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‘Autumn Shadows’ opens at the Reboli Center on Sept. 28

by Press Release - September 26, 2021

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As the days grow shorter and temperatures begin to fall we turn our attention to the sights and sounds of autumn. In celebration of the season, the Reboli Center for Art and History presents Autumn Shadows, a beautiful exhibit featuring artwork by Joseph Reboli, Laura Westlake, Vicki Sawyer and more that include some beguiling and bewitching crows and ravens in paintings, drawings, ceramics and jewelry.

The show will run from September 28 to Oct. 31.

Some of Joseph Reboli’s paintings are on loan from private collectors, and are rarely exhibited, providing a great opportunity for Reboli fans to see some of his work for the first time.

Laura Westlake is a native Long Islander, who grew up in Stony Brook and now lives in Orient with her artist husband, Dominic Di Lorenzo. Having studied at Santa Barbara City College in California and the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, she spent 15 years working in commercial illustration for television, magazine and print ads, portraiture and book illustration.

Westlake excels in both color pencil and oil paints and has been exhibiting in galleries for over 35 years. Her love of birds and nature complements the work of internationally known artist, Vicki Sawyer, another show participant.

Celebrated for her incredibly imaginative and whimsical art, Vicki Sawyer, former Stony Brook artist and designer, has had two shows at the Reboli Center in recent years. Growing up in farm country, she spent years studying and admiring birds and animals.

Sawyer works in acrylic and incorporates vegetables, twigs and flowers to adorn her whimsical creatures with hats, necklaces and other decorative accessories. Her paintings are definitely one of a kind. Her notecards, calendars and other home decor items are on sale in the Reboli Design Shop.

Other participating artists include Kevin McEvoy, Linda Giacalone, Laura Peters, Barbara Glynn Prodanuik and more. The Center’s History Room will continue on with an interesting exhibition curated by Tricia Foley, The Legacy of Leslie Marchant, which showcases the life and accomplishments of the accomplished Long Island builder.

“We are thrilled to have such a high caliber of artists participating in Autumn Shadows,” said Lois Reboli, a founder of the Reboli Center. “They each bring a distinct element of talent and creativity that supplement each other’s work.”

The Reboli Center for Art and History is located at 64 Main Street in Stony Brook. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, please call 631-751-7707 or visit www.rebolicenter.org.

‘Resurgence’ Fine Art Showcase opens at Mills Pond Gallery this weekend

by Press Release - September 24, 2021

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Resurgence: A rising again into life, activity, or prominence.

— Merriam-Webster

When the Smithtown Township Arts Council’s Mills Pond Gallery opens its doors this Saturday, it will introduce Resurgence, a fine art exhibition featuring fifty works by twenty-five contemporary realist artists selected by curator Thomas Legaspi. The stunning show will run through Oct. 23.

The exhibit features a cross section of representational artists from the New York Metropolitan area, including Long Island, and Pennsylvania and a few artists whose ties to New York continue to be strong even after their art careers have relocated them after their amazing New York educational experiences.

“The artists have had to evolve and react to the changes happening in this pandemic society,” said Allison Cruz, Executive Director of the Mills Pond Gallery. “From cancelled brick and mortar exhibitions, closing of cultural institutions, concerns about the future to zoom teaching, virtual exhibitions and more. For some, working alone has sharpened their creative focus … for others, the absence of physical human connection has forced them to seek new sources of inspiration.”

“We are thrilled to celebrate the strength of Realism as an art form and provide a forum for our public audiences to experience the moving and original ways artists depict the world around them,” she said.

Curator Thomas Legaspi has juried shows for Dacia Gallery and an Art Collective New York Realism. A New York based, contemporary realist artist with an MFA from The New York Academy of Art, he has exhibited nationally and internationally for the past 20 years. In that time, he has also worked as an Adjunct Professor of Art for St. John’s University and City College of Technology as well as in the historic Educational Alliance Art School in the Lower East Side.

“With a hopeful gaze, Resurgence aims to highlight what these contemporary realist artists are creating in this return to creative activity,” said Legaspi.

Exhibiting artist include Susan Cottle Alberto, Steven Assael, Ross Barbera, James Xavier Barbour, Charis J Carmichael Braun, Julia Chen, Jon deMartin, Stephanie Deshpande, Elizabeth Diaz, William Dodge, Christian Fagerlund, Mojca Fatur, Kelly Foss, Kyle Keith, Sara Keith, Scott Lawson, Lisa Lebofsky, Peter Leeds, Cliff Miller, Kseniya Ostrovska, Ivan Pazlamatchev, Ravindra Rana, William D. Reed, Doug Reina and Zimou Tan.

The Mills Pond Gallery, 660 Route 25A, St. James presents Resurgence from Sept. 25 to Oct. 23. The community is invited to an artist reception on Sept. 25 from 1 to 4 p.m. Proof of vaccination and masks are required.

Gallery hours are Wednesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call 631-862-6575 or visit www.millspondgallery.org.

Bill Graf shares decades of artistic wisdom in Atelier solo show

by Melissa Arnold - September 23, 2021

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By Melissa Arnold

From his early days, Bill Graf was laser-focused on becoming a professional artist. And while he didn’t come from an artistic family, they were still eager to support him.

“When I was a little kid, I always drew — my mom was a voracious reader and would bring home stacks of books from the library, and I would draw in the margins,” said Graf, 61, of Huntington. “The librarian called our house and that’s how I was found out. My mom bought me two big pads of paper and pencils, and after that, it opened the floodgates.”

That deep love for creating has taken Graf from an art degree to a successful career and, more recently, sharing what he’s learned with others as an art teacher. He has also traveled the world in search of new vistas to capture.

This fall, the Atelier at Flowerfield in Saint James will exhibit more than 50 of Bill Graf’s paintings from the 1980s to current times. The solo exhibit will highlight Graf’s great skill in a variety of media and the beautiful places he’s been fortunate to paint over the years.

After high school, Graf wanted to use his artistic skills in a practical way. He chose to pursue an associate’s degree in advertising art and design from SUNY Farmingdale, but was initially turned down for the program.

“I met with the director of the program to sort of plead my case, and outside the office were these photorealistic pieces from the second-year students,” Graf recalled. “I told the director that I could do that. He doubted me, but he said, ‘Okay, I’ll give you three days to draw something in that style.’ When I came back, he looked at my work and said, ‘You’re in.’”

He went on to work in design, illustration and advertising, and studied in his free time at the Art Students’ League in New York City, where he learned the Frank Reilly system of painting. He also had the opportunity to study in Italy at the prestigious Cecil-Graves Studiomin Florence, Italy. Those experiences made a huge impact not only on his art, but on his career as well: Graf would spend more than 20 years illustrating the covers of various Harlequin novels.

“I would have a description of the hero and heroine, along with a synopsis of the book. Then I would work with models who would serve as references. We would set up the lights and backgrounds that I had chosen, shoot some pictures, then I would take those pictures home with me. I would have about a month to complete the final painting,” he explained.

Ultimately, as Harlequin switched over to photographed covers in 2015, Graf returned to his old passions as a way of coping with loss of his major client. He found renewed joy in watercolor and oil painting. A friend even suggested he try leading a casual paint night, which was a great success.

“I came away from that event with a sense that I could pass on what I’ve learned to others,” he said. “Seeing the enthusiasm of the people that were there, it felt like a good time to start paying it forward.”

Since 2016, Graf has taught a number of workshops in drawing and painting throughout Long Island, including at the Atelier.

“When we first met, I was blown away by Bill’s talent. He’s been able to pick up and excel in so many different media, with an incredible level of detail and a very high standard,” said Gaby Field-Rahman, administrator for the Atelier at Flowerfield. “Bill was also an instrumental part of getting the Atelier online and offering virtual classes during the height of the pandemic. In that way, he was truly a lifesaver for all of us.”

Carol D’Amato of Sound Beach first met Bill at one of his watercolor classes. She was newly widowed at the time and struggling to navigate life without her husband of 58 years.

“My doctor told me very seriously that I needed to make some positive changes or I was going to die of a broken heart. He asked me, ‘What is something you’ve always wanted to do but never had the chance?’ I admitted that I wanted to try watercolor, and he broke out into this huge grin,” she recalled. “He immediately said that he knew just the thing — that I needed to go to the Atelier and study with Bill Graf.”

During the first class, Graf gently observed that D’Amato didn’t really know how to draw, and told her that if she could learn to draw, he knew she could learn to paint.

“I really was the worst drawer ever! I never knew that I had the capability. I just needed someone who cared to come alongside me and teach me,” D’Amato said. “No one teaches like Bill. He has the ability to make you feel good and find good things in your art, even when you’re doing things wrong. I started with simple shapes and now, amazingly, I can paint nudes.”

As for Graf, he is always striving to grow as an artist and has never lost the passion he found as a young boy.

“It was my lifelong ambition to become a painter. I still have the same enthusiasm for a finished piece as I did with those first drawings when I was a kid,” he said. “I can lose so much time in my art … it’s almost meditative. I’m not looking to be the greatest of them all — I just have a love for seeing ideas come to life and sharing what I’ve learned with others.”

Bill Graf’s solo exhibit is on display now through Oct. 21 at the Atelier at Flowerfield’s Atelier Hall, 2 Flowerfield, Suite 6 & 9, Saint James. A reception will be held Sept. 23 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. For more information, call 631-250-9009 or visit www.theatelieratflowerfield.org.

Call to artists for 2021 Atelier Invitational

by Press Release - September 22, 2021

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The Atelier at Flowerfield in St. James invites artists ages 16 and up to submit entries for the 2021 Atelier Invitational, online at the link below.

This exhibition, now in its third year, will highlight the work of artists in all visual arts (except photography and video). The exhibition will be held in The Atelier’s 2,000 square foot gallery, which functions both as a professional studio space and exhibition area.

Artists may submit up to four (4) images of original artworks.
Submissions must be received no later than October 15th, 2021
Accepted works will be notified October 22nd, 2021
Works must be brought in by November 4th, 2021, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.
Works must be framed and ready to hang with wire.
Entry fee: $50
Opening Reception November 11, 2021, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

For more information contact asstadmin@atelierflowerfield.org
or call 631-250-9009. To submit artwork, click on button below:

Celebrate St. James presents 9/11 anniversary art exhibit

by Press Release - September 7, 2021

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our-flag-was-still-there-jack-ader — 'Our Flag Was Still There' by Jack Ader

In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Celebrate St. James will present an art exhibit at the historic Calderone Theater, 176 Second St., (second floor), St. James with an opening reception on Sunday, Sept. 12 at 11 a.m. Raffle prizes & 50/50 raffle. Refreshments will be served. Funds raised will go to the St. James 9/11 Memorial Fund and Save the St. James Theater Fund. For more information, call 631-984-0201 or visit www.celebratestjames.org.

Emma Clark Library hosts 9/11 Memorial Museum poster exhibition

by Press Release - September 7, 2021

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237853534_2324849797648572_3786342838770409219_n — Emma Clark Library Facebook page

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of that unthinkable and tragic day, Emma Clark Library, 120 Main St., Setauket will host an educational poster exhibition, September 11, 2001: The Day That Changed the World presented by the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, in the Vincent R. O’Leary Community Room for the month of September.

“This educational exhibition recounts the events of September 11, 2001, through the personal stories of those who witnessed and survived the attacks. Told across 14 posters, this exhibition includes archival photographs and images of artifacts from the Museum’s permanent collection.” – 9/11 Memorial and Museum website.

In addition to the poster exhibition, the September 11 Museum also has online resources about the World Trade Center and the Twin Towers, the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath, and the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site at www.911memorial.org/learn/resources/911-primer.

The poster exhibition has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.

The Emma S. Clark Memorial Library, located at 120 Main Street in Setauket and online at emmaclark.org, provides public library service to all residents of the Three Village Central School District.

“The Heart of the Three Village Community”

Long Island Museum reopens Aug. 20 with three new exhibits

by Tara Mae - August 19, 2021

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235698317_10158975454981487_5000393888668731056_n — A view of the grounds of the Long Island Museum from the Art Museum on the hill.

By Tara Mae

The Long Island Museum (LIM) in Stony Brook unveils three exciting new exhibitions — Tiffany Glass: Painting with Color and Light, Fire & Form: New Directions in Glass and the 8th annual LIMarts Members’ Exhibition, Fragile — this Friday, Aug. 20. All three will be on view through Dec. 19.

Art exhibit, Fragile, showcases work of LIMarts members

Long Island Museum’s Visitor Center and History Museum

Peace may be found in both the practice and presence of art. Fragile explores how art enriches our lives, particularly during times of stress and strife. On display in the recently renovated Cowles Gallery in the History Museum and Visitors Center (pictured on the right), the show features works by 92 members of LIMarts, both amateur and professional, working in different formats and mediums including sculpture, printmaking, oil painting, watercolor, etc.

“LIMarts is a collaborative arts group designed for artists dedicated to creating a new forum within our cultural community,” said Neil Watson, Executive Director of the LIM. “The group offers space for the exhibition and sale of artwork, varied programming events, lectures and opportunities for social gathering with other artists and the public.”

All LIMarts members were invited to submit one piece for the exhibit, which enables the museum to introduce or amplify the art of local artists to its audience. Although a few of the artists have works already in the museum’s permanent collection, the art included in Fragile is being exhibited for the first time.

Thanks to a sponsorship by Maryellen and Michael Lubinsky, the museum was able to waive its normal commission; all proceeds from art sales will go directly to the artists.

There were no confines put on the artists’ interpretations of the theme, but they were constrained by space; each participant’s work had to fit on 12″ x 12″ canvas boards. This restriction enabled creative solutions and unique results.

“When everybody’s work is the same size, it distills a different type of beauty…they are all on the same panel and figuring it out,” said Joshua Ruff, Deputy Director of the LIM and the show’s curator. “The diversity of approaches and how the exhibit was interpreted are amazing: fragile, as an idea, departure point, and concept.”

During the past 19 months, emotional and physical fragility have been ideas arguably at the forefront of the collective conscience. Most of the submissions were created during this time frame, and these ideas are recurring subjects, especially as they relate to the delicate nature of both the environment and human condition. Yet fragile does not equal weak, and the exhibit is also a testament to how fragility can be infused with fortitude.

“This is not an exhibition of 92 different ways of suffering; rather it shows there is an inner reserve of strength in all of us. You can be vulnerable but have other positive qualities of strength. I think some of the artists were trying to say that you can be fragile but be strong or have a fragile environment that produces great beauty and great strength,” said Ruff.

Certain artists chose to explore the intersection of fragility and vulnerability by experimenting with new painting styles or artistic techniques. “Some artists were trying new things and you can be vulnerable when you are trying new things,” Ruff explained. “It’s really impressive to see how many ways people approached the subject and how many different points of view and perspectives you see.”

Tiffany Glass: Painting with Color and Light

Wisteria Library Lamp, ca. 1901, Tiffany Studios, NYC

Organized by the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass in Queens, Tiffany Glass: Painting with Color and Light will be the first exhibition of its kind at the LIM. This compelling exhibition will include five windows, twenty lamps, and several displays showing how Louis C. Tiffany’s lamps were assembled, and how collectors today can distinguish between authentic lamps and forgeries.

The exhibition features some of the most celebrated of Tiffany’s works. Chosen for their masterful rendering of nature in flowers or landscape scenes, they exemplify the rich and varied glass palette, sensitive color selection, and intricacy of design that was characteristic of Tiffany’s leaded-glass objects. This exhibition also highlights some of the key figures at Tiffany Studios who made essential contributions to the artistry of the windows and lamps— chemist Arthur J. Nash and designers Agnes Northrop and Clara Driscoll.

Fire & Form: New Directions in Glass

Acesa (Ascend), 2019; by Toots
Zynsky;
Heller
Gallery, NYC

Fire & Form: New Directions in Glass , organized by the Long Island Museum, will feature nearly 50 works from nine contemporary artists, all reinforcing that glass is a sculptural material of near-infinite artistic and narrative possibilities. The artists included in this exhibition represent some of the most renowned names in American contemporary glass: Joseph Cavalieri, Deborah Czeresko, Trefny Dix, Bengt Hokanson, Beth Lipman, Judith Schaechter, Andy Stenerson, Marianne Weil, and Toots Zynsky. These exceptional artists all demonstrate a variety of approaches, methods, and inspirational starting points. Fire & Form will inhabit more than 2,500 square feet in LIM’s History Museum and Visitor’s Center and will be accompanied by a richly illustrated 30-page catalogue that will be printed as a takeaway for visitors.

“Fire & Form and Tiffany Glass are two of the biggest and most beautiful exhibitions we have ever mounted here,” says Joshua Ruff, Deputy Director the LIM and one of the curators of Fire & Form. “The comparison between Tiffany’s approach with some of the striking other work people will see — modern stained glass, blown glass, and cast glass — will really give people some perspective on how versatile a medium it really is.

IF YOU GO

The Long Island Museum is located at 1200 Route 25A in Stony Brook. It is open Thursday to Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors (62 and older), $5 for students (including college students with IDs), $3.50 for people with disabilities (personal care assistants admitted for free), and free for children under the age of six. For more information about the above exhibits or orther programs at the LIM, call 631-751-0066 or visit longislandmuseum.org.

Local artists take center stage in Gallery North’s latest exhibit

by Tara Mae - August 19, 2021

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By Tara Mae

After a 3 year absence, Local Color returns to Gallery North, a proclamation of the connection between art, artist, and community. On view from Aug. 19 to Sept. 26, the exhibit is presented in conjunction with the North Shore Artists Coalition and includes a reception and Open Studio Tour.

The beautiful show features artists whose work is both universal and local in impact, meaning, and appeal.

“[Executive Director] Ned Puchner and I decided to bring Local Color back this year and re-envision it to show through these artists what local culture is about. The exhibit is defining the role artists play in shaping identity of community and showing diversity of how artists define community: creating culture, creating beautiful and impactful work, adding to the identity through their outreach, etc,” said curator Kate Schwarting.

The show’s art is as varied as its interpretation of theme, featuring oil and acrylic paintings, photography, sculptures, and digital renderings. Thirty artists, from St. James to Mount Sinai, will be featured including Kelynn Alder, Arts.codes (Margaret Schedel and Melissa Clarke), Fred Badalamenti, Joan Branca, Sheila Breck, Pam Brown, Nancy Bueti-Randall, Sue Contessa, Micheal Drakopoulos, Paul Edelson, Peter Galasso, Han Qin, LoVid, Flo Kemp, Karen Kemp, Jim Lecky, Jim Molloy, Carlos Morales, Patricia Morrison, Patricia Paladines, Mel Pekarsky, Alicia R. Peterson, Doug Reina, Joseph Rotella, Angela Stratton, Mary Jane van Zeijts, Lorraine Walsh, Annmarie Waugh, Marlene Weinstein, and Christian White.

“What is so special about this exhibition is that each artist brings a different thing to the exhibition,” explained Schwarting. “A plein air painter captures the essence of a familiar location and allows us to see it in different light; someone else [deals] with a scientific topic that is so difficult to comprehend, but creates art that enables us to know through physical form and visual cues.”

Several of the participants are also activists who champion social, technological, and environmental awareness and change through their art.

According to Schwarting, a number of the artists were recruited through the gallery’s association with the North Shore Artists Coalition, while others were invited by her and Puchner.

Pam Brown, a sculptor who lives in Stony Brook and co-founder of the coalition, helped facilitate the partnership between the group and the gallery. Her piece, Armour, is a sculpture fabricated out of sheet metal, wire, boar bristles, and vinyl. Brown’s efforts in facilitating the relationship between Gallery North and the North Shore Artists Coalition reflect the connection she sees between art and community outreach.

“Community engagement creates an opportunity for the arts and artists to be seen by their communities — it initiates new ways for the public and artists to build connections between different groups. It brings together communities so they can articulate their own history and culture and to acknowledge that art is taking place in a larger context,” she said.

For artist Doug Reina of Stony Brook, who has exhibited at Gallery North in the past, showing his work in Local Color is reconnecting with a “fun, summertime tradition.”

“My work is about sharing the interesting, touching, emotional, funny, beautiful, sad human things that mean something to me with the viewer,” said Reina. His oil painting, titled Boys Night Out, depicts 4 teenage boys sneaking out of the house on a summer night. “The painting is based on real life experiences we had when our son was that age,” he explained.

Interpersonal connection is a recurring subject of the show’s art. This focus extends outward into explorations of our interactions with and responsibility to the world-at-large.

Han Qin of St. James will be entering her cyanotype on paper, White Goddess, which incorporates digital photo editing, drawing, and papermaking. It was inspired by two poems: “The White Goddess” by Robert Graves and “Quiet Night Thoughts” by Li Bai.

“I started the White Goddess series during my pregnancy and have been developing it until now. Poetry and life experience are the main inspirations. The idea behind the artwork becomes a shared experience that brings people together,” she said.

“We as a people have a long continuous personal storyline. Artwork is the moment on the storyline. My moment connects with others’ moments in their individual storylines; thus, a web of emotional connections builds up. That is a community, too,” said Qin.

Such cultural connections are enhanced through community involvement. In this spirit, exhibiting artists of Local Color will also be featured in an Open Studio Tour hosted by the North Shore Artists Coalition and Gallery North on Sept. 25 and 26, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.

“With one piece from each of the selected artists in the exhibit itself, the Open Studio Tour allows for an expanded view of the individual artists,” said Schwarting.

Gallery North, 90 North Coutry Road, Setauket presents Local Color from Aug. 19 to Sept. 26. Join the artists for an opening reception tonight, August 19, from 6 to 8 p.m. The gallery is open Wednesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. For more information, call 631-751-2676 or visit www.gallerynorth.org.

Huntington Arts Council presents SEA of Visibility: The Voyage Exhibition

by Press Release - August 18, 2021

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Phoenix by Jae JQ Breslow — 'Phoenix' by Jae JQ Breslow

The Huntington Arts Council (HAC) in partnership with Sea of Visibility is currently presenting SEA of Visibility: The Voyage Exhibition: Curated by Anu Annam at their Main Street Gallery in Huntington and on their website at huntingtonarts.org. The show runs through Sept. 4.

Artists were invited to “add your vision, your voice, and your voyage, making the invisible, visible, so the story of our collective struggle can be found, and the very specific connection for healing and integration can be made.”

Participating artists include Anu Annam, Tiffany Asadourian, Leila Atkinson, Robyn Bellospirito, Angelo Blanda, Jae ‘JQ’ Breslow, John Cino, Patty Eljaiek, Sueey Gutierrez, Regina Halliday, Andrew Hornberger, Roya Jenner, Maya Kawachi, Christophe Lima, Gina Mars, Margaret Minardi, Loretta Oberheim, Mark Propper, Dr. Nichelle Rivers, Devlin Starr, Robert Stenzel and Chloe Wheeler.

“The artwork for SEA of Visibility: The Voyage was selected based on visual craftsmanship, language, and resonance, and the stories that drove their creation. The work represents the deeply personal and varied experiences of the artists included. Topics range from a life-altering accident, perseverance through various disabilities, strained family relationships, acknowledgment of vulnerabilities and shadow sides, dreams, death, living with grief, facing absurdity, coping with a harrowing pandemic to the inexplicable, even irrational, hope that is the wind in the sails of our own “hero’s journey”. The final artwork selections embrace the sunlit space of the Huntington Arts Council’s Main Street Gallery—chosen based on how they interact with one another and the venue. They create a community voice through this larger work of art that is the exhibition, together, on a singular voyage to be heard and understood” said Curator Anu Annam.

“The Huntington Arts Council is very happy to have the opportunity to partner with Anu Annam and Sea of Visibility. The pieces in The Voyage reflect a beautiful diversity of work and variety of mediums. The exhibition tells individual stories filled with emotion and powerful intent. I encourage everyone to come to our Main Street Gallery and experience this show in person” said HAC Executive Director, Marc Courtade.

The Huntington Arts Council’s Main Street Gallery, 213 Main St., Huntington is open Tuesday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For weekend hours, call 631-271-8423.

—————————————————–

SEA of Visibility is an organization based in Long Island, NY that embraces our multicultural, queer, and disabled artists and our allies, focusing on neurodiversity and mental health. It “Supports Expression through the Arts” (SEA) and promotes destigmatization and integration through multidisciplinary art exhibitions, performances, and art-making programs-broadening the public’s vision on what mental illness is.

Artists revisit the past in new exhibit at Mills Pond Gallery

by Heidi Sutton - August 5, 2021

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By Heidi Sutton

It is said that the past is always an important part of the present. It is also said that a picture is worth a thousand words. The Smithtown Township Arts Council’s Mills Pond Gallery in St. James has taken those two adages and melded them into an exciting new summer exhibit, Visualizing the Past. The juried show opens Aug. 7 and runs through Sept. 5.

Juror Carol Strickland, who selected 52 works for the exhibit, was intrigued by Emily Dickinson’s lines — Memory is a strange bell, both jubilee and knell. She asked artists to respond to that in visual terms—both the celebratory memories and sad ones. The call was very open-ended, leaving a lot of room for varying interpretations.

“Selecting artworks to include in the exhibition was very difficult because we received so many entries that were both technically proficient and evocative. I was especially moved in deciding what to accept by those artists who took risks and showed me new perspectives,” said Strickland. “Art conveys what can’t be communicated in words, and my response to so many entries was non-verbal, like an inner vibration that brought a shock of recognition.”

Allison Cruz, Executive Director of the Mills Pond Gallery, is pleased with the beautiful show which incorporates many types of mediums including acrylic, charcoal, colored pencil, collage, fused glass, ink, mixed media, oil, pastel, watercolor and welding.

“The artists have shared memories or recalled stories and events and assembled them in a variety of media to be seen and experienced by others. Their works offer narratives open to a wide range of interpretation and expression. For me, that is the strength in this exhibit. I hope it encourages the viewers to reflect on their own memories and hopefully learn that art is a wonderful tool to explore different points of view, gain understanding and experience the world in different ways,” she said.

Participating artists include Amal, Tina Anthony, Victoria Beckert, Sheri Berman, Jean Marie Bucich, Frank Casucci, Eric Chimon, Donna Corvi, Caryn Coville, Brigham Dimick, Paul Edelson, Elizabeth Fusco, Kathleen Gerlach, Ashley Rose Gillin, Maureen Ginipro, Jan Guarino, Heidi Hogden, Elizabeth Kelly, Julianna Kirk, Sueim Koo, Cara London, Dorothy Lorenze, Margaret Marzullo, Briana McGinley-Downey, Georgia Rittenhouse McKenna, Avrel Susan Menkes, Cliff Miller, Gail Neuman, Lily Newland, Catherine Rezin, Alan Richards, Roberta Rogers, Oscar Santiago, Alaina Scheffer, Stacey Schuman, Alisa Shea, Faith Skelos, Erica Perjatel Stolba, Angela Stratton, Hui Su-Kennedy, Daniel Van Benthuysen, and Taylor West.

The Mills Pond Gallery, 660 Route 25A, St. James will present Visualizing the Past from Aug. 7 to Sept. 5. The public is invited to an opening reception on Aug. 7 from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. For more information, call 631-862-6575 or visit www.millspondgallery.org.

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