While on a sailing trip in Nantucket in 2010, Sophie Aschauer, an Austrian-born, New York-based artist, happened upon a book of traditional nautical knots ... a blank canvas to work on.

From building a boat (known locally as a "punt"), to assembling a quilt, baking a partridgeberry lassie tarte, or tying nautical knots, the folks who live on Fogo Island -- off the stormy ...