2009 EVENTS

LET'S MAKE HISTORY: Half-Century Bicycle Ride

The 2009 bicycle ride was a huge success. Altogether our donors contributed almost $10,000 in money and in-kind gifts. We couldn’t have done it without the help of our volunteers, especially the team members from Target, Inc. that came out and helped. On behalf of the Society’s Board of Directors, staff and volunteers, we want to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported this event, and especially the hearty riders who participated!

2009 DONORS:
Wheels
Bank of Smithtown
Riverhead Building Supply Corp.
Target, Inc.
The Suffolk County National Bank
Times/Review Newspapers

Handle Bars
Apple Honda
Suffolk Banana
The W. H. Brownyard Group
Tinari, O'Connell, Osborn & Kaufman, LLP

Pedals
Burner King, Inc.
John M. Aloisio, D.D.S.
Kay Cameron Jewelers, Inc.
Lupton & Luce, Inc.
Mr. & Mrs. Bob Barauskas
Mr. & Mrs. Gary Kron
Mr. & Mrs. Mark Goldsmith
Mr. Arma Andon
Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Collins

Spoke
Modern Snack Bar
Mr. & Mrs. William Johnston

Events

For full details and to register for any of the Suffolk County Historical Society's upcoming events, please call: (631) 727-2881.

"Mattituck Creek" by Helen M. Kroeger

"Farm on the Sound, Southold" by Otto J. Kurth

NEW ART EXHIBIT
HELEN M. KROEGER & OTTO J. KURTH:
The Anchorage Studio and Peconic Bay Impressionism
Opening Reception: Friday, June 25th, 2010, 5-7pm
On view through October 30, 2010

On Friday, June 25th, from 5-7 pm, the Suffolk County Historical Society will present an opening reception for a new exhibit, "Helen M. Kroeger & Otto J. Kurth: The Anchorage Studio and Peconic Bay Impressionism."

An important exhibition about these two artists and their relationship with the North Fork art community, this new exhibit follows the Society’s historic 2007 show, "Caroline M. Bell and the Peconic Bay Impressionists," also curated by Terry Wallace, an authority on American art, specializing in Long Island painters. The exhibit is accompanied by a hard cover catalogue authored by Mr. Wallace.

Call the Society at (631) 727-2881 and/or check back for program listings associated with this exhibit.

About the Artists:
Helen M. Kroeger (1892-1986) was born in Mt. Vernon, NY. By profession, she was a New York City schoolteacher. Kroeger also attended the Grand Central School of Art and studied at the Art Students League of New York with Frank Vincent DuMond. Sometime in the 1930s, she made the acquaintance of Caroline M. Bell (1874-1970). Bell was a first-rate plein-aire painter and the leader of a group of women artists living on the North Fork of Long Island. These artists are now known as The Peconic Bay Impressionists.

Sometime in the early 1940s, Helen M. Kroeger met Otto J. Kurth (1883-1965), a well-known commercial illustrator of newspapers, periodicals, maps and books. While he was a skilled painter of marine subjects, he had little experience painting out-of-doors. Kurth and Kroeger shared a love of nature. They embarked on a career of rendering barnyards, meadows, shorelines, harbors and fish shacks. Under the tutelage of Kroeger, Kurth became an accomplished plein-aire painter.

Kurth traveled with Kroeger from Queens to Mattituck. Here he established a warm friendship with Caroline M. Bell and the other women. With Kroeger, he eventually opened the Anchorage Studio on Marlene Lane in Mattituck.

The Anchorage Studio became a focal point in the artistic community of the North Fork. Both Kroeger and Kurth made a living by selling their paintings from the Studio to local residents and summer visitors. It was also an important destination for the numerous students Kroeger taught. Using painting techniques she had learned from Caroline M. Bell, Emile Gruppe and Anthony Thieme, Kroeger often instructed her students in the field at New Suffolk and at the Indian Museum in Southold.

LET'S MAKE HISTORY! FUNDRAISING BIKE RIDE FOR THE SCHS
Sunday, September 19, 2010
More details coming soon!