In conjunction with the exhibition, A Creative Retreat: Portraits of Artists, Guild Hall collection artist Linda K Alpern will join Director of Visual Arts Melanie Crader in conversation about Linda’s career, her works in the exhibition, and the stories behind her photographs.
MARKS FAMILY GALLERY NORTH
Spin a Yarn takes its title from an expression believed to have originated in sailors’ practice of telling stories, often tall tales, while repairing ropes during long sea voyages. Delving into the complex relationship between textile labor and storytelling, the exhibition examines the use of textiles as vehicles for the preservation of memories and knowledge. The terms textile and text are derived from the Latin texere (to weave), and while Western cultures have historically prioritized the written word, many others, particularly in Latin America, have relied on a rich tradition of using threads, knots, and woven materials to record and transmit information.
Spin a Yarn brings together a diverse selection of fiberbased works dating from ancient Andean times to the present. Some of the artists featured reflect on the weavings and feather works of pre-Hispanic cultures as precursors of geometric abstraction, while others explore and build on the embroidery and weaving techniques employed by indigenous peoples across Latin America as a means of advocating for the protection of these communities and the environment. Spin a Yarn casts light on the enduring significance of fiber arts in the modernist canon and the profound impact of indigenous and pre-Hispanic weaving traditions on the development of contemporary art.
This exhibition is curated by Estrellita Brodsky, founder and director of ANOTHER SPACE, New York, with Raul Martinez.
Member Preview Day: Saturday, May 18, 12-5 PM
Not a member? JOIN today!
Galleries are open Friday to Monday, 12-5 PM. Museum admission is always free.
RELATED PROGRAM
In Conversation: Estrellita Brodsky & Joanne Pillsbury
Sunday, July 14, 2 PM
MARKS FAMILY GALLERY NORTH/TITO SPIGA EXHIBITION SPACE
Born and raised in Chester, Pennsylvania, Edward “Ted” Fawcett Carey (1932–1985) moved to New York in 1955. There he pursued a career in graphic design, forged a close friendship with Andy Warhol, and later developed a distinctive mode of painting informed by his keen interest in American folk art. While living between New York and East Hampton in the 1970s and 1980s, Carey produced a small yet compelling body of work that mimics aspects of vernacular painting, chronicles his life and relationships, and pictures facets of queer culture. Sharply observed and highly detailed, Carey’s faux-naïf paintings depict some of his favorite haunts in New York and celebrate the creative lives of other gay men.
Indebted to the foresight and generosity of Carey’s longtime partner, this exhibition draws from the Tito Spiga Bequest to Guild Hall. It surveys Ted Carey’s art for the first time since 1985, when an East Hampton gallery mounted a memorial show of his paintings in the days following his death from AIDS.
This exhibition is organized by Matthew Nichols, PhD, independent curator.
Galleries are open Friday to Monday, 12-5 PM. Museum admission is always free.
Member Preview Day: Saturday, May 18, 12-5 PM
Not a member? JOIN today!
RELATED PROGRAMS
Curator Talk: Matthew Nichols
Sunday, June 2, 2 PM
In conjunction with the exhibition Ted Carey: Queer as Folk, guest curator Matthew Nichols will discuss the art historical and cultural contexts of Ted Carey’s life and work. The queer content of Carey’s New York paintings and his tributes to other gay artists will also be examined.
In Conversation: Anne Buckwalter and Matthew Nichols
Sunday, June 23, 2 PM
In conjunction with the exhibition Ted Carey: Queer as Folk, guest curator Matthew Nichols will discuss aspects of the show with the artist Anne Buckwalter. Their talk will explore how Carey and Buckwalter share roots in southeastern Pennsylvania, draw inspiration from regional folk art traditions, and address gender and sexuality in their paintings.
MARKS FAMILY GALLERY NORTH
In anticipation of the reopening of the John Drew Theater, the final stage of Guild Hall’s facility-wide renovation, this exhibition celebrates artists who were and are the fabric of the East End artist community and integral to Guild Hall.
The East End has a history of providing an environment for artists to gather and a place of respite and contemplation where many artists work quietly and diligently seasonally and year-round, forming a vibrant creative community. This exhibition of photographic portraits of visual, literary, and performing artists is drawn largely from Guild Hall’s permanent collection, supplemented by projects by Linda K Alpern, Laurie Lambrecht, and Mark Mann.
Guild Hall was established in 1931 as a gathering place for the community where an appreciation for the arts would “promote a finer type of citizenship.” The institution was the first arts town hall of its kind, encompassing a museum, theater, education center, and meeting space under one roof. Guild Hall’s history parallels that of the American theater and art worlds, with many landmark performances and exhibitions documented in the publication Guild Hall for All (2021).
This exhibition was organized by the Director of Visual Arts, Melanie Crader.
Galleries are open Friday to Monday, 12-5 PM. Museum admission is always free.
Member Opening Reception: Saturday, March 9, 11 AM-12 PM
MARKS FAMILY GALLERY SOUTH/TITO SPIGA EXHIBITION SPACE
Darlene Charneco is the 2020 Artist Members Exhibition Top Honors Awardee, chosen by Susan Thompson, associate curator, Guggenheim Museum.
Charneco uses various materials and techniques to create a distinctive visual language and mapping system, evoking memory, connection, and evolution. The Weaves and Touchmaps are part of an ongoing series of artworks inspired by dreams, visions, nature studies, and the common thread of ritual found in many cultures and religions.
Each mixed-media wall piece is created through the meditative process of hammering nails, one by one. The resulting aggregations of nails represent positive wishes and visualizations for our present and future Earth. Charneco regards this as a “writing” process in which the nails are tangible objects that symbolize renewed hope, determination, and faith in the accumulation of many small but important actions through time. Each piece is composed of units that are woven together into tactile topographic fields that gradually reveal microcosms in which complex organisms evolve, taking on ever-shifting roles, identities, and collective movements. Charneco highlights the power of individual acts to effect change when compounded through our interconnectedness, both physical and virtual.
This exhibition is organized by Guild Hall’s Director of Visual Arts, Melanie Crader.
Galleries are open Friday to Monday, 12-5 PM. Museum admission is always free.
Member Opening Reception: Saturday, March 9, 11 AM-1 PM
Joel Mesler’s practice sheds light on universal themes by filtering them through autobiography, humor, self-deprecation, and surprising compositional juxtapositions. Mesler has explored the power of acceptance, allowing emotions—as well as the cultural forms in which they become entangled—to exist at the center of his projects. An artist, and former art dealer, Mesler will create an installation that mimics his studio, office, and exhibition space—including work by a select group of his contemporaries—providing a gathering and meeting place where the artist will host office hours. Mesler’s office hours create a simultaneous performance and public program.
This exhibition is organized by Melanie Crader, museum director and curator of visual arts with Philippa Content, museum registrar and exhibition coordinator.
Gallery Hours:
Sunday, 1-5 PM
Monday, 10 AM-5 PM
Tuesday, Four Arts members only, 1-5 PM
Wednesday through Saturday, 10 AM-5 PM
Guild Hall: An Adventure in the Arts presents highlights from our permanent collection. Established in 1931 by Mary Woodhouse (also a co-founder of The Society of the Four Arts), Guild Hall has become the cultural heart of the East End through its core principle that participation in the arts creates greater civic engagement.
Guild Hall’s collection comprises over 2,400 works by internationally renowned 20th and 21st century artists. An Adventure in the Arts features 72 works by 59 artists, including George Bellows, Lynda Benglis, Chuck Close, Jane Freilicher, Adolph Gottlieb, Jasper Johns, Thomas Moran, Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, and Robert Rauschenberg. Many of these artists lived and worked in the East End, highlighting the tradition of artists in residence since the 1870s. The exhibition is accompanied by the publication Guild Hall For All (2021), which was published in celebration of our 90th anniversary.
Join Artist Members Exhibition artist Michael A. Butler and Director of Visual Arts Melanie Crader for a conversation about his work. The discussion will center around the evolution of Butler’s artwork and its recurring themes of imagined representations of underrecognized peoples based on scarce written documentation.
Crossing Boundaries and Disciplines: Art and Academic Practices. How do these different practices come together and enrich our East Hampton community? Join Artist Members Exhibition artist Setha Low for this salon conversation. After a brief presentation of the material and metaphorical threads that underlie Low’s art and publications, she will lead a discussion of the multiple ways that Guild Hall is a community public space that supports the multidisciplinary nature of artists. Low argues that a better sense of community and activism can evolve through art and science, and she hopes you will join her in this endeavor.
Lunch Break is a series of open, insightful, participatory, and short discussions about art. Each Lunch Break is led by Guild Hall’s Patti Kenner Director of Learning + New Works, Anthony Madonna and focuses on various ways to absorb and interpret the work of the artists on exhibit.
Participants are welcome to join staff for lunch in the Guild Hall Pantzer Gallery or Minikes Garden after the program. Attendees may bring their own lunch or purchase small bites from Louise & Howie’s Coffee Bar in the lobby. *
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 12 PM: Leo Villareal: Celestial Garden
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 12 PM: Mary Boochever: Chart of the Inner Warp
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15, 12 PM: 84th Artist Members Exhibition
*Small croissant sandwiches from Tutto Caffè, will be available, first come, first served.