A week before the opening of “East End Collected 8” at the Southampton Arts Center, Paton Miller, the artist and founding curator of the exhibition series, recalled how it all began.
“Eleven years ago, the Parrish Art Museum left this property, and it was not a given that it would be an art center. There were other ideas floating around.” Mr. Miller attended a meeting of several stakeholders, where the idea of doing an art center was among the options. Mr. Miller was invited to give his opinion.
“I stood up and said that in order to succeed as an art center, you have to be loved. And in order to be loved you’ve got to reflect what’s happening in your area as it’s happening. They said, ‘Okay. You can leave now.’ A couple of months later I got a phone call saying, ‘Do that show.’ ”
“East End Collected” opened in May 2015 with work by 40 area artists. Eighty percent of the artworks came from private collectors; the other 20 percent from the artists. “I thought it would be a one-and-done thing,” Mr. Miller said, “but the show was really successful, so I did a second one the next year.” For that iteration, half the works were on loan from collectors.
“I thought it would bring collectors in to see the shows, but I don’t think I was successful at that. It became easier to just deal with the artists.” It’s no wonder that, since the new show will bring the total of exhibiting artists to over 300, “Someone did ask me the other day, do you paint, too?”
After mounting one show each year from 2015 to 2019, the show switched to a biannual schedule. This year brought about another change.
When Christina Strassfield became the arts center’s executive director in January 2023, Mr. Miller had already curated “East End Collected 7,” which featured work by 44 artists.
“When it came time for the installation that February, I said I would be happy to help,” said Ms. Strassfield. “We worked together on that and we had so much fun. We’ve known each other for a long time. Then when we started talking about it this time, our board knew that I had helped with the installation and they said it would be good to shake it up a little bit. So I asked Paton, and he said, ‘Let’s do it.’ ”
“Life is much better with Christina on board,” Mr. Miller said. Was it difficult organizing the previous seven by himself? “You just do it, because it’s fun. I’ve dug ditches. That’s hard work.”
“East End Collected 8,” which will open with a reception on Saturday at 5 p.m., includes painting, sculpture, drawing, prints, photography, video, and glass fusion by 28 artists. (Because of renovations to
the building’s roof, it is the first exhibition to be held in the galleries since mid-September.)
The selection decisions involved Ms. Strassfield and Mr. Miller talking about possible artists. “We each wrote up a list of artists’ names and then we came together and we started looking at the work and we voted yes or no,” Ms. Strassfield said. They made some studio visits, but because both have been involved with the local art scene for so many years, in many cases it wasn’t necessary.
“I have gone to studios sometimes but not always,” Mr. Miller said. “Luckily we have this great electronic world. You can tell a lot from pictures. The whole process for me has been a privilege. It’s an amazing thing I’ve fallen into. If some day they say, beat it, Jack, all I can say is, thank you.”
Each of the artists in the exhibition will have the same amount of space to showcase their work. Artists’ statements will be on the gallery walls, and their biographies will be available as well.
“We’re happy to get some people who haven’t really shown in a long time,” Ms. Strassfield said. “I’m really proud of the artists we’ve selected and the work that’s going into the show. To me it’s very exciting.”
The exhibiting artists are William Albertini, John Battle, John Philip Capello, Linda Capello, Gary Chiappa, David Corigliano, Eva Faye, Robin Gianis, Carly Haffner, Robert Harms, Samuel Havens, Mary Jaffe, Brendan H. Johnston, Nishan Kazazian, Joyce Kubat, Stephen Laub, Setha Low, Sutton Lynch, Mica Marder, Richard Mothes, Isabella Rupp, Georgia Suter, Deirdre Swords, Aurelio Torres, Allan Wexler, Steven Zaluski, Amy Zerner, and Susan Zises.
Looking ahead, during Black History Month the arts center will team up with Hamptons Doc Fest for a program centered around “San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood,” a 2024 documentary by Stanley Nelson, a pre-eminent chronicler of the African-American experience.
The film focuses on the neighborhood on Manhattan’s West Side from which, during the 1940s and ‘50s, thousands of residents were displaced to make way for Lincoln Center, the Amsterdam Houses, and a campus of Fordham University.
Georgette Grier-Key, director of the Eastville Community Historical Society, and Renee Simons, the president of SANS, the Sag Harbor Hills, Azurest, and Ninevah Beach Subdivisions Historic District, will be on hand to discuss the efforts to maintain the integrity of SANS and the history behind it in the face of gentrification.
Of her move to the arts center after 29 years at Guild Hall, where she had been museum director and chief curator, Ms. Strassfield said, “It’s been a wonderful experience. I’ve lived in Southampton for the last 30 years, and I have found it really gratifying to be working in the community where I’m living.”
Mr. Miller has been here since 1974. “I was wrapping up a trip through Asia and I got a scholarship to Southampton College. I’ve been here ever since. It’s serendipitous. If I had gone back to Hawaii, I don’t know how I would have survived as an artist. I had no interest in painting dolphins.”
Ms. Strassfield and Mr. Miller will conduct a tour of the exhibition on Feb. 23. Public programs will include four artist panel discussions during March and April. The exhibition will remain on view through May 4.
