45 Photos
ANNA!, "Grey Gardens Under Siege," 2025. Mixed media on canvas, 36 x 60 x 1.5 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Mary-Ellen Bartley, "Two Bottles on Left," 2022. Archival pigment print, 27 x 36 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Roisin Bateman, "Sun Compass IV," 2024. Paper, pigment and beeswax, 20 x 24 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Malcolm X Betts, "UNDOING NUMBER 1." Acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Nanette Carter, "Shifting Perspectives #4," 2024. Oil on mylar, 56 x 23 x 2 in. © Nanette Carter. COURTESY BERRY CAMPBELL, NEW YORK
Ivan Cofield, "Conrad’s Eye," 2023. Mixed media on wood, 30 x 24 x 2 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Andrea Cote, "Herb Woman," 2024, Cyanotype on cotton sheet with bamboo, 62 x 30 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Sabra Moon Elliot, "Close," 2024. Plaster, wood and acrylic, 45 x 40 x 9 in. COURTESY OF SABRA MOON ELLIOT
Francine Fleischer, "The Water in Between (Marionette)," 2025. Archival pigment print, 30 x 20 x 1.5 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Margaret Garrett, "Canon," 2023. Video (3 min, 15 seconds. Silent, plays on loop), Variable. COURTESY OF MARGARET GARRETT
Jim Gingerich, "Space Not Form," 2021. Oil on canvas, 64 x 84 x 2 in. COURTESY OF JIM GINGERICH
David Grundy, "The Negative Hands," 2025. Audio. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Jay Hardin, "Ricochet," 2024. Charcoal on paper, 20.5 x 15 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Ben Hassett, "PHOTOGRAPH OF A CHAIR #11," 2024. Archival pigment print, 45 x 36 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Candace Hill-Montgomery, "Judges Book Bi CoverT," 2023. Oil and acrylic on wood, 20 x 16 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Erling Hope, "Qualia 1," 2024. Red oak, 32 x 32 x 24 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Jackie Hoving, "Under Cover," 2024. Archival inkjet print on Hahnemuhle paper, acrylic paint, and Mulberry marble paper collage on Strathmore paper, 56 x 42 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Cy Keener, "Iceberg 16," 2024, "Iceberg 17," 2024, "Iceberg 18," 2024. Digital video on OLED monitor. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Cy Keener, "Iceberg 16," 2024, "Iceberg 17," 2024, "Iceberg 18," 2024. Digital video on OLED monitor. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Claude Lawrence, "Untitled," 2019. Acrylic on canvas, 28 x 22 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Ryan McNamara, "Ice Palace, Fire Island, June 2024," 2024. Ink on cut paper, 30 x 22 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Paul Miller, "Orwell’s Reverie," 2024. Architectural vellum print, 48 x 36 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Arta Jekabsone and Rhea Nowak, "Sound Harbor," 2024. Mixed media installation, 58.5 x 35.5 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTISTS
Norman Paris, "Record Ruin (Bad Company)," 2023. Graphite on paper, 74 x 74 x 2in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Victoria Roth, "Slither," 2024. Oil on panel, 24 x 20 x 1 in. COURTESY OF BROADWAY GALLERY, LLC
Jordan Seaberry, "United by Brevity (Guilt)," 2024. Acrylic, collage, tree bark, and other mixed media, 72 x 42.5 x 12 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST/PHOTO BY JORDAN SEABERRY
Blair Seagram, "Shelter Green 10," 2024. UV ink on plexi, 6 x 10 x 1.5 in. COURTESY OF BLAIR SEAGRAM/PHOTO BY BLAIR SEAGRAM
Kerry Sharkey-Miller, "Cotswold Pod," 2025. Wet-felted cotswold wool, silk and fiscos fibers, abalone, and glass beads, 34 x 5 x 5 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Robynn Smith, "Endurance/Disappearance," 2024. Solar plate monotype, 22 x 15 in. COURTESY OF ROBYNN SMITH/PHOTO R.R. JONES
Peter Solow, "Piazza Signoria," 2024. Mixed medium composite on canvas, 60 x 168 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST/PHOTO BY PETER SOLOW
Leslee Stradford, "When I Was Blind," 2023. Oil on canvas, 7 x 5 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
“MR.WASH” aka (Fulton Leroy Washington), "Time is Your Most Valuable Asset," 2024. Oil on canvas, 60 x 48 x 1.5 in. COURTESY OF "MR WASH" AKA (FULTON LEROY WASHINGTON)
Mark Webber, "15' of snow (Front and back view)," 2024. Hydrocal, hydrocal 30, glass, paint, string, 22.5 x 10 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Darryl Westly, "Interior/Exterior Salon (gestalt)," 2023. Oil on linen, 60 x 72 x 1.5 in. COURTESY OF DARRYL WESTLY, ARTIST
John Wittenberg, "Shifting Planes V," 2024. Monotype, 22 x 31 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Andre Worrell, "One of 12," 2024. Oil and watercolor on newsprint. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Linda K Alpern, "Private Moment," 2024. Photograph, 20 x 17 in. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST/PHOTO BY LINDA K. ALPERN
Amy Wickersham, "Sea & Forest," 2025. Dyed silk, acrylic on linen, 14 x 11 x 1 in. COURTESY OF AMY WICKERSHAM/PHOTO BY GARY MAMAY
Nanibah Chacon draws by the Atlantic Ocean. JEREMY DENNIS
Nanibah Chacon draws by the water. JEREMY DENNIS
Nanibah Chacon draws by the water. JEREMY DENNIS
Nanibah Chacon draws by the water. JEREMY DENNIS
Nanibah Chacon draws by the water. JEREMY DENNIS
Nanibah Chacon draws by the water. JEREMY DENNIS
Johnnie Cruise Mercer from "Mercies of a Butterfly." TONY TURNER
Nanibah Chacon plants her feet in the sand, her gaze set on the sea.
The breeze rustles her hair. The sun warms her face. And her mind runs free.
She thinks about the way she is drawn to water, despite her upbringing in the New Mexican desert of the Navajo reservation, where the resource is precious and oftentimes scarce. The ocean and bay are places that the artist has now seen on both its pristine days and it’s stormy, when the wind and fog drum at her nerves.
But either way, she feels grounded here, she said. She feels connected.
“It is the time that I feel the most calm and the most alive, and I don’t know if that comes from just the lack of it in my life,” she said of the water during an interview last week from her home in Albuquerque. “So when I see it, it is always a beautiful experience. And I cherish those moments.”
Whether she is standing along the Shinnecock Bay, or the Atlantic Ocean, she is reminded that she is a guest — first, during an artist’s residency at Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation in 2023, and the following year as a participant in The Church’s residency program in Sag Harbor.
Now, her new work — a site-specific mural inspired by the waterways of Sag Harbor and Shinnecock — is coming to the East End as part of “Here & There: The Church’s First Churchennial,” a multi-media exhibition opening Saturday, October 4, that highlights the artists residency program at The Church from its first three years, starting in 2021.
Painting, sculpture, drawing, photography and video art will be on view from over 40 artists, in addition to events and workshops in performance, music, and the written word, explained Executive Director Sheri Pasquarella.
“I hope that The Churchennial reaffirms that Sag Harbor is a home for artists — artists from all over the world, as well as in our own backyard,” she said, “and that they are a very important part of the community of the East End.”
The residency program of The Church has been central to its mission since day one, ensuring that the village continues its long history as a thriving center for makers and artists, Pasquarella said. From 2021 to 2024, the residency program has hosted over 128 artists and thinkers, she said, and all were invited to participate in The Churchennial.
Among the work that was selected, certain themes emerged, she said, from color stories to style to landscape. Some artists looked at criminal justice and resilience, especially among traditionally marginalized groups. Others explored women’s issues and the female form.
For New York City-based performance artist Johnnie Cruise Mercer, the burden of carrying weight and learning to let go sit at the heart of his one-act dance theater work, “Mercies of a Butterfly.”
“There’s also a metaphor tying to the idea of weathering a storm — to becoming a butterfly, and what it means to morph from caterpillar to butterfly,” he said, “about what it means to crawl, to fly. So crawling, running, flying, and how that’s all connected.”
The piece is the first in a series called “The Good News,” which centers on his Black Baptist background and his process of looking at his movement history, he said, starting in the church with praise dancing.
That evolved during his late teenage years, he said, when he discovered nightlife and voguing.
“Praise dance is such a religious space and I think people think about it as something where you’re giving sanctimony to God, and it’s not really connected to voguing, which is in the club,” he said. “But to me, it’s all connected, and it all ties back to feeling God in my body and holding my body and loving my body and sharing that with other people.”
Prior to his performance, which will stage on November 22 in collaboration with his creative team — music producer Young Denzel, film/video artist Torian Ugworji, horn player Robert McSweeney, drummer Jean Charlot, and fashion designer Pierre Rashad — Mercer will invite the audience to participate in a preshow ritual.
With guidance from Mercer, each person will write down a grievance — what causes them to feel heaviness or weight — on a piece of paper. And, together, they will burn them.
“I hope that they come away with an example of what it feels like to hold weight and let it go, and are given a chance to ponder on that a little bit, about what they’re holding and just what it feels like to be human and try, period,” he said. “It’s okay to try and not fly right away, and to try and not be successful right away, but then still live and still feel happy living. So I hope that they can hear that and understand the message of letting go.”
“Here & There: The Church’s First Churchennial,” featuring work by over 40 former artists in residence, will open with a reception on Saturday, October 4, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at The Church in Sag Harbor. The exhibition will remain on view through December 29. For more information, visit thechurchsagharbor.org.
Michelle Trauring on Sep 30, 2025