Date & Time: Tuesday, October 8th, 2024 from 7:00 PM to 8:00 (The gallery will open at 6:30 PM for registrants to browse the exhibit)
Location: Mills Pond Gallery, (Parking in the rear lot off Mills Pond Road, directly across from Flowerfield Celebrations. GPS parking address: 176 Mills Pond Rd., St. James, NY 11780)
Tickets: Free
Preservation Long Island and Preserve Kings Park Psychiatric Center (Preserve KPPC) invite you to a Community Conversation on mental health, creative expression, and historic preservation. “A Community Conversation encourages people to listen respectfully to different viewpoints and engage with issues that affect our communities. Unlike a lecture-style program, a Community Conversation involves the active participation of all audience members throughout the program. Guided by a trained conversation leader, participants explore why they think what they do, share stories with one another, build trust, and find common ground.” (Courtesy Delaware Humanities) This conversation will be centered around one of the murals at King’s Park Psychiatric Center.
This discussion will revolve around a mural from King’s Park Psychiatric Center Building 93, attributed to author and cartoonist Percy Lee Crosby, who lived at KPPC from 1949 until his death in 1964. We’ll explore how the mural interprets the experience of being a resident at KPPC, art as a form of therapy, and the mural as a historic artifact.
This event is open to all—community members, students, educators, activists, and anyone interested in how these artworks capture human experiences and reflect the community of KPPC.
The event will take place at the Mills Pond House, a Greek Revival home built for William Wickham Mills in 1838–40. It is a rare surviving example of the small agricultural communities that once thrived on Long Island. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the house now serves as the Smithtown Township Arts Council’s Mills Pond Gallery, which offers a space for creative expression and the exploration of contemporary art. Be sure to visit their current exhibit, Our Relationship to the Land, before our Community Conversation.
