Olive Reich’s painting of Union Chapel.
If you walked through the Heights on a Friday night last August during Shelter Island Heights Illumination Night, you couldn’t help but be enchanted by the strings of lights, lanterns and lights of all kinds hanging from the eaves and porches of Heights homes.
This year, Union Chapel has decided to present the Heights on the same weekend as Illumination Night as part of their Art Sunday service on August 11.
The outdoor service will be followed by an indoor art exhibit featuring works by chapel trustees, photographer Adam Bundy and artist/cartoonist Peter Waldner, both of whom publish their work weekly in the Shelter Island Reporter.
The art of Olive Reich, a long-time trustee of the chapel who died last year, is also prominently presented.
In the chapel we are always surrounded by art, as your eye is immediately drawn to the marine mosaic style windows by local artist Walter Brigham Cole. Although they are as beautiful as any other stained glass window, they are not technically stained glass. Brigham’s effects were achieved by using seashells, stones and glass fragments, joined and bonded together with a special lead compound.
Presbyterian minister Rev. Candace Whitman, who is also an artist, picture book illustrator and writer, will speak at this celebration of the arts.
Rev. Candace Whitman grew up on Long Island and began her career in advertising after earning a BA in art history from Yale. She later moved into the field of art and art education. While teaching art to elementary school students, she was inspired to write and illustrate a children’s book about dinosaurs, followed by 12 more books for children. Her work has been praised in the New York Times, Newsweek, and the New Yorker. She was also an adjunct professor of art and art education at New York University, where she earned a master’s degree.
After many years in Manhattan, Rev. Candace moved to Shelter Island, where she “heard God’s call to the priesthood” and enrolled at Princeton Theological Seminary, where she received her M. Div. in 2011. She said writing commercials and children’s books prepared her for the craft of preaching.
Rev. Candace, who lives in East Hampton, was ordained into the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in 2014 while serving as chaplain at Yale-New Haven Hospital. She then pastored two churches on Long Island and now serves the Presbytery of Long Island while remaining active in the arts community. She especially enjoys leading church retreats where art is “a window into deeper faith.”
The outdoor service at 10:30 am will be followed by a reception hosted by the Stars Café. Please bring a chair. In case of inclement weather, the service will be moved indoors.
Next week: Bishop Andrew St. John of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, NYC; Cottage Trio will perform.
