The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum, 180 Little Neck Road, Centerport will kick off the first of a series of Thankful Thursdays on March 10 at 7 p.m. in the Reichert Planetarium. Funding is generously provided by BAE Systems.
The evenings will feature a family-friendly planetarium show. After the show, astronomy educators will invite visitors to look through telescopes at the night sky – weather permitting.
The featured show on March 10 is Stars: The Powerhouses of the Universe. This intriguing show takes the audience on a journey to the farthest reaches of the galaxy to experience both the awesome beauty and destructive power of stars. Narrated by actor Mark Hamill of Star Wars.
My mother never made macaroni and cheese so when I was a kid it was Franco-American straight out of the can. In my young adulthood I made macaroni and cheese for my kids from the Kraft package which included the elbow macaroni and a little packet of powdery grated American cheese to which, if I remember correctly, I added milk and butter.
Now that the kids are all grown up and I need the calories and cholesterol from macaroni and cheese like a hole in the head, I’ve suddenly awakened to real mac and cheese (during the Covid incarceration, of course). It was lobster mac and cheese that did it. And then the other day my friend suggested a mac and cheese column. So here it is and to hell with the calories and the cholesterol!
Classic Macaroni and Cheese
YIELD: Makes 4 to 6 servings
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound curly macaroni
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon oil
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup flour
4 cups milk
Freshly ground pepper to taste
3/4 pound freshly grated sharp white cheddar cheese
3/4 pound freshly grated fontina cheese
1 teaspoon cayenne
DIRECTIONS:
Cook macaroni in a large pot of boiling salted water until just barely al dente. Drain, toss with oil and set aside. Preheat oven to 425 F. In a medium pot, heat butter over medium heat; whisk in flour, and continuing to whisk constantly, cook until flour starts to foam and turn golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk, then salt and pepper and still whisking, bring to a simmer. Add grated cheese, whisk until completely melted, add cayenne and cooked pasta and stir well. Transfer mixture to a 9 x 13” baking dish, place on baking sheet to catch any drippings and bake until top starts to crisp and sides are bubbly, about 20 to 30 minutes. Serve hot with a tossed salad.
Four Cheese Mac and Cheese
YIELD: Makes 6 to 8 servings
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound curly macaroni
6 ounces Robiola, rind removed, cheese diced
4 ounces goat cheese, diced
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup mascarpone
2/3 cup grated Pecorino
Freshly ground white pepper to taste
Scant 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375 F. Butter a two-quart casserole dish. Cook macaroni according to package directions, drain and immediately transfer to large bowl and toss with Robiola and goat cheese until they are melted. In another bowl whisk together the eggs, mascarpone and Pecorino; stir into macaroni mixture, add pepper and nutmeg, stir. Transfer mixture to prepared casserole dish; bake until golden and bubbly. Serve immediately with a tomato and onion salad.
Lobster Mac and Cheese
YIELD: Makes 6 to 8 servings
INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup pureed cottage cheese
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 cups (packed) grated extra sharp white cheddar
1/2 pound curly macaroni, cooked half the time indicated on package and drained
Meat from 2-pound cooked lobster, cut into bite-size pieces
2to 3 tablespoons bottled clam juice
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375 F; place rack in upper third of oven. Grease a 9 x 13” baking dish with one tablespoon of the butter. In an electric blender or food processor, puree together the cottage cheese, milk, mustard, cayenne, nutmeg and salt and pepper. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in cheddar and pasta, then pour into baking dish. Cover tightly with foil and bake 30 minutes. Remove from oven, stir in lobster meat and clam juice, dot with remaining butter and return, uncovered, to oven. Bake another 30 minutes until golden and bubbly; remove from oven, let sit 10 minutes, then serve hot with a chilled dry crisp white wine and arugula and endive salad.
It may be a celebration in honor of a patron saint of Ireland, but you don’t have to be Irish to join the revelry that marks each St. Patrick’s Day. This year, gather some friends for a party that brings a bit of luck o’ the Irish to all.
Perfect Party Menu
It’s just not a party without a scrumptious spread of eats and drinks, and an occasion like St. Patrick’s Day makes it fun to plan your menu. From green frosted cookies to a green-hued punch, countless options are available. A buffet-style meal allows guests to nibble as they wish and enjoy a wide range of foods.
Be sure to think beyond the food itself and also consider how you can get creative in serving it. For example, a hearty stew might be served in bowls that resemble pots of gold. Or display traditional finger foods, such as slices of cucumber, on a platter in the shape of a shamrock.
Try creating a signature cocktail for the affair using a classic green liquor like Midori, sour apple schnapps or rum, or even a creme de menthe.
A Theme to Celebrate
With so many prominent icons associated with the holiday, decorating is probably one of the easiest aspects of your party planning. There’s no shortage of images that scream St. Patty’s Day: shamrocks, rainbows, pots of gold, leprechauns, top hats and more. You might choose just one for your party’s theme or create an everything-is-more ensemble that celebrates all things Irish.
For a more subtle approach, simply think green. Lots and lots of green. From streamers to balloons to photo booth props, if it’s green, it will fit your theme. You can use plants to add greenery in elegant ways, green table and glassware for festive dining and even green-hued lighting for an all-Irish ambiance.
Festive Fun
Sure, the food and drinks are a big part of the party fun, but St. Patrick’s Day also lends itself to some playful party entertainment. A soundtrack with classic Irish tunes is an ideal backdrop. You might invite guests to compete in a limerick writing contest or a scavenger hunt to find prizes like gold-covered chocolate coins and a candy-filled pot of gold.
Find more ideas to celebrate this St. Patrick’s Day at eLivingToday.com.
Jose M. Adrover and Mikala Egeblad. Photo by Lijuan Sun
By Daniel Dunaief
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Professor Mikala Egeblad thought she saw something familiar at the beginning of the pandemic.
Mikala Egeblad. Photo from CSHL
Egeblad has focused on the way the immune system’s defenses can exacerbate cancer and other diseases. Specifically, she studies the way a type of white blood cell produces an abundance of neutrophil extracellular traps or NETs that can break down diseased and healthy cells indiscriminately. She thought potentially high concentrations of these NETs could have been playing a role in the worst cases of COVID.
“We got the idea that NETs were involved in COVID-19 from the early reports from China and Italy” that described how the sickest patients had severe lung damage, clotting events and damage to their kidneys, which was what she’d expect from overactive NETs, Egeblad explained in an email.
Recently, she, her post doctoral researcher Jose M. Adrover and collaborators at Weill Cornell Medical College and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai proved that this hypothesis had merit. They showed in hamsters infected with COVID and in mice with acute lung injuries that disabling these NETs improved the health of these rodents, which strongly suggested that NETs are playing a role in COVID-19.
“It was very exciting to go from forming a hypothesis to showing it was correct in the context of a complete new disease and within a relatively short time period,” Egeblad wrote.
Egeblad, Andover and their collaborators recently published their work in the Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight.
Importantly, reducing the NETs did not alter how much virus was in the lungs of the hamsters, which suggests that reducing NETs didn’t weaken the immune system’s response to the virus.
Additional experiments would be necessary to prove this is true for people battling the worst symptoms of COVID-19, Egeblad added.
While the research is in the early stages, it advances the understanding of the importance of NETs and offers a potential approach to treating COVID-19.
An unexpected direction
Jose Adrover. Photo from CSHL
When Adrover arrived from Spain, where he had earned his PhD from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and had conducted research as a post doctoral fellow at the Spanish Center for Cardiovascular Research in March of 2020, he expected to do immune-related cancer research.
Within weeks, however, the world changed. Like other researchers at CSHL and around the world, Egeblad and Adrover redirected their efforts towards combating COVID.
Egeblad and Andover “were thinking about the virus and what was going on and we thought about trying to do something,” Adrover said.
Egeblad and Adrover weren’t trying to fight the virus but rather the danger from overactive NETs in the immune system.
Finding an approved drug
Even though they were searching for a way to calm an immune system responding to a new threat, Egeblad and Adrover hoped to find a drug that was already approved.
After all, the process of developing a drug, testing its safety, and getting Food and Drug Administration approval is costly and time-consuming.
That’s where Juliane Daßler-Plenker, also a postdoctoral fellow in Egeblad’s lab, came in. Daßler-Plenker conducted a literature search and found disulfiram, a drug approved in the 1950’s to treat alcohol use disorder. Specifically, she found a preprint reporting that disulfuram can target a key molecule in macrophages, which are another immune cell. Since the researchers knew this was important for the formation of NETs, Daßler-Plenker proposed that the lab test it.
Working with Weill Cornell Medical College and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, Adrover explored the effect of disulfiram, among several other possible treatments, on NET production.
Using purified neutrophils from mice and from humans, Adrover discovered that disulfiram was the most effective treatment to block the formation of NETs.
He, Assistant Professor Robert Schwartz’s staff at Weill Cornell and Professor Benjamin tenOever at Mt. Sinai tried disulfiram on hamsters infected with SARS-Cov-2. The drug blocked net production and reduced lung injury.
The two experiments were “useful in my opinion as it strengthens our results, since we blocked NETs and injury in two independent models, one of infection and the other of sterile injury,” Adrover said. “Disulfuram worked in both models.”
More work needed
While encouraged by the results, Egeblad cautioned that this work started before the availability of vaccines. The lab is currently investigating how neutrophils in vaccinated people respond to COVID-19.
Still, this research offered potential promise for additional work on NETs with some COVID patients and with people whose battles with other diseases could involve some of the same immune-triggered damage.
“Beyond COVID, we are thinking about whether it would be possible to use disulfiram for acute respiratory distress syndrome,” Egeblad said. She thinks the research community has focused more attention on NETs.
“A lot more clinicians are aware of NETs and NETs’ role in diseases, COVID-19 and beyond,” she said. Researchers have developed an “appreciation that they are an important part of the immune response and inflammatory response.”
While researchers currently have methods to test the concentration of NETs in the blood, these tests are not standardized yet for routine clinical use. Egeblad is “sensing that there is more interest in figuring out how and when to target NETs” among companies hoping to discover treatments for COVID and other diseases.
The CSHL researcher said the initial race to gather information has proven that NETs are a potentially important target. Down the road, additional research will address a wide range of questions, including what causes some patients to develop different levels of NETs in response to infections.
Blue and gold lights at Huntington Town Hall Tuesday March 1 2022 in support of Ukraine's fight for freedom
Town electrician Tony Beigelbeck installs blue and gold lights at Huntington Town Hall
Blue and gold lights at Huntington Town Hall Tuesday March 1 2022 in support of Ukraine's fight for freedom
Blue and gold lights at Huntington Town Hall Tuesday March 1 2022 in support of Ukraine's fight for freedom
Town of Huntington Supervisor Ed Smyth lit Huntington Town Hall in blue and gold lights on February 26 in support of Ukraine’s fight for freedom.
“I have directed Huntington Town Hall to be illuminated blue and gold as we stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people fighting for their freedom,” posted Supervisor Ed Smyth on social media. “Thank you to Director of General Services Bill Musto, Town electrician Tony Beigelbeck and staff for their service around the clock.”
Stephanie Baez will be one of the guest speakers at the event. Photo from SBU
Stony Brook University recognizes Women’s History Month with its annual celebration that highlights the achievements of women, raises awareness against bias, and promotes social action for equality. This year’s theme #BreakTheBias was adopted from International Women’s Day which is held annually on the first Tuesday in March. Events will take place through Monday, March 28.
The university’s “Hybrid Opening Program in Celebration of International Women’s Day” will take place on Monday, March 7 at 1 p.m., ET in the Student Activities Center Ballroom A with limited seating, and will also be accessible on Zoom. This year’s program will feature a discussion about issues facing women with three accomplished SBU alumni — Maureen Ahmed ’11, Stephanie Baez ’08 and Brooke Ellison ’12.
The program will be hosted by senior Cassandra Skolnick, a student member of the Women’s History Month Committee who is majoring in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. In addition, student moderators will be Amber Lewis, a Junior, Journalism major; Minors in Music and Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Sanjana Thahura, a Senior, Biology major with Interdisciplinary Biology Specialization, Undergraduate College Academy Minor in Health and Wellness. Attendees can register online to attend the opening ceremony on Zoom.
Meet the panelists:
Stephanie Baez
Maureen Ahmed (‘11) is a foreign-affairs officer with the U.S. Department of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), where she provides policy guidance on how to advance human rights, democracy, and governance across South and Central Asia. Ahmed is also an international human rights activist and policy leader with expertise in diplomacy, foreign policy, human rights, gender, global health, HIV epidemiology, and civil society integration. Prior to DRL, she worked at the Department’s Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (O/GAC), where she managed the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) South Africa program, the United States’ largest global health assistance program Ahmed was named a 2020 National Security Fellow with the Truman National Security Project and a 2019-2020 Penn Kemble Fellow with the National Endowment of Democracy.
Maureen Ahmed
Stephanie Baez (‘08) is vice president for Communications and Public Affairs at Global Strategy Group in New York, a public relations and research firm. She leads strategic communications planning initiatives that incorporate traditional and digital communications channels and platforms, as well as grassroots/grasstops components. Baez served as the communications director for Congressmen Hakeem Jeffries and John Conyers, was senior vice president of public affairs for the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and was director of communications and public affairs for the Central Park Conservancy. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a concentration in Journalism.
Brooke Ellison
Brooke Ellison (‘12) is an associate professor in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and Behavioral and Community Health in the Stony Brook School of Health Professions. She is also director of the PhD program in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, and director of the Center for Community Engagement and Leadership Development. Ellison’s work as a researcher and scholar focuses on the ethics and policy of science and health care, particularly the intersection of disability and bioethics, and strategies to make healthcare and technology accessible to those most in need. Ellison was paralyzed from the neck down after being hit by a car while walking home from her first day of junior high school; 10 years later, she graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University. She received her PhD in sociology from Stony Brook in 2012, was chosen to be a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2014, and in 2017, was chosen to serve on the board of directors and executive committee of the New York Civil Liberties Union. In 2018, Brooke was named a Truman National Security Project Political Partner and was appointed to serve as a commissioner on the Suffolk County Human Rights Commission in 2020.
On Monday, March 21 (2pm, ET) as part of the speaker series is “In Defense of All Women’s Spaces,” at Melville Library, Special Collections Seminar Room, E-2340.
Stony Brook University graduate instructor Stephanie Bonvissuto will host this discussion:
How does accessing social spaces relate to the social construction of gender and sexual identities? How can site-specific signage taken as signifiers offer a view into societal ethics and cultural ethos? What are the institutional investments in policing bodies and enforcing cis-heteronormativity? And what can queering space (and spatiality) offer in terms of the future design of ‘something else’? This talk takes as its point of departure debates around public gendered restrooms to consider the biopolitics of space, the designs of power and knowledge, and the generative connections between spatial equity and social justice.
On Monday, March 28 (between 3-5pm, ET), “Closing Program in Celebration of International Women’s Day” in the Student Activities Center Ballroom A with limited seating.
Former National Public Radio host of “The Takeaway” as well as New York Times/CNN reporter Tanzina Vega (‘96) will host.
Meet the host:
For more than a decade, Tanzina Vega’s (‘96) journalism career has centered on inequality in the United States through the lens of race and gender. She’s been a reporter and producer for the New York Times and CNN where her work spanned text, digital and broadcast television. She most recently spent three years as the first Latina weekday host of “The Takeaway” on WNYC, New York Public Radio. Tanzina has covered many of the most consequential news events of the past decade, including multiple presidential elections, the COVID 19 pandemic, the rise of #BlackLivesMatter, Puerto Rico’s political crisis and the January 6 Capitol insurrection. In 2019 she was awarded the Robert G. McGruder Distinguished Lecture and Award from Kent State University. Prior to that she was a fellow at the Nation Institute and a Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. She is a distinguished graduate of the Craig Newmark School of Journalism at City University of New York where she earned Masters in Digital journalism. She lives with her son in New York City.
Defend the Island is a motto that the Stony Brook University men’s lacrosse team preaches, and the Seawolves lived up to that mantra last weekend as they successfully captured the first-ever Long Island Cup with a 10-6 victory over LIU. Stony Brook used a gritty defensive effort to limit the Sharks to just six goals en route to picking up its fourth-straight win on Feb. 27.
The Seawolves improved to 4-0 on the young season and are off to their best start since they began the 2017 season with the same 4-0 record. The six goals allowed are the fewest in a game since they held Hartford to six goals on April 3, 2021.
Stony Brook took a commanding 4-0 lead in the first quarter and was fueled by early goals from senior midfielder Matt Anderson, sophomore attack Dylan Pallonetti, and sophomore attack Noah Armitage. Pallonetti scored a pair of goals in the opening frame as the Seawolves took the four-goal advantage into the second quarter.
The teams traded goals in the third quarter and Stony Brook took a 5-1 lead into the halftime break. The Seawolves’ early advantage was too much for the Sharks to overcome as Stony Brook held on to win by the final score of 10-6.
Stony Brook’s defense held the Sharks’ top two goal scorers in check. LIU’s leading scorer Blake Behlen was limited to two goals and its second-leading scorer entering the game Jake Gillis was held scoreless. Seawolves’ senior goalie Anthony Palma stood on his head as he made 11 saves and only allowed the six goals.
The Seawolves’ offense was led by Pallonetti who recorded a game-high five points (two goals, three assists). Armitage recorded his second hat trick of the season, while Anderson and graduate midfield Mike McCannell each scored a pair of goals.
“It’s exciting. The guys came out and competed in a great event against a good team. I am really excited about our effort – that’s the best defense that we played in probably three years that we have been here at Stony Brook. I couldn’t be prouder of those guys flying around out there,” said head coach Anthony Gilardi.
Next up, the team returns to LaValle Stadium to host Rutgers on March 5 at noon.
Some medication side-effects include increased fall risk
By David Dunaief, M.D.
Dr. David Dunaief
This has been a particularly challenging winter here in the Northeast. Instead of snow, we’ve had a fair amount of ice and variable temperatures that caused snowy surfaces to ice over.
Many older adults are concerned about falling, thus they stayed inside and sedentary. While this addressed the immediate challenge of icy sidewalks, it may have increased their risk of falling in the future.
What drives this concern about falls? Even without icy steps and walkways, falls can be serious for older patients, where the consequences can be devastating. They can include brain injuries, hip fractures, a decrease in functional ability and a decline in physical and social activities (1). Ultimately, a fall can lead to loss of independence (2).
There are many factors. A personal history of falling in the recent past is the most prevalent. However, there are other significant factors, such as age and medication use. Some medications, like antihypertensive medications, which are used to treat high blood pressure, and psychotropic medications, which are used to treat anxiety, depression and insomnia, are of particular concern. Chronic diseases can also contribute.
Circumstances that predispose us to falls also involve weakness in upper and lower body strength, decreased vision, hearing disorders and psychological issues, such as anxiety and depression (3).
Setting yourself up for success
Of the utmost importance is exercise. But what do we mean by “exercise”? We mean exercises involving balance, strength, movement, flexibility and endurance, all of which play significant roles in fall prevention (4). The good news is that many of these can be done inside with no equipment or with items found around the home.
Footwear also needs to be addressed. Nonslip shoes are crucial indoors, and footwear that prevents sliding on ice in winter, such as slip-on ice cleats that fit over your shoes, is a must. In the home, inexpensive changes, like securing area rugs and removing other tripping hazards, can also make a big difference.
Does medication increase risk?
There are a number of medications that may heighten fall risk. As I mentioned, psychotropic drugs top the list. But what other drugs might have an impact?
High blood pressure medications have been investigated. A well-designed study showed an increase in fall risk in those who were taking high blood pressure medication (5). Those on moderate doses of blood pressure medication had the greatest risk of serious injuries from falls, a 40 percent increase.
Blood pressure medications have significant benefits in reducing the risks of cardiovascular disease and events. Thus, we need to weigh the risk-benefit ratio in older patients before stopping a medication. We also should consider whether lifestyle modifications, which play a significant role in treating this disease, can be substituted for medication (6).
The value of exercise
A meta-analysis showed that exercise significantly reduced the risk of a fall (7). It led to a 37 percent reduction in falls that resulted in injury and a 30 percent reduction in falls requiring medical attention. Even more impressive was a 61 percent reduction in fracture risk.
Remember, the lower the fracture risk, the more likely you are to remain physically independent. The author summarized that exercise not only helps to prevent falls but also fall injuries.
Unfortunately, those who have fallen before, even without injury, often develop a fear that causes them to limit their activities. This leads to a dangerous cycle of reduced balance and increased gait disorders, ultimately resulting in an increased risk of falling (8).
What types of exercise help?
Any consistent exercise program that improves balance, flexibility, and muscle tone and includes core strengthening should help you improve your balance. Among those that have been studied, tai chi, yoga and aquatic exercise have all been shown to have benefits in preventing falls and injuries from falls.
A randomized controlled trial showed that those who did an aquatic exercise program had a significant improvement in the risk of falls (9). The aim of the aquatic exercise was to improve balance, strength and mobility. Results showed a reduction in the overall number of falls and a 44 percent decline in the number of exercising patients who fell during the six-month trial, with no change in the control group.
If you don’t have a pool available, tai chi, which requires no equipment, was also shown to reduce both fall risk and fear of falling in older adults (10).
Another pilot study used modified chair yoga classes with a small assisted living population (11). Participants were those over 65 who had experienced a recent fall and had a resulting fear of falling. While the intention was to assess exercise safety, researchers found that participants had less reliance on assistive devices and three of the 16 participants were able to eliminate their use of mobility assistance devices.
Thus, our best line of defense against fall risk is prevention with exercise and reducing slipping opportunities. Should you stop medications? Not necessarily. But for those 65 and older, or for those who have arthritis and are at least 45 years old, it may mean reviewing your medication list with your doctor. Before you consider changing your blood pressure medications, review your risk-to-benefit ratio with your physician.
Dr. David Dunaief is a speaker, author and local lifestyle medicine physician focusing on the integration of medicine, nutrition, fitness and stress management. For further information, visit www.medicalcompassmd.com.
This week’s shelter pets are 18-year-old Ranger (tuxedo) and 12-year-old Lily (tabby), currently up for adoption at the Smithtown Animal Shelter. These sweet seniors lost their home due to a house fire. They are bonded and would prefer to go to a home together.
Ranger and Lily love other cats and lived with a small child. They deserve a warm lap and lots of love to enjoy their golden years. They are very healthy for their ages and just had their teeth all polished up!
If you would like to meet Ranger and Lily, please call ahead to schedule an hour to properly interact with them in a domestic setting.
The Smithtown Animal & Adoption Shelter is located at 410 Middle Country Road, Smithtown. Visitor hours are currently Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Sundays and Wednesday evenings by appointment only).
For more information, call 631-360-7575 or visit www.smithtownanimalshelter.com.
'Sunflowers' by Kyle Blumenthal
Image courtesy of Mills Pond Gallery
By Margaret Minardi
By Donna Corvi
It’s time to honor the best of the best. The Smithtown Township Arts Council’s Winners Showcase Fine Art Exhibition kicks off Saturday, March 5 at the Mills Pond Gallery in St. James. The exhibit features winning artists from the 2021 Members Showcase (Kyle Blumenthal, Donna Corvi, Margaret Minardi), A Sense of Place (Gia Horton Schifano) and Visualizing the Past (Lily Newland).
Stony Brook artist Kyle Blumenthal’s life is steeped in art. From a very early age, she immersed herself in art books, art prints and art works. She experiences life as an artist, always looking at color, shadow and form in order to better portray them in her art.An illustrator, a fine artist, a stage designer and display artist, Blumenthal experiments through various media and her paintings convey a message of hope and enlightenment and her subjects echo their spiritual identity through the use of forms, patterns, media, light and color.
Montauk artist Donna Corvi began her career in illustration using watercolor, airbrush and colored pencil. After a commercial art career of 20 years in NYC, a change was in order. “Now, painting in both oil and acrylic, I can focus on painting what resonates with me most…trees, branches, wind and color.” The artist takes daily walks along the water, in the woods and across fields to record her reference material for her expressionist views of tree branches, wind and the ever-changing seasons. “I love trees and I hope that I bring a new awareness about trees to people. The earth needs them–we need them to exist.”
New Hyde Park artist Gia Horton Schifano is a self-taught artist. Her love for Long Island and its beauty from coast to coast is what inspires her. Her sense of composition and realistic style bring to the viewer a sense of peace and beauty in nature. Schifano has worked in charcoal, colored pencil, and acrylic but her latest love is water-mixable oils that lend themselves beautifully to the techniques used for her landscapes and portrait work. Her art focuses on the serenity of the east end of Long Island.
Northport artist Margaret Minardi will be exhibiting work from her new White on White series, which includes high realism portraits and solar plate etchings of her students and daughter…subjects that are close to her heart. “As a 30-year high school art educator, I was privileged to work with teenagers that were magical and complex. They created images that seemed impossible for ones so young. Their art glowed with strength and agonized with fragility. It is my hope that some of their beauty is captured in this series,” she said.
Wantagh artist Lily Newland received her BFA from Binghamton University in 2019 and is currently pursuing an MAT in art education at Queens College. While Newland is well versed in multiple disciplines including painting and printmaking, her passion lies with drawing, the purest expression of the form. She enjoys the subject of the figure in its endless variations and in her desire to distill its fleeting presence. “Drawing has remained a constant for me, when life becomes fussy and my creative enthusiasm gets a bit lost, I can usually find it again by simply returning to my sketch book.”
The Mills Pond Gallery, 660 Route 25A, St. James presents the Winners Showcase Fine Art Exhibition through March 27. The public is invited to an opening reception on March 5 from noon to 4 p.m. to meet the artists and view their work. Face masks are encouraged. For more information, call 631-862-6575 or visit www.millspondgallery.org.
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