This year’s Ocean Beach Arts & Crafts Show is scheduled for this weekend, August 9 and 10, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. on Sunday. Nearly 70 vendors will display paintings, graphic arts, photography, textiles, ceramics, jewelry, and other fine wares.
We chose to highlight Ann Solomon, who has a large family living in Seaview, as she has been a dedicated participant, traveling to Fire Island on this specific weekend for 20 years to display and sell her oil paintings.
“The whole family gets involved, and we always have so much fun,” Ann said during our conversation.
Ann is a retired educator living in East Rockaway. She grew up in Connecticut and studied art education at Southern Connecticut University. Her career led her away from painting for a while, but after retiring in 2003, she took art classes again and started painting once more. Her family eventually encouraged her to join the Ocean Beach Arts & Crafts Show.
“The encouragement came from my sister-in-law and her kids,” she explained.
Ann is somewhat different from many of the participating vendors, who travel a circuit of art fairs on Long Island and the Metro area, as the Ocean Beach Arts & Crafts Show is the only art show she does. When she sells the stash she created over the past year, she starts up again soon afterward to produce work for the following summer.
“I do this mainly because my family is there—my nieces, my nephews, my daughter—they come out, and it’s a family gathering. That’s the motivation right there,” says Ann. “It’s definitely not about the money. If you stop by the booth, you’ll see my prices are very reasonable. It’s more about the doing than the profit. I love painting, and I love Fire Island. This my gift to it. ”
Every artist and craftsperson showing at the Ocean Beach Arts & Crafts Show will have their own story to tell, and that’s part of the beauty of shopping and purchasing at this wonderful outdoor venue that circles the Ocean Beach Village Green for one weekend each year.
This year, the Ocean Beach Arts & Crafts Show also has a change in the guard, with Pam Esterman at the helm.
“I’m very excited about chairing the art show for the Ocean Beach Community Fund this year,” said Esterman. “We have nearly 25 new vendors this year. Some are exhibitors who returned from years ago. And we have people coming from other Fire Island communities: Saltaire, Fair Harbor, Seaview, and Ocean Bay Park. There’s a lot of talent here.”
Esterman and her husband, Joel Burris, have owned a summer house in Ocean Beach since the 1980s, and she has a strong record of civic engagement in the community. She serves on the Ocean Beach Village Court as an Acting Court Justice and has organized the Ocean Beach Children’s Art Show for several years. That experience has proven valuable for the new role she has taken on.
The weather for this weekend predicts sunny skies, in the low to mid-80s, ideal conditions for a successful event.
