The image on the cover of this issue of Fire Island News is a classic South Shore Long Island bay house—a pen-and-ink with watercolor rendition of a familiar site that Great South Bay boaters and ferry riders see all the time. The charming cottages that dot the islets in the bay are full of wonder and intrigue. Artist Michael White fondly recalled visiting the South Shore beaches with his parents in his youth:
“We would pass through the Meadowbrook Parkway, and on either side of it were mysterious houses rising out of the water. It was like magic. They were incredibly mysterious and appealing, often painted in fanciful colors like pink and lime green.”
However, because the house was rendered in part from distant memory, White could not pinpoint the exact location of the dwelling. We consulted Nancy Solomon, former Executive Director of Long Island Traditions and author of On the Bay, for help. She identified it as the Nancee Bay House on Harbor Isle in Island Park, which is in Nassau County. However, Nassau and Suffolk counties share the bay house heritage along our south shores.
Long Island memories play a large role in White’s work. They are often buried deep and therefore soft-edged, yet they are revived by precise draftsmanship, making them live once again.
“I want it to be compelling on that level of, if you will, it’s just abstract form. It’s formal and spiritual qualities or whatever kind of interest comes from, so even if it’s a banal subject, there’s something of interest in proportion… Something lofty. Something of something. There’s a historicity to use a fancy word. Some sort of feeling of substance. Gravity to things of a certain age.”
White grew up in Baldwin, then attended Cornell University. From there, he kept a studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. After marrying and starting a family, he and his wife decided they wanted their children to have the experience of growing up on the Island he enjoyed, and they found an opportunity to live in Garden City. As happy as White was to be back home, he recognized Long Island was changing.
“I started to feel that the memories themselves were aging in a serious way. Some of the things I remember from childhood, like the old lampposts that used to line every parkway, were being replaced. I started paying attention to the places that had meaning for me. So that’s the origin of this series.”
For all these reasons, his work resonated with other Long Islanders on social media, and soon he was selling prints and receiving commissions. Earlier this year, the Nassau County Museum of Art invited him to participate in its exhibition 250 Years of Art on Long Island, where his work hung alongside that of masters who also called Long Island home.
Learn more about his work by visiting michaelwhitestudio.com.
