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Long Island Museum

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Scenes from Museum Day 2023 at the Middle Country Public Library. Photos courtesy of MCPL
Scene from Museum Day 2023 at the Middle Country Public Library. Photo courtesy of MCPL
Scenes from Museum Day 2023 at the Middle Country Public Library. Photos courtesy of MCPL
Scenes from Museum Day 2023 at the Middle Country Public Library. Photos courtesy of MCPL
Scenes from Museum Day 2023 at the Middle Country Public Library. Photos courtesy of MCPL
Scenes from Museum Day 2023 at the Middle Country Public Library. Photos courtesy of MCPL
Scenes from Museum Day 2023 at the Middle Country Public Library. Photos courtesy of MCPL

By Tara Mae

Like separate entries in an anthology, different community organizations offer rich options for diverse cultural endeavors that form a cohesive collection of experiences to encourage understanding and appreciation.

In this spirit, Middle Country Public Library’s Centereach branch at 101 Eastwood Blvd. will host Museum Day on Thursday, May 16, from 4 to 7 p.m. The event is free and no registration is required. 

This year 30 local institutions are participating, including the Long Island Museum of American History, Art and Carriages (LIM) in Stony Brook, Three Village Historical Society (TVHS) in Setauket, Whaling Museum and Education Center of Cold Spring Harbor, Railroad Museum of Long Island in Riverhead, and Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown.  

“The purpose [of Museum Day] is to provide a forum for community members to interact with representatives from local museums, historical societies, science and nature centers that participate to share information regarding their collections, programs, and exhibits in a festival type setting,” said Deborah Hempe, Middle Country Public Library’s Coordinator for Outreach Services and Museum Corner.

Held at the Museum Corner section of the library, which is part of the Youth Services Department, Museum Day is geared towards children and their families. Interactive elements across multiple mediums include science experiments, arts and crafts, live animal visits, and interaction with museum displays and artifacts. 

“For many children, looking and listening isn’t enough to activate the desire to learn. At events like this, children are presented with opportunities to also create, explore objects for themselves, and feel a connection that is personal,” said Lisa Unander, Director of Education at the Long Island Museum. “That feeling can be a catalyst to spark wonder and a lifelong love of art and history.”

The LIM will have a collage project inspired by the art of Reynold Ruffins, whose work is featuring in one of its current exhibits, Painting Partnership: Reynold and Joan Ruffins. The activity will concentrate on how using color and geometric shapes can create art. 

TVHS will set up a mini-exhibit and teach hands-on crafts, like making colonial whirligigs. Sweetbriar Nature Center will attend with two of its ambassador animals; traditionally, a resident owl and snake come as its guests. The Railroad Museum of Long Island will set up a train display. 

“I enjoy seeing the families who attend Museum Day and [engaging] with the children on hands-on learning activities we offer during the event,” said Education Coordinator of TVHS Lindsey Steward-Goldberg.

These offerings are made to energize minds and excite imaginations. 

“Museums can be places that introduce new ideas, unique perspectives and often challenge people’s ways of looking and thinking. Giving children a chance expand their way of thinking and encouragement to be creative in unexpected ways is often a goal of museum educators,” Unander said. 

For 35 years, Middle Country Public Library has organized the gathering in conjunction with International Museum Day, which falls on or around May 18. In 2023, more than 37,000 museums in about 158 countries and territories took part in the celebration.

Coordinated by the International Council of Museums, International Museum Day has a distinctive theme every year; 2024’s focus is Museums for Education and Research.

Although the motif changes, primary objectives of the official occasion and the library’s exhibition remain consistent: to alert people to the role museums play in the advancement of society and fortify the cooperation between neighboring operations.

“The public is able to learn about what these local organizations have to offer in a fun and interactive setting…Additionally, it provides a nice way for the organizations to do a bit of networking with each other,” Hempe said.  

A welcome chance to fortify interdisciplinary dynamics for the attending entities while engaging with a new audience and enchanting existing patrons, Museum Day is both a synopsis and preview of the organizations’ services. Many vendors return annually to maximize and solidify their exposure.

“Each year we meet many patrons who know our museum, and also many who have not ever visited the LIM. It is a wonderful way to showcase what the LIM has to offer and to extend a personal invitation to these families to visit for the first time or to come back and see what is new since their last visit,” Unander said. 

Through nurturing partnerships of longevity and consistency, Museum Day invigorates  lifelong interest in learning as well as sustained support for assemblages dedicated to historical preservation and intellectual enrichment. 

“I look forward to further cultivating those relationships, interacting with the staff and volunteers of participating organizations, and seeing the event attendees interacting with them as well…all are welcome,” Hempe said.

Participating organizations include:

American Airpower Museum

Bayard Cutting Arboretum

Bethel Hobbs Community Farm

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County Community Education

Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society

Fire Island National Seashore

Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council

Hallockville Museum Farm

Hofstra University Museum of Art

Long Island Explorium

Long Island Maritime Museum

Long Island Museum

Long Island Telephone Museum

LT Michael P. Murphy Navy SEAL Museum

Montauk Historical Society/Lighthouse

NY Marine Rescue Center

Old Westbury Gardens

Patchogue Arts Council

Railroad Museum of Long Island

Sagtikos Manor

Smithtown Historical Society

Southampton History Museum

South Fork Natural History Museum

Sweetbriar Nature Center

Three Village Historical Society

Town of Brookhaven Historian

Vanderbilt Museum and Planetarium

Whaling Museum & Education Center of Cold Spring Harbor

Water Mill Museum

To learn more about Museum Day, call 631-585-9393 or visit www.mcplibrary.org.

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Accepting the award, from left Nina Sangimino Curator at the LIM; Kristin Cuomo, Educator at the LIM; Joshua Ruff, Co-Executive Director at the LIM; and Kelynn Alder, guest curator of the exhibition 'SOMOS/WE ARE: Latinx Artists of Long Island.' Photo courtesy of LIM

The Long Island Museum (LIM), a Smithsonian Affiliate, has announced that it has been awarded the prestigious Engaging Communities Award of Distinction for its groundbreaking exhibition SOMOS/WE ARE: Latinx Artists of Long Island. 

Photo courtesy of LIM

The LIM was part of a group of selected museums, museum professionals, industry partners, and legislative leaders that were recognized for their exceptional achievements at MANY’s 2024 annual conference “Giving Voice to Value” in Albany on April 8. The fifteen awards celebrated unique leadership, dedicated community service, transformational visitor experiences, community engagement, and innovative programs that use collections and resources to support museums and to tell stories of everyone who calls New York home.

The Engaging Communities Award of Distinction recognizes organizations that demonstrate exceptional and resourceful methods in engaging their communities and cultivating new audiences. The LIM’s exhibition, SOMOS/WE ARE, stood out for its immersive approach in showcasing the rich cultural heritage and artistic contributions of the Latinx community on Long Island.

“This was such an important and institution-changing exhibition for us,” says Co-Executive Director, Joshua Ruff. “It helped us collaborate and connect with community partners such as the Latino Arts Council of Long Island. We were able to make some significant new accessions for our art collection from some of the artists involved. And this project confirmed that LIM is a museum dedicated to the history and culture of all people across our region, including the more than 20% of Nassau-Suffolk’s total population that has Hispanic heritage.” 

Photo from LIM

On view during the fall of 2023, SOMOS/WE ARE was guest-curated by Mexican-American artist Kelynn Alder and curator Nina Sangimino of the LIM. This collaborative exhibition with associated programming focused on the rich cultural heritage and artistic contributions of the Latinx community on Long Island, featured 82 regional artists and explored their diverse styles, media, personal stories, and familial national origins. 

In addition to bilingual exhibition text, the museum’s education staff published a bilingual Family Gallery Guide and offered Spanish language tours, including one for the Long Island Latino Teachers Association which contributed to an increase in school tours from school districts on Long Island with a high percentage of Latinx students, including Hempstead, Springs, Copiague, Tuckahoe, North Babylon, and Brentwood. 

The museum also hosted a ¡ESTAMOS! symposium that featured an artist discussion and performances as well as a free Family Fun Day in October which set a record 600 person attendance for Día de los Muertos, many of whom were first-time visitors.

The LIM’s SOMOS/WE ARE: Latinx Artists of Long Island exhibition exemplifies the power of museums to connect, inspire, and celebrate diverse voices and communities. For more information, visit www.longislandmuseum.org.

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Gordon Lightfoot performing in Interlochen, Michigan in 2009. Photo courtesy of Charles Backfish

By Rita J. Egan

WUSB’s Sunday Street Series at The Long Island Museum has a tradition of bringing artists together to celebrate musical legends. On March 24, they will be adding a bit of Canadian flair.

The series will present Long Island Celebrates Lightfoot — a celebration of the songs of Gordon Lightfoot, the renowned Canadian songwriter and singer who passed away on May 1, 2023 at the age of 84.

With a music catalog encompassing 20 studio and three live albums, more than a dozen musicians will perform hits such as “Early Morning Rain,” “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Sundown,” “Carefree Highway,” “Ribbon of Darkness,” “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” and some of his lesser-known tracks on March 24.

Producer Charles Backfish said Lightfoot had been recording and touring since the 1960s up until a year or so before he passed away. “I’m really excited about this one, because, first of all, he is a songwriter of major stature, and secondly, he’s someone from up north that I think needs to get a little bit more acknowledgement in the United States,” he said.

Backfish added that while the singer/songwriter is known to some degree in this country, people may not be familiar with the range of Lightfoot’s albums. One song, “Black Day in July,” is about the 1967 Detroit Riot. The single was banned from some U.S. radio stations because many thought it was too political.

Ray Lambiase, who will be performing during the show, said when he was younger, his friends would listen to groups such as The Beatles. He, however, was listening to artists such as country blues singer Missippi John Hurt and folk-blues duo Sunday Terry and Brownie McGhee. He learned how to play guitar listening to folk music, and Lightfoot’s “Early Morning Rain” was one of the songs he would play early in his career.

“I’ve been playing ‘Early Morning Rain’ since I was 18, and that was over 50 years ago,” he said.

Lambiase will perform the song with other artists on March 24. He will also play “Did She Mention My Name” and “Sundown.” He added the shows allow singers and songwriters of every age an opportunity to collaborate.

“It’s just nice having everybody together, and you don’t often get that kind of a chance where everybody’s in the same room,” Lambiase said. “You get to catch up a little bit, and it generates such a warm feeling. It’s always a wonderful night and hopefully that somehow translates to what the audience is picking up.”

Among those multigenerational artists will be Andrew Fortier and his son and daughter, Cole and Andie. 

Andrew Fortier said it’s been interesting watching his children discover Lightfoot’s work. “They actually bring up stuff that I missed,” he said, adding both have eclectic tastes.

The singer, who has always been a fan of Lightfoot’s work, said digging into an artist’s music catalog for The Sunday Street Series is always a pleasant surprise.

“I’m 60 years old, so I grew up with Gordon Lightfoot in the 70s,” he said. “I’m a total fan, but you become more of a fan when you start backtracking and listening to cuts you’ve never heard before.”

Andrew’s son Cole said this will be the second Sunday Street show he has performed in. The musician said he’s enjoying studying Lightfoot’s music, describing the songs as fluid.

“What I’ve noticed about him particularly is his songs are very strophic, there’s not really any bridges, and they’re played through, which is kind of typical as a more traditional folk sound,” Cole said. “But, what’s interesting is just the long form vibes of these songs that go on and roam for a little while with these amazing lyrical narratives.”

Mary Lamont, who was raised in Canada, will also be among the performers at the Lightfoot event. The lead singer of the Mary Lamont Band said she was familiar with the singer/songwriter when she was younger but grew to appreciate his songwriting and singing more in later years.

The Sunday Street Series shows feature the artists performing two songs each. Lamont, whose husband Jim Marchese and bandmate Rich Lanahan will accompany her on acoustic guitars, said it can be challenging to narrow it down to two tracks when someone has such an extensive catalog. To choose, she listens to the artist’s albums until a song hits her. In this case, she chose two songs, “Cold on the Shoulder” and “Alberta Bound.” In the latter Lightfoot included references to Canada, including Toronto, which is about three hours from where Lamont grew up.

“That was the reason why I picked that song,” she said. “It had so many Canadian references.” She added she feels “every country has its own pride about people.” 

“I feel a certain pride and really a newfound respect for Gordon Lightfoot’s music, too,” Lamont said. “I have to thank Charlie for that.”

Backfish and the performers hope the audience will leave the show with a deeper appreciation of Lightfoot’s music.

“They’re going to hear a lot of songs that they’re not familiar with, and for me, the best thing would be for them to walk away realizing what a career and what a lasting body of work Gordon Lightfoot really left us,” Lambiase said.

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Long Island Celebrates Lightfoot will take place in the Carriage Museum’s Gillespie Room at the Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook on Sunday, March 24 at 5 p.m. and will feature local musicians Gene Casey, Caroline Doctorow, Mick Hargreaves, Ray Lambiase, Mary Lamont with Jim Marchese, Rich Lanahan, Russ Seeger, Hank Stone, Bob Westcott, and Andrew, Cole and Andie Fortier. 

Advance sale tickets are available at www.sundaystreet.org for $25 with tickets at the door, if available, for $30 (cash only).

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Student painting in classroom

Join the Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook for a Second Saturdays in the Studio event on March 9 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. This new series welcomes families to drop in one Saturday a month to join LIM educators in the studio and participate in a hands-on activity or art project inspired by exhibitions on view. Other dates include April 13, May 11 and June 8. Free with Museum admission of $15 adults, $10 seniors and children ages 6 to 17. For more information, call 631-751-0066 or visit www.longislandmuseum.org.

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'Rodney' by Sam Adoquei
Long Island Museum's Co-Executive Director Joshua Ruff with 'The Art Student' and 'Social Studies' by Sam Adoquei. Photo by Tara Mae
LIM's Co-Executive Director Joshua Ruff views 'The Art Student', oil on canvas, by Sam Adoquei in the Cowles Gallery of the History Museum. Photo by Kristin Cuomo/LIM
'Quinces' by Sam Adoquei

By Tara Mae

Perspective and reality merge in imagination, creating art that is tethered to truth and yet unfettered from realism. Finding Hidden Treasures: The Art of Sam Adoquei, a retrospective of the artist’s oil paintings, explores the scope of such interplay.

On view at the Long Island Museum (LIM) in Stony Brook through June 2, the show features 25 oil paintings of various sizes as well as an excerpt of The Unseen Beauty (2012), a film written and directed by Gabriel de Urioste about Adoquei and his work.

The entire exhibit is a milestone for Adoquei. 

“It is the first time in my life to have my large figurative works and small paintings, my traditional pieces and my outdoor oil paintings, my still lifes and my figurative pieces come together in the same room. It is also interesting to see some of my earliest paintings next to some recent canvases,” he said in an email. “Same with technique/approach: there are paintings that were approached with the most careful traditional/classical method while some of the canvases were approached with fun spontaneous innovative spirit.”

Finding Hidden Treasures reveals scenes of certainty and surprise, calmly tranquil or intensely evocative. During a recent guided tour of the exhibit before it goes on view to the public, I was immersed in a world of soothing still lifes, inviting landscapes, and compelling figures. 

For Adoquei, a Ghanaian immigrant who is also a writer and teacher, oil painting is a language through which he communicates, inviting viewers to enmesh themselves in the core of the work and the feelings they invoke. 

“Oils provide that unlimited range of expressing myself: from the leanest and thinnest effects to the thickest layers of impasto pigments,” Adoquei said. 

In many ways, the show is a reflection and meditation on moments in time, both simple and profound. It is an intimate invitation to become acquainted with new characters and reintroduced to uncommon elements of common knowledge.  

“Sam is very ambitious to be taking on some of the subjects he takes on, like these sort of massive scale history paintings. Then there is the sensitivity that he has in his figurative and portrait work, the expressiveness, the fact that you look at the people in the paintings, you feel a connection,” said LIM’s Co-Executive Director Joshua Ruff. 

Such a kinship is formed via a shared visual dialogue between artist and audience. The paintings in this exhibit entice the breadth of human emotion in what they depict and what they evoke. 

“My approach is diverse: traditional, innovative…Creating a painting to me is always communication with the enthusiasts: whether short and poetic, a short essay, or long and epic depends on the subject and what I aim to extract from it,” he added.

Two of the most arrestingly captivating pieces in the exhibit combine narrative tradition with creative interpretation: a 10-foot-wide triptych titled “The Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. (The Entombment)” which was featured in the New York Times and displayed at the S. Dillon Ripley Center of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC., and “Death of a President (John F. Kennedy).” These history paintings reimagine hauntingly human tragedies with interpersonal, even fantastical, elements.

In these renderings, persons from the artist’s life, as well as Adoquei, appear as bystanders or sympathetic participants. Adoquei frequently includes himself or his associates in his paintings, a practice that adds emotional depth to the works.  

“I love people, I am always inspired by the love of people, and humanistic pursuits are part of sentiments that I try to include in my mission to unveil my vision,” he said.

This generosity and warmth extends to pieces that do not include human figures, like idyllic interpretations of Long Island vistas and other settings. They encourage onlookers to step into them, feel the sand beneath their feet, the breeze as it rustles tall grasses, the sun on their faces, the sound of the sea, the taste of salt in the air. 

Adoquei’s still life paintings are intriguing and alluring, alluding to larger stories of which patrons are only catching a glimpse: two quinces with their stems and leaves attached, lilting sunflowers and daisies in vase, a partially sectioned grapefruit, with what appears to be a thumbprint left on the endocarp. 

“All that I do is inspired by nature, life and living, and the needs of the future. Turning nature and people into beautiful timeless paintings to inspire others inspires me daily,” Adoquei said. “As lives, works, and legacies of great minds took me from oceans and cultures away and offered me the support to create art that hangs on museum walls and in private collections, so do I hope to create meaningful timeless art worthy of inspiring future generations.” 

Versatility of technique underscores the scope and impact of Adoquei’s subject matter. His art contains and honors a multitude of human experiences, including his own journey from Ghanaian art student, to sign and billboard painter in Nigeria, and then working artist, educator, and author in the United States, where he arrived in 1987. 

Adoquei’s paintings welcome patrons to participate in moments fraught and freeing, stunning and serene. Finding Hidden Treasures is an opportunity for artist and art appreciators to enter the field of humanistic imagination.  

“I have never seen this collection of my paintings exhibited together, and knowing they wouldn’t be in the same room together again, I hope art lovers of Long Island will take advantage of the opportunity to come enjoy them at The Long Island Museum,” Adoquei said.

Also on view at the Long Island Museum: 

Painting Partnership: Reynold and Joan Ruffins in the Art Museum from Feb. 8 to June 30

Organized in conjunction with The Power of Two (see next exhibit), this exhibition presents a unique story of love, creativity, and art. Sharing 60 years of marriage and settling in Sag Harbor in 1992, Painting Partnership features close to 25 paintings and sculptures from the remarkable artistic duo, Reynold Dash Ruffins (1930-2021) and Joan B. Young Ruffins (1932-2013). Reynold began making his mark in graphic and advertising design in the 1950s and the 1960s, later working on such publications as The New York Times Magazine, Gourmet, and Essence, and creating award-winning illustrations for children’s books. Meanwhile, as Joan raised the couple’s four children, she created a studio in the family’s St. Albans home, creating art and teaching both children and adults.

The Power of Two: Artist Couples of Long Island in the Art Museum from Feb. 8 to June 30

Experience the dynamic interplay of creativity as The Power of Two: Artist Couple of Long Island exhibition showcases over 50 artworks comparing and contrasting the work produced by 14 artist couples of Long Island. From the 1880s to contemporary couples today, this exhibition provides a captivating insight into the collaborative spirit of artist partnerships.

Colors of Long Island in the History Museum from Feb. 8 to April 7

This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the  Annual Colors of Long Island Student Art Exhibition, a show that affords an opportunity for hundreds of students from across Long Island to display their artwork in a museum setting. Art teachers from public and private schools in grades pre-k through 12th grade were invited to submit up to two pieces of student artwork that capture the essence of the region’s landscapes, history, and cultural diversity through various mediums including watercolor, sculpture, pencil, ink, oil pastel, photographs and computer graphics.

Located at 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook, the Long Island Museum is open Thursday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults; $7 for seniors (age 62 and older); $5 for students (ages 5-17, and college students with an ID); $3.50 for persons with disabilities (personal care assistants are free); and, free for active and retired military personnel. For more information, call 631-751-0066 or visit www.longislandmuseum.org. 

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From left, George and Karen Overin and Ken Sanger, among others, will be at the LIM's Carriage Museum on Nov. 25 and Dec. 9. Photo by Frank Pittarese/LIM
Karen and George Overin, among others, will be at the LIM's Carriage Museum on Nov. 25 and Dec. 9. Photo by Frank Pittarese/LIM

By Tara Mae 

In celebration of the 27th Annual Charles Dickens Festival in Port Jefferson Village on Dec 2 and 3, the Long Island Museum (LIM) has collaborated with the Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council (GPJAC) to present  Come In! — Come In! And, Know Me Better, Man! at the LIM’s Carriage Museum on Saturday, Nov. 25 and Saturday, Dec. 9, from 2 to 4 p.m. Over a dozen costumed Dickensian characters will roam among antique carriages as they magically transform the galleries into a London of a bygone century. The event is included with museum admission.

“Some of the beloved longtime Dickens Festival characters are venturing further afield from Port Jefferson Village and heading toward the Long Island Museum to spread some joy in the holiday season, and to share with LIM visitors some of the aspects of their life during the middle of the 19th century,” said GPJAC Program Director Amy Tuttle. 

Portraying a number of the author’s archetypes such as those who populate A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist, they carry the patrons back in time by immersing themselves in their roles. Being surrounded by transportation of yesteryear only enhances the effect. 

“The actors will be wandering around and doing performances as Dickensian characters-situational performances,” explained LIM’s Public Programs Coordinator Emma Backfish. “We have never had something like this, where we have these performers near the actual carriages. It will be interesting to see the actors play off of the different carriages, many of which are tied into that era. And, it will be an unique experience for them.”

“Because the actors are so immersed in their characters, they can not only bring scenes in the Dickens canon to life, they also interact spontaneously with the public. Several of the actors are also very much involved with historical re-enactments, and have appeared in period films,” added Tuttle.

Like the museum itself, the actors are committed to exploring the artistry of enlivening history. Through historical interpretation, a performance art rooted in realism, the actors invite the audience to participate in their play and appreciate history from a more interpersonal perspective. 

“I am excited to see people acting amongst our vehicles. They are bringing the era to life, putting vehicles in motion in people’s minds. Having people there, speaking and acting as they are part of that time, brings them to life in a lot of ways,” Backfish said.

Wardrobes are provided by either the actors or through the estate of Nan Guzzetta, the late proprietress of Antique Costumes and Props by Nan in Port Jefferson. 

These events are the latest act in an ongoing partnership between the GPJAC and LIM. Previously the organizations jointly focused on live musical performances, specifically the Sunday Street Concert Series which is held at the museum’s Gillespie Room. 

“It’s exciting being part of a collaboration which is so unique, enlightening and fun for everyone,” said Tuttle.

The Long Island Museum is located at 1200 Route 25A in Stony Brook. For more information, visit www.longislandmuseum.org.

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Image from LIM

Culinary Historian Sarah Lohman returns to the Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook on Sunday, November 12 at noon to talk about endangered American food traditions featured in her latest book, Endangered Eating: America’s Vanishing Foods. Lohman has traveled the country learning about and documenting ingredients at risk of being lost to time, from those who are passionate about keeping those traditions alive.

After her talk, join Sarah in the LIM Visitors Center for an Author Meet & Greet and Book Signing! Copies of the book will be available to purchase on the day of the event.

The event is free with Museum admission. No registration required.

For more information, visit www.longislandmuseum.org.

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The Songs Of Jimmy Webb concert will be held on Oct. 15.

By Rita J. Egan

Local musicians are preparing to celebrate the music of a Long Island songwriter, composer and singer.

WUSB’s Sunday Street Concert series at the Long Island Museum in Stony Brook on Oct. 15 will showcase the music of longtime Nassau County resident Jimmy Webb. 

The singer/songwriter has enjoyed worldwide success with hits such as “Up, Up and Away,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “MacArthur Park” and more sung by iconic singers, including Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Art Garfunkel, Linda Ronstadt, Tony Bennett, Josh Groban and countless others.

The only artist ever to have received Grammy Awards for music, lyrics and orchestration, Webb was inducted in the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2018.

Co-producers Charlie Backfish and Pete Mancini have lined up Long Island musicians Gene Casey, Caroline Doctorow, Andrew & Cole Fortier, Delaney Hafener, Claudia Jacobs, Brian Kachejian, Ray Lambiase and Tom Moran for the concert titled The Songs of Jimmy Webb.

Mancini, who has worked with Backfish and Webb, is a singer and musician who will also perform two of Webb’s hits, including “Met Her on a Plane.” His favorite rendition is from country rock/folk rock musician Iain Matthews, who recorded the song on his album Journeys from Gospel Oak.

“I’ve been kind of modeling my version after his just because it’s guitar-based and his vocal is incredible,” Mancini said. The musician described learning about Webb’s discography as a “mind-blowing experience.”

“There are so many tunes that go under the radar,” he said.

Caroline Doctorow said she was thrilled when Backfish called her. Among her favorite Webb songs is Wichita Lineman, sung by Glen Campbell.

“To my ears, it’s still one of the best records I’ve ever heard,” she said. “It has that very iconic electric guitar part. A lot of people have sort of borrowed from that sound.”

She described Webb as a “master” comparable to Bob Dylan and folk singer and songwriter Nanci Griffith. 

“When you study their songs, there’s a lot of magic to them, and you can’t quite dissect them in terms of songwriting technique,” she said.

Doctorow is working on “If These Walls Could Speak” and “Galveston.” She said the key to singing an iconic song is picking one that fits the singer’s voice and listening to other versions to get an idea of what one likes and doesn’t like.

Gene Casey said when asked to perform, he knew he wanted to sing “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” a song he has performed in his solo acts.

“I always marvel at the fact that Jimmy Webb was like 23 years old, or around that age, when he wrote a very, very mature song,” he said. “There are thousands of songs about people being left behind, but it’s rare to find a good song about the person who was leaving. I’ve always been attracted to what a great song that was.”

He said he was surprised when Backfish called again and asked if he would consider performing “MacArthur Park,” too. Backfish told him about the Waylon Jennings version. Casey described it as a “stripped down and more countrified” version compared to Richard Harris’ song with orchestrated strings.

“A good song is a good song. It doesn’t matter what arrangement is used,” Casey said.

Backfish described Webb’s music as “a catalog that transcends different genres” and said he is looking forward to hearing what the musicians have planned.

“Each artist will pretty much put their own stamp on a Jimmy Webb song, so it may not be exactly the way it initially was recorded, but it will be an interpretation of it, which I think makes it an interesting evening,” he said.

The Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook presents The Songs of Jimmy Webb in the Carriage Museum’s Gillespie Room on Sunday, Oct. 15 at 5 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance at www.sundaystreet.org, $25 (cash only) at the door.

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By Kelynn Z. Alder

Up next for Gallery North, 90 North Country Road, Setauket is a unique exhibit titled Animal Spirits and Ancient Rituals: New Work by Kelynn Z. Alder, on view from October 5 to November 12.

Animal Spirits and Ancient Rituals is Kelynn Z. Alder’s first solo exhibition at Gallery North. It features paintings, monoprints, and drawings that all reference Alder’s Mexican cultural heritage. Many of the paintings are from the artist’s personal experiences in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico during the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) festivities in Chamula, a town run entirely by the Tzotzil speaking Maya. In Chamula, as in most of Mexico, festivities and religious practices are a merging of ancient Indigenous rites, rituals and beliefs, meshed with Catholicism.

By Kelynn Z. Alder

“Día de los Muertos is a celebration of both the living and the dead,” Alder states, “And the underlying theme of this work has much to do with the cycle of life and death — My reaching back to my ancestors… My rising consciousness of my own mortality… The continuation once I’m gone and become myself an ancestor.”

Blending the styles of the Mexican muralists and the impressionists, each painting in Animal Spirits and Ancient Rituals evokes the artist’s ancestral searching, yearnings, experiences, emotions and opinions — while encouraging others to reflect upon their own ancestry and personal journeys. Alder’s prints feature the artist’s personal interpretation of La Lotería – a traditional Mexican board game as well as an inspirational templet commonly used by many artists.

The daughter of an immigrant, Alder skillfully weaves the rudimentary pictures of La Loteria into Indigenous, political and religious iconography to create a complex arrangement of memory, political commentary, and symbolism. Indeed, through vivid paintings of Chiapas and the bold imagery of La Loteria, Animal Spirits and Ancient Rituals transports us to Alder’s inner visual world, while also offering important messages confronting the migrant crisis between the Mexican and U.S. border.

An opening reception will be held Saturday, October 7, from 5 to 7 p.m.

By Kelynn Z. Alder

As a complement to the exhibition, Gallery North will present a multi-site, guided tour in collaboration with the Long Island Museum on Sunday, October 15, from noon to 3 p.m. The collaborative event will include guided tours of Alder’s exhibition, Animal Spirits and Ancient Rituals, and SOMOS/We Are: Latinx Artists of Long Island, an exhibition guest curated by Alder at the Long Island Museum.

Gallery North’s portion of the event will include a printmaking demonstration with Alder and Lorena Salcedo Watson, followed by a tour of Alder’s solo exhibition. Gallery North will also host an ArTalk with Alder and Lyn Pentecost, former Director and Co-Founder of the Lower Eastside Girls Club on Saturday, November 4 at 3 p.m.

The exhibition, reception, and ArTalk will all be free and open to the public. Information on registering for the guided tour and print demonstration can be found at gallerynorth.org.

This exhibition is generously sponsored by bld Architecture, Jefferson’s Ferry, and Suffolk County’s Department of Economic Development and Planning.  The exhibition, reception, and ArTalk will all be free and open to the public. Information on registering for the guided tour and print demonstration can be found at gallerynorth.org. For more information, call 631-751-2676.

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Photo from LIM

It’s time to play ball! Preservation Long Island and the Long Island Museum have teamed up to host Baseball on the Farm featuring an authentic 19th-century ballgame with the New York Mutual Base Ball Club against the Atlantics.  With live music, games, prizes, food and more, this one-day special event will take place on the grounds of historic Sherwood-Jayne Farm, 55 Old Post Road in East Setauket on Saturday, Sept. 16 from noon to 4 p.m. Rain date is Sept, 17.

Baseball on the Farm is a FREE community event for the whole family featuring an authentic 19th-century ballgame pitting the New York Mutuals Base Ball Club against the Atlantics Base Ball Club, games and craft activities, prizes including Long Island Ducks signed baseball and 4-pack of tickets for 2024, bounce house, live music by The Other Two and food and beverages (available for purchase) from Exotic Bowls, Maui Chop House and Root + Branch Brewing.

Advance registration is recommended. For more information and to reserve tickets visit: https://preservationlongisland.org/baseball-on-the-farm/

This special day of vintage baseball at Preservation Long Island’s Sherwood-Jayne Farm in Setauket is a collaboration inspired by two exhibitions currently on view at The Long Island Museum in nearby Stony Brook:

Picturing America’s Pastime (May 18-October 15, 2023): Since the 19th century, baseball and photography have grown up together.  This exhibition of 51 historic photographs has been developed by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museums, the world’s premiere repository of baseball photographs.

Home Fields: Baseball Stadiums of Long Island and New York City (May 18-October 15, 2023): This exhibition features exciting objects from several private collectors of historic baseball memorabilia.  Many original items from Ebbetts Field (the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers) Polo Stadium, and Yankee Stadium are on view.

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