Southampton Arts Center's 'The Collectors Sale'

From Friday, August 28, through Sunday, September 13, the Southampton Arts Center will host a new benefit event, “The Collectors Sale.”

Traditionally, the Southampton Arts Center season comes to a close with the highly anticipated annual SummerFest event. With current restrictions prohibiting gatherings of more than 50 people, outside the box thinking and a new approach to fundraising has proven essential.

“Always striving to fulfill our mission of community building through the arts, we reimagined what our annual benefit could look like, complying within the local and state guidelines,” said Simone Levinson, founding co-chair and a member of the arts center’s board of directors. “Where once SummerFest allowed us to host 450 supporters in a year end celebration, featuring 30 of our most celebrated chefs and restaurants across the East End, this year we turn our attention to the artists that we have served and supported these past eight years.

“We are so humbled by the magnanimous generosity that has resulted in a fundraising exhibition that will highlight well over 70 works from emerging to established artists. This event captures the spirit of Southampton Arts Center as we continue to be an economic driver for the village while building bridges throughout our community.”

The Collectors Sale will take place in-person in the Southampton Arts Center theater starting on Friday, August 28. Open Wednesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., the sale will run in the theater through Sunday, September 13, and will continue on Southampton Arts Center’s online gallery through December 31. Artists and collectors are being asked to contribute to this special fundraiser by donating a work or works of art. Works will have a broad range of price points for all budgets. All proceeds will underwrite the arts center’s slate of year-round programming.

The benefit art sale will debut with an intimate First Look Cocktail Reception on Thursday, August 27, from 6 to 8 p.m. in hourlong shifts of no more than 50 people each on the center’s west lawn and in the theater. Face masks are required, and all social distancing protocols will be followed. Reception attendees will have first dibs on purchasing the works that will be available to the general public starting at 11 a.m. on Friday. Tickets for the first-look reception are $250 and can be purchased at southamptonartscenter.org or by calling 631-283-0967.

Artists whose work is for sale include Cliff Baldwin, Monica Banks, Roisin Bateman, Jodi Bentivegna, Scott Bluedorn, Hal Buckner, Perry Burns, Michael Butler, Isadora Capraro, Jeff Carpenter, Darlene Charneco, Philippe Cheng, Rossa Cole, Michael Combs, Andrea Cote, Janet Culbertson, Lautaro Cuttica, Ninatchka Dec, Jeremy Dennis, Eric Dever, Eric Fischl, Francine Fleischer, Helen Frankenthaler, Saskia Friedrich, Denise Gale, Ralph Gibson, Janet Goleas, April Gornik, Melinda Hackett, Michael Halsband, Hiroyuki Hamada, Candace Hill, Stephanie Hirsch, Kara Hoblin, Alice Hope, Rachel Lee Hovnanian, Erica-Lynn Huberty, Carol Hunt, Ruby Jackson, Yung Jake, Will Kurtz, Mary Lambert, Laurie Lambrecht, Denis Leon, LoVid, Jennifer Lynch, Christa Maiwald, Roberta Marroquin, Dinah Maxwell Smith, Lydia McKee, Paton Miller, Steve Miller, Altone Mishino, Lindsay Morris, Michael Paraskevas, Miles Partington, Cindy Pease Roe, Toni Ross, Will Ryan, Sara Salaway, Matthew Satz, Bastienne Schmidt, Kerry Sharkey Miller, Dennis Snyder, Adam Straus, Jim Torok, Dan Welden, Lucy Winton, Domingo Zapata and Almond Zigmund.

In addition to artists donating their works, private collectors and gallerists have also contributed, including Henry Buhl, Lise and Michael Evans, Lisa Dennison, Andrea Glimcher, Simone and David Levinson, Christine and Richard Mack, Marigay McKee and Bill Ford, Paula Viscogliosi, and Avant Gallery.

Southampton Arts Center is at 25 Jobs Lane, Southampton Village.