Art Show To Depict South Fork's Farm 'Scenes And Structures'

The steady pace of building on the South Fork has resulted in an ever-changing landscape. An art show and sale reflecting this transformation will open at the Levitas Center for the Arts at the Southampton Cultural Center on Tuesday, March 1.

“Scenes & Structures Here and Gone” will feature large-scale photographs of disappearing farm structures by Anthony Lombardo, as well as paintings of beaches, farmscapes and big skies by Eileen Dawn Skretch. A meet the artists reception will be held on Saturday, March 12, from 4 to 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Many of the pieces originally appeared in a show at the center in 2007, but the physical landscape has changed dramatically since then.

“From the years that have passed, houses are going up, and barns are getting knocked down,” said Ann Lombardo, who is married to Anthony Lombardo and is the show’s curator. “Several of the barns and agricultural buildings that Anthony photographed have been demolished or fallen down from disrepair.”

Mr. Lombardo studied with apprentices of Ansel Adams, the famous American photographer and environmentalist. That experience, combined with being an outdoorsman, has influenced his work, according to Mrs. Lombardo.

Ms. Skretch has spent her entire life in Southampton and has watched the town change over the years. “I was born in a farming family, and when I was a kid, we played in the rye fields and potato fields, and you could see for miles and miles,” she recalled. “There weren’t these big houses back then.”

When she works on her plein air paintings, Ms. Skretch ignores the man-made structures that now protrude on farm fields and instead paints the landscapes as she remembers them from when she was growing up, vast open spaces. “I didn’t love the buildings, so I ignored them,” she said, laughing.

“Scenes & Structures Here and Gone” will be open from March 1 to April 10. For more information, call 726-4625 or visit www.scc-arts.org.