Key West artist Letty Nowak, 32, has headed to New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood, for her first gallery show in the Big Apple’s Hal Bromm Studio, on West Broadway at Chambers Street.

“Hal asked me if I wanted a show at his gallery,” Nowak said during a vegetarian lunch at Banana Café last week. She was taking a break in loading her studio art supplies into a U-Haul for the three-day drive. “I met him years ago, when he came to my first show of ‘Faces of Key West.’”

Bromm has owned the New York studio for sometime and splits his time between there and Key West.

They talked about a “Faces of Key West” exhibit, but most of the original work has been sold, so he agreed to exhibit her current portraits.

“Today, I see more in the faces I paint, so there’s more detail in them,” she said looking out the window at the unexpected heavy rainfall and flooded street. The rain would delay her loading and possibly her departure. “I don’t know which are better, but these are new and I like them, too.”

Nowak will work in the studio she found in Sag Harbor, a small community in the Hamptons.

“It’s a small town, has a history, reminds me a lot of Key West, and some Key Westers spend summers there,” she said with a smile. “I’ve been in Key West eight years and I will miss the island’s people and places. I think that’s why I am happy to find a temporary studio in Sag Harbor.”

Nowak has six weeks time to finish her exhibit’s paintings in Sag Harbor. The larger works have been completed in Key West and the remaining time at the new studio will be spent working on her smaller portraits. The show, “Letty Nowak New Paintings,” opens on Sept. 23 and runs for a month.

“The New York show will give my art a new audience and I expect to learn from the reactions of the people who come into the gallery,” she said. “I reached many of the Key Westers who came into my old gallery, Lemonade Stand, and even some tourists, but New York offers me a whole new experience.”

Nowak is excited about the New York show for many reasons, but the most important is what it can mean to those who bought her work in Key West.

“It feels great to have this show,” she said, ignoring the downpour. “It shows the people who bought my work early on, that it was a good investment.”

Nowak will return to Key West in late October and has not made up her mind on what is next in her life.

“I’ve talked to people about a new book,” she smiled. “I’ve thought about opening another studio I can work in, and maybe going back to the Studios of Key West, but that’s all on hold right now. I have to get to Sag Harbor, finish the portraits, set up the show, and be prepared for opening night. A lot is going on in my life and it is all exciting.”