AAN Opens Two New Exhibits May 26

Main Street’s flower-filled fountain… boats bobbing in Nantucket harbor… longer days and moon-lit bays… our island’s beautiful early summer afternoons: see them all expressed on canvas in the Artists Association of Nantucket’s new exhibit Nothing But Blue Skies. The exhibition opens on Friday, May 26 in the Cecelia Joyce & Seward Johnson Gallery at 19 Washington Street.

“Nothing But Blue Skies is an exhibition designed to showcase the beauty of the island as it bursts forth with its summer flora and fauna. Being one of the most comprehensive venues for local art, our broad cross section of artist’s work includes everything from jewelry, oil paintings, watercolors, pastels, ceramics, glass sculptures, mixed media, photographs, and some textiles,” said AAN gallery director Peter J. Greenhalgh.

Also opening on Friday, May 26 is AAN’s Think Big exhibit in their Big Gallery, upstairs at 12 Straight Wharf. “This exhibition will premiere large works by our members that are too large to show in our Cecelia Joyce & Seward Johnson Gallery, with a focus on abstract pieces,” said AAN artistic director and curator Robert Frazier. With its lofty ceilings and extra-long windows, the Big Gallery lends itself beautifully to showcasing larger works in many different mediums. “We are looking forward to seeing what our artists bring in to jump-start the summer season,” added Frazier.

AAN’s mission is to foster the work of its artists, showcase and preserve Nantucket art through its historic Permanent Collection, and offer varied classes and workshops in the visual arts. “We have welcomed several new artist members into our organization, which now features close to three hundred local artists, whose work is highlighted in numerous exhibitions throughout the season. We’d be delighted to discuss with you our artists and their work, and I invite you to stop by the gallery anytime,” added Greenhalgh.

A stone’s throw from Main Street, the AAN’s Cecelia Joyce & Seward Johnson Gallery is an award-winning gallery on Washington Street. Nothing But Blue Skies will be on display there through Monday, June 19. Think Big will be on display until June 26 upstairs in the Thomas Macy Warehouse, 12 Straight Wharf. Both galleries will be open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am to 5 pm until May 31, when their hours will expand to Monday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm.

Hope Springs Eternal

from page 5 and Mickey. I think this story has more of a Karate Kid feel to it (because the villain doesn’t ever seem to be redeemed, at least not until the Cobra Kai remake four decades later). It goes like this...

Let’s call our hero Beth. She moves to the magical land of Nantucket and decides to learn how to surf cast after her well-meaning husband bought her a rod and reel setup for Mother’s Day in 2018. Beth grew up in Newport, RI. She knows a lot about sailing but never did any fishing. She is, however, smart and athletic. And tough. As in marathon runner tough. She’s run more than a dozen marathons, with very respectable times. She’s also given birth to two daughters, thus qualifying her for the aforementioned Mother’s Day gift. Finally, she’s put up with her husband’s nonsense for more than 25 years. Yeah, she’s tough.

Beth’s well-meaning husband attempted to show her how to cast (backstory: he’s a beach fishing guide), but the two quickly grow irritated at each other. So Beth builds on the fundamentals that she was taught and persistently works at her casting until she can throw her lure a respectable distance. Her summer Sundays at Great Point often result in Beth catching blues, false albacore, bonito, and the occasional daytime striper.

Life is great until the evil villain shows up in the spring of 2022. Breast cancer. Surgery. Chemotherapy. Radiation. Hair loss. Energy drained. And surfcasting, something that Beth has learned to do well and love, is taken away from her for most of 2022. Fear and uncertainty attack our hero daily, but she never blinks. She endures all the treatments and side effects, combined with the necessary travel, all while maintaining her job and her roles as a mother and wife. Heroes do hero stuff, right?

Things look bleak in the dark, cold days at the end of 2022. That’s when our wizard arrives at the perfect time. In Rocky, the wizard was Mickey. For Daniel, our karate kid, it was Mr. Miyagi. Beth’s wizard is Jeff Allen, maker of Fish Stix Nantucket fishing rods. Jeff learned about Beth’s struggles and saw a way to help. He created a beautiful 9-foot magic wand, a fishing rod that perfectly fits Beth’s physical frame and, most importantly, her temperament. This rod, along with a fantastic IRT reel (a gift from her love interest – let’s call him Stevie) show up under Beth’s Christmas tree. The gift is perfect. It gives Beth hope as she continues to fight the evil villain.

Now every great movie needs the showdown in a dramatic setting where our hero confronts the villain. In The Karate Kid, the setting was the Under 18 AllValley Karate Championship. In our story, it was the Spring Sea Run Opener Fishing Tournament. It’s May 3, 2023, and no one on Nantucket has yet landed the first beach striped bass of the year. Rafael Osona, the tournament organizer, was surprised. A bunch of hard-charging fishermen have been casting in the areas where the first bass is often caught, but to no avail. The stage is now set for the epic battle.

Beth and her love interest load up the pickup truck with waders, a small sampling of lures, and, of course, Beth’s Fish Stix magic wand. They head to the Cisco area. The surf conditions are rough but better than the previous day when they were downright dangerous. Beth picks up her magic wand and chooses a soft plastic bait. She stands boldly in the surf and starts casting. She senses that there’s fish around, but if so, they’re not biting what she’s throwing. Time to change it up. Beth puts on a Denny Dias made French fry soft plastic bait with a lead jig head. She moves to the east of her erstwhile love interest and gets back to it. A fish attacks her lure. She sets the hook and the fight is on! The crashing surf makes it tough to navigate as Beth pulls the fish towards the beach. A huge wave knocks Beth back on her heels and propels the fish well ahead of where it had been. Her line goes slack. Has the fish escaped?

No! Beth recovers her footing. She tightens her line. The love interest makes himself useful and scoops the fish up and out of the wash, onto the beach. The battle is won. Beth holds her fish modestly, but knowing that the stars have aligned to bring about this triumphant moment where our hero has vanquished the evil and the All-Valley trophy (strike that) the Spring Sea Run Opener First Bass Award is hers!

Beth is strong. She is healthy. She has amazingly awesome new hair. And she is going to catch a lot of fish this year and for years to come.

And if any Hollywood types out there are reading this, have your people call my people. Let’s do lunch.

Steve “Tuna” Tornovish is a Nantucket native who has spent his life fishing from the beaches of his beloved island. He loves to introduce clients to the joy of fishing with his Nantucket Island Fishing Adventures: stevetuna.com

MID ISLAND ROUTE

Buses will leave town every 30 minutes (on the hour and half hour) from 7am to 9pm. The last bus leaves town at 9pm.

Miacomet Route

Buses will leave town every 30 minutes (on the hour and half hour) from 7am to 9:20pm. The last bus leaves town at 9:20pm.

Sconset Via Old South Road Route

Daily from 7:15am to 9:15pm. The last bus leaves town at 9:15pm.

PARK & RIDE LOTS ARE AVAILABLE ALONG THE ROUTES:

The Muse 44 Surfside Rd • Faregrounds (7a 5p) 27 Fairgrounds Rd • 2 Fairgrounds Rd

Half fares: 65+, individuals with disabilities, veterans & active military personnel. Children 6 and under ride free. Change is given in the form of a voucher for future rides only, drivers do not make change.

1,3, & 7 day passes may be purchased aboard all buses, long term passes are available at the NRTA office.

Passes provide unlimited rides for the duration of the pass.

Downtown Bus Stops: Madaket and Jetties – Broad Street (in front of the Whaling tects these important species.

Sandplain Grassland habitats have been managed by conservation groups and agencies for decades. As early successional habitats, they require some kind of disturbance to be maintained. In a “natural setting,” without human intervention, that disturbance may be in the form of periodic wildfires, wind and salt spray, and grazing by mammals. Land managers mimic these disturbances with prescribed fire, mowing or brush hogging, selective species removal, tree cutting, and combinations of all of these treatments to maintain and encourage grassland species.

While many of these actions have worked historically to treat grasslands, there has been growing concern from land managers about the lack of success in recent years. Problems include increasing woody plant encroachment, more and new non-native invasive species, and changes in the ability to use certain management techniques.

The recent paper is the result of the Sandplain Grassland Network working to bring together these concerns and offer solutions: it’s a blueprint for future actions. It’s also important to the authors, myself included, that the information be open and accessible for anyone to utilize. The network performed a literature review of both published and unpublished reports along with interviews with land managers from across the region. It was determined that our management efforts need to expand in order to reduce woody plant cover that is impacting rare species and driving succession. While we have made good progress in the shortterm and have learned a great deal about these habitats, management is currently not adequate to maintain this system over the long-term considering both current conditions and the implications of climate change.

The network worked through 242 sources of literature (published and unpublished) and interviewed 31 practitioners about their experiences managing and working in Sandplain Grasslands. The interviews were an important component since many people working with these habitats have in-house, internal knowledge and publishing their knowledge or making it otherwise available wasn’t always a priority. It was important to the Sandplain Grassland Network and to the future of management, to record this knowledge and make the information broadly available before people retired and moved on. Managers can learn from their predecessors’ experience and use it as a baseline for the future.

Recommendations for Sandplain Grassland management include experimenting with different combinations of management techniques including prescribed fire, mowing, and direct removal of woody plants to reduce the amount of woody cover which is limiting grasses and wildflowers.

“We need to manage these habitats more intensively than we have done in the past,” said Dr. Chris Neill, an Ecosystem Ecologist with the Woodwell Climate Research Center. “Climate change will also be a challenge as managers will have to consider species movement, changes in precipitation, and impacts on management techniques such as prescribed fire.”

In addition to the recommendations for current management, the network outlines future challenges Sandplain Grasslands are facing. The paper highlights knowledge gaps and areas for new research, making it a great place to start for those looking for new projects. These include looking at how the foundational species of these grassland communities are responding to climate change. With warming temperatures and changing precipitation, how species respond will ultimately influence how the ecosystem will fare in the near future. Other indirect impacts of climate change include limitations in the use of prescribed fire, since climate change impacts make using fire during the growing season more unpredictable. New and experimental methods of soil disturbance are also discussed.

Both the Nantucket Conservation Foundation and the Linda Loring Nature Foundation are local founding members of the Sandplain Grassland Network and are co-authors on the paper. Much of the research and experts interviewed are based on Nantucket or had previously worked in our Sandplain Grasslands.

So while the beaches are the highlight for many visiting Nantucket, our grasslands are where the real excitement is. To read the paper, the full manuscript is currently available “early access” at the Journal of Restoration Ecology.

To learn more about Sandplain Grasslands locally, visit your favorite conservation organizations. The Sandplain Grassland Network has greatly facilitated information sharing and collaboration for this important biodiversity hotspot. To learn more about the Sandplain Grassland Network visit sandplaingrassland.net.