The first Gala was held in 2003 and honored the Grucci family. The museum show that year was called "The Gruccis of Bellport." In the summer of 2004, their exhibit was "As Time Goes By:  Remembering Ingrid Bergman." The 2005 Gala honored a long time member of their board, Mr. Robert Duckworth, and the museum exhibition was called "Hidden Treasures." The theme for the 2006 Gala was "100 Years on the Bay" and honored the centennial of the Bellport Bay Yacht Club.

Posters from past Gala's are on sale at the Museum Exchange Shop, 31 Bellport Lane, Bellport, NY, 631-286-0888. The exchange shop is open Thursday-Friday, 11:00am-5:00pm.
 

2007 Gala- "Bellport-Brookhaven: Then and Now"

The Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society held their annual Gala event on Saturday, August 4th from 5:30pm-8:30pm. The Gala event featured the opening of an exhibition titled "Bellport-Brookhaven: Then and Now," dinner and dancing to live music by the band "Fame," and a live auction.

"Bellport-Brookhaven: Then and Now" is an exhibition of paintings, drawings, and photographs of the Bellport-Brookhaven area from 1871 - 1923. These images are paired with contemporary photographs of the same locations by New York photographer Cara Phillips and paperworks by Malcom Morley. Historic artwork by artists: Walter Granville Smith, William Glackens, Frederick Kost, Walter Clark, Bricher, and Frances Toms. The exhibit ran through September 3rd.

The exhibit opened in their newly renovated Brown Building (12 Bell Street).  Paintings are on loan from private collectors and galleries. Two Walter Clark paintings, as well as Cara Phillip's photographs, were available for sale.

The auction featured a variety of objects and vouchers from Bellport and Brookhaven vendors, as well as contemporary art work of the Great South Bay region by both local and New York artists.

Below is more information regarding the exhibit:

Newly accessible by train from New York, Long Island with its water saturated atmosphere, diversity of landscape, and bucolic summers began luring artists to its hamlets and villages in the later 19th century. As plein air painting became more fashionable, the beginnings of an identifiable American movement in art progressed. L.I. was fresh territory for the countryside images so favored by a growing class of wealthy industrialists who were purchasing American paintings with increasing enthusiasm.

In addition to the production of their own work, artists from the 1880’s on provided instruction in open-air painting on the island’s private estates and in their own summer schools. These summer schools and the enthusiasm they generated helped to establish a tradition of landscape painting on Long Island that continues to this day. Among the more well known of these were: William Merrit Chase’s school in Shinnecock, Douglas Connah’s in Hampton Pines, Robert Henri’s in Bayport (1914), and Marshal Fry’s in Southampton (1907-1916).

Known as an unspoiled village with a delightful waterfront, Bellport, and by extension Brookhaven, provided artists the opportunity to paint undisturbed by masses of tourists. Artists of this period were drawn to the elemental beauty of the areas landscape and waterways and to the “painterly subjects of vacationers enjoying the peaceful outdoor life of the country” (Pisano, LI Landscape Painting). Where towns to the east and on the North Shore of L.I. were more popular for ”sketching artists,” Bellport and Brookhaven retained a serene simplicity that appealed to the artists represented in our exhibition. 

Click the gate for more information about the Bellport-