The five-foot-tall MTK letters on the front lawn of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce have been a popular selfie spot for visitors since being installed a couple of years ago. As the chamber’s executive director, Jennifer Fowkes, recently observed, “They’re a really cool and striking downtown feature.”
The white letters, sometimes interpreted as Robert Rauschenberg-esque in their stark simplicity, will be even more of a draw starting this week, when the North Carolina artist and Montauk summer resident Kylie Ogburn paints them in an above-below colorful sea theme, featuring surfers, fish, and other denominators of the littoral life.
Ms. Ogburn is the first artist selected in a new chamber program that will see the letters transformed into a revolving showcase for artists, said Ms. Fowkes.
Ms. Ogburn, 25, comes from a family of artists and designers. After quitting an office job in Raleigh last year, she traveled to St. Croix for work, and then to Puerto Rico, where, she said, she met some folks who advised her to head to Montauk.
A graduate of North Carolina State University, where she earned a degree in design and business administration, Ms. Ogburn will begin studying interior design at Pratt Institute this fall. While she waits, she’s been working at a couple of jobs around town, including the Bird on the Roof restaurant attached to Daunt’s Albatross Motel downtown.
Ms. Ogburn, who submitted four proposals to the chamber, has been loading up on painting supplies from Becker’s in Montauk and at Riverhead Building Supply in preparation for the project.
“We wanted to feature local artists who wanted to showcase their work and their ideas of what Montauk is,” said Ms. Fowkes. The chamber built and installed the letters during the depths of the pandemic, she said, after getting the green light for an artist’s installation from the town.
Ms. Ogburn’s rendering, now in progress after a slight delay last week, will be showcased through Memorial Day 2023, when the chamber will select the next painter of the letters.
“I cannot wait to see what it looks like,” said Ms. Fowkes.
