Annie Lowry’s mixed media work of a woman in a blue dress, holding a bunch of butterfly-shaped balloons, stands amid a landscape of vintage Fire Island News clippings graces our July 18, 2025 edition of Fire Island News. When her husband, Kevin, an occasional contributor to this publication, told us about the art series she was creating, it was not a question of whether we would pick one for an upcoming FIN cover, but rather when and which one.
An exhibit opening at the Ocean Beach Historical Society prompted us to do it sooner rather than later.
“I went off to Parsons School of Design and Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) to pursue fashion illustration,” said the Brooklyn native, born and raised in Canarsie, as she told us her story. She was drawn to the glamorous pen and ink department store advertisements that were regularly featured in newspapers, but they fell out of favor. “They stopped doing that, and so I stopped drawing. I became a paralegal, and that’s what I’ve been doing for many years.” Annie would marry and have two children: her daughter Mackenzie, who volunteers at the Historical Society, and her son Rudd, an Ocean Beach lifeguard.
“One day, my daughter found a portfolio full of my drawings,” Annie explained. “She asked, ‘Mom, what are these?’ I replied, ‘Those are my drawings. It was a different lifetime ago.’ She remembered that, and for Mother’s Day, she and her brother chipped in to buy me a gift certificate for art studio classes.”
At first, Annie was hesitant.
“I said to my husband, ‘This is nice, but I don’t paint anymore.’ He said, ‘Your kids saved up their money to buy you this beautiful gift, so use it.’ I wound up taking one class after another.”
And what could be more historic than this painting collage series, which features a canvas made from images from Fire Island News? They tell the story of the Fire Island incorporated village: vintage ads from Rachel’s, including an illustration of a slice of crumb cake – a popular bakery favorite; Kenny Goodman art studio ads, with a depiction of one of his iconic totem sculptures; Fire Island Ferries, Inc. articles, with illustrations of ferry boats – two of which were already presold before the exhibit even opened!
Lowry has one piece of advice for retirees and empty nesters out there: “You have to find yourself again.” She exhibits alongside Ann Biederman, Richard Dziuba, and Diane Montes through July 31st. Visit oceanbeachhistoricalsociety.org for more information.
