Art Opening Reception: Friday, July 11, 2025 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Award-winning visual artists Semine Hazar, Fatma Kadir and Ilhan Sayin, whose global collaborations include museums and United Nations Conferences, bring their “I Love New York” group art show to the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center. This exhibition highlights each artists’ area of expertise and offers unique perspectives of New York.  Semine Hazar is a celebrated oil artist known for her lighthouse paintings such as Lighthouses of the Hudson River as well as her exploratory themes of climate change and the environment as captured in her piece The Lighthouse at the End of the World inspired by her experience witnessing ice melting in Argentina.  She has exhibited her work in numerous juried shows and museums, including the National Lighthouse Museum in Staten Island, NY.  Fatma Kadir, who is also a renowned oil artist specializing in avian paintings, brings her works of Hudson Valley’s trees and birds to the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center and will unveil her painting Flaco, the male Eurasian eagle-owl (March 15, 2010 – February 23, 2024), who escaped his long-time enclosure at Central Park Zoo in New York City after someone cut the protective netting. Also featured in her exhibition are three paintings of the first American flamingos of New York.  Acclaimed botanical artist, Ilhan Sayin, will present his floral paintings and gives homage to New York State with paintings of the Rose – the state flower. More than just a symbol of beauty, the Rose “is a testament to resilience and cultural significance…it is an iconic emblem of the Empire State,” he explains. Ilhan Sayin has shown his artwork in Havre de Grace Maritime Museum and Environmental Center (Maryland, USA), The Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change (Hong Kong), and the Pinelo Art Gallery (Turkey), to name a few.