'In An Instant' Jess Paul Polaroid Photography on View at Greenport Harbor Brewery

Most would agree that the North Fork is a magical place, and that’s the sentiment that helped inspire artist Jess Paul for her exhibit In An Instant: Memories and Mirages in Blue.

The exhibit is on display at Greenport Harbor Brewery’s Carpenter Street location until April. An opening of the exhibit took place on Jan. 18.

“It was better than I could have imagined,” Jess Paul said. “I’m more confident in my work now. I have, you know, been encouraged by people at the gallery, and felt like there’s so many amazing artists out here who encourage me, and that means the world to me. It was so loud I lost my voice talking to people. It was just a very fun party, and it was just so beautiful to see.”

Jess Paul is from the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina – but her ties to the North Fork run deep. Paul’s grandmother, Martha Jane Paul – known by friends and family as ‘MJ’ –grew up in Brooklyn but spent summers in Mattituck. Like many, MJ fell in love with the region, and eventually lived in a house on Nassau Point in Cutchogue.

Jess Paul, who describes her grandmother as well as her sisters as among her muses, has a similar story, having summered at that Nassau Point home as a child before moving to the North Fork full time in 2023.

“The summers here are magical,” Paul said. “The North Fork has a magical allure for me. Something shifted in 2023 and I said I need to pack up and move here – so I did.”

Paul always had artistic inclinations, having taken piano lessons in her childhood, and fondly remembers doing watercolor paintings with her grandmother at Nassau Point. She got her first camera when she was 16 and began taking photographs around the area while summering in Nassau Point. Though becoming a singer was her dream, a voice disorder changed her path from a music major to an English major at University of North Carolina at Charlotte, with a specialty in writing and children’s literature, something she has carried with her as an artist.

When Paul moved to the North Fork, she continued her photography hobby.

“I started to post on Instagram, post some self portraits, post the North Fork,” Paul said. “And I started doing Polaroid emulsion lifts. I started sharing those a little bit. And then my friend Kara Hoblin, who owns the North Fork art collective in Greenport, was very enthusiastic about the emulsion lifts. She said ‘Bring them to the gallery. Let me take a look.’ So I did. I put five of them in a little plastic bag. And I was not confident at all, but I brought them to Greenport, and she said, ‘They’re great, let’s put them in the show.’ So she did. I was floored when all five sold. I will never forget that feeling.”

Ann Vandenburgh, co-owner of Greenport Harbor Brewery, noticed Paul’s art at the North Fork Art Collective, and wanted to feature a solo show at the brewery. The rest is history.

“The photos are Polaroid emulsion lifts, shot with the Polaroid camera,” Paul said. “You cut it up, put in hot water, transfer the emulsion to watercolor paper, and this exhibit is all on reclaimed blue 600 film, which is very rare, they stopped making it. I don’t know if they’re bringing it back. It’s actually expired, so it shouldn’t even work as well as it does. I don’t know if it will work. So that was, that’s what kind of makes it special, a rarity.”

While Martha Jane Paul died last year at the age of 98, she remains an inspiration to her granddaughter, who included a little bit of ‘MJ’ in this art exhibit.

“You couldn’t ask more for a long, beautiful life,” Paul said. “But it’s still hard. There’s some pictures throughout her life, and there’s a poem that goes with it that I wrote. There are a lot of inside jokes about her, it kind of starts in her 20s. She was a sailor, and she loved the North Fork. This was home for her. It kind of goes through her 20s, jumps ahead to the end of her life, and just talks about how she loved memories and she loved stories and reminisce.”

‘In An Instant: Memories and Mirages in Blue’ is on display at Greenport Harbor Brewery, located at 234 Carpenter Street in Greenport, until April. For more information, visit greenportharborbrewing.com or email ann@greenportbrew.com.