Tags Posts tagged with "Pride Month"

Pride Month

PaJaMa (Paul Cadmus, Jared French, Margaret French) Jared French, Fire Island 1949 Vintage gelatin silver print Museum Purchase

 

For the first time, The Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington is exploring its collection through the lens of LGBTQ+ identities and histories. Spanning more than 150 years, the Museum-wide exhibition All of Me with All of You: LGBTQ+ Art Out of the Collection includes significant paintings, sculptures, and works on paper acquired over decades for the Museum collection. The exhibit opened on June 7 and runs through Sept. 14.

Artists who lived and worked on Long Island will anchor All of Me with All of You. Among the 86 works on view are six photographs taken on Fire Island by the collective PaJaMa (Paul Cadmus, Jared French, and Margaret French) expressing the artistic and personal freedoms that LGBTQ+ communities nurtured on Long Island in the first half of the twentieth century. Photographs by Huntington artist Joanne Mulberg capture the spirit of Fire Island in the 1970s and 1980s. 

“The artworks that I selected for this exhibition reveal profound, often overlooked connections between the Museum, its surrounding landscape and the queer communities that shaped it. By recognizing these works as queer—and honoring their historical and cultural significance —the Museum offers pivotal support and inspiration, not only to artists but to LGBTQ+ communities,” said Guest Curator Victoria Munro, Artist, and Executive Director of the Alice Austen House.

“This is an expansive, groundbreaking exhibition developed by guest curator Victoria Munro, with valuable input from an intergenerational advisory group, teen community members, and local non-profit partners,” noted Heather Arnet, Executive Director and CEO.

“By amplifying the stories of artists such as Marsden Hartley, Emma Stebbins, and Emilio Sanchez, long represented in the collection, and placing their art in dialogue with more recent acquisitions by the PaJaMa collective, Amy Adler, Laylah Ali, vanessa german, and Mickalene Thomas, the exhibition highlights the depth of the permanent collection and the rich history of LGBTQ+ art history on Long Island. We hope visitors will be excited to engage with one another in dialogues inspired by the works, fostering a broader understanding of our past and deepening connections to the present,” said Arnet.

All of Me with All of You —along with all the exhibitions and programs planned in 2025—”contribute to presenting a fuller, more accurate story of American Art,” said Chief Curator, Karli Wurzelbacher, Ph.D.

The exhibition title All of Me With All of You reflects a spirit of collective strength and acknowledges the networks and spaces where queer artists create, uplift, and sustain one another, said Munro. In addition to her leadership at The Alice Austin House, she is Board President of the Museums Council of New York City. She consults and speaks on LGBTQ+ curriculum development, and LGBTQ+ interpretation in public and private institutions. 

Exhibition Highlights:

The delicate yet profound imagery found in the private trove of photographs by the PaJaMa collective captures an era of queer artistic collaboration and self-exploration   These images offer a rare glimpse into the private lives and intimate bonds of figures who shaped 20th-century art and culture, serving as a visual archive of a community that often thrived in the margins.

At the other end of the spectrum, Emma Stebbins’ neoclassical marble sculpture of her partner Charlotte Cushman embodies a different yet equally powerful artistic statement. As a celebrated 19th-century actress known for her gender-fluid performances and her defiant embrace of a life outside traditional norms, Cushman’s presence in the collection serves as a testament to both personal and artistic courage. Stebbins’s sculptural tribute to her reinforces the museum’s recognition of important historic figures who challenged societal conventions and left an indelible mark on art history.

Betty Parsons, widely recognized as a pioneering art dealer and champion of Abstract Expressionism, appears in the collection not just as a tastemaker but as an artist in her own right. Her handcrafted wooden tugboat, reminiscent of a child’s toy, exudes a charming, playful innocence, contrasting with the depth and expansiveness suggested by her abstract oil painting Gulf of Mexico. 

Mickalene Thomas draws inspiration from the interiors of her childhood and the women who played formative roles in her life. Through her signature use of texture, pattern, and bold cold, she creates rich, layered spaces that evoke warmth, nostalgia, and strength. Her work is both a personal homage and a broader celebration of Black womanhood, family, and the idea of home as a space of identity and empowerment. 

The Heckscher Museum of Art is located at 2 Prime Avenue in Huntington. For more information, call 631-380-3230 or visit www.heckscher.org.

This project is made possible with support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. With this generous support, the Museum will engage youth and intergenerational community members in a robust year of exhibitions and public programming highlighting and celebrating works, histories, and legacies of LGBTQ+ artists in their permanent collection.

The Reverend and Mrs. H. W. Floyd Allen, minister of the Allen A.M.E. Church, Church Street circa 1950. Photo courtesy of NHSM

By Tara Mae 

More than merely a necessity or form of self-expression, throughout history fashion has been a means of storytelling, a type of communication. The Northport Historical Society (NHSM) and Museum’s newest exhibit, In Fashion, which opens on April 5, examines local sartorial dialect and how it is part of a communal language. 

A photograph of female impersonator Julian Eltinge. Photo courtesy of NHSM

In Fashion explores identity through historic fashion and fashion movements, and what it means culturally for those groups,” said NHSM curator Elizabeth Abrahams Riordan. 

The exhibit showcases multimedia items: textiles, archival pieces, digital and print photographs, recorded oral histories, etc. A focal point of the collection is church hats on loan from local residents, many of whom have ties to the Northport African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, which closed in 1955. 

In Fashion is part of an ongoing discussion about the different communities and cultures that comprise the larger Northport enclave: part of the exhibit’s run will correspond with Pride month in June and complement it.

“[This] is a way for individuals to access history about how people share their identity and life through fashion: what they are wearing can be a sort of spiritual connection, an extension of community and cultural groups as well as an indication of what was [socially] permitted,” Abrahams Riordan said. “The exhibit is hopefully opening dialogue in the community for people to have a better understanding of communities within the Northport community.”

Style is a statement without speech, but a purpose of In Fashion is to inspire conversation. Personal objects and archival items weave together a narrative of truths less told. 

In an effort to highlight Northport voices, Abrahams Riordan sought the contribution of Thelma Abidally, author of African American in Northport, an Untold Story (Maple Hill Press 2000) for insight into how articles of clothing are emblems of different identities.

“Fashion can teach us several lessons about our ancestors. In particular African American women culturally were known to wear their Sunday best to church. My ancestors believed that this is how a woman should dress in going to church,” Abidally explained. 

Magazine from 1904 promoting the work and life of female impersonator Julian Eltinge. Photo courtesy of NHSM

Such cues were, and remain, both a celebration and a means of connection, solidifying heritage while affirming clothing’s ever evolving contextual message. Fashion is another entry into assessing the past and how it affects the present. 

“I really want to tell histories, but I also really want to bring people together in a way that they have their own personal perspective and also humanize other experiences. It is all about making personal connections and wanting to come back and learn more,” Abrahams Riordan said. 

The Northport Historical Society and Museum, 215 Main St., Northport presents In Fashion through June 30 on Wednesdays to Sundays from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $15 per person, $12 for members. 

The exhibit is one of several events planned at the NHSM for the month of April. Other programs include a Doll Tea Party on April 5 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Volunteer Open House on April 12 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and a Historical Main Street Walking Tour on April 27 at 1:30 p.m. For more information, call 631-757-9859 or visit www.northporthistorical.org.

The PRIDE exhibit at the Northport Historical Society runs through June 30. Photo from Northport Historical Society
The PRIDE exhibit at the Northport Historical Society runs through June 30. Photo from Northport Historical Society

In perfect timing with Pride Month, the Northport Historical Society, 215 Main St., Northport presents PRIDE!, a pop-up exhibit curated and designed by Marketing and Membership Coordinator John N. Daniello.

The Society’s first LGBT+ exhibit, PRIDE! explores the history of the LGBT+ movement in the United States and Northport. The month-long exhibit is generously sponsored by Northport Copy and features local artist Greg Fox and his comic Kyle’s Bed & Breakfast. The Society welcomes members of Northport’s (and the surrounding areas) LGBT+ community — and their allies — to share their personal stories of Pride.

Viewing hours are Thursday to Sunday from 1 to 4:30 p.m. including during Northport’s Pridefest on June 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Northport Village Park. Admission to the exhibit is free. For more information, visit northporthistorical.org

The Town of Smithtown Anti-Bias Task Force and Youth Bureau sponsored a family-friendly Pride Month Celebration Picnic at Hoyt Farm in Commack on June 28.

In addition to the beautiful facilities at Hoyt Farm, many fun and activities were planned for young people, including professional face painting and a slew of games. Partner organizations —  the Smithtown Library, the LGBT Network, Free Mom Hugs, and Keep It Kind Smithtown — also participated in the celebration.

Duck Donuts in Hauppauge donated to the picnic, while Musicology Performance Center provided musical entertainment.

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Photo from Smithtown Library Facebook

Within 48 hours, The Smithtown Library Board of Trustees reversed a controversial decision made at its June 21 meeting.

Initially, the trustees voted 4-2, with one member absent, to remove pride displays, which included signs and books, in the children’s sections in its Smithtown, Commack, Kings Park and Nesconset branches. Two days later, the board held an emergency meeting and reversed its decision, again 4-2, with one board member abstaining.

The reversal came after criticism from the community on social media platforms. Among the critics were Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), the New York Library Association and author Jodi Picoult, who grew up in the town and was a page at the library when she was younger. She said on her Facebook page the initial decision “disgusts me and makes me reevaluate an institution that I have praised for being formative in my life as an author.”

The books remained available in the library’s children’s collection during the temporary removal and could be checked out, according to a June 22 memo from library trustees. Pride displays in the adult and teen sections remained.

After the reversal of the decision during the board’s emergency June 23 meeting, another memo was posted to the library’s website announcing the rescinding of the decision.

“The majority of the board recognizes that our earlier decision was made without the time, care and due diligence that a decision of this type deserves and that it was the wrong decision,” the memo read.

No public comments were accepted during the June 23 meeting, which was held via Zoom.

Thomas Maher, vice president of trustees, said at this meeting he supports the LGBTQ+ community’s rights. He said during the June 21 meeting, there was a passionate discussion about the displays, and the subject was discussed for a while. It was discovered there wasn’t a library policy about internal displays. He said his initial vote to remove the displays “was intended to enable the library to continue to offer all of its existing resources to all of its patrons in a peaceful and cooperative manner during this time of transition.” On June 23, he voted for the return of the displays.

Trustee Marie Gergenti voted twice for the removal. She said during the June 23 meeting she received messages from patrons.

“They felt that little children were exposed to some images in some of those books, and they weren’t happy about it,” she said.

Theresa Grisafi, a trustee who also voted twice for the removal, added many felt the displays in the children’s rooms were not age appropriate for young library patrons.

“The concern was for the small children,” she said.

She said she tried to convey that at the initial meeting and said it had nothing to do with anyone’s personal feelings.

Trustee member Marilyn LoPresti abstained from voting on June 23 and said she would like to research the matter further.

Library board president Brianna Baker-Stines said at the June 23 meeting, “We assumed a role that was not our job.”

Baker-Stines added that it was the librarians’ jobs to set up displays and “we need to trust the staff we hired.”

In an email to TBR News Media, Baker-Stines said in order to create a policy regarding internal displays, legal counsel advised that a standing committee for policy creation would first need to be created. While the board has multiple standing committees, the previous ones were only ad hoc. Baker-Stines said during her time on the board the members have only had to amend policies and not create new ones, unless based on an immediate need such as the work-from-home policy adopted at the beginning of the pandemic. She said the members realized it would take several steps to establish a proper committee. 

“We knew that this process might take several meetings, which may be why some trustees were in a rush to remove the pride display that night,” she said.

Initial news coverage reported that the books were removed from the children’s collections when they were not.

“I think the wording on the motion may have led some of the media to believe the books were removed all together,” she said.

Baker-Stines said she “was devastated by the vote to remove the pride displays” and added “the library should be a safe space for every member of the public.” 

As former library page and reference clerk at Hauppauge Public Library, she said, “I have been a part of the creation of many library displays, including Pride month displays. These are materials that can be lifesaving, and also materials that are requested by patrons during this time.”

Currently, the trustees have 900 emails to go through after the community reacted to the board’s initial decision.

David Kilmnick, nonprofit LGBT Network president and CEO, said while the removal of the displays never should have happened, the community’s response “shows the power that we have as a community to do the right thing and that right thing is so simple — it is creating safe learning spaces for all of our children.”

He said the removal of the displays could have a traumatic effect on “someone seeing themselves exist one day and then erased the next and for no good reason other than hate and bias.”

Kilmnick added the community’s response showed an “outpouring of support and love.”

“There are more people on the side of equality, equity, safety and love than on the other side,” he said. “We just all have to work together and not be afraid, and it showed what we can do in a very fast, rapid, effective way when we do this together.”

The pride displays in the Smithtown Library branches will remain until July 15.

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One of the new signs on a local lawn. Photo from Setauket Presbyterian Church Facebook

Despite the turbulence the country has been enduring for the past few months, Three Village residents and those in surrounding areas are showing support for all human beings.

Signs featuring the colors of the rainbow with additional black, brown, pink and blue stripes, and bearing the messages, “Our faith community celebrates pride” on one side and “Our faith community celebrates diversity” on the other, have popped up on random lawns the last couple of weeks. The signs are the result of a committee made up of local clergy members and lay people from various faith communities, according to the Rev. Ashley McFaul-Erwin, community outreach pastor at Setauket Presbyterian Church.

The pastor said the group was in the early stages of planning the first Three Village pride walk for June but then the pandemic happened. The members threw around the idea of a car parade but weren’t sure how they could do that safely and decided the signs would enable them to display the message in front of their homes and religious buildings.

McFaul-Erwin said it was an important message to share with many Christian churches having discriminated against the LGBTQ community in the past. The blue and pink stripes were added to represent transgender people and black and brown stripes are to show unity with people of color.

The Rev. Linda Anderson, community minister in affiliation with the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at Stony Brook, said she thought it was a brilliant idea.

“The signs will last longer than a parade,” she said. “They can be spread out more widely. It’ll just keep saying the message of peace, love of humanity, justice and fairness.”

Elaine Learnard, a Quaker and member of Conscience Bay Friends Meeting, agreed.

“I think it’s a great way to do it and very creative during this time where everything is so crazy,” she said.

Barbara Ransome, director of operations of the Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, was part of the committee as a member of Conscience Bay Friends Meeting. She said she has one on her lawn and also placed one in front of the chamber office.

“With all the stress going on — George Floyd’s death, rallies, COVID-19, etc. — this is a symbol of unity,” Ransome said.

McFaul-Erwin said the Setauket Presbyterian Church also placed a pink triangle on the Village Green with 51 flags. She said the flags are “in memory of all who have been harmed by churches throughout the years. We want to repent for harm done as well as celebrate.”