Come Find Steve and Other Fireflies at the “Oyster Bay Art in the Park” now SUNDAY 5/21

Photo of Firefly Steve Caputo with some of his photography

Photographer Steve Caputo is one of several Fireflies scheduled to be at the Oyster Bay Art in the Park Festival, now scheduled for Sunday, together with many other local artists. Photo credit: Bonnie Caputo

Over 50 vendors, including several Fireflies, are rescheduling their weekends for a hopefully sunnier Sunday at the Oyster Bay Art in the Park Festival. There will be family-friendly activities, live music by Gene Casey & the Lone Sharks, food trucks and more!

What: Oyster Bay Art in the Park
NEW Date: Sunday, May 21, 12-4pm
Where: Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park & Beach in Oyster Bay
 
Art in the Park is run by the Town’s Department of Community & Youth Services, Cultural and Performing Arts Division.

“Art in the Park offers local artists and artisans an amazing opportunity to showcase their best work for the public and gain local notoriety,” said Oyster Bay Town Councilmember Steve Labriola. “Art in the Park is certain to attract hundreds of families and seniors as the event also features live music, food trucks and activities for kids.”
 
There will be at least four — maybe more! — Fireflies scattered throughout the event. See if you can find them all!

Art Appreciation: Eloquent COVID-Era Medals on Loan for Public View

Image Motherhood Distinguished Service Medal, a heart felt found-object sculpture by Beth Atkinson

“Motherhood Distinguished Service Medal” by Beth Atkinson. It is one of the artist’s many intricate and eloquent COVID-era medals now on view at Huntington Town Hall.

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Huntington Art Walk!

Flyer for Spring 2023 Huntington Art Walk, 5/31 12-5pm

We are delighted to hear that, even though they’ve been very busy moving their entire shop a few doors down, The Huntington Art Center still managed to assemble a great Art Walk for this spring!

Come experience the rich culture of  Huntington Village on this free self-guided tour.

Check out the new exhibits at the museums and galleries. Enjoy tasty treats. Many of the exhibiting artists will be on hand, as will musicians playing along the way.

When: Sunday, May 21, 12-5pm
 
Here’s a pdf of the flyer and map: ArtWalkSpring23_FlyerX (1)
 
More information is available at The Huntington Art Center Website including details regarding the various venues and what you’ll find that Sunday.
 
There will be an info table under the marquee at the Paramount Theater on the day of the event.

Enjoy!

Bay Shore Art Crawl — WOW!!!

Bay Shore Art Crawl Poster - The event's been rescheduled for May 21st.

THE BAY SHORE ART CRAWL HAS BEEN MOVED TO SUNDAY, 5/21, 12-5PM.

We love local art walks! Have you seen what’s been developing in Bay Shore? This event presented by the Islip Arts Council, South Shore Arts and Colored Colors is AMAZING. It has grown exponentially in the few years it’s been a thing. It’s HUGE.

The event features art displays, live creating and music, poetry, kid’s activities and discounts at local businesses. Start your day at The Agency, 61 W Main St, Bay Shore. There you can pick up an informative map, and a bracelet that will give you discounts at participating locations. Get there early to sign-up for FREE, limited seating workshops. Other goodies are promised along the way!

They are super grateful to their sponsors: Northwell Health, The Agency, Suffolk County, Suffolk County Legislator Steve J. Flotteron, Pace Real Estate, Ramsay Realtors, Chapey Funeral Home, Samson Inspection Services, Campasano Law Firm, Greenview Properties, Digho Arts and Lost Island Arts.

Special Thanks to Jose!

Folks involved also make a point to tell me that, while the whole community has really stepped up, the magic here has a lot to do with a guy named Jose “Tutes” Tutiven.

Jose is an Ecuador-born, NYC raised, Bronx based portrait and lifestyle photographer known for both his incredible talent there, and his unparalleled capacity to build community, help others get their work to light and generally serve as a force for deep good. A primary platform for this is Colored Colors (on Instagram @colored.colors), where he is “Creating Relationships between Creatives and the Communities through community driven events.”

I’ve never met him, but I hear from excellent sources that he is THE BEST.

“Where do we start when it comes to Jose Tutiven??” said Diane Palma of Digho Arts, “He is THE example we should all follow to be a strong cultural leader. Be true to yourself. Honor your roots. And embrace those around you in order to grow. Bringing people together while highlighting their talents has always been Jose’s driving force as he grew Colored Colors the past few years. His welcoming community and growing success is a testament to his natural leadership qualities of empowering those around him. We are lucky to call him our friend.”

This is going to be awesome.

Go check it out!

Note: Please click on images below to get the full picture. There may be some adjustments due to all the rescheduling caused by inclement weather. More information can be found and will likely continue to be updated on the Art Crawl’s Eventbrite here. Hard copy maps may also be available at The Agency in Bay Shore on the 21st. Thanks!
Bay Shore Art Crawl Map Page 6

Rise and Shine

photo of bird rising over Cold Spring Harbor 2022

Photo entitled “Cold Spring Harbor: Rising 2022” by Katheryn Laible

I remember the wisest, sweetest, most incredible woman I know saying, “People pray for power. It is better that they will Love, for Love is the greatest power of All.”

I pray: May I remember her teachings well. May I understand them at least enough. May we together channel more than ourselves; manifest Love and Light.

Pray for Love. Pray for Truth. Truth and Love in equal measure

For as many before and after have somehow said, “Truth without Love is brutal, and Love without Truth is false.”

This has long made sense to me.
I am still learning that it takes a third leg: Faith. To make a sturdy table, we need Faith.

Faith, Faith, Faith

…to cast away fear, have faith…

“Nothing boils in lukewarm water,” she says…Remember to command, to commune, to comfort; to will
harmony in thy multifaceted being

…Truth, Love, Faith…

Faith in the Greater. Faith in each other. Faith that as we will it already is. Faith that this Flame I feel deep within is far from mine alone. Faith that you feel This, too.

Humble before God, equal before man, recognizing the God within and the human as well, each manifesting in its own way. May we will and channel Strength with Dexterity, Grace and Mercy. Open to the Greater Good without and within, in places that we do not know.

She reminds me, “There is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future” … “He loves you not for what you are but for what you are becoming.”

“Ho’oponopono. Ho’oponopono. Ho’oponopono,” I hear other voices say. She speaks to me of Lady Quan Yin.

They remind me to start on a path to Forgiveness, to Uplift, to Enlightenment with myself; to be grateful for every blessing and each accomplishment no matter how small, 

For the smallest is the greatest. For so little do we know, For we all know a little.

May we appreciate all that is Good, Humble and Grateful to be so blessed.  She advises Joyful Anticipation.
Discerning and Healing. Flexible and Strong. Reconciling.

Overcoming.

Divine.

Calling all who Will to Transmute the lesser,  To Receive, Accelerate and Amplify the Greater. Manifest Love. Be the Light. Keep the Faith.

This indigenous wise-woman who communes with All reminds me of St. Francis’ Prayer. “Let me be an Instrument of Thy Peace.”

Faithfully. Humbly. Gratefully. Evermore.

This I Pray. Namaste. Amem.

This piece was updated 3/26/23

Reflections on a Pandemic Rainbow

Oil Painting - Pandemic Rainbow, March 2020

Oil Painting from March 2020 Entitled “Pandemic Rainbow”

While I give it my best to be the adult and hopefully a halfway decent parent, often it is my children who end up guiding and grounding me.

One example of this was mid-March 2020. We were far enough in to know that COVID was serious, but it was still a largely inconceivable looming horror that had hardly begun to hit home. I had followed the story since before the disease cancelled Lunar New Year celebrations abroad, so I was not quite as surprised as some seemed to be. Still, I am pretty sure I was in shock.

Honestly, I think I might still be in shock.

At that time, though, my brain still wanted to treat COVID as a theoretical construct, not something…real. I had yet to have a case reach the outskirts of my personal orbit, let alone see a dear one pass or begin to experience the painful details of how everything would go. I was already thinking of collateral concerns that for so many were already more pressing than the disease but, for me, it was all processing like a computer with too many programs running, a computer with not just a mind, but a heart that was overwhelmed as well…and I know I was among the luckier ones…

The first case was confirmed on Long Island by March 5th. A week later, in what felt like a watershed moment, the NBA suspended its season right at the tipoff of a Jazz/Thunders game while at the same time Tom Hanks told the world he was sick. The next day a “temporary” school closing was announced, followed promptly by the shutdown of just about everything.

Teachers, parents and children turned on a dime to transform education as offices also emptied into homes. Overnight, Zoom went from being a cool app someone had suggested we play with, to the platform that would host most human encounters for the next two years.

In true apocalyptic fashion, folks that couldn’t stay home were suddenly being called heroes. This was an honor some immediately warned was less than empty and that others are actively praying we will more substantially appreciate to this day. Given the scarcity of tests and plethora of potential symptoms, it was fairly impossible to tell whether one had hay fever or might kill grandma.

This was just a sliver of the world’s hardships, with some facing suffering far worse than others. Already, we were realizing there wasn’t even sufficient protective gear for nurses. Hoarding was a concern. We were in it deep. There was hardly any toilet paper. Coming together as a nation seemed sadly and painfully less likely than ever, but at least folks were washing their hands.

With hardly any discussion it suddenly became perfectly legal to get take-out cocktails. Fellow Gen Xers were filling my Facebook newsfeed the way many of my friends do when things are stressful, scary and beyond our control: One part public service announcement, two parts “how y’all doin’ out there?” and three parts bad jokes as we collectively decided this was all way too serious not to laugh. It all seemed terribly surreal, especially when paired with the emergence of Tiger King, the unbelievable, utterly meme-able Netflix documentary about an ill-fated private zookeeper. We didn’t watch it here, but we couldn’t miss it either. Somehow, it seemed to fit.

Me? I was doing what I generally do in times of crisis, shunting aside feelings and endeavoring to be useful, going into overdrive to keep things moving and to share news of so many wonderful folks I saw giving it their best to be of service…teachers, human service providers, scientists and so many folks who sew or learned to sew just for the occasion. Grateful for so many artists and librarians rising to a quarantined call, I was also warmed by the concept of “Rainbows across Nassau and Suffolk Counties,” which were largely drawn by children and starting to appear everywhere.

I thought it would be nice to publish one. I asked my youngest, who had just turned 12, “Would you please draw me a rainbow for my newsletter?”

My daughter is a born artist. It’s just who she is. At this particular time in life, she was also (hopefully) at a height of adolescent prickliness toward her mother. Perhaps, this time at least, it was well deserved. She gave me a drawing she wouldn’t have been satisfied with when she was three.

“I’m not using this.”

“Use it.”

“Well, I’m not putting your name on it.”

”Fine.”

So…I used it. Without her name. She was fine with that.

A child's drawing of a rainbow

A few days later, I was up late working. It was sometime after midnight when she emerged from her room, came to my desk and thrust her arm forward.

“You want my rainbow? Here’s my rainbow!”

I looked at it, a ragged, shaken assault of color. Marks that looked like tiger swipes tore through it. Other areas were marred by splotches of brown as though dirt and other…stuff…had been hurled at it. Smears of white evoked flashes of terror…and…contagion….

I was stricken to see my heart laid bare on her canvas. Her heart laid bare on her canvas?

“I’ve never used oils before,” she said, her voice sweet and childlike as she considered her work. Funny how they switch back and forth so suddenly at that age, “I’m really pleased with how I got this wash along the edges…”

She’d always been all about the process, even when she was three…

I looked her in the eye. She looked back. Words went unspoken. Feelings, however, I think, transmitted. She retreated to the room that would become her fortress, her cocoon for the next several months.

The painting remained beside me, saying more than either she or I had words for. It got me to pause. It got me to think. It forced me to allow the weight of the situation to settle, to allow her the space she needed to process, to be a bit more mindful with her and all I encountered.

The work was soon followed by a similarly abstract piece entitled “Earth Day.”

“I sure hope we get it together.” was all she said.

“Me, too.”

Oil Paintins, "Earth Day" April 2020

Prints of “Pandemic Rainbow” (top of article) and “Earth Day” (immediately above) are available at The Firefly Artists in Northport. While she’s not nearly as attached to them as I am, the originals are not for sale. I am grateful to the galley for hosting these pieces, and for everyone who gives it their best to make the best of things and guide others to see the light. It matters more than we know. Thank you.

Happy New Year! Thank You, Friends for these End of Year Resources!

Photo of sparkler with heart shaped core by Katheryn Laible

Photo “New Year’s Love” by Katheryn Laible

Happy New Year! We thought you might appreciate the following:
 
Let’s start with this fascinating piece on the history of New Year’s and its traditions from History.com
 
Then, let’s reflect on our own recent history. Here’s a blog post on a 7-Step Year in Review from Strength Leader Deb Ingino to help guide us! Deb is great at quickly boiling things down to key takeaways. Here, she picks a particularly timely nugget out of a great podcast from John C. Maxwell, while offering the link to his full 7 steps. I found it well worth carving out time for!
 
Many of us are still doing year-end giving! Today, my dear friend Nancy brought this New York Times newsletter: A giving guide to my attention. There’s a lot of useful stuff in here. As we might expect, it offers resources from a much more global viewpoint than we do, but also noted that LOCAL giving — including to local news sources —  is really important.
 
Along those lines…this piece written with David Okorn of the Long Island Community Foundation,“Foundations for the Common Good — A Call to Action” remains timely. If you want to quick-update it to account for the impacts of the last few years, just underline the sense of urgency in triplicate. The article explains growing holes in the LI safety net and how we might fill them. It also shares how the LI Community Foundation itself helps givers make the best use of their philanthropic dollars, as well as how it serves issues they’ve identified as critical directly.
 
Here’s a list of JUST A FEW incredible local organizations that could use our support...use it as a starter guide. We look forward to sharing many more in the New Year!
 
We’re also going to keep repeating this: The idea that a not for profit organization should be judged primarily by the % going to admin and fundraising is just plain wrong! Find out why in this article written with Marian Conway of the NY Community Bank Foundation: “Stop the Nonprofit Budget Fantasy. It’s Not Right!”  Marian’s run a foundation for years and in one way or another served and studied countless organizations. She literally has a Ph.D awarded for her dissertation on “What are the general operating expenses for nonprofits and who pays them.” She knows what she’s talking about. Please listen to her!!!
 
Finally, New Year – New Beginnings. Let’s talk a little bit about resolutions. Considering joining the Dry January tradition? Dr. Jeffery Reynolds, CEO of Family & Children’s Association has some great tips that I think can also be applied to helping follow through on other pledges, especially when paired with this good advice from Forbes.com on how to actually keep your resolutions.
 
Among mine, resolutions tend to involve committing to lifelong learning and development. Toward that end, I find the Farnam Street Newsletter to be something I regularly open and intend to dig more deeply into next year. This week, among other things, they offered snippets from their most downloaded podcasts. As for just a few favorite sources of local guidance, I really appreciate the Fair Media Council channel on YouTube, and everything Vision Long Island puts on its Vimeo.
 
I also resolve to more deeply appreciate our wonderful local treasures. Thank you, Cindy Mardenfeld, for sharing this Newsday article on the membership perks of Long Island attractions(it’s Newsday, so, please forgive the paywall). It covers all sorts of great museums, theaters, kids places and parks. The best part is knowing they’ve hardly scratched the surface!
 
Let me know your year-end reflections and resources, and what you’d like to see focused on in 2022. Thanks!!!

Call to Artists: The Snowball Effect

Logo for The Snowball Effect

CALL TO ARTISTS! Deadline to Apply is 12/20 for this January show at The Firefly Artists. The theme is winter-inspired works. The term “Snowball Effect” also speaks to the momentum of creative manifestation….so let us know about your inspiration and/or process by sharing a brief paragraph or early sketch as well!

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