Author: Kelly M. Coffey

“Mission of 14×48: 14×48 re-purposes vacant billboards as public art space in order to create more opportunities in public art for emerging artists, to challenge emerging artists to engage more with public art, and to enliven the vibrancy of our urban environment. ​14X48 is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit 501(c)(3) arts service organization. The organization was formerly known as Artists for Public Service Announcements.” Times Square is pretty much its own interactive art exhibit if you can visually deconstruct the scene’s elements and hang out to people watch (one of my all-time favorite pastimes). It’s incredible what gems can…

SoHo Photo Gallery, SoHo, NY “Energies from Within” Artist Statement People react uniquely to different kinds and intensities of change. But those introspections result in changed energies which are emanated to everyone and everything around us. The extent and levels of those energies and interactions change and determine our trajectory; our vision and path to our future. This series “Energies from Within” explores the energies between us and those surrounding us as we resolve our search and move forward. And that new energy propagates to all around us. We should not let our fear of moving forward in a different…

Hockey season is here! So are holiday markets, Halloween parades, corn mazes, ghost tours, and haunted houses, DIY workshops, calls for submissions, dance parties (there’s always time for a dance break), and opening receptions for exhibits! Let’s get to it! Everything Halloween (if you’re like me, it’s the best and most favoritest holiday ever ever ever gimme dat candy!): Goldstar put together a list of spooky movies, performances, and events like pumpkin picking, ghost stories, haunted & historical hayrides and costume parties! Pumpkin Picking & Corn Mazes in Long Island! Long Island: Patchogue Art Council works so hard to bring…

All art is copyrighted by the original artists: John Joseph Hanright, Michael Kalish, Charles Patrick, and Laura Villarreal. Photography courtesy of Kelly M. Coffey, vedhead Photography. Exhibit on display at Chase Edwards Contemporary, August 2018. The real world shrinks as soon as I put a couple of miles between me and the city. Every year I go camping, explore main streets, sit on beaches and reflect on life. I leave behind all responsibilities for a few days to decompress, soak the sun, and meditate to the sound of crashing waves and seagulls soaring above. This year I booked an extra night…

“What daiquiris! What sherry, please! What burgundy! What pommery! Have you heard? Professor Munch ate his wife and divorced his lunch? Well, did you ever? What a swell party this is!” Well, Did You Evah! By Cole Porter It’s been exciting in the world of art! I’m often surprised when people don’t like visiting galleries or have any interest in the unique exhibits or artists creating them. I do, however, understand how unappealing it could seem to stand around looking at lily ponds and depressed people posing from a hundred and fifty years ago. But to learn how a piece…

About fifteen years ago I fell in love with wine. I read about it, drank it, and celebrated it as often as possible. About ten years ago I fell in love with craft beers and made the transition. Over the last eight years, I drank less wine and more beer, primarily because the hangovers are very different, but also beer seemed easier for me to pick up. It wasn’t until I was working at a brewpub that I discovered Wölffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack, Long Island. I was introduced to them with a dry rosé cider, two things I never…

The posts have been a touch scarce here in the arts section of LIB! So much street art, so many openings and premieres, so many walls with space in need for moments captured in time, and oh! OH! The immeasurable collections of culture, music, food & drink! So much to do, how do we find the time to do any of it?! Especially since summer days are for laying on the beach, standing in line for brunch with the same friends you went dancing with hours before, and spontaneous roadtrips! Hiking, biking, camping, climbing, paddleboarding, napping, sipping, snacking… you get…

All paintings are copyrighted images of Brian Kirhagis, BK The Artist. Photographs courtesy of vedhead Photography. Opening exhibition reception June 2018 at Dean Borghi Fine Art Gallery, Chelsea, Manhattan, NY. Chelsea is a prismatic place to pass through regularly for a glimpse into the art world. Every night is pretty much a gallery hop in that neighborhood; an area surrounded in interactive pieces, a mix of the old world and new, occupied with tourists, residents, students, and art geeks alike, gravitating toward curious styles and unique works. It’s always exciting to visit random new galleries, peek in, possibly meet the…

Goodness, summer is flying by and here comes the fall! Informal polls show autumn as a majority’s favorite season because it’s a relief from the humid inferno o’ New York Summers. I still prefer the summer and wish it could be extended. While I draft up this weather wishlist, take a look at all the wonderful events coming up in the month ahead. Long Island: Chase Edwards Contemporary caught my eye when I drove by on the way to Wölffer Estate. On the way home, I parked to check out this delicate, bright, spacious gallery space surrounded in mixed media.…

2018 has held many milestones for me. It’s the year I started submitting my photography to galleries, was invited to participate in an all-women’s exhibit, and celebrated my 40th birthday by signing up for kickboxing. These steps on my journey guided me to reclaiming my self-worth and recognizing my own resilience. It’s quite rewarding for people to break free from the stifling ideas that the shit in my life was normal, I’m helpless or hopeless, I’m incapable of finding commercial success in art because it’s too competitive, and that I’d be too old to achieve new things. The all-women’s exhibit…