Two New Exhibitions Go on View at Guild Hall

The East End has a history of providing an environment for artists to gather and a place of respite and contemplation where many artists work quietly and diligently seasonally and year-round, forming a vibrant creative community. In anticipation of the reopening of the John Drew Theater, the final stage of Guild Hall’s facility-wide renovation, the upcoming exhibition “A Creative Retreat — Portraits of Artists” celebrates artists who were and are the fabric of the East End community and integral to Guild Hall.

This exhibition of photographic portraits of visual, literary, and performing artists will be on view March 9 through May 6, and it is drawn largely from Guild Hall’s permanent collection, supplemented by projects by Linda K. Alpern, Laurie Lambrecht and Mark Mann.

Guild Hall was established in 1931 as a gathering place where an appreciation for the arts would “promote a finer type of citizenship.” The institution was the first arts town hall of its kind, encompassing a museum, theater, education center and meeting space under one roof. Guild Hall’s history parallels that of the American theater and art worlds, with many landmark performances and exhibitions documented in the 2021 publication “Guild Hall for All.”

Also opening March 6 at Guild Hall and on view through May 6 is “Darlene Charneco: Field Mappings — Weaves and Touchmaps.” Charneco was the 2020 Artist Members Exhibition Top Honors Awardee, chosen by Susan Thompson, associate curator of the Guggenheim Museum.

In her work, Charneco uses various materials and techniques to create a distinctive visual language and mapping system, evoking memory, connection and evolution. The “Weaves and Touchmaps” are part of an ongoing series of work inspired by dreams, visions, nature studies and the common thread of ritual found in many cultures and religions.

Each mixed-media wall piece is created through the meditative process of hammering nails, one by one. The resulting aggregations of nails represent positive wishes and visualizations for our present and future Earth. Charneco regards this as a “writing” process in which the nails are tangible objects that symbolize renewed hope, determination and faith in the accumulation of many small but important actions through time. Each piece is composed of units that are woven together into tactile topographic fields that gradually reveal microcosms in which complex organisms evolve, taking on ever-shifting roles, identities, and collective movements. In her work, Charneco highlights the power of individual acts to effect change when compounded through our interconnectedness, both physical and virtual.

A members’ opening reception for “A Creative Retreat — Portraits of Artists” and “Darlene Charneco: Field Mappings — Weaves and Touchmaps” will be held Saturday, March 9, from 11 a.m. to noon. Both shows are organized by Melanie Crader, Guild Hall’s director of visual arts. Guild Hall is at 158 Main Street in East Hampton. For more information, visit guildhall.org.