Huntington, Heckscher Museum Of Art Partner On Art Lending Program

HUNTINGTON, NY — The Town of Huntington and the Heckscher Museum of Art are set to partner on an art lending library program called Heckscher@Home, slated to launch this summer, the town announced.

The museum will loan fine art pieces from its collection to members of the community to enjoy in their own homes, according to the town. These short-term loans of the art are through the Town of Huntington’s Cultural Affairs Department.

The six pieces of art include original prints by Jeffrey Lundstedt, Fannie Hillsmith, Jean Sariano and Dimitri Berea. Lundstedt graduated Walt Whitman High School. He was an artist, athlete and class president who fought and died in the Vietnam War.

The town will begin to offer the art to veterans first as part of a pilot program.

"One of the most important reasons we have museums is so that great art, and critical pieces of history, can be preserved and shared with future generations," Heather Arnet, CEO of the Heckscher Museum of Art, said in a news release. "These exquisite prints by Jeffrey Lundstedt can only be included in this program today, due to the enormous care that has been taken, for over 50 years, to conserve these pieces of fine art."

The Heckscher Museum of Art Board of Trustees voted to launch this program this summer. Each piece of art will come with its history, a care sheet, as well as fixed period of time it will hang in each household, typically six months.

The museum first began "Heckscher at Home" initiatives at the start of the coronavirus pandemic when many schools and arts organizations were closed to the public and most families were on lockdown at home.

The museum strived to find innovative ways to connect community members to art through virtual programming and uploading its entire collection onto the Museum's Online Database so visitors could be inspired by artwork virtually.

The loan program is taking the concept to the next level, the town wrote.

"The Heckscher Museum of Art is thrilled to partner with the Town of Huntington to launch this dynamic new program," Arnet said. "Heckscher@Home is an exciting way for the museum to continue to inspire the people of Huntington as members of the community will experience the joy of having fine art in their home."