This sunny Saturday in West Tisbury, Allen Whiting is out at his easel, working at his latest landscape and simultaneously working at his answers to questions about his art.

His approach to both tasks is similar: He goes at it enthusiastically for awhile, then pauses to reconsider things, then goes back and adds another layer.

Ask, for example, why an artist who seldom shows outside his own gallery has decided to put on a retrospective of his work at Featherstone Center for the Arts, and he gives a succession of answers.

First up, he is glib.

A Watertown man died of apparent cardiac arrest after he and a swimming companion were rescued by Edgartown emergency responders at Norton Point on Saturday afternoon.

Island Community Chorus

After a day at sea, or at least on the beach, what better way to ring in the Fourth on the Vineyard than a rousing session of sea chanties? On July 3 starting at 8 p.m. the Island Community Chorus will begin their summer concert with a round of chanties guaranteed to take you to the high seas of enjoyment. The program takes place at the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs.

Summer stress driving you crazy? Admit it, vacationing isn’t always the mellow ride you envisioned. Trying to pack 365 days of fun into one weekend can even make you think better about coworkers and cubicles left behind.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Hot Air

From Gazette editions of July, 1936:

The giant dirigible Hindenburg soared over the Vineyard in the early hours of Wednesday morning. It was exactly ten minutes past two when Mr. and Mrs. Johnson Whiting of West Tisbury were aroused from their slumber by the roaring of the great engines. Arising and going outside, they saw the big airship crossing the heavens, its cabins brilliantly lighted and its hull shining above, as it headed easterly across the Island for the Atlantic.

To make a gyotaku fish print an artist also needs to be a man of the sea. Not old mind you, but definitely experienced in the both the art of surfcasting as well as the brush. Steve London is such a man.

First Mr. London catches the fish. Then he inks the fish and presses it into mulbery fiber paper called unryu, keeping alive the art form he learned from a Japanese master. The results of this craftmanship will be on display from July 2 through 8 at the Old Sculpin Gallery located on Dock street in Edgartown next to the Chappy ferry.

State foresters and Nature Conservancy fire ecology experts will draft a fire management plan for Manuel Correllus State Forest on Martha’s Vineyard, to guide ongoing fire work, thanks to recent funding from the U.S. Forest Service.

The $374,000 also will cover the partnership to restore 925 acres in Massachusetts with prescribed fire over the next year, to manage ecosystems and improve public safety.

By TATIANA SCHLOSSBERG

In a move aimed at curbing the unlawful use of the Greenlands by dirt bikers, the West Tisbury conservation commission voted Tuesday night to put up five new warning signs at entrances to the preserved area.

The vote comes in response to several complaints received by the environmental police and a group called the Friends of the Greenlands.

Milestones

On the weekend of May 13 to 15, the Rotary Club of Martha’s Vineyard hosted approximately 200 active Rotarians at the annual district 7950 conference held at the Harbor View Hotel in Edgartown.

JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Something jump started summer in Chilmark. After several rollicking thunderstorms, the weather took a right turn and the beach crowds appeared. There are a remarkable number of vacationers here already.

I must comment on how beautiful the dogwood trees were this month. They must have benefited by the wet spring as the trees seemed heavy with blossoms this season. Hope you had one blooming in your neighborhood.