Heckscher Museum to launch take-home art project

Town of Huntington residents may soon have an opportunity to display art from a museum in their own home.

Town officials and the Heckscher Museum of Art are partnering on a program to lend art from the museum collection to residents.

The Heckscher@Home initiative will launch a pilot program for veterans this summer: They will be the first offered the chance to borrow one of six pieces from the museum’s collection. If all goes well, the program will expand to schools and eventually all residents, Greg Wagner, director of cultural affairs for the Town of Huntington, said.

“It brings art to the people, literally,” said Wagner. “We have this beautiful, amazing art collection, and why not share that with the people?”

The six pieces of art include original prints by Jeffrey Lundstedt, Fannie Hillsmith, Jean Sariano and Dimitri Berea. 

Lundstedt was a graduate of Walt Whitman High School, artist, athlete, and class president who fought and died in the Vietnam War, museum officials said. Three of his pieces will be available for loan.

The themes of the pieces include running and motorcycles, feature landscapes and people, and are in color and black and white. Heather Arnet, CEO of the Heckscher Museum, said the pieces were selected for their poignancy, size — they are amenable to be hung in a home — and the museum’s desire for them to be seen by the public.

“Our curatorial team was thoughtful in picking pieces that were meaningful, colorful and bright, more like pop-art pieces, and floral and decorative pieces,” she said.

Each piece of art will come with its history, a care sheet, as well as a fixed loan period, typically six months, Arnet said.

The public-loan program idea started when one of the museum trustees mentioned a similar program in the Netherlands, Arnet said. Such programs are rare, but one at a museum run by Oberlin College in Ohio, and at other museums across the country that offer it, inspired the museum board to give it a try, Arnet said.

It was also a way for the museum and town to collaborate and connect with the public, she said.

The museum is in Heckscher Park, which was conveyed to the town by the Heckscher Trust in 1954 in exchange for town officials maintaining and operating the property, including the museum, in perpetuity.

Town Supervisor Ed Smyth said the program is an innovative way to exhibit the museum’s collection.

“With the amount of art they have in storage it would be years, if ever, that these pieces would be displayed,” he said.

Huntington resident Bill Ober, chairman of the Huntington Veterans Advisory Board, said it's always nice when veterans are given consideration.

 "I didn't know about this, but I do think it's a great idea," Ober said. "Sharing art is a good idea; if it only hangs in a museum, the only people who are going to see it are those who go to museums. Whereas perhaps if it's out in the public, it might generate more interest."