Stony Brook, NY – February 13, 2023…
The Long Island Museum (LIM) a Smithsonian affiliate dedicated to American history and art with a Long Island connection announced today it will reopen to the public on February 17, 2023 after a seasonal closure. Each year, the LIM closes the Museum to in-person visitation over the holidays and early winter while they change over exhibitions. The LIM will invite visitors to explore two new exciting exhibitions, Romare Bearden: Artist as Activist and Visionary and Creative Haven: Black Artists of Sag Harbor as well as The 24th Annual Colors of Long Island Student Art Exhibition.
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Quilting Time, 1986. Poster; original work at Detroit Institute of Arts. Courtesy of the Romare Bearden Foundation.
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Romare Bearden:Artist as Activist and Visionary, on view February 17 – May 29, 2023 in the Main Gallery of the Art Museum, is an exhibition of nearly 50 paintings, screenprints, and collages that explores the work of one of the 20th century’s most important visual artists. Bearden’s career as an artist took rise in the 1940s, with exhibitions in Harlem and Washington, DC. He continued his arts education at the Sorbonne in Paris, in 1950. Committed to support of emerging black painters and to the cause of Civil Rights, Bearden founded the “Spiral Group” in 1962, with fellow Black artists Charles Alston, Norman Lewis, and others. Bearden’s work is in many significant museum collections around the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and The Studio Museum in Harlem. Awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1987, Bearden died in New York City the next year, on March 12, 1988 and this exhibition was organized by the Romare Bearden Foundation, New York. Exhibition tour management was handled by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA.
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Bearden working in his studio, n.d. Photograph by Frank Stewart. Courtesy of the Romare Bearden Foundation.
“Romare Bearden was a highly original force in American art in the 20th century. His collages have long been admired and we are so excited to have his work here. And in Creative Haven, we have 12 artists from Sag Harbor with such diverse backgrounds, styles, and talents. Two beautiful shows that blend together into a great experience,” said Joshua Ruff, Co-Executive Director of the Long Island Museum.
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Creative Haven: Black Artists of Sag Harbor, on view February 17 – August 27, 2023 in the Costigan Gallery of the Art Museum, is an exhibition that focuses on a community with rich African and Native American histories, Sag Harbor became home to an outstanding, emergent, and well-connected community of Black artists by the early 1960s. Drawn to the area by its historic foundations as a home to whalers in the 18th and 19th centuries and Black summer residents in the 20th century, artists brought a modern sensibility and camaraderie to their work and experiences rooted in this community. This exhibition features the work of a total of 12 artists, including Frank Wimberley (b. 1926), an outstanding abstract painter who vacationed in Sag Harbor beginning in 1960 and built a home there in 1965; abstract expressionist and collagist Al Loving (1935-2005); the talented couple Reynold Ruffins (1930-2021), a famed illustrator who was also a painter of energetic acrylic compositions, and Joan Ruffins (1932-2013), an Impressionist artist who trained at Cooper Union in the 1950s; and Nanette Carter (b. 1954), an abstract collagist who was profoundly impacted by her formative experiences with artists such as Wimberley and Loving. A rich exploration of creative work and connections between artists, the exhibition will also include art by Claude Lawrence (b. 1944), Harlan Jackson (1918-1993), and Michael Butler (b. 1955), who the LIM is proud to have as a guest co-curator of this exhibition.
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Caption: Michael Butler (b. 1955). Henry Green, Greenhand, 2017
Acrylic on canvas. The Long Island Museum. Museum Purchase, 2022
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The 24th Annual Colors of Long Island Student Art Exhibition opens on February 17, 2023. The exhibition affords an opportunity for hundreds of students from across Long Island to display their artwork in a museum setting. Art teachers from Long Island’s public and private schools in grades pre-k through 12th grade were invited to submit up to two pieces of student artwork for the exhibition. Traditionally, the theme, “Colors of Long Island,” allows for many creative interpretations. While some students refer to Long Island’s landscapes, others prefer to focus on the cultural diversity that makes Long Island so beautiful. The varying interpretations of this theme will be portrayed through a selection of media, including watercolor, sculpture, pencil, ink, oil pastel, photographs and computer graphics.
“With 271 students participating, the Colors of Long Island exhibition gives the community an opportunity to see the creative ways that art teachers and arts administrators are enriching the lives of our students,” said Kristin Cuomo, Senior Educator at the Long Island Museum.
“This year it has been wonderful to see a wide range of both traditional and contemporary media. The work showcases visual arts programs that nurture students in fundamental artistic principles while remaining responsive and reflective to the rich context of their lives. The design for this year’s exhibition is a celebration of the diverse experiences and talents of these students,” continued Cuomo.
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Colors of Long Island will be on view in the History Museum from February 17 through April 8, 2023. In addition to exploring the new exhibitions, visitors are also welcome to explore the Carriage Museum, which includes eight renovated galleries that tell the story of transportation before the automobile.
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Visitors can find a full list of available Museum experiences and learn more about what to expect during a visit by visiting the Museum’s website at: longislandmuseum.org
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To become a member of the LIM and to enjoy membership benefits that include free general admission,
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