Art League of Long Island hosts Queer Art exhibition open to the public in Dix Hills
Jayda Melnitsky carefully cuts letters from white felt and glues them to a black banner. When the 24-year-old research assistant from Hicksville finishes, her message will admonish “You could understand” in a rainbow arc above a lone figure in white.
At the same table at the Art League of Long Island in Dix Hills is Melnitsky’s father, Ed Melnitsky, 62, a commercial artist, who is cutting felt rats in different colors to fix to his banner. The rats symbolize a quote by gay liberation activist Marsha P. Johnson that states, “ … we are all brothers and sisters and human beings … we’re all in this rat race together.”
And Misha Melnitsky, 22, is attaching pink felt triangles to her banner. The pink triangle was used by Nazis during the Holocaust to identify gay men, much as the yellow star was used to identify Jews. It was reclaimed by the gay rights movement in the 1970s and '80s as a symbol of solidarity.
Ed and Jayda are attending the third in a series of workshops called LGBTQIA+ Art and Literature because they want to support Misha, who is a trans woman. All three Melnitsky banners will be displayed in the Art League’s Strolling Gallery through July 29, along with amateur art created by other participants and the work of Liv Cocozza, 24, of Medford, the transgender sculpture artist who ran the free workshops. Admission to see the work is also free.
LGBTQIA+ Art and Literature Exhibit
WHEN | WHERE Through July 29 in the Strolling Gallery of Art League of Long Island, 107 E. Deer Park Rd., Dix Hills
COST Free
INFO 631-462-5400, artleagueli.org
The Power of Art
Students look over their work during the “Queer Art” workshop taught by Liv Cocozza at the Art League. Credit: Linda Rosier
“I don’t think there are a lot of LGBTQ events on Long Island. There are in the city, but not so much here. So, any time there’s anything here I like to support it,” says Lauren Feldman, 23, editor of the Nassau Observer, who identifies as queer and has attended all three of the series’ two-hour workshops during April, May and June.
At the first workshop, participants learned about LGBTQ+ history and created amateur protest posters. At the second, they focused on creating artistic zines, which is short for magazines. Zines are self-published by a community or subculture to spread awareness of issues. Feldman’s protest poster, which says “However you stand, don’t stand still,” and her zine, headlined, “The Secret’s Out: We Have Always Been Here,” will be on display in the gallery exhibition.
Cocozza kicks off the final workshop with a slideshow titled Queer Art, featuring professional queer artists and their work and highlighting the AIDS Quilt. He talks about the power of art to bring together underrepresented and disenfranchised communities, explains his own artistic process — “My most raw experiences are my most powerful pieces; it burns inside of me and I’ve got to get it out,” he says — and asks the 10 participants to discuss what it means to make queer art.
“I have to pay bills, so I do many boring golf brochures,” offers participant Marian Holmes, 31, a freelance graphic designer from Kings Park. “Is this golf brochure queer art because a queer artist made it?”
‘Part of something bigger’
Holmes’ trans spouse, Riv Holmes, 29, who works in compliance placing foreign exchange students, chimes in about why they think queer art is crucial: “To others just starting their journey, it says, ‘I’m a lighthouse, you can come to me.’ ”
Marian uses felt to create a 3D sedimentary rock to symbolize the layers of community history and progress on her banner; Riv creates a representation of the transgender symbol, which includes a combination of the male and female symbols, accompanied by the words “Who Am I?”
The Art League plans to do more LGBTQIA+ events, says Marianne Della Croce, executive director. "I want the Art League to be a place where everybody feels welcome," she says. Beginning in September, the Art League will offer monthly creative nights for teens and young adults who identify in the LGBTQ+ community.
Current workshop participants say the chance to talk about their community’s history has been meaningful. “A lot of queer rights, especially transgender rights, are kind of under attack right now by the American government, and I think learning about how our community struggled in the past and how they got through that is helpful to apply to today as well,” Misha says.
Gathering with other members of the community has also been valuable, they say. “Being part of something bigger, that is, I think, a good feeling, especially for queer people who maybe don’t have a lot of other people they know who they can relate to,” Misha says. “Just seeing someone else who has a similar experience of identity … can be really comforting and give me a sense of community. It’s a very special thing.”
Feldman agrees. “It was a very welcoming and needed space for sure,” she says of the workshops. “It was just an invitation to acknowledge that part of you that I don’t think you get to do a lot around here.”
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
