The Art Scene 11.05.15

Virtual Victuals et al.

Amanda McDonald Crowley, an independent curator, will present “ArtTechFood,” a program focused on the technological changes that affect the way we think about, approach, produce, and eat food, tomorrow at 6 p.m. at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill. Her intention is to bring “biologists, environmentalists, food activists, and molecular gastronomists together with artists to deliver urban agricultural strategies, biogenerative art, and open-source software and hardware.”

Two other upcoming programs will focus on the museum’s current exhibition, “Jane Freilicher and Jane Wilson: Seen and Unseen.” Freilicher and Wilson were surrounded by poets, painters, photographers, and filmmakers who engaged in an aesthetic dialogue with their work. On Saturday morning at 11, “Circles of Friendship: Freilicher and Wilson” will celebrate their lives and work with poetry, still images, and films.

Next Thursday at noon, Alicia Longwell, the museum’s chief curator, will provide an overview of the exhibition and the artists’ distinctive and compelling approaches to depicting the world around them. Each program is $10, free for members and students.

Talks and Things

Christina Strassfield, Guild Hall’s museum director and chief curator, will interview Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas, a sculptor known for the monumental scale of her work, on Saturday afternoon at 3 at Guild Hall, on the occasion of the publication by Abrams Books of “Strong-Cuevas Sculpture: Premonitions in Retrospect.”

The book provides an in-depth visual retrospective of a career that spans more than four decades. Several short films about the artist, who has a studio in Amagansett’s Stony Hill Woods, will be shown, and light refreshments will be served.

Ms. Strassfield will also give a tour of and insights into “A Sense of Place,” a show of selections from the museum’s permanent collection, on Monday at 12:30 p.m. in the Moran Gallery. Both programs are free.

Rothko and Cirkus

A lecture on Mark Rothko by Annie Cohen-Solal and an open rehearsal by Tilde Bjorfors, a resident artist, will take place Saturday at the Watermill Center as part of its ongoing series “Saturdays @ WMC.”

Dr. Cohen-Solal, a cultural historian, professor, and author of a book on Rothko, will speak about “Mark Rothko: Immigrant, Artist, Pioneer” at 4:30 p.m. She will discuss little-known aspects of his life and character, including his commitment to giving access to art to all. A discussion and book signing will follow.

Ms. Bjorfors and members of Cirkus Cirkor, a group she founded in 1995 that has established contemporary circus as an art form in Sweden, will perform at 6 p.m. Since its establishment, more than two million people around the world have seen the Cirkus Cirkor performances, and 400,000 children and young people have been taught by the group, which continues to extend the boundaries of what is thought of as circus.

Both programs are free, but reservations are required and can be made at the center’s website.

Group Show at Ashawagh

Richard Mothes will bring a group of artists to Springs and Ashawagh Hall this weekend, including Christina Friscia, Brian Monahan, Mark Webber, Nick Annacone, and Jennifer Satinsky. The show will be on view all day Saturday and Sunday, with a reception on Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m.

At the White Room

The White Room Gallery in Bridgehampton will present a new show of work by Anna Franklin, Ruby Jackson, and Diane Marxe beginning today. A reception will be held on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m.

Ms. Franklin will show a selection of intensely colored paintings. Known for her creative use of materials and diminutive scale, Ms. Jackson will show some of her miniature sculptures of food objects as well as abstractions created from folded paper. Ms. Marxe, a sculptor, will offer her bronze renderings of wildlife.

A group show of work by Barbara Bilotta, Sally Breen, June Kaplan, Mark Seidenfeld, Beth O’Donnell, Kat O’Neill, Bryan Greene, Savio Mizzi, Ellyn Tucker, Melissa Hin, Mark Zimmerman, Anne Brandeis, Kevin Barrett, Dennis Leri, and Eleanora Kupencow will also be on view. The exhibition will continue through Nov. 29.

Schrott’s Quilts

The Montauk Library has an exhibit of art quilts made by Susan Schrott on view through the month of November. The show features images inspired by the Shelter Island resident’s life experience, with strong and joyful women figures in hand-dyed fabrics embellished with crystals and beads.

Ms. Schrott’s background has included dance, theater, and a graduate degree in social work. She is the regional corepresentative for Studio Art Quilts Associations, a licensed psychotherapist, a certified eating disorder specialist, and an instructor of Kripalu yoga.

An artist talk, “Beyond Textiles: For the Love of the Imagination,”and a reception will take place on Nov. 15 from 3:30 to 5 p.m.

Salomon in the City

At Salomon Contemporary in Chelsea, three East End artists are featured in a show opening tonight with a reception from 6 to 8. “The Nature of Things” features work by John Alexander, Michael Combs, and Alexis Rockman, who explore the natural world in their art.

Mr. Alexander paints the environment both as a touchstone to his childhood and as a more politically motivated message about global warming. Mr. Combs’s work also touches on youthful memories, but from a perspective of revulsion, rooted in his family’s hunting tradition and his cleaning of felled ducks. Much like the traditional carving of decoys, he emphasizes the limp heads and necks that mark their death. Mr. Rockman, who has a concurrent show at the Parrish Art Museum, is also concerned about the environment and manipulation of the natural world, which he examines in futuristic compositions created through a dystopian lens. His field drawings provide painterly snapshots of the denizens of our regional ecosystem.

The exhibition will be on view through Dec. 20.

Marcelle Shows Gemake

The Peter Marcelle Gallery in Southampton will show the work of Jim Gemake beginning Saturday, with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m.

Mr. Gemake takes found objects and assembles them into compositions that often play with word meanings and double-entendres. The works can be sculptural, but typically hang on the wall in deep or shadow box frames. The exhibition will remain on view through Nov. 15.