Three or four times a summer, the Ocean Beach Historical Society holds a show of artwork or history. At least one of those shows revolves around a theme chosen by the Ocean Beach Community Fund Board that makes use of the society’s extensive library, which contains several hundred photographs, old signage, posters and correspondence culled from the history of the broader Ocean Beach community encompassing the area from Seaview to Summer Club. Themes such as anti-Semitism, furniture, the hurricane of 1939, men’s fashion, the Ocean Beach Fire Department, rum running, shipwrecks and World War I typify the historical displays, said Sarah Morgan, the society’s curator for the past four years.
Morgan, who teaches English at the highly-regarded Trinity School in Manhattan when she’s not in the society’s small gallery in the Ocean Beach community house, also puts together shows of local artists every year such as the one currently on display until August 2. The new show – Mixed Media: Artists from Ocean Beach and Beyond – contains the work of five local artists, work that ranges from ethereal photography to photographic emulsion miniatures to exuberant clay work.
"These are all people who have come to us over the last few years," said Morgan, who was happy to be able to display them together in a group show. The five artists are Lani Aughenbaugh, Mary Quinn, Nina Meyer, Anne Gabriele and Veronica Borrer.
Lani Aughenbaugh, an officer with the Ocean Beach Police Department for more than 20 years, studied at the School of Visual Arts in fine art and photography. His simple, declarative photographs from around Ocean Beach were chosen for the show.
Mary Quinn, a Robbins Rest regular since ‘70s, has experimented with different photographic techniques throughout her career, even teaching a pinhole photography class at Cooper Union. "The best photos are unplanned," Quinn believes. "They’re just waiting for you."
Nina Meyer’s terracotta masks are just another new thing in a lifetime of artistic curiosity, started in her youth in Russia and honed at the Fine Arts Academy in Berlin. In 1938 she started the Nina Lewin Studio with her husband, Fred, designing textiles for the haute couture world. She also has a professorship at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Meyer started teaching at FIT as a lark after she closed the studio, never expecting to be named a professor. "To me, it was my retirement profession," she said. "I didn’t try very hard." She began sculpting when she took a class in clay, free to faculty, about three and a half years ago. She has a special connection with Aughenbaugh, too: he was the first at her side when she fell off her bicycle several years ago opening a nasty wound that required 22 stitches. They’ve been friendly ever since.
Iris Leviten, a court reporter from Queens, was touring the show and had particular admiration for Meyer’s work. "To start from nothing to create something so interesting, so beautiful, with so much character," she said.
Anne Gabriele’s Polaroid emulsion transfers onto watercolor paper are each unique, and have to be seen to be understood. Gabriele has been coming to Fire Island, particularly Ocean Beach, for 14 years. Part of Gabriele’s secret is laying two Polaroid emulsions next to each other, overlapping, creating an imaginary seascape. "Merging more than one emersion enables me to produce a vista that does not exist," says Gabriele. The Brooklynite is also an SVA graduate and has works on display at the Tulla Booth Gallery in Sag Harbor and the Fire Island Lighthouse Art Show.
Sculptor Veronica Borrer, of Ocean Bay Park, incorporates shells, sand, paint and the grain of the wood to make delightfully tactile beach sculptures. Her work can be seen at Kenny Goodman’s gallery on Denhoff.
Pieces, ranging from $40 to $400, are also for sale, and Morgan said that in past years she has sold up to 90 percent of the displayed work, and this year she has already sold four pieces.
The historical society serves as the de facto visitors’ center for Ocean Beach – which is not inappropriate, as Morgan has a thick orange binder full of interesting and educational materials about Fire Island at the ready. We asked Morgan for the top five greatest hits.
1. How did Fire Island get its name? ("There are a lot of theories having to do with a transformation of the words on the old English and Dutch maps.")
2. Do people live here in the winter? 2a. How many, and what’s that like? (Yes, about 300, windy.)
3. Where are the bathrooms? ("Ferry dock.")
4. How’d the deer get here? (Probably walked over when the bay was frozen.)
5. Do you have a map? (Yes, FINS maps are provided gratis.)
Of course, these are just the most common questions. Morgan has heard it all, including, "Am I on an island right now?"
"I said, are you kidding me? Did you get on a boat to come here?" Morgan said, laughing, then adding, "It’s a logical place for people to stop and ask questions, ask for a map, find out a little about Ocean Beach and Fire Island."
The Ocean Beach community fund is an engine driving many public services in OB by supporting interests ranging from the youth group to the police and fire departments and environmental causes with generous amounts of grant money. Carol Kushner, the fund’s president, is also president of the historical society.
The show will be open everyday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. to except Tuesday and Wednesday.