Rain poured down outside as artists made waves inside a Massapequa art studio.
Lori Horowitz, artist and owner of Studio 5404, hosted many locals at the opening night of the new exhibition running until July 6.
(Photos by Cynthia Paulis)
“The show is called Making Waves and it is a water based summer show,” she said. “We are showcasing nine different artists all with water themes in their work. We have some installation pieces, some paintings, a lot of photography and mostly people who are recent graduates, younger artists this time, and Long Island artists.”
Massapequa artist Amanda Hawthorne displayed her piece called “Engulfed.”
“It represents overwhelming emotions using the ocean as the subject. It is a watercolor. I like to use watercolor as my medium because of the transparency and organic nature of it and I like the layer and movement the water color gives. A lot of times when you paint a watercolor painting you don’t know what it is going to look like until it dries.”
Artist Bess Rappel displayed an unusual piece called “Mikvah,” which is about rebirth and renewal.
“Everyone goes through life changes and ‘Mikvah’ is a ritual bath that Jewish people do,” she said. “It is basically about life changing and going with the flow and being ok with your life changes.”
Meanwhile, Berges Alvarez had several landscape and seascape pieces that were photographs on a canvas.
“I produced this material using recycled material using different bags, plastic and this is all of a refection through the material,” said Alvarez. “This is a repurposing of the actual material from our throwaway society. I capture the beauty in these throw away materials.”
Anthony Ingoglia stood before his piece called “Waves of Emotion,” which was a series of nails in different forms.
“This is s piece that came from a conflict time in my life with lots of different phases of depression and excitement and this represents the gentle flow I decided to get into instead of the spikes and valleys,” he said.
Julie Gordonson and Nikki Horowitz, cousins, completed a photoshoot for the exhibition.
“We decided to get Nikki in this great costume and put her in a hot tub to see how this blue velvet jumpsuit meshed with the waves of the water,” said Gordonson.
Kristie Hirten, an art teacher and life guard at Jones Beach, had eight pieces on display.
“I paint pictures and images of people under water from a photograph,” she said. “I have spent so much time as a swimmer that I started to see people under water less as my friends or other people but more as shapes and lines and reflections and that is how I break down my paintings. I use acrylic based house paint and the way I title my work is from the swatches you get at home depot. The paintings all have very funny names such as pool party, ocean abyss, diving deep and I thought it was a great way to name my pieces.”
Melissa Maiello had four pieces of charcoal on torn paper.
“Basically what I do is I work from my own photographs I have taken, mostly from Long Island,” said Maiello. “It is a reflection of my memory and the photograph. I use charcoal because I like the dramatic effects you can get from it and it also reminds me of things that are old and from the past. These are memories for me so I think it reflects that.”
As wine was being poured by Matt from the Vine Wine Celler in Massapequa, guests raved about the liquid libations as well as the art show. Dodging the heavy rain Legislator Michael Venditto, a new dad, popped in for a visit and mingled with the artists admiring their work.
“I was here at this studio when it opened a year ago and I noticed then as I do now that the studio does wonderful things in promoting our wonderful culture here in Massapequa,” he said. “We have a wonderful culture to share and hosting events like this gives people the ability to socialize and get to know one another. This is just another of the wonderful things that makes our community so great.”
