At Home With Adler And Beegan - 27 East

Residence

Residence / 1389703

At Home With Adler And Beegan

icon 19 Photos
Chris Roffe checks on the clams. MICHELLE TRAURING

Chris Roffe checks on the clams. MICHELLE TRAURING

Carolyn Beegan's and Andrew Adler's backyard.

Carolyn Beegan's and Andrew Adler's backyard.

Carolyn Beegan and Andrew Adler.

Carolyn Beegan and Andrew Adler.

Carolyn Beegan and Andrew Adler share a moment in their backyard on Union Street in Sag Harbor.

Carolyn Beegan and Andrew Adler share a moment in their backyard on Union Street in Sag Harbor.

Carolyn Beegan's and Andrew Adler's home on Union Street in Sag Harbor.

Carolyn Beegan's and Andrew Adler's home on Union Street in Sag Harbor.

Living room.

Living room.

Dining room.

Dining room.

A collection of books and art.

A collection of books and art.

Andrew Adler gives Izzy a treat.

Andrew Adler gives Izzy a treat.

Izzy waits for her treat.

Izzy waits for her treat.

Artists Andrew Adler and Carolyn Beegan inside their studio in Sag Harbor.

Artists Andrew Adler and Carolyn Beegan inside their studio in Sag Harbor.

Paints.

Paints.

Brushes.

Brushes.

Artist Andrew Adler uses coconuts to mix paints instead of a palate.

Artist Andrew Adler uses coconuts to mix paints instead of a palate.

Inside the studio.

Inside the studio.

Bedroom.

Bedroom.

Artists Carolyn Beegan and Andrew Adler collaborate.

Artists Carolyn Beegan and Andrew Adler collaborate.

Living room.

Living room.

Artists Carolyn Beegan's and Andrew Adler's home on Union Street in Sag Harbor.

Artists Carolyn Beegan's and Andrew Adler's home on Union Street in Sag Harbor.

authorMichelle Trauring on Sep 18, 2011

When artist Carolyn Beegan moved into her historic Sag Harbor home 11 years ago, she modeled the living room after the American Hotel on Main Street, capturing the look of a cozy smoking parlor oozing with a British Colonial essence.

Little did she know that years later, this particular room would bring her memory back to the night she met her present-day fiancée: abstract expressionist Andrew Adler.

It was a cold winter night in 2009. Mr. Adler was at the American Hotel bar with a couple of friends when he noticed Ms. Beegan. But he was too shy to say hello.

Two days later, he saw her again.

“We were having another drink at the hotel, and I walked straight up to her, which I never do, and invited her to sit down with us,” Mr. Adler said during a recent interview at the couple’s home. “And then we just talked. All evening.”

“I was only there two nights later because of the snowstorm,” Ms. Beegan piped in, lounging on a chaise in the living room. “It’s not like I was always sitting in that seat, wearing the same sweater.”

“I was wearing the same sweater, too!” Mr. Adler said.

“You were!” Ms. Beegan recalled with a laugh. “It’s almost like we had a retake. We blew it the first time, and then we had a second chance.”

Under the falling snow, Mr. Adler walked Ms. Beegan home later that evening. He kissed her good night, and not long after, moved into her circa-1790 house on Union Street—fortifying their relationship and kick starting an artistic partnership.

The couple transformed the attic into a computer studio, leaving the painting to their workspace just up the road on Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike. Their combined style is a hybrid between digital imaging and abstract expressionism, Ms. Beegan explained.

“It was Andrew’s idea to work together,” she said.

“I was trying to keep her attention,” Mr. Adler said.

Ms. Beegan smiled, playfully shaking her head of thick red hair. Mr. Adler first grabbed her attention as an individual artist, she said, gesturing to some of his artwork around the room, including a bust on the floor and an abstract painting of calla lilies. One of her nude drawings hangs adjacent, across the way from a collection of her early oil paintings.

Small pieces of artwork on the walls tease at their travels together and separate backgrounds, as does their new collaboration. And though Ms. Beegan was there first, the house now reflects both artists, the couple said.

“I loved the character—the wide-planked floors, the moldings,” Ms. Beegan said. “It just had a lot of charm.”

“I like old houses,” Mr. Adler added. “I lived in a 550-year-old house in the south of France.”

“So he has a thing for age and charm, too,” Ms. Beegan said.

Though nearly half of Mr. Adler’s years have been spent overseas, he is no stranger to the East End. Artistic from a young age, he summered in Southampton with his father, Richard Adler, a Tony Award-winning Broadway songwriter.

“I grew up in a particular atmosphere with very well-known people around me who were very driven, ambitious and all about career,” Mr. Adler said. “And I saw that they weren’t necessarily the happiest people. But I was always painting for me. I knew it was an expression and a communication, and I wanted people to see it.”

After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1973, all Mr. Adler knew was that he wanted to explore his art. So he moved back to the Hamptons, where he worked as an assistant to abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning until 1975.

“That was the height of my artistic education,” Mr. Adler said. “He was a real laid-back guy, but just being around him was very intense. He’d come by my studio and give me sort of critiques, in his way. And the anecdotes he had, he was very rich with experience.”

Driven to gain his own life experiences, Mr. Adler left his father and de Kooning behind at age 23 for Europe. He didn’t return to the United States for three decades.

“I’d never taken advantage of America, culturally,” he said. “I always had shows and kept in touch, but I felt like I was totally isolated in the south of France. It was sort of like a dead end for me, in Europe. Even though I was showing, I felt it was time to spend some time in America. So I came back.”

Ms. Beegan wasn’t encouraged to pursue her artistic ambitions during her childhood, she said. It was merely employed as a distraction mechanism by her mother during Mass services at church, she recalled.

“She’d give me a pen and paper to shut me up,” she said. “So I always drew and loved drawing, but as Irish immigrants, my parents discouraged me from going to art school, which is what I really wanted to do. Not out of any kind of meanness, but they didn’t think it was very practical. They saw painting as more of a hobby than a career.”

Ultimately, Ms. Beegan became a systems analyst in the oil industry, she said, and hated it with a passion.

“I finally quit just to paint full time,” she said. “The whole time that I worked, I’d take art classes on the side. My father goofs around that I retired at 26.”

Mr. Adler interrupted. “Well, we have another similarity that I didn’t realize.”

“What’s that?,” Ms. Beegan asked.

“Since you were painting in the church, it was that religious impulse. It must have been an influence,” Mr. Adler said.

“Yes, of course,” his fiancée replied.

“And I got a degree in comparative religions, which I do incorporate into my work,” Mr. Adler said.

Religion is a theme that the couple finds in their work together, as well as their travels, where they gather photographs of local scenes and each other. To begin a piece, Ms. Beegan collages and manipulates two or more photographs together in Adobe Photoshop. The composition is printed out, small format, and is then enhanced by hand using a combination of oil paint, acrylic, charcoal, ink and wax.

When the couple is satisfied, the image is scanned back into Photoshop and further manipulated. The final composition is printed large format, typically on canvas, and finalized by hand.

At their studio, Ms. Beegan said the first piece they worked on together took a year, but since then, the journey has smoothed out. The couple has a rhythm, and can usually finish in about four months.

“How do we know we’re done? Well, what did Jackson Pollock once say?” Ms. Beegan said, looking at her fiancée. “‘How do you know when you’re done making love?’”

The couple laughed.

“This is a new entity,” Mr. Adler said, referring to their artistic partnership. “We’re treating it like it’s a third person. It’s not us. My work is not her work. We’re known individually, but this is something new because it’s only been born just over two years ago. It’s like someone coming out of art school. So the work is like a 23-year-old, which I still feel like.”

They walked out of the studio, closing the doors behind them. While they haven’t set a wedding date, 45-year-old Ms. Beegan said they’ll be married before Mr. Adler turns 60 next year.

As a couple, and collaborative artists, they’re just getting started.

“The work is really about us, our experience together,” Mr. Adler said. “And our expression as a couple and our love. And all that happens is not always the idealistic side. We’re not 20 years old anymore. There are pictures of us in it. It’s very aesthetic oriented, but in a mature sort of way.”

You May Also Like:

East Hampton Historical Society To Host 19th Annual Antiques & Design Show Benefit

The East Hampton Historical Society is hosting its 19th annual Antiques & Design Show Benefit ... 30 Jun 2025 by Dan Stark

Fireflies Are Back for Summer — or Are They?

Like Fourth of July fireworks, cooling swims and relaxing vacations, fireflies are a sign of ... 26 Jun 2025 by Melissa Morgan Nelson

Gourds Are a Great Growing Project for Curious Kids — and Adults

It’s not too late to plant a few seeds that can be a great project ... by Andrew Messinger

David Harber and Michael Derrig Present 'A Celebration of Art in the Garden'

The David Harber studio in Oxfordshire, England, is bringing its outdoor sculptures to East Hampton ... 24 Jun 2025 by Brendan J. O’Reilly

Salvatore Piazzolla and Grant Wilfley Find Comfort in Southampton

Salvatore Piazzolla and Grant Wilfley found solitude when stumbling upon what inevitably was their dream ... 20 Jun 2025 by Tristan Dyer

Free Tuesday Webinar on 'Case Studies of East End Near-Zero and Net-Zero Residential Properties

Jean-Pierre Clejan, a renewable energy integrator specializing in zero-energy building, will host a free, live webinar, “Case Studies of East End Near-Zero & Net-Zero Residential Projects,” on Tuesday, June 24, at 4 p.m. The two-hour sustainability-focused continuing education unit program, with PDH, AIA HSW and GBCI/LEED credits available, showcases the ways architects have achieved net-zero and near-zero energy for their Long Island clients by incorporating energy efficiency, specifying hyper-efficient electric HVAC and optimizing roof/site plans to maximize solar production. In each case study, Clejan will review the embedded technology, key design elements, and real-world energy/financial performance of the built project. ... 18 Jun 2025 by Staff Writer

Ouch: Pests That Bite and Sting

At this time of the year I love sitting on my front porch (unscreened) where ... 16 Jun 2025 by Andrew Messinger

PSEG Shifting to Time-of-Day Electricity Rates

Homeowners are being offered an opportunity to save money on their electric bills and help reduce the costs of providing electricity to the entire region, thanks to a new program that PSEG Long Island has been rolling out over the last two years that incentivizes reducing electrical use during the hours when demand across the grid is highest. As of this summer, all of PSEG Long Island’s customers will have the option of choosing a new rate system that charges higher rates for electricity during the peak late afternoon and early evening hours, lower rates during nonpeak hours and discounted ... by Michael Wright

What To Do About Chewing Insects, Slugs and Snails

In just a week as we turned from late May to early June the daytime ... 12 Jun 2025 by Andrew Messinger

Peter Kahng Infuses His Sag Harbor Home With Art

In a town where historic preservation is a driving force of conduct, it’s no small ... by Tristan Dyer