Chicken Alley is the place to be, rain or shine this weekend. The annual Art and Collectable Sale is preceded this year by a new event, the Needle Book Fashion Show Community Couture. Both events raise funds for Martha’s Vineyard Community Services.

Julian Wise sits examining a series of photographs in his new store Island Images located in Oak Bluffs.

“Out of all of them, these four are good enough,” he says. “I could use them professionally in the gallery.”

The pair of photographers nod as Mr. Wise explains to them what works about their pictures. He encourages the artists to go with their gut, bring in a few more photographs and he will sell the work in the gallery.

Sabine and Simone Geary, aged 15 and 13 respectively, gather their portfolios and head out.

Glenn Tunstull treats an art exhibition like a fashion show.

Whereas fabrics and patterns decorate a model, swatches and brush strokes dress his canvas.

“Each painting represents where I am today,” Mr. Tunstull said.

Two trailblazing artists and their relationship is the theme of historian Henry Adams’s book Tom and Jack: The Intertwined Lives of Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock. Abstract impressionist Mr. Pollock let the paint fall where it may, while Mr. Benton’s style was the polar opposite. Mr. Pollock was a student of Benton’s.

Curators and the simply curious will enjoy the annual Arts District Stroll in Oak Bluffs tomorrow, August 10, from 4 to 7 p.m. All along Dukes County avenue, galleries will open their doors to visitors and offer a look at new work while providing refreshments and entertainment. Each gallery will serve up its own welcome.

For Stephanie Yakely Danforth art is her second career.  She was a pediatric nurse practitioner for 20 years.