiencing another full house, as the flea market was in bloom right outside the doors.

Class facilitator Anne Gallagher asked everyone to make room for old and new faces alike.

The Gay Head Gallery, a fine art and photography gallery on State Road, located in the center of Aquinnah, is now open for the summer. This is the second season for the gallery which seeks to promote issues of conservation and sustainability. Several shows are planned for this summer that will integrate art with environmental concerns and issues. Shows also benefit featured non-profits.

Arts Crawl

The Arts District on Dukes County avenue in Oak Bluffs invites everyone to crawl with them evert Thursday evenings in July. All the galleries will stay open late for lingering over art with the artists, gallery owners and friends.

First evening crawl is this Thursday, July 5.

Ray Ellis has been painting for over 70 years, much of it on the Vineyard. This year one of his paintings was auctioned off for $120,000 at the Taste of the Vineyard fundraiser for the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust. Two years ago at the same event, a painting by Mr. Ellis went for $250,000. Last year, his tie was bought for $150,000. To hear him talk will only cost $75.

Traeger di Pietro first started painting for love. He was 15; she was artsy and he was a jock, a baseball player. He knew her ex-boyfriend had painted her things and he wanted to impress her too. His first paintings were small still lifes of flowers and roses.

“I never stopped, I just kept going and going,” he said. Now he’s a full-fledged member of the Island arts scene, and has received acclaim from art collectors and artists alike.

Those attending the Arts Stroll in Oak Bluffs tomorrow, July 14, can expect paintings, sculptures and prints, naturally. But be prepared for capes and crowns, too.

Lucinda Sheldon of Lucinda’s Enamels, located at 11 Vineyard avenue, has dedicated a whole corner of her studio to decorative fabric capes and complementary felt crowns.

“I’m an artist,” she said, looking at her collection of fantasy costumes for kids, “But I’m also a grandmother.”