Saltaire
Music and Art Festival
text & photos by Bradlee White
Congratulations
to Cheryl Valente, Board Member of the Saltaire Citizen’s Advisory Association
(SCAA) for again organizing and presenting a wonderful event. Each board
member is assigned a Saltaire event to coordinate. Cheryl has been the heart
and soul behind the Music and Arts Festival for twelve years. Although I’ve
been at the event several times over the years, this is the first time I’ve had
the chance to talk to all the artists and get a picture of the event as a
whole.
The
music at the Gazebo was provided by the Sutton Ensemble, founded by
Eileen Sutin and based in New Jersey. The group, represented today by Ms.
Sutin and two of the other nine members, has been playing delightful chamber
music for this event for the past six or seven years. A more recent addition
to the festival, playing by the Fire Department, was Tommy Campo, singer
and guitarist with the Craven Band, a Long Island/Fire Island favorite.
I
started with the artist/vendors down the shady side of Broadway by the Fire
Department, beginning with world famous nature photographer Ann Littlejohn,
a former Kismet resident. Ann’s latest ventures have been in Alaska and Canada where she photographed both brown and polar bears. One deceptively cuddly brown
bear named Paula was featured on a web site where Google picked her up.
Amanda
Kavanagh
of Lonelyville showed her beautiful oils on canvas.
There
were two tables of T-shirt creators seated across Pomader Walk from one
another. Leaving me feeling like the proverbial dinosaur, Anthony and Amelia
(of Anthony, Amelia and James) explained that the art work on their Ts
was done on an I phone. Coty Baker of Kismet had a collection of his ironic
deer prints -- a deer jumping from lifeguard stand, a deer with Martini riding
a 19th century bicycle.
A
third T-shirt vendor, Justin Healy, showed both commercial Ts and his
own creations.
The
Saltaire Citizen’s Advisory Association (SCAA) had a table fund-raising
table, selling a book of pictures and anecdotes of historical Saltaire houses
as well as the latest Saltaire residents’ directory.
Several
groups of children were situated across from the Market. Jude sold
friendship bracelets, Kate and Rachel recycled, handmade crayons and
another group was doing a brisk business selling lemonade.
Jim
O’Hare,
described as an ex-pat Saltarian, is a lawyer with passion for historical
documents, photographs and artwork. I was especially taken with his large,
framed posters of early 20th century life. He will be speaking at
the library there on August 8th from 12-1 on six people who shaped
Saltaire in the 1950s and 60s.
Patricia
Oppenheimer
maintains a fashion showroom in New York under the name XTige. She
exhibited some of the European brands she carries, such as elegant Mau Mua
t-shirts with celebrity caricatures and Auderbeit French jewelry and little
knitted pins.
The
Saltaire Yacht Club Commodore’s wife, Eugenia Meluso and their daughter were
selling caps and visors to raise funds for equipment for the sailing program
for village children.
Dick
Dean,
a website designer, makes whimsical wooden signs, often featuring fish, which
he sells for charity.
Several
artisans displayed their own hand crafted jewelry including
Rick
Rodriquez
Donna
Muncil, Jewelry by Marianne Dauernheim, (much admired by Amy Wood, Judy Phelen
and JoAnn Padovano of Kismet) The Pearl Garden (purses and jewelry),
Issy, Ro’s Stolen
Jewelry (she began creating jewelry to replace hers which she lost in a
robbery)
and
Megan whose signature pieces are starfish.
Bridget
Montefiore
Bridget
(Bridget’s
Gems) Montifiore owns a shop making and selling custom fishing
equipment. She could not bear to throw away the leftover threads and fishing
line, so began using them to create striking designs on seashells which she
later enamels
Barbara
& Jennifer Olive St studio
The
mother-daughter team of Jennifer Hicks and Barbara Thorpe of Long Beach create chenille baby quilts and toys as well as all sorts of other baby clothes
and accessories through the Olive Street Studio.
Vanessa
& Rachelle
Another
mother-daughter team was Rachelle, “Shelly” and Vanessa Holden who act
as representatives (through Holden Worldwide LLC) for various disenfranchised
women’s coop crafts all over the world. (Shelly says it’s Vanessa’s business –
she’s just a Mom, helping out). They hope to keep these crafts going by showing
and selling clothing and scarves from Vietnam, Ghana, India, Indonesia to name
a few. They will have an end-of-season deck sale on August 25 at 7 Keogh Walk
in Fair Harbor.
