Guild Hall Members Exhibition Celebrates Local Art

[caption id="attachment_50241" align="alignnone" width="800"] Elena Glynn and Nina Gillman. Dawn Watson photos[/caption]

By Dawn Watson

For talent spotters and lovers of local art, there was no place better to be this past Friday and Saturday afternoons than on Main Street in East Hampton.

[caption id="attachment_50243" align="alignleft" width="200"] Scott O'Neil[/caption]

During the two-day span, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, some of the biggest names in contemporary art were out and about; work in hand, dropping off their entries for the 78th annual “Artist Members Exhibition” at Guild Hall. Of course it wasn’t just the famous faces of art that showed up; regular folks who put their time and energy into creating their artwork were there too. All told, more than 400 Guild Hall members stopped by the museum before the end of the afternoon on Saturday to enter their paintings, photographs, sculptures and such to be showcased in the long-running open invitational, which opens with a reception on Saturday, April 23.

The reasons for entering are numerous, according to the participating artists. Some hope to win. Others are looking for a sale. Still more just want to be included in the big show, or look simply forward to the creative outlet that the exhibition presents. All are grateful to Guild Hall for the opportunity.

This year will be the very first time that retired architect Evan Schwartz will see his artwork hung on a museum wall. Aside from a few group exhibits at the Art Students League of New York, where he’s been taking classes for the past three years, this Artist Members Exhibition will actually be his first real gallery show.

[caption id="attachment_50242" align="alignright" width="200"] David Slater and Margery Gosnell-Qua.[/caption]

Though painting is a relatively new pursuit for Mr. Schwartz, it’s definitely an extension of his life’s work. He’s the first to admit to a correlation between his occupation as an architect and his avocation as an artist.

“My painting style—abstract, hard-edged color field paintings—is definitely very much based on my early education as an architect,” he admits. “In both, I very much appreciate a minimalist approach.”

The Sag Harbor resident’s abstract artwork might be restrained and minimalist but his expression on Saturday was full of unadulterated joy. The artist, who has earned two “Best in Class” designations at the Art Students League, was grinning from ear to ear as he and his wife, Alison Bond, approached the drop-off point to enter his acrylic painting, “Zeus,” into the collective.

“What do I want to get out this?” he responded when asked what he hoped to accomplish by entering the exhibit. “Recognition of course,” he laughed. “However it comes. Good, bad or otherwise. I want to know what people elsewhere think about it.”

Amagansett-based artist and retired attorney Nina Gillman also popped in on Saturday afternoon to deliver her piece, “Tulips and Fan,” a painting in the style of French impressionist Edouard Manet. Accompanying her was friend Elena Glynn, who came to drop off “Three Mile Harbor,” a landscape painting by Toby Haynes, who splits his time between homes in East Hampton and Cornwall, England.

[caption id="attachment_50233" align="alignleft" width="200"] Evan Schwartz.[/caption]

The women are no strangers to the Members Exhibit. Ms. Gillman has participated in three other group shows at the museum and both are big supporters of Guild Hall. The pair said that they are looking forward to the opening reception on Saturday more than anything. Of course Ms. Gillman said she wouldn’t mind if she placed or sold her painting either.

“It’s wonderful to meet up with all our friends and fellow artists. And I love what Guild Hall does for our community,” she said. “But it would be okay to see a red or blue dot next to my painting too.”

Margery Gosnell-Qua, who lives in Remsenburg and teaches art at Suffolk Community College, also showed up on Saturday with her entry, “Marsh Grass,” an abstraction of a previous painting. Though she’s been showing her work professionally since the early ‘90s, and has earned numerous awards, the professional artist says she’d be thrilled to be recognized by this year’s Awards Juror, Jia Jia Fei.

“I would love to place here,” she said. “That’s what feels best.”

Sag Harbor-based artist David Slater also made an appearance on Saturday. The colorful painter has been in every Artist Member show at Guild Hall since 1982 and has been singled out there for his award-winning work several times the past. This year’s entry, “Jonah and the Metallic Whale,” should not disappoint his fans.

“It’s kind of a story about getting abducted by aliens,” he cryptically explains of his acrylic mixed media on canvas. “You gotta see this one.”

Scott O’Neil and her husband, Neil Kraft, also have pieces in this year’s show. On Saturday, she came by to drop off her “Cityscape 2016” collage and his “Cape Town” photograph.

The East Hampton-based couple both graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design but neither has chosen art as a full-time career. She teaches kids how to cook every day at Hayground School in Bridgehampton and he’s busy running his own advertising and branding agency.

Entering the exhibit isn’t about any expectations, she says. Participating in the Artist Members exhibit is more about keeping her involved and engaged in the practice of making art.

“I don’t think I’ll win, but that would be nice if it happened, said Ms. O’Neil. “I do this because I tend to get busy and not make art but this keeps me going. This keeps me working at it.”

The 78th annual “Artist Members Exhibition” opens at Guild Hall in East Hampton with an artists’ reception on Saturday, April 23, from 4 to 6 p.m. This year’s Awards Juror is Jia Jia Fei, Director of Digital at the Jewish Museum in New York. The show will hang through June 4. For additional information, visit www.guildhall.org.