Lisa Perry and Almond Zigmund. Photos: Melanie Acevedo.
Join designer and collector Lisa Perry and visual artist Almond Zigmund for an engaging discussion moderated by Melanie Crader, Guild Hall Museum Director and Curator of Visual Arts. The conversation will highlight Perry’s vision for Onna House, a creative hub dedicated to championing and amplifying the voices of women artists, alongside Zigmund’s Guild Hall exhibition, Wading Room, an immersive installation that redefines spatial perception through bold geometric interventions.
Both Perry and Zigmund share a deep interest in abstraction and spatial storytelling, using design and structure to transform environments. They will explore how their work intersects, the role of women in contemporary art and design, and the power of thoughtfully curated spaces—whether a home, a gallery, or an installation—to shape perception and inspire dialogue.
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LISA PERRY
Lisa Perry is a designer, collector, curator, and the founder of Onna House. Housed in a Japanese modernist 1960s residence in the center of East Hampton, Onna House is a sanctuary filled with art, furniture, and objects by women artists and designers exclusively. With a dual mission to support and create visibility for these artists and provide a gallery space to display their work, Lisa combines her passions under one roof to carefully curate the private home and studio. Onna House acts as a space for women artists to engage and collaborate and for collectors to discover new work.
Lisa’s studies of fashion and textiles led to her collecting vintage couture clothing from the late 1960s, eventually starting her own lifestyle brand to reflect the spirit of that time. A highlight of Lisa’s design work has been creating limited-edition collections in collaboration with artists or foundations (such as Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Indiana), reflecting years of personal collecting across modernism, pop, and minimalism. Lisa’s love of home and interior design has also been a long-time passion, highlighted in Lisa Perry Homes, published by Assouline. She is also a lifelong advocate for women's rights, with decades of support for women's organizations—a commitment that has come full circle with the creation of Onna House.
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Almond Zigmund
Originally from Brooklyn, Almond Zigmund received a BFA from Parsons School of Design, in New York and Paris and an MFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she studied art theory and criticism with the MacArthur Award-winning critic, Dave Hickey.
Zigmund makes large-scale site-responsive installations, discrete sculptures, works on paper, and paintings. Combining crisp geometry, vivid color, and intricate patterns, her sculptures and installations often suggest walls, barricades, enclosures, and other aspects of the built environment. The architectonic works tend to engage the eye and the body at once, offering generous amounts of visual stimulation while also inducing visceral reactions to the virtual and actual spaces.
Zigmund's work has been exhibited internationally and is in public and private collections. She has done several public and private site-specific installations, including at the Parrish Museum of Art, CMA in New York, and The University of LaVerne in California. She has completed 2 public commissions for the NYC Dept of Transportation, and large scale murals at the The Whitman Walker Health Center in Washington DC, Guild Hall in East Hampton, NY, and at One Financial Plaza in NYC as part of the Brookfield Arts program. She most recently completed a commission for a public sculpture with the US State Department Art in Embassies Program in Paraguay and is currently developing a series of public sculptures.
Photo: Francine Fleischer
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Melanie Crader
Melanie Crader joined Guild Hall in Summer of 2023 as the inaugural director of visual arts as Guild Hall opened its newly renovated galleries. Recently, she served as deputy director at the Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY, where she also served as interim director. For 8 years prior, Melanie held the role of Director of Exhibitions and Publication Management at the Hammer Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles, where she was responsible for financial and administrative oversight of all curatorial initiatives, exhibitions, and publications. Managing the institution’s renowned exhibition program, she collaborated with local, national, and international institutional partners including The Met, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Brooklyn Museum, MCA Chicago; Walker Art Center, Stedelijk Museum, and Pinacoteca de São Paulo.
During six years at the Menil Collection in Houston, she managed the operating budget and exhibition program, led a variety of special projects including institutional publications, oversaw major digital infrastructure initiatives, and implemented long-term budget planning for building projects and a capital campaign. Before entering the non-profit sector, Melanie worked in the marketing and communications department of an international investment company.
Originally from Louisiana, Melanie Crader, an artist and educator who taught at the university level, holds MFA from Ohio University, Athens; BA from McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA; and attended the Banco Santander W30 Program, UCLA Anderson School of Management. She is a member of the American Exhibition Organizers and served on the Steering Committee from 2017 to 2021. For several years, she served on the Board of Directors and was an Artist Board Member of DiverseWorks Art Space, Houston.
Photo: Lori Hawkins
Sponsors
Visual Arts programs are supported by funding from Barbara and Richard S. Lane, Lucio and Joan Noto, The Michael Lynne Museum Endowment, and The Melville Straus Family Endowment.
Additional support provided by Friends of the Museum: Sara Amani and Timothy Ward, Danielle Anderman, Shari and Jeff Aronson, The Artist Profile Archive, Amalia Dayan and Adam Lindemann, Cara and John Fry, Susan Lacy, Robert Longo and Sophie Chahinian, Onna House, Lisa and Richard Perry, Laurie and Martin Scheinman, Jeff and Audrey Spiegel, Hillary and Jeff Suchman, Barbara Tober, Jane Wesman and Don Savelson, Neda Young, and an anonymous donor.
Free gallery admission is sponsored, in part, by Landscape Details.
Performing Arts programming is supported in part by funding from Galia Meiri-Stawski and Axel Stawski, Henry and Peggy Schleiff, The Melville Straus Family Endowment, and Monica and Peter Tessler. Music Programming is supported in part by The Ellen and James S. Marcus Endowment for Musical Programming.
Additional support provided by Friends of the Theater: John and Joan D’Addario, Natascia Ayers and Jim Ciquera, Christine and Bill Campbell, Gabrielle and Gianpaolo de Felice, Lena Kaplan, Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan, Michèle and Steve Pesner, The Schaffner Family Foundation, Lisa Schultz and Ezriel Kornel, Jayne Baron Sherman and Deborah Zum, Stacey and Oliver Stanton, Leila Straus, Susi and Peter Wunsch, and Andrew Yuder and Kyle Glaeser.