Art project spreads love throughout Sea Cliff

Last month, Sea Cliff residents had the opportunity to spread love around the village through an interactive art installation. On May 22, Love Your Neighbor Project held its first in-person community-wide event, Art with Heart, sponsored by the Sea Cliff Arts Council, to celebrate its first year of service. This free, interactive, community-wide, outdoor art installation brought hundreds of community members to draw hearts on communal blank canvases. Situated in six locations – Clifton, Roslyn, Central, Village Green, and Memorial Parks and K. DiResta Collective, LYNPs goal was to provide a unity forming art project that showcased the beauty of Sea Cliff and drove traffic to local businesses.

“With so much hate in the world and the rise in hate crimes in our own backyards,” Jaime Teich, LYNP’s Chief Neighbor said, “our desire was to honor this milestone in LYNPs history, together, with one voice, as a community in a safe, effective way to share the message that love will conquer all.”

Sea Cliff resident Peter Bongiorno was walking through the village with his 13-year-old daughter, Sophia, on Saturday when they came across a canvas in Memorial Park. “My daughter was thrilled to see such a happy canvas waiting to be drawn on,” he said. “It was a nice moment to sit and be present in the moment and connect to others through the canvas.”

Bongiorno said he had not been familiar with the project prior to Saturday, though Sophia took the opportunity to participate and add to the canvas. “I thought it was a really nice idea and a sweet project.”

Sophia Bongiorno, a seventh-grader at North Shore Middle School, said when she spotted the canvas, she thought it would be fun to draw on. “I thought it would be fun to see how my drawing of a heart compared to others, so I decided to add a heart to it. When I saw it, I just wanted to be a part of it.”

Since its inception last May, Love Your Neighbor Project, a Sea Cliff-based grassroots nonprofit organization, has remained dedicated to providing supplies and services to those struggling throughout the pandemic. It started with the idea of making masks that were donated to the Social Justice Coalition of Glen Cove and the Guardian Angel Family Crisis Center in Sea Cliff, and has expanded to include fundraisers and support more organizations and individuals. To date, more than 13 nonprofits and 1,600 individuals and families have been served, 18 events and fundraisers have been held and more than $70,000 has been raised. Got to

lynp.org for more information.