As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, Oyster Bay artist Barbara Prey will see three of her watercolor works featured in a major exhibition on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Prey, an internationally recognized watercolorist and a longtime Oyster Bay resident, was invited to participate in an exhibition presented by the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies, part of the Freedom 250 celebrations planned by President Trump. The exhibition, at the Art Museum of the Americas, is scheduled to open July 30 and run through October.

“I was very honored to be invited to be part of the exhibit,” Prey said.

The exhibition will feature three of Prey’s paintings, including “Gallantly Streaming,” a work with deep ties to Oyster Bay and the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. The painting, depicting an American flag against a clear blue sky, was created as part of Prey’s 9/11 series.

“Flags were everywhere after 9/11,” she said. “It was a time of collective mourning for us.”

The work carries particular significance for Oyster Bay. Prey noted that the flag-raising it depicts was officiated by her husband, the Rev. Jeff Prey, of the First Presbyterian Church of Oyster Bay, at Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club following a 30-day mourning period after the attacks.

“It’s a very special painting, and I love that it’s been exhibited — exhibited in governors’ offices, but they didn’t know it’s from 9/11,” she said. “This wonderful story of this painting, that really was in memory and solidarity of all the mourning of what happened after 9/11.”

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