If you were looking to take the pulse of the Island arts community this week, the Harbor View Hotel was the place to be.

A large group of Island arts leaders and planners convened there Tuesday to listen to a presentation by Lyz Crane, director of partnerships and special projects at ArtPlace America.

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.

Take to the road on Saturday, Sept. 28, as Featherstone presents its third annual art studio tour event. Sixteen artists open their studios to visitors and showcase their artwork.

Island artists include Jeri Dantzig of Vineyard Haven, Deirdre DeCarion of Edgartown, Ruth Kirchmeier of West Tisbury and Joan LeLacheur of Aquinnah. Visit featherstoneart.org to get a complete list of those participating.

For tickets, which are $30, call 508-693-1850.

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.

It may not be obvious what a garter, a spool of thread, yellow lace, old keys, feathers, antique sheet music and cowry shells all have in common, but once inside Suesan Stovall’s garage-converted art studio, it becomes clear.

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.