Christina Strassfield has the beaming face and infectious energy of someone who has been given an unexpected fresh start with an opportunity to shape an organization brimming with unfulfilled promise.
The longtime chief curator and director of the museum at East Hampton's Guild Hall has been the executive director of the Southampton Arts Center since Jan. 9, and her exhilaration was palpable as she glided through the galleries in April. On the walls at that time was the latest "East End Collected" exhibition, organized by an area artist for the past several years. This year, however, Ms. Strassfield's curatorial presence was immediately apparent, as the installation had a cohesion and flow that had been lacking previously.
Now the center is showing "A Moment in Time: Iconic Images by Harry Benson." Mr. Benson, a Scottish photographer in his 90s, seems to have been on hand for most of the mid-to-late-20th century's defining moments. Speaking of the current show, Ms. Strassfield's eyes widened and her speech quickened as she listed just some of the various subjects: Amy Winehouse, John and Robert Kennedy along with images of Jackie, Queen Elizabeth with the daily red box, Valentino, Richard Nixon resigning, a young Brooke Shields, Arnold Palmer, Woodward and Bernstein, Elizabeth Taylor with cancer, Somalia, the early Beatles, and so on. In addition to images of Martin Luther King Jr., there is a photo of his family leaving the airplane that carried King's body back to Atlanta for burial. Mr. Benson captured the brief moment when they all stood in the doorway.
"It takes your breath away. It just moves you, really amazing stuff," she said in her new office of the show that was planned before her arrival. A reception will be held on Friday, May 26, with registration available on the website.
If South Fork institutional arts leadership seems like a chessboard recently, it is probably because it is. The past few years have brought a level of movement in the leadership ranks that seems relatively cataclysmic given the stasis over the past several years. Add to that the arrival of The Church, the Peter Marino Art Foundation, the Sag Harbor Cinema Arts Center, the Arts Center at Duck Creek, and other new and fledgling organizations, plus the arrival and departure of important New York City galleries and auction houses, and one cannot help sensing chaos.
And yet as things continue to churn, they are showing signs of stability. The Southampton Arts Center sits on a site long associated with the Parrish Art Museum's headquarters. But the center has suffered from intermittent leadership since it was formed after the museum moved to Water Mill in 2012. Although there were bright spots, it has struggled for relevance for much of its first post-Parrish decade.
The center's board no doubt hired Ms. Strassfield to bring a sense of purpose and vision to its programs. She is no stranger to Southampton. She lives not far from Job's Lane, where the center is located, and has served on the Southampton School Board. And her contacts within and without the regional cultural world are as broad as they are deep. While her previous roles have been based in the visual arts, she has become close to many in the performance, film, and arts education fields over the years.
She knows how to program events around exhibitions, such as screening a film about Mr. Benson, who will be in attendance, on July 7, and a talk they are planning with Michael Halsband, a photographer who toured with the Rolling Stones the way Mr. Benson toured with the Beatles. "He'll talk about how Harry influenced his life as well," she said.
After that show closes in mid-July, the rest of the summer in the gallery will be devoted to "Great Collectors: Women Pioneers Shaping the Art World." Kate Fowle, who is a former Museum of Modern Art PS1 curator now with the Hauser & Wirth gallery, Folasade Ologundudu, and Xiaoyu Weng are the curators of the show, which was conceived by Simone Levinson, a board member. Some of the collectors lending their work are Jane Holzer, Pamela Joyner, Christine Mack, Lisa Perry, Holly Peterson, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Neda Young, and the late Emily Fisher Landau, with more to be announced.
"Each one of these women collected on their own, and they use their art to help the next generation of artists and really changed the whole way we look at art." Ms. Strassfield cited Ms. Perry's Onna House in East Hampton and Ms. DeWoody's The Bunker in West Palm Beach, where underrecognized artists are shown, and the way Ms. Peterson champions young Black artists as examples of how the women involved in "Great Collectors" have used their clout to bring the art market's attention to those who might otherwise have been overlooked.
"I'm really excited about it, because I think it's going to show how important women are to the art world." Panels that are being planned for the show will bring artists, collectors, and dealers as well as filmmakers and others to the discussion table.
Ms. Levinson, the co-head of the center's board, came up with the show last year.
"When I heard about it, I said this has got to be the show," Ms. Strassfield said. "This is our 10th anniversary. It's super dynamic. This is the show that we have to go after."
The fall exhibition will build on that dynamic, bringing in another collection of younger and BIPOC artists, some well known, like Kara Walker, and others not, to offer a further introduction of art not typically seen in this area. It's also a chance to engage school groups and residents with those who have been overlooked by the art historical canon. The title will actually be "The New Canon."
"What I'm trying to do is reach out to the community on all different levels," Ms. Strassfield said.
Outside of the galleries, one of her priorities is to have more staged readings in the site's auditorium. While there isn't a full theater, having live readings brings a similar energy and complements the live music and film programs. The center has hosted Eugene Pack's production of "Celebrity Autobiography" for the past couple of years, and it will return this summer.
Mercedes Ruehl and Harris Yulin will star in a staged reading of "The Unexpected Man" by Yasmina Reza, produced by Josh Gladstone, the former head of the theater at Guild Hall. A reading of a script for a potential film based on the 19th-century wreck of the Circassian ship off Mecox will also take place this summer, with more information to be announced soon. At the time of the interview, Isabella Rossellini and Sawyer Spielberg were attached.
The film and music programs will continue with the return of series like the documentary Mountainfilm festival and the Hamptons Jazz Fest. These will be built upon as Ms. Strassfield takes full charge of the schedule. It already reflects some of her contributions, such as Lana Jokel's film examinations of Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas, a sculptor who recently died in her 90s, coming in July.
The center will have three benefit events this year. A brunch, tour, and talk on June 16 will focus on the Shingle Style architecture and restorations of Robert A.M. Stern Associates as well as Kligerman Architecture and Design and John David Rose Architects. After the tour, there will be a panel led by Randy Correll, an architect and partner at RAMSA, with two other architects. It is likely to sell out. On June 24, Whimsy: A Garden Soiree will take place in the sculpture garden on site, with a French swing band, cocktails, and catering from Robbins Wolfe. Summerfest, also held on the grounds, happens Aug. 19. It will celebrate the collectors show with as many of the participants who can attend on hand.
The classes continue, such as Linda Capello's popular figure-drawing workshops on Friday afternoons. A multiweek introduction to stage acting is in progress, and a cabaret class is coming in July. For those curious about mah-jongg, which is having a moment, a six-week course will begin on July 27. Chess classes will also be introduced that month.
As the weeks pass, the website will fill with lots of children's programs, live music, and off-season programs like silent discos and a Joe's Pub-style piano bar sing-along. One thing jettisoned from previous seasons: classes not related to art.
"You can go to a yoga studio anywhere," Ms. Strassfield said. "We have to focus on art -- lots of different ways of art -- but art in and of itself. I felt that that was my commitment. The mission should be about preserving art, protecting art, enhancing art in every way, shape, and form."
