By GREGORY ZELLER //
Now here’s an exhibit sure to give even the most hardened art critic paws.
Puns aside, that’s a literal truth with “Art For Paws,” the new exhibition now wagging tails at the Bay Shore-based Islip Arts Council. Presented by the council and Babylon-based American Pet Professionals – an educational and business-networking organization focused on the $150 billion-plus national pet industry – the showcase highlights the work of 46 regional photographers, painters and other artists, all focusing their talents on four-legged furballs.
Ranking among the largest exhibits in the IAC’s 50-year history, Art For Paws – which opened Tuesday and is scheduled to run through May 30, with an Opening Reception slated for May 17 – is both a celebration of adopted pets and a promotion for the Islip Animal Shelter/Adopt-a-Pet Center and other regional shelters, where dozens of cats and dogs are waiting patiently for their forever homes.
They won’t see Dogs Playing Poker – a series of late 19th Century/early 20th Century oil paintings by American artist Cassius Marcellus Coolidge – but visitors will enjoy dozens of drawings, paintings and photographs of dogs and cats, mostly house pets from across Long Island.
American Pet Professionals founder and President Nancy Hassel, who launched the national trade group in 2009 to provide seminars and networking events for pet-industry pros across the country, said the pet project “has been a dream of mine for 20-plus years.”
Nancy Hassel: Dog person.
“Many years ago, when researching the pet industry, I remember seeing an event that featured pet art (and) pet artists,” Hassel noted. “Over the years running American Pet Professionals, we have had many incredible pet artists as part of our organization, and I always thought this would be a fantastic event to host and feature their talent.”
A watercolor-painting class at the IAC last fall convinced the entrepreneur that the Sunrise Highway gallery was “the perfect venue” for such a showcase, leading her to contact Islip Arts Council Board President Waldo Cabrera and Executive Director Lynda Moran.
The IAC was on board immediately, according to Moran.
“Anyone who knows me knows that my dogs have always been my family,” the executive director said. “Never without a dog in the house, sometimes with three.
“I am thrilled that we are final having a pet ‘family’ exhibit at the gallery.”
Did somebody say “cheese?”: Dogs (and cats) are ready for their closeups.
Individual artworks featured in the exhibit are for sale, with 25 percent of the proceeds benefiting the IAC. Besides raising funds, though, the big picture here is to promote the work of regional animal shelters and the APP, which has presented 150-plus in-person networking and educational events for pet professionals since 2009, as well as online webinars, a weekly industry-wide newsletter (boasting 20,000-plus subscribers) and the Digging Into the Pet Industry podcast, hosted by Hassel.
While service animals are permitted inside the gallery, Arts For Paws is otherwise open to humans only. Besides that bit of minor irony, the exhibit is a dog- and cat-lover’s paradise – and it couldn’t have found a better venue, according to Hassel, who has co-hosted hundreds of in-person pet-industry events through the years and attended many others.
“Everyone at the Islip Art Council are pet lovers and pet parents, and they jumped on board with the idea,” the APP president added. “I am so pleased to be working with them for this event.”
