Guild Hall in East Hampton presents selections for the 2021 Community Artists-in-Residence program, which will include two individual artists, Scott Bluedorn and Andrina Wekontash Smith, and an artist collective with Brenna Leaver, Devon Leaver, and Julian Alvarez. Public programs in association with the residencies have begun.
Established in the Summer of 2020, Guild Hall’s CAIR program aims to support the creative economy, imagination, and civic life of the Hamptons through commissioning three regionally based artists to develop, present, and collaborate on new works. The CAIR program offers artists the opportunity to strengthen and expand their practice in socially engaged and/or participatory work. Artists are provided with creative and administrative support, a paid stipend, and an exhibition or performance platform.
Residents will collaboratively work with Guild Hall’s Learning and Public Engagement staff to realize and produce socially engaged work throughout the residency. This includes aiding in the concept of the work/project, connecting to community groups, curating, or producing final products, and more.
The program culminates with a public exhibition, performance, or presentation during Guild Hall’s Summer season. The presentation may take the shape of a curated exhibition, a staged-reading or performance in our John Drew Backyard Theater, or an outdoor installation on or off the Guild Hall campus.
Scott Bluedorn’s residency project will focus on the history, practice, and revitalization of “The Tile Club,” a group of artists from the late 19th century, who met and painted on decorative tiles, often en plein air, on the Eastern End of Long Island. The group included artists such as Winslow Homer, William Merritt Chase, and architect Stanford White.
On the 90th anniversary of Guild Hall, this piece of local art history will be celebrated by the revival of the tradition and an exhibition of the original Tile Club member’s work from the Guild Hall Permanent Collection, alongside the contemporary work from community participants in Bluedorn’s Tile Club workshops.
Throughout the Summer Season, Bluedorn will guide several open studio workshops and plein-air painting sessions in which participants will work on ceramic tiles. Participants will be asked to donate at least one completed tile to the project for a public exhibition in fall 2021. A talk will be given during the exhibition to discuss the historic significance of this artist group and highlight the Guild Hall Permanent Collection Tile Club Doors as well as the tiles created by the community during this residency project.
Tile Club: Plein Air Painting Workshops with Scott Bluedorn will take place on select Wednesdays from 5 to 7 PM starting June 30 at Camp Hero, and continuing on July 28 at Gerard Drive, and August 25 at Mulford Farm. Tile Club: Open Studio Painting Workshops began at Guild Hall on Saturday, June 19, and will continue on July 17 and August 21, from 5 to 7 PM.
Throughout the Summer season, resident Andrina Wekontash Smith will collaborate on an installation piece with the Guild Hall Teen Arts Council entitled “Racial Undertones: An Exploration of Race on the East End.” The project will be birthed from the explorations they have as a group. Using prompts, readings, and open dialogues as a jumping off point, students will explore their experience, awareness (or lack thereof), of race and racism on the East End.
“The introspection of race and identity has always been a focus of my work,” said Smith. “Last summer, I directed a staged reading of Africaville at Guild Hall and moderated a conversation after the performance. This talk allowed our cast to share their individual experiences with racism, and the ways in which they channeled those experiences. Afterwards, several people reached out to me and said how much they enjoyed the conversation. It made me realize that there is a void of meaningful conversation regarding race and racism on the East End.”
The collective of Brenna Leaver, Devon Leaver, and Julian Alavarez will be working on a new film project, Apex Ape. “The Apex Department Store is an imposing white ziggurat and local landmark in Pawtucket Rhode Island, built in 1969,“ said Brenna Leaver. “In response to the advent of online shopping, the core of the Apex Department store slowly receded through the years, leading to its permanent closure in 2021. On a warm summer night in 1986, witnesses saw a massive albino ape scaling the side of the ziggurat. The merit of the building — whether nostalgic, or an eyesore — is highly contested, but nobody discusses what will happen to the Ape when his habitat is destroyed. Apex Ape will be an original creature and film compiling documentary interviews with local residents, and dramatic footage that captures the Ape’s last dance before his home is demolished. Apex Ape will explore the death of brick and mortar, and the changing nature of consumerism through the lens of dead-malls and local legend. It will examine how the inability to adapt to a changing environment inevitably leaves stragglers in the lurch.”
To develop the content, characters, and screenplay, the collective will be hosting several community roundtables with East-End residents regarding the changing face of the Hamptons. Topics will include the death of mom & pop shops, the transformation of East Hampton’s store fronts, local legend, and the future of our community. The film will be produced in partnership with LTV and be screened at an off-site location towards the end of August.