Youth allows us to find ‘joy in the moment’ and savor life’s simplest pleasures. Somehow, being at the ocean’s edge brings me back to the simpler times of life. – Diane Keil
If the cover artist’s work looks familiar, that’s because Diane Keil is our first returning alumni cover artist with her touching new images entitled Through the Eyes of a Child.
It is a nostalgic image, fitting for the end of summer and the close of the 2025 publishing season for Fire Island News.
Her Forever Friends collage, which adorned our August 16, 2024, cover, was a massive hit with our readership and arguably one of the most successful covers of last summer.
The 79-year-old artist is an active member of Women Sharing Art, a not-for-profit organization in Bayport, NY, dedicated to maintaining a forum for creative, professional, artistic women on South Shore Long Island.
This collective recently had a group show entitled “Beautiful” at Bay Area Friends of the Fine Arts (BAFFA )art gallery in the Gillette House Art Gallery in Sayville in May, and also were inaugural exhibitors at the Central Islip Federal Building Art Gallery, which opened its doors in January.
Women Sharing Art provides support and avenues for their members to grow in their artistic exploration, providing scholarships, grants, and exhibit opportunities.
Diane Keil’s professional career was in graphic design and advertising. Since retiring, she has been devoting herself full-time to her creative expression. She has exhibited in many venues this publication has covered, including the Davis Park Arts and Crafts Show, Bayard Cutting Arboretum, Arts on Terry in Patchogue, and the Islip Arts Council Gallery. She has lived on Long Island’s South Shore most of her life, finding beauty and serenity of the beaches of the Great South Bay and Fire Island. She is both an skilled draftsperson, while not being afraid to break some rules in the creation of her images. It is our honor and pleasure to feature her work on our cover once again.
Come see the work Diane Keil and her fellow members of the Women Sharing Art collective on exhibit at Bayard Cutting Arboretum through October 19.
