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Mostly Cloudy Remembering Daniel Pollera, Baldwin artist
Daniel Pollera, beloved Baldwin Harbor resident and internationally known artist has died due to unknown reasons at the age of 68 on Friday, March 4. Painting realistic beach scenes devoid of people, his paintings evoked a serene Edward Hooper feeling. He is survived by his wife Nancy and his children Daniel Pollera, Jr. and Valerie Gompers.
Pollera was born in the coastal town of Freeport in 1953, later moving to Malverne and Valley Stream, where he graduated from Valley Stream Central High School. In his later years, he began splitting his time at his homes in East Quogue and Baldwin Harbor.
His interest in art began at a very young age when he gravitated toward drawing and painting his surrounding coastline of Long Island. After a study at SUNY Farmingdale in Commercial Art, he left to enter the concrete block business his grandfather had started in 1921.
Then in a 1990 trip to Block Island, Pollera’s inspiration and desire to paint kicked up again. He also credited a longtime family friend, who was an interior designer, with encouraging him to become a serious artist.
Although he skipped out on painting for almost 15 years, that didn’t affect his meantime maritime activities, obtaining a Captain’s License in 1977 from the United States Coast Guard. He used that license to take passengers for hire on the open ocean, taking in more visual knowledge.
Pollera married Nancy a year later in 1978. They were together for over 43 years, sharing a love of clamming and fishing for fluke, flounder and striped bass in Baldwin Harbor. While in his Baldwin Harbor home, Pollera would restore simple, flat-bottom Garvey workboats and other vessels, a hobby he continued during his entire life.
Becoming well known as a realistic beach landscape painter, he did numerous covers for Dan’s Papers, including his recently submitted cover, “Passing Time,” on March 11, 2022. Dan’s Paper wrote of the now bittersweet memorial, “Like his art, Pollera’s presence could not be denied, and his loss will be deeply felt by all of us and anyone who had the pleasure of knowing him.”
Pollera also partnered with the Sorelle Gallery, an art dealer that sold his fine art and prints domestically and internationally, with collectors in London, South Africa and Australia. Pollera spoke to the gallery in an interview saying, “We are only passing through this lifetime of ours, this is a revolving window of constant change and taking in the beauty from a visual perspective is fascinating and interesting; that is what fuels my passion.”
He then touched on his deep love and respect of the local nature preserves, “Living within close proximity to the salt marshes and shoreline has enabled me to capture a moment in time…I hope that I convey a feeling through my paintings that will be shared for generations and reflect our love for the local waters as they are today.”
Sorelle owner Sandy Pelletier spoke on the loss the art world has suffered due to Pollera’s passing, “It does feel like a light has gone out, but Dan always had a way of using light in his paintings to convey a sense of hopefulness, and gratitude for the most meaningful moments life has to offer.” She concluded that, “Dan lives on in his family, in our memory, and in the remarkable body of work he left behind.”
Pollera accomplished much during his art career, including having his oil paintings in the Parrish Art Museum in East Hampton and Guild Hall Museum in Southampton permanent collections. Both pieces, “Approaching Winter Solstice” at the Parrish and “Ditch Plains Sunset” at Guild Hall, present a view of the ocean and skies from Tick Hall, Dick Cavett’s Montauk home.
“This career has given me the tranquil life that I convey on canvas,” he told Newsday in an interview for the August 31, 2017 story written by Cara S. Trager “Artist Daniel Pollera paints the tranquil world of coastal L.I.”
Pollera displayed his works at many charitable events, including East End Hospice, The Cancer Research Fund, The Guardian Brain Foundation and The South Shore Estuary Reserve Stewardship Awards.
