"O the horseman's and horsewoman's joys! / The saddle, the gallop, the pressure upon the seat, the cool gurgling / by the ears and hair." Walt Whitman rhapsodized in 'A Song of Joys'. And so do many Long Island artists who celebrate horses in their art.
Joel Kanaravogel, wire sculpture
Joel Kanarvogel of Woodbury created a wire sculpture of a team of four horses with front legs high in the air.
Joel, a horse lover and Triple Crown aficionado since his early years in the Catskill Mountains, said: "I grew up with the smell of horses which I love to this day. I love the fluidity of motion of horses and how they gracefully run and prance and stride, and how they flick their tails when they are happy."
Regan Tausch, painting
Many paintings by Bayville folk artist Regan Tausch include peaceful scenes of horses pulling carriages, horses pulling sleighs in winter scenes, horses grazing in the pastures, horses watching the world through the Dutch doors of well kept stables, or horses muzzling each other contentedly. Regan was an avid rider in her earlier days.
Mollie Eckelberry, note cards
Mollie Eckelberry not only rode and drew horses but also authored an equestrian memoir 'Vest Pocket Farm' - a good read, overflowing with her love and respect for the animal. Mollie's first encounter with a runaway horse at a tender age of three made her want to draw nothing but stick horses. Horses are still a great part of her daily life in Muttontown.
AnnMarie Levin, note cards
We carry AnnMarie Levin's note card sets with beautiful horse prints in brown, green, and navy.
Horses are the favorite subject of the young Oyster Bay artist. She commented: "I have been riding horses since the age of 5, and have a lovely gelding named Lysander who inspires me everyday."
Sue Adler, horse hair vase
Sue Adler, Locust Valley potter and equestrian, specializes in horse hair pottery. She applies an old American Indian technique where strands of hair from horse's tail are draped and burned over a hot surface of a pot. The end result - a classic shape of white clay with subtle color accents, enveloped in a net of random black lines - is beautiful in its contrasts.
Frank Cammarata, paper cut
Holbrook's Frank Cammarata brought us a paper cutout of a grazing horse. Black paper, white background.
Mollie Eckelberry of Muttontown, NY, author and illustrator, draws almost exclusively animals. She draws some animals because their expressions or poses strike her interest, some as illustrations to her books. Mollie avoids anthropomorphism, her portrayals reflect years of discovery, first-hand experience, and keen observation.
Photo by Ewa Rumprecht
Mollie's love of the animal world started rather dangerously at a tender age of three: "... a seventeen-hand horse named Buster careened rider-less down a narrow farm path straight toward ... me. ... I never moved - just stood there in awe of this wondrous creature that somehow managed not to trample me into hamburger as he went by. ... Horses were never to be far from my mind from that moment to this. I solemnly crayoned red dots on every one of my dolls, told my mother they had measles and that I couldn't play with them any more and I didn't. I made little stables out of shoeboxes, and when my parents gave up on the dolls and gave me toy horses, I bandaged their legs with adhesive tape and made little halters and bridles our of thread and saddles out of bits of cloth."
An avid equestrienne and nature lover, she retained the childlike awe for the smart, amazing creatures surrounding her. She devotes a good portion of her day to the animals in her care.
Photo by Ewa Rumprecht
Her creative pursuits get their fair share of attention, as well. Mollie draws almost every day, always with Mozart's music in the background. The studio is her sanctuary where time plays tricks, it usually passes too fast.
Mollie's mother, Louise Stark Wolf Arnold, an oil, pastel, and watercolor painter, encouraged her young children to experiment with drawing on butcher's paper available by the roll in her studio. Mollie covered miles of that paper with stick horses, eventually progressing to more advanced depictions. In time Mollie signed up for live drawing and anatomy sessions at Art Students League of New York where she took classes with Bill Barnet, Robert Beverly Hale, and Louis Bosa, among others. She was advised to follow her instincts and concentrate her work on things she loved most, the animals. Mollie's brother, Robert Warbrick Stark Jr., became a renown luminist painter of Nantucket landscapes and marines. Until this day Mollie seeks his advice and critique.
Photo by Ewa Rumprecht
Mollie published four books: 'Vest Pocket Farm' from which the above quote was taken - an equestrian memoir full of captivating stories in her own vivid language, 'The Foxes of Kirby Hill' - an eulogy to the beloved Kirby Hill estate where she rode surrounded by the wild life of the area, 'Willa' - part introduction to the seeing guide dogs, part love affair with her dog Willa, and 'The Cat Burglar of Castor Bay' - a mystery book for children with the cat at the center stage.
She is invited to read the last three books at schools or nurseries. She appreciates when children laugh at the right places, but, even more so when they grasp her message of the animal care, appreciation for nature, and importance of land conservation.
Think Long Island First carries her interesting books, her very popular notecards and paper weights.
Painter Susie Gách Peelle, granddaughter of Hungarian sculptor Steven Gach (Gách István) and daughter of Hungarian/American sculptor/painter George Gach (Gách György) might have been born with a paint brush in her hand. She was surrounded by artistic work ever since she could remember. She was drawing at 5, painting at 12. She posed for her father, observed his lessons, demos, and outdoor classes. She was commissioned to do 20x24 oil portraits of her schoolmates while still in high school.
Photo by Susie Gách Peelle
Though her father was an academically trained artist he did not insist on a strict early training for his daughter. Susie was allowed to observe, experiment, and follow her own developmental path. She was encouraged to study works of great masters, she is still doing it today. In due course, Susie obtained her BA from C.W. Post, NY, and then her MFA from Instituto Allende/Universidad de Guanajuato in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Throughout her career she attended various classes in search of techniques and forms of expression.
Photo by Susie Gách Peelle
Susie's good fortune was that she started drawing so early and appreciated the importance of it. Drawing is a basis of every work in every medium, it allows the pieces to retain a sense of proportion and perspective. Susie no longer has to think and measure distances much, most of her drawing comes naturally. This is a result of an innate talent and a constant practice.
Susie works almost every day. Her work time is very intense, she often paints alla prima where a great discipline is required in the name of freshness. I had the pleasure to witness an alla prima oil painting demo by Susie, she completed a painting in about 40 minutes. She worked uninterrupted, started by drawing color and shade outline, then covered the canvas with quick, decided, measured brush strokes, from dark to light. Susie likes the speed and the intensity, she is known to have drawn 42 pencil portrait sketches in 2 hours at a children's party. Her quick strokes came in handy when she was engaged as a courtroom illustrator by one of the major tv stations.
Photo by Susie Gách Peelle
Her subjects vary greatly. Susie frequently explores a theme and paints or draws similar scenes in different media, in varied sizes and tonal variations. She executes portraits, nudes, landscapes, beach scenes, architecture, street scenes, animals, teddy bears, flowers, still lifes, paintings on silk and ceramics, book illustrations, and greeting cards. She works in oil, acrylic, pastel, lead, conté, ink, gouache, graphics, and mosaic.
Susie has great fun with framing as a significant part of the overall presentation. Her studio is full of frames ready for a perfect match. She also uses custom framing as the sizes of her pieces are frequently non-standard.
Photos by Susie Gách Peelle
Photo by Susie Gách Peelle
Susie's work graced the walls of galleries in US and overseas. She entertained numerous portrait commissions of luminaries of art, commerce, politics, and academia. Her portrait of Grace Bumbry, great American soprano, was picked by the singer herself from among the works of students of Oskar Kokoschka School of Seeing in Salzburg, Austria, which Susie was attending at the time. Once, while painting en plein air she was approached by a passerby who bought the painting, a beach scene, on the spot and commissioned a matching winter scene.
Susie Gach Peelle was born in Budapest, Hungary, spent 5 years of her early childhood in Lebanon before her parents moved to US, eventually settling on Long Island. Susie and her husband live in Locust Valley. The youngest of the couple's four sons, Evan, inherited the artistic talent, thus extending the creative line to the fourth generation.
Susie enjoys traveling. No matter what destintation, she takes her work with her wherever she goes. She frequently teaches on cruises. She is also an active teacher while in New York; she gives private lessons and teaches at the Art League of Long Island. Susie can be contacted at 1.516.676.7011.
Please see Susie introduce her work at her studio.
