Sharing Smithtown: Visions of Long Island

Hello, my name is Noah Negri… so, I am now a guest blogger for BBLG Gallery! I was invited by the gallery to blog about the artwork and the inspiration behind the work. I wasn’t sure about this but, today was the first day and it was a lot of fun, I had the pleasure of accompanying our artist Susan Buroker down to the spot of inspiration for one of her paintings.

It was at Porpoise Channel, where the water lets out into the Smithtown Bay and the Long Island Sound. There the beautiful rolling hills, characteristic of the north shore, meet the beach and form these sandy cliffs bordering the Sound creating a very dramatic scene. In the channel water, you will find marshes delicately decking the shore, sheltering the coastline. The location of the painting is right where these two bodies meet and exchange their waters. Susan painted Porpoise Channel late in the season on a windy day and was inspired to capture the movement of the water, as a celebration of the natural beauty there and all the work that was done to restore its vitality.

Through environmental awareness from the community and with encouragement from artists like Susan Buroker, these once-polluted waters are teeming with marine life taking shelter in the marsh. It was so great to experience the ancient growth mixing with this newfound life at Porpoise Bay and enlightening to see how our efforts to help the environment have made a great effect through the power of art. I love working with artists to hear what goes into their creation so that I may ultimately create a deeper connection with the things around me; art connects us to nature and the cosmos encompassing it, it is the artist’s job.

Written By Noah Negri