Planned Gift From Former Pollock‑Krasner House Director and Husband to Strengthen the Arts on the East End

Helen A. Harrison, a retired employee of the State University of New York at Stony Brook who served for more than three decades as director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center - a historic property owned by the Stony Brook Foundation - and her husband, renowned artist Roy Nicholson, are creating a lasting legacy through a planned estate gift worth an estimated $5 million and an additional $2 million endowed fund to support the arts on the East End of Long Island.

Their gift includes the Roy Nicholson Art Collection and their home, the Harrison-Nicholson House, which features a fully functional artist's studio designed with consistent natural light. The planned gift also provides funds to maintain both the collection and the house in perpetuity.

The Harrison-Nicholson House will one day welcome a working artist or scholar who will live and create there as part of a future artist-in-residence program. The couple's planned gift preserves the home and Nicholson's art collection so they can continue to inspire teaching, research and creative work for years to come.

Proceeds from the endowed fund will be amplified through both the New York State endowment match program and the Simons Infinity Investment Match Challenge, helping to launch the residency program and ensuring it has the resources to grow and thrive.

"Helen Harrison and Roy Nicholson have contributed so richly to the fabric of the East End, and we are deeply grateful for their generosity," said Stony Brook University President Andrea Goldsmith. "As artists who have shaped this community in profound ways, their gift will ensure that the arts will continue to transform our students and our entire region. It preserves an extraordinary legacy while opening new doors for creativity and learning for generations to come."

Harrison led the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center for 34 years, guiding its evolution from a modest historic site into a nationally recognized cultural landmark. When she became director in 1990, the former home of Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner had no endowment and no national landmark status. It now has both and so much more. Under her leadership, the institution also expanded its scholarly reach with the opening of the Study Center at the Stony Brook Southampton Library in 2009, a research hub that houses extensive archives on modern American art, particularly by artists in the East End community.

Harrison built the Pollock-Krasner House's reputation, strengthened its stewardship and ensured that both the museum and the Study Center would preserve, illuminate and share the artists' legacy. Upon her retirement, an endowed research fellowship was established in her name. The fellowship is a three-month program that supports the study of abstract expressionism as a historically significant movement and enduring art form. Fellows in the program will eventually be eligible for the new residency program in the Harrison-Nicholson House.

"My years at the Pollock-Krasner House taught me how deeply the East End shapes artists and how much artists, in turn, shape this community," said Harrison. "Roy and I wanted our gift to further strengthen that relationship, supporting the places and programs that nurture creativity and keep our artistic heritage alive."

Nicholson is an accomplished artist whose career spans more than five decades, shaped by rigorous training and a deep engagement with the natural world. He joined the faculty at Southampton College of Long Island University in 1986, eventually becoming a professor of fine arts and later professor emeritus. His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in New York and internationally, and he is widely recognized for his layered, nature-inspired compositions. His planned gift with Harrison will help preserve both his extensive art collection and the Sag Harbor home and studio where much of his work has taken shape, ensuring that the creative environment that inspired him will continue to support future artists and scholars.

"The East End has been my home and my inspiration for so many years. Its light, its landscapes and its rhythms have shaped my work in ways I'm still discovering. Knowing that our gift will help preserve not only my collection but the place where that work was made means a great deal to us," said Nicholson. "It's our way of giving back to the community that has given us so much, and ensuring that future artists and scholars can continue to find their own spark here."

Built in 1879, the Pollock-Krasner House is a rare surviving example of the modest 19th-century homes once common in the Springs community of East Hampton. Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner transformed the property after moving there in 1945, and today it remains preserved much as it was at the time of Krasner's death in 1984 - complete with their furnishings, library, Pollock's jazz records and original works by both artists. In 1987, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation gifted the historic home and studio to the Stony Brook Foundation, establishing what is now the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, a National Historic Landmark that continues to welcome visitors, researchers and artists into the intimate environment where two of America's most influential painters lived and worked.

"The Pollock-Krasner House has always been a place where creativity takes root and grows," said Harrison. "Roy and I hope this gift will help ensure that its spirit of inspiration endures, welcoming artists and scholars who will carry its legacy forward."

For more information, visit stonybrook.edu/endowments. If you have interest in or questions about endowments, contact Danielle Holton, interim chief development officer and associate vice president, medicine advancement, at (631) 444-8305 or [email protected].