ARTS ALIVE LONG ISLAND CELEBRATING ARTS CULTURE & COMMUNITY

Now through December 29, 2013
Regular admission is $9 per person, $7 for seniors and $4 for students ages six to 17.

The in Stony Brook presents a new exhibition highlighting two of Long Island’s summer playgrounds. They are sun-drenched spectacles. Miles and miles of beaches and boardwalks jammed with smiling, tanned and half-dressed people of all ages. The mere mention of Coney Island or Jones Beach evokes summer itself.

Coney Island and Jones Beach: Empires by the Sea will take visitors on a fun-filled ride through the history of these two landmarks, exploring the changing, complicated relationship between New Yorkers and their favorite seaside playgrounds. The exhibition will include a dazzling array of objects (including historic beachwear and amusement park artifacts), rare photographs, paintings, prints and archival film clips.

Coney Island went from an unknown strip of sand to the world’s most famous seaside resort in the 19th century. People began going there shortly after a shell-crushed road connected it to the rest of Brooklyn in 1829. But it gradually became rowdy entertainment for the masses, home to three major amusement parks, and the birthplace of the roller coaster and the hot dog. By 1920, accessible by the subway, Coney Island was dubbed the “Nickel Empire.” But not everyone was charmed by the spectacle.

Jones Beach was different: “Flowers, lawns, shrubs greet you, instead of papers, lunch boxes and dirt. Nothing is crowded, the sidewalks are wide, the buildings are low and attractively designed. The beach is apparently endless.”

Master builder Robert Moses planned Jones Beach as an antidote to what he regarded as the excesses of Coney Island. In addition to forbidding carnival vendors and “honkey tonk,” Jones Beach employed uniformed attendants and enforced strict rules against undressing in cars and leaving litter on the boardwalk or beach. The entire park included beautifully-designed bathhouses and nautical-themed trash receptacles. By the mid-1930s, Jones Beach welcomed over 100,000 visitors on its busiest summer days.

The exhibition will explore these two famous spots not only in their heydays, but will also look at what has happened during their decline, resurrection, and redefinitions over the past several decades. Where some once thought the sun might be setting on these two historic beaches, millions still pack their bags every summer to go there and make new memories. The perfect summer exhibition, Coney Island and Jones Beach will give visitors a fun and energetic history of how two iconic coastal areas became lasting people’s playgrounds.

For more information on the exhibition and related programs, visit or call 631-751-0066.

Tuesdays from 10:00 AM to 12 noon

Seniors are invited for a free, self-guided tour of the ’s newest Carriage Galleries, Streets of New York and Carriages for Sport and Pleasure. Senior Tuesdays, sponsored by Jefferson’s Ferry, are held one Tuesday a month and feature a different exhibition each month.

July 9, 2013 –  Coney Island and Jones Beach: Empires by the Sea - Turn back time and explore two of New York’s most famous seaside playgrounds.

August 13, 2013 –  Let’s Go to the Beach –  Exhibition featuring the participants in our juried art competition. View works in all media depicting Long Island’s beautiful beaches.

September 10, 2013 - Coney Island and Jones Beach: Empires by the Sea - Turn back time and explore two of New York’s most famous seaside playgrounds.

For information about other exhibitions and programs please call 631-751-0066 or visit .

August 17th-December 1st 2013
Museum admission: $6.00 Adults
$4.00 Seniors (62 years)
$4.00 Students (10 and over)
FREE Children (under 10)

This retrospective celebrates the career of , one of Long Island’s most prominent contemporary artists. For 50 years, Brodsky has created abstract works of lyrical beauty inspired by the Long Island landscape and his travels in the United States and abroad. His multi-layered paintings exude dynamic energy and reveal an elegant sensitivity to color rare among his contemporaries. The exhibition traces the artist’s evolution from early representational works that focus on architectonic city structures, through the minimalist landscapes executed during the artist’s early years on the Island, to the Abstract Expressionist works that manifest Brodsky’s deepest engagement with the painting process itself.

Stan Brodsky is Professor Emeritus at LIU Post and his work is included in many public and private collections. He will be honored at the Museum’s Celebrate Achievement Benefit on November 15, 2013 for his significant contributions to the arts on Long Island.Call 631.351.3250 or visit for more information.

August 17th-November 24th 2013
Museum admission: $6.00 Adults
$4.00 Seniors (62 years)
$4.00 Students (10 and over)
FREE Children (under 10)

This installation features more than two dozen works that have been acquired by the Museum since 2010, representing a broad range of style and subject matter. Highlights include a seminal early Montauk scene by the Hudson River School painter , as well as later Long Island landscapes by Max Weber, , and Darragh Park. Also on display are abstract works by Theodore Stamos, Nicolas Carone, and Stanley Twardowicz, as well as photographs by , , and Neil Scholl. Of special interest is a group of lithographs focusing on light and the geometry of architecture by the Cuban-American painter , and abstracted, textural landscapes by contemporary American painter Ben Frank Moss. Call 631.351.3250 or visit for more information.

August 17th 2013-April 20th 2014
Museum admission: $6.00 Adults
$4.00 Seniors (62 years)
$4.00 Students (10 and over)
FREE Children (under 10)

In conjunction with the Public Art Initiative Teen Poetry Project, Poetry for the HART, sponsored by the Town of Huntington, this exhibition showcases works with appeal to a wide range of aesthetic sensibilities. Brightly colored, energetic paintings by Stuart Davis, , , and Wayne Gonzales provide vibrant contrast to evocative landscapes by Ralph Albert Blakelock, Jerome Blum, and Matthew Spender. Also on view are figure paintings and portraits by George Grosz, Adolphe Alexandre Lesrel, and Florine Stettheimer.

Call 631.351.3250 or visit for more information.

Sunday, September 22nd, 2013 12:00PM-4:00PM
FREE

The Heckscher Museum is delighted to present this annual free community event for the whole family. Inspired by the Museum’s exhibitions, there will be an array of drawing, painting, and collage activities offered in the Musuem, on the terrace, and throughout Heckscher Park. A variety of drawing materials will be on hand or bring your own to capture the excitement of the day! Help build a collaborative sunflower garden and make your own. Try your hand at figure drawing from live models, create a watercolor painting, draw with charcoal or pastel in Heckscher Park, and much more!

Experience Live Art Fusion, which joins music and art for an extraordinary performance. Artists will be speed painting while listening to live bands performing in Heckscher Park. All in attendance are invited to watch the artwork unfold or create their own art in this fun, dynamic “fusion” of art and music.

Call 631.351.3250 or visit for more information.