3 Photos
Two new shows are opening at the Guild Hall Museum in East Hampton on Saturday, October 24: “ac• qui• si• tions,” an exhibition of works recently acquired by the museum as part of its permanent collection; and, in the Woodhouse Gallery, “Priscilla Heine: Bloom,” a show of paintings and sculpture by the winner of best in show at the 69th annual Guild Hall Artist Members Exhibition (part one) in 2007, as determined by juror Faye Hirsch, senior editor of Art in America magazine.
The “ac• qui• si• tions” show features 35 artists: Linda Alpern, Jennifer Cross, Peter Dayton, Jim Dine, Tom Ferrara, Cornelia Foss, Dorothy Frankel, David Gamble, Michael Goldberg, Eunice Golden, Robert Goodnough, Ingebord ten Haeff, Claus Hoie, Helen Hoie, Howard Kanovitz, Stanley Kearl, Mel Kendrick, William King, Cynthia Knott, Harry Kramer, Laurie Lambrecht and Ibram Lassaw.
Also, Conrad Marca-Relli, Rima Mardoyan, Paton Miller, Robert Motherwell, Hans Namuth, Costantino Nivola, Elizabeth Peyton, Fairfield Porter, Miriam Schapiro, Joan Semmel, David Slivka, Raphael Soyer, and Darius Yektai. The works span a variety of media including, paintings, prints, collage and photographs.
“Guild Hall’s mission is to promote artists who have a connection to our region,” said Ruth Appelhof, executive director. “We are proud to show our recent acquisitions by significant East End artists. We are also pleased to present works by Priscilla Heine, a winner of the 2007 Artist Members Exhibition which celebrates and cultivates the artistic spirit within our community.”
Ms. Heine is known for deftly moving between genres, locating image and form through the visceral mark-making that has come to characterize her paintings. In her work, the artist glides across a field of action in which knotted swirls collide and unravel, twisting over color pools and long stretches of raw canvas.
Combining elements of drawing, action painting and lyrical abstraction, Ms. Heine’s imagery draws on instinct, locating form in the materiality of paint and gesture, using opulent pigmentation to lend a sense of poetry to composition and form.
The artist employs a similar construct in her elastic and expressive sculpture, in which twists and crushes of fabric, deconstructed squares and slathers of paint bounce between tension and release, calm and angst. A selection of large format paintings and tabletop sculptures will be on view in the Woodhouse Gallery through November 29.
“Priscilla Heine: Bloom” will open with a reception open to the public from 5 to 6 p.m.; a Guild Hall members preview starts at 4 p.m.
On Saturday, November 14, the museum will host “In Conversation: Amei Wallach and Priscilla Heine” at 3 p.m., with the art critic and artist discussing the current exhibition. Suggested donation is $7 for this program, which is free for Guild Hall members.
In East Hampton, the tradition of artists in residence dates back to the 1870s, and works by early residents Thomas Moran and Childe Hassam are among Guild Hall’s important acquisitions. In the 1960s, Guild Hall’s collection began to focus on the many artists who have lived and worked in the eastern Long Island region, including some of the country’s most celebrated painters, sculptors, photographers and graphic artists.
By 1973 the museum received the distinction of being accredited by the American Association of Museums. Today, the holdings of 19th, 20th and 21st century art include more than 2,000 objects, which include paintings, sculpture, prints, watercolors, photographs and drawings by internationally renowned artists. The museum continues to acquire works by donation and acquisition.
The opening reception for the “ac• qui• si• tions” show in the Moran and Spiga Galleries, on view through January 17, is also scheduled for 5 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 24, with the members preview open from 4 to 5 p.m.
Museum Director/Chief Curator Christina Mossaides Strassfield will offer a gallery talk about the museum’s recent acquisitions on Friday, November 6, at 11 a.m.; free with museum admission. Another gallery talk, on Sunday, November 8, at 1 p.m., also free with museum admission, will feature some of the artists from the “ac• qui• si• tions” exhibition.
Guild Hall programming is made possible in part though the generosity of Crozier Fine Arts, the Willem de Kooning Foundation, IBM, Barbara and Richard Lane, Dorothy Lichtenstein, Lucio and Joan Noto, Ruth Mueller, and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the Suffolk County Department of Economic Development. The Priscilla Heine exhibition was made possible through the generosity of the Giuppy Nantista Fund.
on Oct 20, 2009