Stepping Out

Around Long Island's art scene

On view at local museums

Posted

Shake off winter’s doldrums with visit to a nearby museum and color your world by exploring the current exhibits. Here’s a sampling.

Art, science and technology intermingle at Hofstra University Museum of Art
    Hofstra University Museum of Art, in Hempstead, offers visitors a look at how the worlds of science, math and technology collide with art in its latest exhibition, “Uncharted: American Abstraction in the Information Age.” Now on view through June 19 at the Emily Lowe Gallery,  the exhibit presents 18 works from eight artists whose creative approach investigates mathematic and scientific principles.
    James O. Clark, John Goodyear, Lynne Harlow, Daniel G. Hill, Gilbert Hsiao, Irene Rousseau, James Seawright, and Patricia Zarate offer examples of two-dimensional, three-dimensional and site-specific designs; although many of their works on display defy a traditional classification.

    “We try to do exhibits that encourage inquiry, conversation and discussion,” says the museum’s Acting Director and Chief Curator Karen T. Albert. “We want visitors to think of things from a different perspective. This exhibit addresses the connection between math, science, technology and the visual arts. It’s something we’ve been thinking about for a quite a while.”
    The artists on view are a diverse bunch, all members of the American Abstract Artists Group, who use different ideas that relate mathematics, science and technology from their personal perspectives. Their results — as expressed through paintings, sculpture and installations — lead to creations that embrace the unexpected.
    “These artists have no common intention or focus, but by exploring new ideas, materials, and technologies in their artistic practice, they share a desire to head deeper into uncharted territory,” says Albert. “You’ll see a wide range of types of works and ideas, representing a cross-section of American abstract artists that are important to explore.”
    As part of the exhibit’s related programming, kids and their adult companions can explore objects on view and then engage in a hands-on activity inspired by their gallery experiences, during Artful Adventures’ “Op Art!” program, Saturday, March 14, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. And on March 24, 4:30-6 p.m., join in a roundtable discussion, “Shock of the New,” where presenters address the themes explored in the exhibit, at the Emily Lowe Gallery.
    For more information about the exhibition and associated public programs, call (516) 463-5672 or visit www.hofstra.edu/community/museum/.

Celebrating Long Island artists

    “Locally Sourced: Collecting Long Island Artists” tells the compelling story of art on Long Island through The Heckscher Museum of Art’s Permanent Collection. The exhibit, which opened in late fall at the Huntington museum and is on view through March 15, is the first in a series of exhibits in the museum-wide celebration of its 100th anniversary.
    “Long Island artists are a big part of our collection,” says Kerrilyn Blee, the museum’s assistant curator. “This exhibit celebrates our commitment to collect Long Island artists over the past 100 years and presenting the stories of Long Island through art. Long Island art represents a big chunk of our permanent collection and is central to the strength of the collection.”
    Spanning the 19th century to the present, the show brings together the work of more than 85 artists who sourced imagery, ideas, form, and sometimes even materials on Long Island. Their local stories intertwine with national and international histories, according to the curator’s notes.
    It fills the museum’s four galleries with painting, sculpture, photography, and mixed media — divided into four distinct themes. Huntington’s Own features artists that lived and worked in the area — and many still do — including renowned painters George Grosz and Stan Brodsky.
    East End Exchanges explores the connections and influences between artists of the East End such as Fairfield Porter and Jane Wilson.
    Women Artists features important artists such as Betty Parsons and Esphyr Slobodkina; the gallery is a nod to the 100th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage.
    Landscapes make up the remaining gallery. No Long Island show would be complete without landscapes that trace the changes in environment and in art throughout the Island’s history. This gallery includes 19th century images from Thomas Moran to modern works by Ty Stroudsburg, among others, who interpret Long Island’s land, sea, and air, and include Rockville Centre’s Don Resnick as well as Frank Olt and Louis Comfort Tiffany from Oyster Bay.
    “Don Resnick’s “Fields After Rain,” is particularly beautiful,” says Blee. “It’s a wonderful representational painting that serves as a great contrast to Frank Olt’s “Fire Island Landscape,” which is an abstract interpretation of a landscape.”
    For more information on the exhibit and related programming, which includes a gallery talk featuring exhibiting artists on Feb. 23, 1-3 p.m., call (631) 351-3250 or visit www.heckscher.org.
 
Seasonal inspiration at Nassau County Museum of Art

    Like the seasons themselves, Nassau County Museum of Art’s favorite guest co-curators Franklin Hill Perrell and Debbie Wells return with a fresh look at visual art inspired by the seasons highlighted by an outstanding roster of artists.
    The Seasons, which remains on view through March 1, gives visitors a full harvest of paintings, sculpture, photography, fashion and design, including works by Grandma Moses, Jasper Johns, Norman Rockwell, Marc Chagall and Jane Freilicher, plus a special showcase of glittering minaudières and fashion accessories by handbag designer Judith Leiber.
    From traditional landscapes to avant-garde works, this exhibit offers a fanciful experience of every season and an endearing look at holidays through the eyes of artists across the past century. For information, call (516) 484-9338 or visit nassaumuseum.org.