So, who is the woman in the red hat?
“Every year I take my kids to Fire Island for a day trip. I’ve been going back to Fire Island since I was in high school. I went to Roslyn High School and my friends and I always were fascinated with this mysterious little island and we took it as an adventure to go there. We were all so proud of ourselves that we got there and went to Ocean Beach. We fell in love with this little area that was pure magic,” said artist Christine D’Addario as she explained her Fire Island connection.
Fifteen years after those adventures with high school friends, she still makes the trip at least once a summer, often with friends, or her twin daughters. Her love of Fire Island never faded.
“I was on the beach with my daughters one day, and I saw the woman in the Red Hat riding down the beach on her bicycle. She was fabulous and so cool. How often do you see a woman riding down the beach like that?”
A resident of Locust Valley, Christine became an art director for a graphic design firm after graduating from the College of St. Rose in Albany. She started pursuing a career in fine arts after the birth of her twins and now exhibits regularly and has exhibited at several prestigious Long Island art institutions including The Hecksher Museum of Art, Nassau County Museum of Art, Manhasset Gallery of Art, and The Adler Gallery of Art at Port Washington among others. Her artwork has also graced the cover of Dan’s Papers on three occasions.
Through it all, the Fire Island connection remains for Christine and she always returns.
“There are no cars. You get to walk, and bike ride and you see the deer and the wildlife. It’s just full of surprises. I love looking, watching, and seeing all of the action going on here. I just think Fire Island a gem and everyone should visit there at least once. It’s just the most fun you’ll ever have. Ocean Beach is my tradition. Our tradition. We get on the ferry and with excitement then we go across and go to McGuire’s for lunch and go walk down to the water, come back, go shopping, have ice cream, go home and it’s the perfect day.”
The painting on our cover of this issue is immediately recognizable, as Ocean Beach, facing west, with the communities of Corneille Estates and the Summer Club behind that spirited woman riding her bicycle. And yet the image is also timeless and universal.
Learn more about Christine D’Addario by visiting christinedaddario.com and christinedaddariofinear
