The multi-talented Kevin Mahoney, born and raised in Bay Shore, brings this tranquil Great South Bay image. He worked as a house painted by trade, a skill taught to him by his mother in his formative years. This would become his professional trade. Growing up in Bay Shore, he attended St. Patrick’s School, then went on to Bay Shore High School, where he would meet an art teacher he fondly remembers as Mrs. Schechter, who recognized his talent and encouraged him. He studied watercolor, oil painting, and ceramics under her guidance.
As a family man raising two children in Bay Shore with his wife, Ruth Ann, Kevin started moonlighting as a bartender at Schiller’s on Third Avenue, where Southside Hotel now operates.
Bar owner Arnold Schiller would commission him to paint an outdoor mural of Fire Island Lighthouse for his cottage at Kismet on Pine Walk. Arnold Schiller has long passed, but his widow still keeps her Kismet cottage, and the mural still stands.
Also proficient in playing the acoustic guitar and having a decent singing voice, Kevin’s bar connections would lead to local gigs popular spots, now long closed but fondly remembered, the Viking in Islip Hamlet, Hogan’s Goat in Bay Shore. He also occasionally performed at Housers Bar in Ocean Beach for private functions.
“I always worked or played on Fire Island,” said Mahoney.
His son, Kevin, Jr., worked at the Kismet Inn for many summers. He agrees that the Bay Shore/Fire Island relationship is close and symbiotic.
Health issues prompted his retirement from house painting and music gigs, but his artwork still thrives. He maintains a virtual art shop, “Fireislandarts,” on Etsy where he sells his artwork online. He has also gotten some business from Facebook Marketplace and participates in the many craft fairs Fire Island and the South Shore Long Island has to offer over the summer and autumn months.
However, ask him what is his best sales outlet, and Kevin will tell you without hesitation that it is The Penny Pub in downtown Bay Shore.
You see, his lessons learned at the potter’s wheel with Mrs. Schechter are never far away, and Kevin regularly reserves studio time at Earth ‘n Vessel on Main Street.
“I always stop in for a beer after a pottery session and manage to sell a few things.”
Find Kevin Mahoney on Etsy at etsy.com/shop/Fireislandarts.
