Long Island painter and ceramicist Frank Olt has opened his studio at Nassau County Museum of Art, where visitors can watch new work take shape inside a Gold Coast estate.
Introdution
Most museums show you finished art. At Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn Harbor, you can also see art in the making.
Frank Olt is the museum’s new Artist-in-Residence. His studio sits inside the Manes Art Education Center, on the grounds of the former Frick estate, and several of his works are on view there. He held his first event as resident artist on November 1, 2026, opening a season of studio visits and conversations with the public.
For Olt, this is a homecoming of sorts. He lives in nearby Oyster Bay, teaches at LIU Post just down the road, and has shown his work at this same museum before.
Who Is Frank Olt?
Born in 1956, Frank Olt is an American painter and ceramicist with deep roots on Long Island. He keeps studios in Manhattan and Oyster Bay, and he is a professor of art and ceramics at LIU Post.
His story with New York’s art scene goes back to the late 1970s, when he was an artist-in-residence at P.S.1 in Long Island City, the legendary studio and gallery complex that later became MoMA PS1. In those years he met and befriended Ray Johnson, the pioneer of mail art.
Olt describes himself as largely self-taught. He names Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Mark Rothko and Ray Johnson among his influences, and you can feel all of them in his bold color and simple, strong shapes.
Color, Wax and Landscape
Olt finds most of his images in the landscape: the sea, trees, the changing light of Long Island. He often paints in encaustic, an ancient technique that uses hot, colored wax, which gives his small panels a glowing, layered surface.
He also works in ceramics, and his art reaches far beyond the gallery. His public works include projects for the MTA’s Arts for Transit program in New York City and for hospitals in Brooklyn and Manhasset. Nassau County Museum of Art itself holds his work in its collection.
This is not his first time at the museum, either. In 2015, the Contemporary Gallery presented Frank Olt: New Works, a solo show of his colorful small-scale pieces.
A Growing Residency Program
The museum launched its Artist-in-Residence program in October 2025 to show contemporary artists as they create new work on site. Painter John Grande was the first resident, followed in spring 2026 by photorealist Glen Hansen. Olt is the third artist to take over the studio.
The idea is simple and generous: instead of meeting an artist only through finished work on a wall, visitors can see the process, ask questions and understand how a painting really comes to life
While you’re there: from November 21, the museum hosts three new exhibitions. NYC Glam: The 60s – 80s and Harry Benson: New York Nightlife bring back the city’s most glamorous decades. Louis Comfort Tiffany: Orientalism shows a different side of the great designer. All three run through March 7, 2027. Read our preview.
Visit the Studio
Olt’s studio is in the Manes Art Education Center, next to the museum’s Georgian-style mansion. After your visit, take a walk through the free sculpture park, with more than 40 major works set among the trees and lawns.
Check the museum’s website for studio visit dates and upcoming talks before you go.
Nassau County Museum of Art
One Museum Drive, Roslyn Harbor, NY
Tue–Sun 11 a.m.–4:45 p.m. · closed Mon
Adults $15, seniors $10, students $5 · grounds and sculpture park free
LIRR Oyster Bay Branch to Roslyn, then a short taxi ride
nassaumuseum.org
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