News and Events for Nantucket Island
The Artists Association of Nantucket’s downtown gallery, the Cecelia Joyce & Seward Johnson Gallery at 19 Washington Street, is now open to visitors for the 2020 season. Their first exhibition is “Summer Small Works,” which will be on display through mid-August on the first floor of the gallery.
The folks at Fairwinds, Nantucket’s own counseling center, suspect that all of us are capable of seeing even ourselves in a new light. Their Portrait Fundraiser aligns strongly with that idea—the idea that a portrait is not an act of creation, but an act of discovery. It’s a discovery of what is really there: the new and developing, as well as the familiar.
“The Little Grey Lady of the Sea” is how we’re known. How many business names around Nantucket have something to do with “Grey Lady”? And it’s not just the gray shingles. Benjamin Moore even has a beautiful blue grey paint color called ‘Nantucket Fog.” On Nantucket, we literally live and breathe fog.
In the garden, a mourning dove calls. The heat of the day is already boasting of its strength, but there’s a slight wind with a gentle touch as it cools the sweat of my brow. The air is saturated and heavy, but the prize offers a brief reprieve in radiant red. It’s tomato season.
Nantucket sings and swings on consideration. You can’t act without thinking of others because the others are thinking of you. You must drive with your eyes up and your windows open, because the guy in the Miles Reis truck has to see you before he turns. Your Freedom To runs smack dab into Freedom From, then gets a load of garbage on the hood. You have to look, you have to wave, you have to wait.
Dining out is different this summer season. On Nantucket, the town, restaurant owners, and their neighbors have gone above and beyond to accommodate outdoor dining in spaces that in the past would be impossible. Still impossible for some, island restaurants with no outdoor spaces are working creatively to distance indoor tables and to offer meals to go. As people who love to go out to eat, we see all this as the opportunity to enjoy culinary delights from our favorite restaurants at our favorite island places.
Now celebrating their 75th year, the Artists Association of Nantucket is facing a new set of challenges. With many much-loved live events making the move online, these virtual versions allow for a bigger audience, easier access, and more effective funding for this beloved island institution.
The Nantucket Historical Association (NHA) has “lowered its whaleboats” at the Whaling Museum and is welcoming the public back into this world-class museum… with a little twist.
One of our most beloved town officials is Nantucket County Sheriff Jim Perelman. Known for combining kindness with professionalism, he won his last election by a landslide with more than 88% of the vote. He is very much a part of our island community and has an Open Door Policy at his office on Broad Street. We spoke with him recently about what he remembers about Nantucket in 1970…
