The Work of Bert Stern and Hilary Helfant at Keyes Art

This weekend, Keyes Art in Sag Harbor opens two shows, one featuring the work of photographer Bert Stern and the other highlighting the ceramics of Hilary Helfant.

As one of America’s most influential and celebrated photographers, Bert Stern, who lived in Sag Harbor, was known for his iconic portraits of Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Marilyn Monroe, Kate Moss, Brigitte Bardot, Marlon Brando and Ray Charles and many others.

During his 50-year career, he created countless award-winning ads, editorial features, magazine covers, films, and portraits. His 1959 documentary about the Newport Jazz Festival, “Jazz on a Summer’s Day,” was deemed “culturally significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

He became one of the most sought-after fashion, advertising and art photographers.

His work was widely exhibited, and notable featured showings include “I Wanna Be Loved by You: Photographs of Marilyn Monroe” at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and “The Last Sitting” at Musee Maillol in Paris.

Opening at Keyes Art in Sag Harbor on Saturday, September 2, with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. will be “Bloom,” an exhibition that offers a glimpse of the world through the eyes of Bert Stern, who died in 2013. This show celebrates Bert’s unique gift of vision.

“I wanted to transform the viewer from a world of sometimes harsh reality to that which is magical and happy,” Stern’s widow, Shannah Laumeister Stern explained recently. “Bert once told me that he started photography in photojournalism, but after developing the pictures in his dark room, he felt so sad, he tour them all up.

“He wanted to create images that made people smile. He wanted to create magic,” she continued. “Here’s his quote from the documentary, ‘Bert Stern Original Madman’: ‘I fell in love with everything I photographed. I had to photograph my desires. My loves. And it’s like taking a picture. You could just do anything because it’s magical.’

“‘Bloom’ is the life force that lives on forever through Bert’s iconic images — that which blossoms through light, color, beauty, fire & rebirth.”

Hilary Helfant, based on the East End, is a ceramic artist and geometric abstractionist. She explores patterns and layers in natural forms. Her pieces don’t replicate nature but develop organically on their own. Using a sphere shape as a starting point, she makes sculpture that one doesn’t just look at, but looks into.

The radiating spikes create a larger implied sphere. For glaze, Helfant sprays a base color to then create lines using an application bulb — in a sense, painting two dimensionally on a three dimensional surface, creating movement and a strong contrast.

Keyes Art is at 45 Main Street, Sag Harbor. For more information, contact juliekeyesart.com or call 631-808-3588.