Althea Freeman-Miller
looks to plants to describe her journey as an artist. A morning glory represents her childhood on the Vineyard, a black-eyed Susan the person she was in college, and a tree her future.

Metaphor extends to her family, too, but it isn’t confined to botany. An iris and an anchor symbolize her mother, and a bird with a heart as a body captures her father. Her inner purpose is a beaming candle.

In rooms filled with his colorful, fantastical artwork, friends and admirers gathered Sunday to tell stories about Richard Lee. It was a fitting tribute for the kind of artist who found canvases everywhere — from panes of glass to the trees in his yard — and the kind of person who had a story for everyone, who found hidden beauty that others overlooked.

A dancer, a mystic, an artist who painted fish swimming through the sky, anything was possible in Richard Lee’s world.

Last year, on June 22, the artist Richard Lee died at the age of 79. Mr. Lee was beloved as an artist and as a friend. On Sunday, Sept. 15, from 4 to 6 p.m. there will be a retrospective of his work held at Featherstone Center for the Arts. The exhibit is guest curated by Claudia Cannerdy and Hudson Lee.

Richard Lee was born in 1933 on a farm in Pullman, Wash. He moved east for college and first entered the world of the arts through dance.

Martha’s Vineyard Museum points out that you can’t spell Martha’s Vineyard without ART as they sponsor the annual fall art extravaganza featuring Vineyard artists such as Tony Holand, Meg Mercier, Kara Taylor, David Wallis, Wendy Weldon, Allen Whiting and more. The art party takes place at a private Edgartown home and offers an opportunity to view some Vineyard treasures and gain insight from the artists as they discuss their work.

Glenn Tunstull treats an art exhibition like a fashion show.

Whereas fabrics and patterns decorate a model, swatches and brush strokes dress his canvas.

“Each painting represents where I am today,” Mr. Tunstull said.

In 1985 painter Andrew Moore spent his first full year on Martha’s Vineyard. He lived in a one-room cottage that housed the essentials: a bed, a wood stove, an easel, his dog and a surfboard. Mr. Moore had recently graduated with his bachelor’s degree in architecture and this was his leap into a life of full-time painting.

How often in nature do we see a single standing beetlebung tree? Not often, thinks Kara Taylor.

“A beetlebung alone is a really unique sight to see,” Ms. Taylor said last week in her new Chilmark gallery space. “Alone, the tree takes this amazing shape. I can only remember one place where I’ve seen this.”

So she decided to paint it.

The wood panel oil painting with 23-karat gold leaf, entitled West Tisbury Beetlebung, is one of 13 paintings in Deciduous, Ms. Taylor’s first show in her new location.

A Nike Air Jordan sneaker lay sopping wet on a table in the flower studio at Tea Lane Farm on Tuesday. Flower artist Ellie Wetherbee had just finished carving the green floral foam into the shape of the old school sneaker and soaked it before she began to add flowers to the shape.

“It’s like carving a big block of cheese,” she said as she carefully scraped away the final shape of the shoe.

Ronni Simon is widely known for her jewelry and the artistry she brings to her original designs. She also knits scarves and is a sculptor. But her next canvas will be decidedly bigger and more public. She is taking on the large outdoor wall of the historic Capawock Movie Theatre on Main street in Vineyard Haven.

Joseph Palermo remembers his mother saying he was “born with a paintbrush in his hand.” If this is the case then Mr. Palermo has been holding a brush for 91 years. This weekend will mark the beginning of a month-long show of Mr. Palermo’s watercolors at the Chilmark Library and he plans to be there at the opening.
“I think he’s an inspiration,” Elise Thomas said. She helps Mr. Palermo by taking photos of some of the images he’s interested in recreating, everything from waterfowl to lighthouses. Then, in a large alcove in his apartment within his son Greg’s home in Edgartown, Mr.