DIRECTOR’S CORNER

October 2025

Dear friends,

As we continue to celebrate the fall season, I want to take a moment to ask that you consider the Art League of Long Island in your annual seasonal giving.  We have three easy ways for you to give.

The first is to renew your membership.  Your membership helps the Art League with its general operating costs, while giving you added benefits of discounts on our workshops and classes, discounts on local art supply stores, and shared information on our website.

The second is to help support one of our upcoming events.  We have invited acclaimed potter Martha Grover for a practicum on her porcelain pottery techniques with a meet and greet on October 17th.  I would love for you to join us then, enjoy some light fare, spend time with fellow artists and learn something new.  You can purchase your tickets here.

Lastly, you can make a donation, which helps to ensure that we are continuing to inspire future artists, like CJ Escobar-Rodgers, another of our Resident Artists from the 2024-2025 year.  When asked how the Art League helped to shape his artistic practice, CJ said, “I struggled, undeniably, after leaving the structured, communal environment of an academic art setting. Transitioning into a more isolated context was jarring, but it also offered clarity—about what I need from my practice and what I had once taken for granted. The shift revealed that what had sustained my work wasn’t just the rigor of critique or access to resources, but a sense of shared momentum and mutual curiosity. In the wake of these personal shifts, The Art League and Resident Artist Membership program became anchors. They offered me a renewed sense of belonging within my immediate community—enough comfort and motivation to begin taking risks again. That support allowed me to explore entirely new directions in my work, including robotics, tufting, experimental surface treatments, and broader stylistic and conceptual departures.  Through the Art League, I’ve started to view my practice differently—not just as a pursuit of formal or conceptual resolution, but as a byproduct of the relationships I build here: grounded in shared interests, casual collaboration, and the occasional corny joke. That shift has been unexpectedly grounding. It reminded me that art-making is not just about ideas or aesthetics, but about the people and conditions that allow those things to take root.”

Help support the Art League for years to come, so future artists like CJ have a place to continue their artistic development.  Donate now. Click the button.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Marianne Della Croce

Executive Director

 Photo of CJ Escobar-Rodgers

September 2025

Dear friends,

Welcome back! I hope that you enjoyed your summer and that you are looking forward to our new slate of classes this fall, including some wonderful new workshops. We continue with our anniversary year and reopen on September 9th. Check out the full fall schedule here. And be sure to sign up for our anniversary exhibition, Pigments of Your Imagination. The deadline to enter is September 12th and you can find more information here.

As we begin to plan for our year end appeal, I want to take a moment to introduce you to one of this past year’s Resident Artists, Christine, who epitomizes the reason why ALLI exists as a place where artists, teachers, designers and dreamers come for inspiration.

Christine Donnelly, is an exhibiting artist with the Art League of Long Island, and will be presenting a cyanotype workshop this year for other artists.  Additionally, her acrylic piece, Regeneration, won Honorable Mention in our 2025 62nd Annual Long Island Artist Exhibition.  Christine says, “ALLI is ‘a place where people of all ages and artistic abilities can come to explore new materials and learn from talented and approachable artists who generously share their vast creative knowledge and experiences. Everyone is an artist when they’re at the Art League.’”

Her sentiments cross over to every studio and student at ALLI, whether a beginner who was interested in our Colored Pencil workshop or an advanced oil painter.  It’s home.  And we want it to be your home for another 70 years.

Developing community with peers, gaining new skills, and learning how to express oneself – everything that we strive to do here.  Help support the Art League for years to come, so future artists have a place to begin their artistic development, and can learn from artists like Christine.  Donate nowClick the button.

Thank you.

Marianne Della Croce

Executive Director