For the last two months, the Sea Cliff Village Museum has been honoring Harold Ransom Stevenson, and his wife Alma Gallanos with their latest art exhibit, The Stevenson Academy.
Stevenson and Gallanos were long-time artists and teachers in Sea Cliff, and on Dec. 6, some of their former students will be coming to the museum to talk about the impact they had on their careers and the community.
The Museum will be partnering with the Senior Outreach Network to hold the event, An Afternoon with the Artists: Remembering the Stevenson Academy of Traditional Painting. The event will be a discussion focused on the life and legacy of both Stevenson and his wife Gallanos.
Gennaro Larice, Douglas Barnaby, Elizabeth Shaw and Scott Grimando, will all be going to the museum to talk about the impact that both Stevenson and Gallanos have made, on both their lives and their professional careers. Courtney Chambers, the Village Museum Director will be co-moderating the event with Tracy Warzar, Sea Cliff Senior Citizen’s Program Development Specialist, and said she looks forward to highlighting the stories behind the art exhibit.
“I thought it would be nice to hear the stories about the Stevenson Academy,” Chambers said. “The people participating studied under Stevenson or Gallanos or in some cases both and are going to talk about what they learned from them and what they brought with them. We always see the results of what the students learned but we don’t always get to hear the stories that go with them and I thought this would be a good opportunity to do that.”
Many of Gallanos and Stevenson’s former artists have artwork featured alongside theirs at the new exhibit at the museum. Chambers says even though only four will be speaking, not one of their former students has had a bad thing to say about their former teachers.
“Every artist that is a part of the exhibit just loved Harold and Alma,” Chambers said. “Not one of them had a bad thing to say, so I asked the artists to write one small piece about their favorite memories of them, so that those of us who wouldn’t know can hear them talk about their impact on their lives and their careers.”
Stevenson, who died in 1985, was a former student of Norman Rockwell and helped to teach the next generation of North Shore artists at his art studio in Sea Cliff. After he died, his wife Alma Gallanos took over the studio until she died in 2009. Chambers said she thinks it is important to learn about the town’s artistic history.
“Sea Cliff has such an artistic history, and Harold and Alma were a big part of that history, so it is nice to hear their stories and remember the artistic town that Sea Cliff was and continues to be,” Chambers said. “I just think it’s always interesting for people to get to learn more about the process. We can go to art museums, but those of us who aren’t artists don’t really get to hear about the process of making art,”
The Afternoon with the Artists: Remembering the Stevenson Academy of Traditional Painting event will take place at the Sea Cliff Village Museum on Dec, 6. At 2:00 p.m.
