My own (no bias here! lol!!!) favorite small business is The Firefly Artists: A community-oriented gallery created by and for local artists that I am honored to be a Managing Partner of.
Our main Firefly Gallery and its upstairs Darcy Arts Center at 162 Main St, Northport is open Tuesday through Thursday 11am-6pm (closed for Christmas), Fri and Sat 11am-8pm and Sunday 11-5pm.
Send Katie an email if you’d like to meet up down there! Or, just c’mon down:
TOMORROW, Saturday, 12/18 from 12-4pm - Winter Trunk Show with Kate Sydney and Rachel Kalina!
It’s always fun when these two get together! Plus they know A LOT about jewelry!
Meet the Woman Who Made it All Happen!
The Firefly is Celebrating 10 Years! Our birthday was actually Valentine’s Day….fitting for the lovely jewelry craftswoman who founded us!!!
At the time, Kate Sydney was an emerging artisan who worked as a barista in the Main Street coffee shop, Portofino. She’d made jewelry all her life — and keeps perfecting her craft! — but had only just started to sell it. She became friends with a regular, an established artist named Cathy Nichols. Over many cups of coffee, Kate and Cathy dreamed of a place where diverse local artists and artisans, from emerging to established, could meet, support one another, and display and sell their beautiful creations.
Artists, I have come to realize, have a gift for turning dreams into reality. Usually, it’s a spark of inspiration that becomes a painting or a sculpture or a fine piece of metalwork. This time, it was a small business! On February 14, 2011, they signed a lease to sublet a bit of LaMantia Gallery in Northport.
At first, there were five artists, three of whom remain deeply involved to this day! On September 1st, 2014 we grew into our own location up the road at 180 Main Street, growing from 300 to 1,000 square feet. It was then our beloved Jennifer Lau joined Kate as a Managing Partner. In 2019, Kate passed her half of the torch to Beth Atkinson, Drigo Morin and I, as we and many of our other artists came together to completely renovate a new space at 162 Main Street. This beautiful new artspace – crafted by the artists themselves — includes a 2,000 square foot gallery, plus studio and teaching areas, and a back garden.
In the summer of 2020 we boldly expanded our gallery to create our upstairs Darcy Arts Center. This beautiful gallery space is rich in natural light and dedicated to special exhibitions and art workshops featuring our talented teaching Fireflies and world renowned instructors. We also recently received a “Special Citation for a Business Award” from the New York State Art Teachers Association (NYSATA) for our deep dedication to nurturing art teachers and the next generation of artists.
All in all, The Firefly Artists has had the great privilege of displaying a stunning variety of work by well over 200 Long Island artists through our Main Street locations and pop-up galleries in the community. We boast some extraordinary talent, while maintaining a very down to earth and supportive atmosphere that is unique to Long Island.
