Once towering, now crumbling, the cliff at Lucy Vincent Beach has inspired artists and photographers throughout the world. Beginning this weekend Featherstone Center for the Arts will showcase artwork featuring the Chilmark beach and its famous cliff in both its present and past formations. The theme was suggested by Linda Ziegler, and provides an opportunity to reflect on the ways the landmark has been documented in various mediums, from painting and photography to sculpture, poetry and music. An opening reception will take place Sunday, April 21 from 4 to 6 p.m.

Last Sunday afternoon, under wintery skies, there was yet another pilgrimage to Lucy Vincent Beach. For many it was a solemn moment as they stood and looked without saying a word.

Pam Bunker, chairman of the Chilmark beach committee, was there taking stock of how nature had once again changed the landscape of the beach.

“The whole eastern seaboard, from Plum Island all the way down the coast, is eroding . . . . It is a melancholy feeling,” she said.

Shifting sand at both Wasque and Lucy Vincent Beach has uncovered what may be parts of two shipwrecks.

Last Sunday afternoon, Andrew Orcutt of Edgartown and Albany was out walking the shoreline near Wasque and the Norton Point breach. He discovered remnants of what appeared to be a ship in the wash.

As drastic erosion continues to eat away at Chilmark’s south shore, town officials this week expressed grave concern for public safety and impeded access to Lucy Vincent and Squibnocket beaches. The Chilmark board of selectmen also approved a study for the extreme Upper Chilmark Pond, known as Upper Upper Chilmark Pond to some, for a possible dune restoration project.

Lifeguards made a series of rescues this week at Lucy Vincent Beach in Chilmark, where rip currents have created unsafe swimming conditions in spots, Chilmark beach superintendent Martina Mastromonaco said yesterday. On Monday, two women were rescued by lifeguards after currents pulled them out to sea.

As the Atlantic Ocean continues its assault on the south-facing shoreline of the Vineyard, Lucy Vincent Beach in Chilmark has been turned into a hazard zone, its once-broad sweep of sand now chewed away by ocean waves and littered with pieces of collapsed cliff.

“The conditions are extremely dangerous, even for an experienced person like myself,” said Chilmark beach superintendent Martina Mastromonaco yesterday. “I think my biggest concern right now is keeping people away from the area.”

For Martina Mastromonaco, Chilmark beach superintendent, the horseshoe she found recently on a dune at the west end of Lucy Vincent Beach is no lucky charm.

On the contrary, she thinks the ancient-looking piece of metal is a bearer of bad tidings. The game of throwing horseshoes at the beach has not been popular for many years, she reasons, so the fact that the ocean has uncovered this artifact now is a stark illustration of how fast her beach is disappearing.

Coastal erosion has split Lucy Vincent Beach, temporarily cutting off a portion frequented by nude bathers at the point of a fossil-encrusted cliff, stretching the beach patrol and putting swimmers at risk.