Smithtown Township Arts Council presents Loving the Landscape We Call Home at the Mills Pond Gallery in St. James, April 9 – May 4. The public is invited to an opening reception Saturday, April 9 from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. to meet the exhibiting artists, view the work. Regular gallery hours are Wed.- Fri. 10-5, Sat & Sun 12-4. Admission to the gallery is free. For information or directions, call 631-862-6575, or visit www.stacarts.org
From quiet farmhouses, to serene shorelines, places of Long Island have long provided artists endless possibilities in which to seek their muse. The eight artists represented in this exhibit have several obvious things in common. They are all painters and they all find creative inspiration from the local landscape. But each brings a well-developed individual style and vision to their work and to the show.
Mount Sinai artist Burton A. Woods’ realistic paintings are inspired by places that are slowly changing or disappearing: quiet, flower-bordered lanes, brick walks, weathered wooden buildings and boats, sandy beaches and wind-swept marshes, all touched and bathed with gentle luminosity. Mr. Woods captures the essence of Long Island in his pastels and oils, sketching on site and completing his work in his home studio.
John Mansueto is a fine art landscape painter and freelance illustrator who resides in historic Islip Hamlet. Intrigued by the use of light and shadow, John paints “the impression of detail.” His acrylic paintings explore Long Island’s isolated coves, secluded meadows, ocean beaches, rivers, boatyards, and more.
Having spent more than forty years teaching Physics to Engineering students at the University Franco Jona now devotes most of his time to “discovering” treasures of Long Island and paints them with realism and much affection. Using watercolors and oil pastels the Stony Brook artist tries to “reproduce faithfully natural beauty as I see it.”
Commack artist Katherine Hiscox’ uses watercolors to focus on the shoreline, local harbors, marshes, backyard flowers, as well as flowers from more formal preserves and gardens.
Nature is the underlying theme of Setauket artist Patty Yantz’ artwork. “My art work is about personal reaction to a scene or location rather than an attempt at technical reproduction of that view.” Nature is the underlying theme of all her work which she brings to life using acrylics, oils and pastels.
Huntington Station’s Shain Bard believes “Nature and art are within and without us, something close to what I would call “home”. Her oil paintings evoke a sense of a moment captured in time that people can all subconsciously relate to.
East Northport artist Mary Webb uses watercolor to express light and motion in a loosely representational style. She likes to paint intimate landscapes and local scenes, often including people, not as portraits but as body language and motion, showing interactions among people and between people and place. Mary’s focus is “celebrating the beauty we all see but do not always notice.”
East Setauket artist Rob Roehrig works primarily in oil. He enjoys painting Long Island landscapes and seascapes, as well as scenes from countries he has visited while traveling. “I tend toward realism in my paintings and I often choose scenes that highlight the contrast between sunlight and shadow.”