EXHIBITIONS Current & Upcoming

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Long Island’s Best has been a hallmark of the Museum’s educational programming for three decades, showcasing the outstanding work of over 2,000 high school students from across Long Island. What began as an annual exhibition of outstanding student work has become a lasting tradition⸺one that recognizes excellence while nurturing the next generation of creative thinkers. Long Island’s Best continues to be the only juried exhibition for Long Island high school students that provides the opportunity to exhibit in a museum.

Students are challenged to select artwork on view in the Museum as the inspiration for their own work, making creative connections with the generations who have come before them. The Heckscher encourages students to think outside the box as they work in a broad range of media, styles, and subjects. Students also write artist statements explaining their creative process. This year, 63 public and private schools submitted students’ artwork for jurying. 402 entries were received, and Consulting Curator Meredith A. Brown and guest juror Aaron Feltman selected 84 pieces for display.

This anniversary exhibition celebrates its remarkable legacy. Visitors are invited to view archival memories and watch video footage featuring reflections from past exhibiting students, teachers, guest jurors, and more. The exhibition also highlights numerous alumni who share where their journeys have led—from careers in the arts to paths shaped by creativity in countless other fields. Together, these stories reflect the lasting impact of arts education and the power of early encouragement.

Lines of Influence: Artists Teaching Artists celebrates the longstanding tradition of artists educating and learning from one another. The exhibition illuminates diverse pedagogies of artmaking across generations, tracing networks of mentorship that include color theorist Josef Albers, plein air instructor William Merritt Chase, Abstract Expressionist pioneer Hans Hofmann, and feminist educators Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro.

Drawing from the Heckscher Museum’s collection, this exhibition brings together 54 works by 39 artists, including paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and ceramics that span the nineteenth century to the present. It showcases never-before-exhibited works such as drawings of plaster casts by Thomas Anshutz and a terra cotta sculpture by Mary Frank. Other key works include an early abstract painting that Elaine De Kooning created while studying with Albers at Black Mountain College, teaching sketches by George Grosz, and a luminous “mindscape” painting by Richard Mayhew. Lines of Influence highlights instances in which artists collaborated, apprenticed, and guided one another, revealing the vibrant exchanges that shaped their artistic legacies.