A Second Century of Art and Inspiration
Programs
PORTFOLIO REVIEW NIGHT
Wednesday, October 15, 2025 6 - 9pm
New Location! Huntington Public Library 338 Main Street, Huntington, NY
Each October, the Museum offers this event for high school students preparing for the college admissions process to help them gain insight and invaluable feedback from admission counselors. “These local portfolio days are super valuable to students and teachers,” said Alexa Johnson, Admissions Counselor, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). “They allow for a much more intimate setting in which students can receive in-person feedback on their work. For colleges, it expands our reach of students we're able to meet while traveling. It's beneficial to have as many portfolio reviews with students as possible and our typical high school visits don't always allow the time. The students I've met at this event demonstrated strong talent!"
Students should bring their portfolios for one-on-one review by representatives from prestigious art colleges, including Parsons School of Design at the New School, Adelphi University, Maryland Institute College of Art, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Ringling College of Art & Design, School of Visual Arts, and School of the Art Institute of Chicago. For a full list please visit Heckscher.org/education/portfolio/development.
SUNDAYS, OCT 5, NOV 9, DEC 14 12 - 2 pm
SCULPTURE SUNDAY POP-UP
More info at Heckscher.org/sculpturesunday
DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS
With Town of Huntington
SATURDAY, NOV 1 1 - 6 pm
Hispanic Advisory Task Force; featuring artists Sueey Gutierrez, Manuel Alejandro Macarulla, Kelynn Alder, and Erwin List Sanchez. Free
SATURDAYS, OCT 18 & NOV 15 9:3010:30 am
ART EXPLORERS CLUB
In English and Spanish For Kids 5 to 10 Register at heckscher.org/explorers
EMMA STEBBINS: TOUR, DISCUSS, & CREATE
FRIDAY, DEC 5 6 - 8:30 pm
A collaboration between The Heckscher Museum, Planned Parenthood, and Protégé Art Studio. Register at heckscher.org/stebbinstdc
FRIDAY, OCT 24 6:308:30 pm
THE MIX Register at Heckscher.org/the-mix/
THURSDAY, DEC 11 6:308:30 pm
TRIVIA NIGHT Register at Heckscher.org/trivianight
EMMA STEBBINS: CARVING OUT HISTORY IS OPEN!
Dear Friends,
I am thrilled to share that on September 28th The Heckscher Museum of Art opened Emma Stebbins: Carving Out History, the first-ever museum exhibition dedicated to the preeminent work of neoclassical sculptor Emma Stebbins. The exhibition includes sculptures, paintings, archival material, and more. A richly-illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition. For fans of Stebbins’s most iconic sculpture, the Bethesda Fountain, an Augmented Reality version is accessible to all in Heckscher Park. A season of programs and events for youth and adults will accompany and enrich the exhibit. We could not have mounted this exhibition without support from you, our community of members and donors. We look forward to seeing you in the galleries and at the exciting line-up of programs inspired by Emma Stebbins.
For over 150 years, Stebbins’s sculpture, the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, has been a global icon, yet she herself has been largely forgotten. This revelatory project illuminates the full scope and impact of Stebbins’s life and work, expanding our knowledge of American art history.The Heckscher Museum of Art has a long relationship with Stebbins’s work. Around 1859, Charles August Heckscher, an uncle of the Museum’s founder August Heckscher, commissioned two sculptures by Stebbins, Industry and Commerce. The pair have been part of the institution’s collection since the 1920s. In recent years, guided by our Collection Stewardship Committee, we acquired three additional sculptures by the artist and now enjoy the privilege of stewarding the most extensive collection of Stebbins’s work. It became clear that it was our responsibility to bring the depth and breadth of her groundbreaking career to the public.
I am grateful for the dedicated and visionary work of Chief Curator Karli Wurzelbacher, who curated the exhibition and edited the book. Developing the exhibition and book involved extensive research, national and international travel, a convening of scholars and curators, careful object conservation, new photography, the commissioning of new scholarship, and many years of diligent work by the Board of Trustees and staff of the Museum. The following individuals played crucial roles in helping to bring the exhibition to fruition; Meredith Brown, Kerrilyn Blee, Deborah Johnson, Ken Moss, Jessica Rosen, Jill Rowen, Caitlynn Schare, and Julie Sengle.
Finally, we are eternally grateful for the generosity and foresight of exhibition campaign co-chairs Richard T. Cunniff Jr. and Robin T. Hadley, and leadership gifts from Priscilla and Robert Hughes and Andrea B. and Peter D. Klein. This exhibition would not have been possible without support from the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Henry Luce Foundation.
Major support for the accompanying publication was provided by the Wyeth Foundation for American Art and the Every Page Foundation. Additional support was provided by Art Bridges, the Deborah Buck Foundation, the Stebbins Fund in memory of James F. Stebbins and Jane Stebbins Greenleaf, and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. Public support was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Town of Huntington, New York. Support for community engagement and public programming was provided by a distinguished Museums for America grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
We look forward to seeing you at Emma Stebbins: Carving Out History, now on view through March 15, 2026.
Warm Regards,
Heather Arnet, CEO and Executive Director
The Heckscher welcomed State, County, and Town officials to a breakfast encouraging their support of museums as vital community assets. Attending were Assemblyman Keith P. Brown with Sue Broderick; Tyler Cole and Caitlyn Curran, representing Legislator Stephanie Bontempi; Legislator Tom Donnelly; Councilmember Sal Ferro with Michelle Wright; Assemblyman Charles Lavine; Councilmember Theresa Mari with Phillip Griffin; Thalia Olaya representing Gov. Kathy Hochul; Elizabeth Papa representing Assemblyman Steve Stern; Cindy Rogers representing Congressman Tom Suozzi; Sam Salazar representing Senator Kirsten Gillibrand; Assemblywoman Rebecca Sanin with Ryan McTiernan; Gina Vital and Shayla McKie representing Huntington Receiver of Taxes Jillian Guthman.
Cover Art: Emma Stebbins, Sandalphon (also known as Angel of Prayer), 1866, Marble, The Heckscher Museum of Art Purchase: Town of Huntington Art Acquisition Fund
LONG ISLAND’S BEST MARKS MILESTONE
2026 marks an important milestone –Long Island’s Best: Young Artists at The Heckscher Museum turns 30! The juried high school competition is a cornerstone of the Museum’s education department, and is the only one to provide students from Nassau and Suffolk Counties the opportunity to display their work in a museum setting. The program has had a lasting impact on the lives of thousands of local youth – helping to develop critical thinking skills, build self esteem, and inspire future leaders in the arts and beyond. The final exhibition always impresses visitors and is a wonderful community celebration.
The role that Long Island’s Best – widely considered one of the leading student art competitions in New York State – has played in students’ lives and artistic development is powerful. The program reinforces the value of creative expression, challenges them to translate concepts into reality, and brings regional attention to their achievements.
About 70 local schools participate in the program yearly. Hundreds of students apply, and nearly 80 will be selected to professionally exhibit their work in March
Left, Emily Martin, June, 2022, Floor loom woven cloth using cotton and wool yarn dyed by the artist. Above, Phillip Gladkov with a birch bark piece for his film project.
2026. We are grateful to all of our new and longstanding supporters and underwriters who make the exhibition and scholarships possible each year.
LI Best Alumni now in meaningful careers share how impactful it was to be part of the program at right.
Thank you to our Long Island’s Best sponsors for their continued support: The Darrell Fund Endowment/Henriette Darrell; The Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation Inc.; Strong Cuevas Foundation; Callaghan LLP; and Inna Gellerman, DDS, Gellerman Orthodontics.
Long Island’s Best opened my eyes to the power of art as a tool for communication and connection.
— ARTIST AARON FELTMAN, LI BEST 2014-2016, AND GUEST
Emily Martin LI Best 2014 Martin, a textile artist, painter, and educator, also served as a juror in 2022, and is currently an Art & Education consultant with the Museum. “Exhibiting in LI Best really kick-started my art career. It gave me the confidence to continue my art education. I am so grateful for my high school teachers for supporting me to find my artistic voice and encourage material exploration. Both of these things I continue to do today,” she said.
Phillip Gladkov LI Best 2012
“The LI Best experience validated my interest in the arts at a young age. Winning Best in Show solidified my pursuit in the arts and motivated me to keep creating and participating in other art shows. I think it was truly an invaluable experience, and I am so grateful to our art teacher, Mrs. Amakawa, for encouraging our involvement, and to the Museum and its sponsors for creating such an impactful opportunity,” said Gladkov, an artist currently on the film festival circuit with ‘Story of the Sun,’ a stop-motion film made entirely out of birch bark.
Danielle Livoti LI Best 2003
“My greatest takeaway was feeling an enormous sense of pride that a museum selected my work to be on view as only a high school student,” said Livoti, an artist and educator. “Being able to say ‘I had work in a museum’ before heading off to college was a very special moment and core memory for me. I found myself back in the Heckscher Museum with my own art classes participating in LI Best and as an artist in the 2020 Long Island Biennial.”
Kaliee Finn LI Best 2020
According to Finn, “The greatest takeaway from my experience was getting recognized for discussing issues dear to my heart through my artwork. That was validating. It instilled the confidence in me to continue to break the status quo and to not play it safe in life or my artwork.” Finn is now working on her MFA at the School of Visual Arts.
Jaclyn Fidler LI Best 2005.
“I remember my teacher would take us to the Museum and always submit our artworks,” noted Fidler. Though successful in her roles at a number of high profile tech companies, she missed “working with my hands and doing meaningful and fulfilling work” and now continues to pursue painting and photography.
HELP MAKE ART ACCESSIBLE FOR ALL!
As the giving season approaches, consider adding The Heckscher Museum to the top of your contributions list. Your gift – of any size – has a huge benefit on our community, and helps to support our groundbreaking exhibitions and free and low-cost programs for youth and adult.
• Over 100,000 people will find joy, inspiration, and insight –completely free of charge – through our enlightening exhibitions, engaging programs, outdoor experiences such as the Soundwalk and the Augmented Reality Bethesda Fountain, and our accessible on-line collection.
• Nearly 10,000 area students living in Suffolk and Nassau Counties will experience the benefits of arts education through the Museum’s youth programs, school partnerships, and high school art exhibition.
• Visitors will be enriched by exhibitions that present new scholarship, explore under-recognized artists, and celebrate Long Island’s talent and rich cultural legacy.
• Lovers of great food, music, and art will enjoy our public programs, including the Mix Series, Arts and Culture Trivia Night, our Día de los Muertos and Lunar New Year celebrations, our Draw Out! Community Arts Festival; Friday Food Trucks at The Museum Palette Café; and thoughtful in-person and zoom programs tied to our exciting exhibitions.
Gifts of all sizes are appreciated, and your support will help us to enrich the lives of our visitors and our whole community.
Contact us to learn about making a company matching gift, the special advantages of giving appreciated securities, or making a gift directly from your IRA tax free if you are over 70.5.
You can make your Annual Appeal gift by: using the attached envelope; visiting Heckscher.org/donate; or contacting Associate Director of Development Caitlynn Schare at 631.380.3299.
THE HECKSCHER MUSEUM BENEFIT 2025
The Heckscher Museum Benefit takes place at Oheka Castle on October 16, 2025. We are pleased to celebrate the honorees: the Bagley Family, Bank of America, and Deborah Buck, who have supported the Museum and its mission for many years.
Learn more about the deserving honorees and how you can contribute by visiting Heckscher.org/benefits/2025. For more information contact: Caitlynn at Schare@Heckscher.org
Above, More than 6,000 K-12 students learn through the Museum Discovery Program every year. Right, Oheka Castle, Huntington, NY, site of the Museum Benefit Gala 2025.
EMMA STEBBINS : CARVING OUT HISTORY
OPEN THROUGH MARCH 15, 2026
Emma Stebbins (1815–1882) carved out a career on two continents, making history as one of the most significant American sculptors of the nineteenth century. In 1856, she embarked from New York City for Rome to further her artistic ambitions. Over the next fourteen years, she created innovative marble sculptures, including unprecedented allegories of labor and industry, as well as incisive interpretations of literary and biblical subjects. Stebbins also sculpted portraits of her chosen family, including her wife, actress Charlotte Cushman, who championed her work.
In 1865, with a bronze statue of educator Horace Mann in Boston, she became the first woman to complete a public monument in the US. Stebbins was also the first woman to earn a public art commission for New York City, the iconic Bethesda Fountain in Central Park.
Stebbins’s art speaks to some of the most compelling issues of her time (and ours), including gender and sexuality, ecology and industry, and political conflict and public art. This exhibition brings together most of her rare marble sculptures for the first time. It also examines the rich histories of her monuments, including the Bethesda Fountain, which continues to inspire a vast public with its message of peace and healing.
Curated by Karli Wurzelbacher, PhD, Chief Curator, The Heckscher Museum of Art. "Organizing this exhibition took me from Rome and Belfast to Maine and Oregon, with many stops along the way,” says Wurzelbacher. “Tracing the history of Stebbins’s
EMMA STEBBINS’S BETHESDA FOUNTAIN IN HECKSCHER PARK
As part of the groundbreaking exhibition, Emma Stebbins: Carving Out History, the Heckscher Museum of Art will bring the iconic Bethesda Fountain to life in Heckscher Park, Huntington, using Augmented Reality (AR). Visitors will be able to use their smartphones to experience the full monument in this new setting right in front of The Heckscher Museum. The immersive experience will allow visitors to look thoughtfully at Stebbins’s magnificent work as they take a 360-degree virtual walk around the entire monument. The Bethesda Fountain AR experience is made possible with support from Art Bridges. Digital data courtesy of Central Park Conservancy. 3D Scanning and modeling by Direct Dimensions.
career required deep dives into historical newspapers and passenger manifests, as well as countless hours deciphering the spidery handwriting of nineteenth-century letters. Once we started looking, evidence of Stebbins’s importance and impact was everywhere, just waiting to resurface."
Exhibition Catalogue Available
Accompanying Emma Stebbins: Carving Out History, is a comprehensive 256-page
catalogue edited by Wurzelbacher and features scholarly essays and reflections by contemporary artists including cross-disciplinary artist Patricia Cronin, and photojournalist Ricky Flores. Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner, whose work Angels in America prominently featured the sculptors Bethesda Fountain wrote the forward. To order, visit Heckscher.org/stebbinscatalog.
This exhibition was made possible through support from the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Henry Luce Foundation.
Major support provided by exhibition campaign co-chairs Richard T. Cunniff, Jr. and Robin T. Hadley, and leadership gifts from Priscilla and Robert Hughes and Andrea B. and Peter D. Klein.
Additional support provided by Art Bridges, The Deborah Buck Foundation, The Stebbins Fund in memory of James F. Stebbins and Jane Stebbins Greenleaf, the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, the Every Page Foundation, and The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.
Public support provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Town of Huntington, New York. Community engagement and public programming support provided by a distinguished Museums for America grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Previous page Emma Stebbins, Industry (also known as Miner), 1860, Marble, The Heckscher Museum of Art, Gift of Phillip M. Lydig III; detail of the intricate carving in Industry. Above, Karli Wurzelbacher, Chief Curator and Editor of the catalogue accompanying the exhibition.
Emma Stebbins (American, 1815–1882), Bethesda Fountain, 1870. Bronze and stone, 25 ft. high. New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Photo by David Almeida.
COMMUNITY EVENTS
Join the Museum for art-making fun during these Huntington events. Free
HUNTINGTON VILLAGE ART WALK
Sunday, October 5 12 - 5 pm
PINK IN THE PARK BREAST CANCER PREVENTION AND EDUCATION FAIR
In Huntington Park
Sunday, October 5 9:30 am - 2 pm
HUNTINGTON FALL FESTIVAL
Art & American Sign Language (ASL) for All: Community Quilt in Heckscher Park Saturday, Saturday October 11, 2 - 3 pm (Rain Date October 12)
THE HECKSCHER MUSEUM OF ART CREATES OPPORTUNITIES FOR EVERYONE TO EXPERIENCE ART THAT BROADENS UNDERSTANDING OF THE PAST, FOSTERS COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS TO THE PRESENT, AND CREATES DIVERSE POSSIBILITIES FOR THE FUTURE.
The Heckscher Museum of Art is grateful to The Town of Huntington and the Town of Huntington Board of Trustees and Suffolk County Department of Economic Development & Planning for their generous support of the arts.
ASL, Braille, and Spanish language translation made possible by a generous grant from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
HECKSCHER MUSEUM HOURS
Thursday through Sunday 12 to 5 pm (Closed Monday through Wednesday)
DOCENTS IN THE GALLERIES
Docent volunteers are available in the Museum to answer visitor questions on select days. Please see Heckscher.org/calendar for details.
DIRECTIONS
LIE or Northern State Parkway to Route 110 North. Turn right onto Route 25A East, Main Street, in Huntington. Left onto Prime Avenue.
PRIVATE GROUP TOURS
Tours for groups now available. For scheduling and fees, register at Heckscher.org/visit/groups-tours
VISIT HECKSCHER.ORG FOR EXHIBITION AND PROGRAM INFORMATION
