by Marianna Levine

Luis Murillo, a 16-year-old Pierson High School student, may be the youngest member of the Choral Society of the Hamptons, yet his voice already has the warmth and maturity of a more experienced singer. Murillo is eager to point out that he has come a long way vocally since arriving in Sag Harbor from his native Costa Rico just three years ago. There was a time, he smiles, when, “I was almost tone deaf. I couldn’t match pitch.”

When Murillo arrived with his mother Lydia in 2005, he could barely speak English, since then he has not only worked hard on developing his singing voice but also speaks an almost perfect English.

“I was in ESL classes in eighth and ninth grades, but then I tested out after two years.”

Murillo adds that it is fairly unusual to test out of ESL in two years, but he is clearly a hard working and determined young man. He explains that he has been interested in the stage and performance since childhood, but as a child in Costa Rica he failed the exam to go to the music school, La Sinfonica which almost stymied his career.

“From the second or third grade on I wanted to sing or play an instrument,” says Luis. “I’d look at a stage and emotionally it felt like home, but as a child I was quite hyper active, and I was always yelled at in my music prep classes. But it didn’t stop me from singing. I used to watch Bugs Bunny cartoons and copy the pieces of classical music the characters would sing.”

He explains that his school in Costa Rica just didn’t have any musical or creative enrichment programs like Pierson has here. You either were accepted at La Sinfonica or you’d have to be content with the curriculum at the regular school.

“The musical world is always very present here,” he says. ‘At school here they have talent shows, musicals, and chorus.”

Murillo explains that his singing career started when Pierson’s choral teacher caught him singing to himself in the school hallway. She proceeded to invite him to participate in the school’s chorus, and from then on several opportunities presented themselves to him, which eventual led him to receive The Playhouse’s Elizabeth Brockman Promise Award in 2008 as well as his current participation in the Choral Society of the Hamptons.

Murillo prefers to focus the conversation on all the teachers and people who have helped him rather than on his own hard work and achievement, but the truth is he has had to work hard at part time jobs to be able to afford the vocal classes he needs to further his career.

Murillo explains that his mother, who supports his love of music even if she doesn’t fully understand it, is currently sending three daughters to college in Costa Rica. He does add that his first vocal teacher Ute Rose, as well as Pierson’s current choral teacher Suzanne Nicoletti, Jane Ross, and The Playhouse’s Myra Banks have helped or are helping him to pay for private vocal classes. This summer he will be taking classes with opera singer Robert White at Juilliard.

Opera really is Murillo’s hobby and passion. It started with a DVD of ‘Phantom of the Opera,” but has since morphed into a serious admiration for Verdi. Murillo saves money all year to buy Met Opera tickets as well the Jitney fare into the city. He relates that Opera really appeals to him because, “I love moving while singing. I like to feel the music.”

In the meantime, singing for the Hamptons Choral Society has been an amazing experience according to Murillo.

“There’s nothing like being in a group and singing for an audience,” he says. “You really get to practice what you’re learning. I’ve learned to blend my voice with others. It’s been a great opportunity for me to perform.”

The Choral Society of the Hamptons performs Brahms’ German Requiem this Saturday, July 11 at 8 p.m. at the Old Whalers’ Church, 44 Union Street, Sag Harbor. Tickets are $30 and available by calling 725-2499. 

 Above: Luis Murillo

Perhaps only Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” can rival it in terms of sheer popularity and accessibility. Since it opened in Chicago in 1945, “The Glass Menagerie” has been performed countless times on stages everywhere, from high school drama departments to community playhouses to Broadway. Now, Williams’ autobiographical tale about the Wingfield family is coming to Guild Hall’s newly refurbished John Drew Theater and stars Amy Irving as Amanda, the shrewish mother who lives a life fueled by nostalgia.

There are numerous plot lines to both the play and this particular production. First you have a director/actor pairing that promises good chemistry. Harris Yulin is directing and he’s worked with Irving in the past, though not in the director’s role. The two starred in a made-for-television movie in the late 70’s.

“He’s so sensitive to the actors, being an actor himself,” said Irving of Yulin’s directing style. “He communicates in a way that instills freedom and confidence and also challenges you.”

Yulin said Irving has been great to work with so far in rehearsals.

“You always want an actor to be responsive to you and to the material. You want them to be true to that, but to be their own person, to find their own lifeblood,” said Yulin.

And for Irving the material has added significance. She is no stranger to the play, having played the role of Laura, the daughter, in a production in Sante Fe that also featured her mother, Priscilla Pointer, as Amanda. Irving said her mom, who will be flying out to attend the opening at John Drew, has refrained from playing the role of acting coach.

“She’s not giving me advice, she’s just being very encouraging,” said Irving. “I remember her performance so well. She was so good. Certain lines have stuck in my brain. I’ve had to make sure that I’m my own Amanda and not hers.”

Irving is clearly excited to be playing the role and said she’s come to the part with her own ideas about who Amanda is as a character. And as a mother herself, she said she definitely relates to certain aspects of the character.

“I certainly know about prioritizing your children,” said Irving.

Amanda is the quintessential Southern matriarch, clinging to the “Old South” though now living in the Midwest, as she tries to marry off her physically and emotionally crippled daughter, Laura.

“She’s this force of nature,” said Irving. “I’ve never played a woman quite as complex. She keeps things moving even when things are falling apart around her. And as strong as she is, she’s also very fragile.”

Irving and Harris both remarked on the range of emotions present in Amanda, and in the play itself.

“It is so full of pain, it’s true,” said Yulin. “But it’s also full of humor. It’s a play of such powerful ambiance – it’s the essence of family.”

“Through her reliving the past as a belle of the ball, her emotions run the gamut from joy to complete despair. It’s funny, tragic – it’s all over the place. It’s like running a marathon with so many valleys and hills.”

The work is without a doubt William’s most autobiographical. It began as a short story, was then adapted by MGM studios in the late 30’s for the big screen under the title “Gentleman Caller” and finally ended up as the play that generations have come to know as “The Glass Menagerie.” Yulin said he was embarrassed, that as a veteran actor, he had never worked on a production of the Williams masterpiece, though he was of course familiar with the work.

“Getting into it is like opening a door and walking into a room that’s only been described to you,” he said.

Yulin and Irving both used the word “honored” to describe how it felt to be working on a Williams play.

“It’s a privilege. I’m savoring it every day, eating it like little spoonfuls,” said Irving.

Yulin said he was sure the audiences would leave John Drew happy, but if there was one thing he hoped for, it was that they would leave with a new appreciation for the playwright.

“I hope they’ll say, ‘God, what a beautiful person Tennessee Williams was’.”

By Marianna Levine

Blair Seagram, a Canadian artist and photographer, who has been a part-time resident of Sag Harbor since the mid-90s, will have her first solo exhibit “Surf Report” at the Tulla Booth Gallery in Sag Harbor starting Saturday May 23 with an artist’s reception from 6-8 p.m.

Seagram has been drawn to water since her childhood. She lived near Lake Huron in Canada and learned to swim at age four. But she states a lake is quite different from an ocean, even a Great Lake, such as Huron. Since living out on Eastern Long Island she has become increasingly interested in the ocean and capturing images of it.

“Water has always been an important part of my life, a really major interest for me, which is probably why I ended up living here right by the water. I love being in it, on it, everything to do with it, and the water is so varied here,” said Seagram. “I was really struck by the general beauty (of the East End) and have taken photographs of gardens and buildings, but ultimately I am always drawn back to the water.”

Therefore it made sense the photographer eventually ended up focusing her work on the ocean and more recently began taking pictures of surfers on Ditch Plains. She notes it’s always important for artists to work on that which really inspires them in order to “make something come alive. To capture the essence or spirit of something.”

She adds her job, as a photographer is “to make all the preparations and then see what happens.” And she was more than happy to wait and see what happened with the surfers. “It was so exciting to get out there and watch them.” Often she wouldn’t know what she actually captured until she got home and downloaded the images.

Seagram felt her interest in taking panoramic photographs, using a digital technique that she has developed over the years, was well suited to taking pictures of surfers, in that she was able to take several photographs of the surfers’ rides and then blend them into a panorama, giving the images some movement. She also found the location of Camp Hero, above several surf spots, gave a great aerial vantage point for her photographs.

In the panoramic images on display at Tulla Booth, viewers can watch a surfer get up on his board and follow the ride until he wipes out all within one single still photograph albeit a very wide one. This technique of blending several photographs digitally into one seamless image came out of an experience Seagram had visiting the Yukon with her family in1995.

“I got to the top of this place called the ‘midnight dome,’ and I had a regular Pentax 35mil camera, and I looked at this enormous view and just started clicking pictures from left to right to get the whole big image I was seeing on film. I then pasted the images together and rescanned them. Later I learned more about Photoshop and how to work in layers, but the whole idea of panoramic photographs really started in the 19^th century, so it has a history,” Seagram explains.

“When I started taking pictures of surfers I already had my panoramic technique in place, but I wondered how to get the movement I wanted in my photographs. I wanted to catch someone going through their ride.” She them found her multiple image technique did indeed capture a surfer’s ride almost as a moving image would, and gave viewers a new way to see surf images.

While taking photographs of surfers, Seagram who is not a surfer herself, has come to respect the surfing lifestyle and the surfer’s relationship with the water. As a photographer who sits and watches for an image to capture, she was sympathetic to the special way in which surfers look at the ocean.

“I’ve seen them get out of their cars and just watch the water. They stand and look and watch the ocean for a long time until they make a decision of where to enter the water. These guys know so much about the weather and how the water is affected by it. It’s pretty amazing.”

And Seagram has come to learn a lot about the various surf spots on the East End, and the various nicknames surfers give the spots. The names themselves, she notices, are quite interesting such as Turtle Bay, Radar, and Trailer Park, to name a few.

Seagram’s interest in surfing is fairly new. The idea to take images of surfer’s came as a suggestion from a friend who thought Seagram’s panoramic format would make for interesting surf images. It took her a few years to really take to the idea, but since then she’s been mesmerized by surf culture.

“Surfers have such a wonderful peaceful, natural co-existence with the ocean.”

Seagram has also realized through watching the surfers and the ocean that, “the Ocean should be treated with respect. It’s awesome and can be dangerous. One should never take things in nature for granted.”

By Andrew Rudansky

Lillian Woudsma is eager to show the distribution center underneath the Old Whalers Church on Union Street, carefully going over each shelf and refrigerator. She looks over the assortment of canned and fresh food with a sense of pride. Woudsma has been the director of the Sag Harbor Community Food Pantry for the past four and a half years. Passionate about her work at the SHCFP Woudsma said, “This is a community and it is a home.”

Woudsma, along with 40+ volunteers at the SHCFP, helps feed close to 60 local families every week. Woudsma isn’t one to tout her accomplishes, when asked about her work she modestly said, “I don’t do anything special. I just work – and I love this work.”

Her work now also includes organizing the second annual SHCFP Kitchen Tour. The tour, a brainchild of Regina Humanitzki and Ms. Woudsma, is the latest event set up by the SHCFP to raise money and awareness for the constant need of donations.

The tour starts at 12 noon on May 30, and will feature six kitchens from around the Sag Harbor area. At the kitchens ticketholders will enjoy live music, food, as well as in-depth talks from local builders and designers.

The first stop on the Kitchen Tour is Frank Santoro’s remodeled 19^th century whalers house. This quaint house offers a simple sophistication with its rustic motif. The kitchen contains pine cabinets designed by Bob Wolfram, exposed dishware, and simple country-style decorations. A free-standing hutch was used by Wolfram to design the rest of the cabinets; the entire kitchen expresses this air of continuity.

A few winding steps down out of the kitchen leads to the bucolic terrace complete with dark wooden patio furniture and a stone path. When asked about his decision to offer his house as a stop on the Kitchen Tour Santoro said, “It was my way of being able to help with this great organization.” Don’t miss: the outdoor patio.

For a different experience, Chris and Russ Patrick’s kitchen offers a more modern décor. Built in 1810, the kitchen has all the charm and sophistication of a posh Manhattan loft. A brick fireplace commands the room and is nicely accented by the unusual brown and black checkered pine hardwood floor. Towards the back of the kitchen French doors lead to the outdoor pool and garden. The hanging lights, high ceiling and white paneled walls give the kitchen area an exclusive chic feeling. The entire kitchen has the air of a non-Moroccan Rick’s Café Américain — unmistakably hip. Chris Patrick said, “When we entertain no one ever leaves the kitchen.” Don’t miss: the giant central fireplace.

Never has the adage, “a house resembles the people who inhabit it,” been more apparent than the example of Bay Burger owners Lindsay and John Landis. Their undeniably pink kitchen is a warm and inviting splash of creativity that refuses to be ignored. The Landis’ similar gracious and outgoing personalities are as much an attraction as the kitchen itself.

This kitchen boasts an impressive design team that includes John Bjornen, Bob Wolfram, James Greenwell, John Hummel, and Julie Keyes.

Attached to the kitchen, the affectionately named “Gazebo” contains a subdued island motif with a stunning 180-degree view of Morris Cove. Unique features include mosaic wall patterns, and igneous “lava” rock counter top.

For this kitchen, pink is the name of the game. “Our daughter calls it Aphrodite’s Palace,” said Lindsay Landis with a broad smile. Don’t miss: the pink cutlery.

For a more reserved kitchen look to the modern design found in the house of Lori and Richard Berk. Built and designed by John Woudsma and his son John G. Woudsma, the entire house is an example of elegance in straightforwardness. Simplicity and accessibility reign supreme in this kitchen, where sleek design, and the latest in kitchen appliances, creates an elegant eatery.

The newly remodeled kitchen features cabinets designed by Richard Raffel, black marble countertops, glass tile design, and oak floors. The subdued modern look offers a pallet where these unique design features can really shine.  One of the most alluring features of this kitchen is the counter windows, which allow light onto the windows while adding a significant and memorable design element. Don’t miss: the glass tiles.

Tickets, at $50, are available at the Wharf Shop on Main Street in Sag Harbor, or by phone at 725-7112.

By Marianna Levine

Terrie Sultan, the director of the Parrish Art Museum, decided to do something a little different with the museum’s up-coming show, “Mixed Greens: Artists Choose Artists on the East End” which opens with a reception on Saturday April 18 at 6 p.m. Instead of presenting a traditional juried art show she decided to have local artists choose one artist each to co-exhibit with at the Parrish. The end result is a show that is not thematic but rather a mixture of artists working in a variety of media united only by their choice of location, hence the title “Mixed Greens.”

Sultan explains, “I generally don’t like to title exhibits, but I considered how we could describe putting a variety of things together in one show, and also wanted to use the color green since it is my understanding that green is one of the most difficult colors to work with, and I wanted to allude to the difficulty of working and living as an artist.”

The idea of having local artists handpick another perhaps less well-known artist to pair their work with was inspired by a comment Sultan heard artist April Gornik make about how she enjoys the artistic community on the East End, because people have the time and space to work and play together. Sultan tried to think of a way the Parrish could foster that community and facilitate introductions among artists who lived here. In the end, the Parrish decided to put out an open call for submissions from local artists and received over 260 responses. They then asked nine established East End artists to review all of the work.

Sag Harbor resident and artist, Gornik, turned out to be one of the jurors for the exhibit. Having to choose from the large number of submissions turned out to be a daunting task, she explained, but she was extremely happy to be exposed to so much excellent work. “It increased my admiration for the wealth of talent that’s out here.”

Gornik ended up selecting the work of Lucy Winton, in part because she felt Winton’s work hadn’t been given a lot of exposure so far, stating, “The great potential of a show like this is to introduce people to art they might otherwise not be aware of.” However, she also chose Winton’s work, which is primarily figurative, because she was really taken with her use of what Gornik refers to as an “animal consciousness.”

Donald Sultan, another Sag Harbor resident and artist, agrees that being a juror for this show was tough as the amount and quality of the work was so high. He decided to pick Steve Laub, an artist who currently works with shoes and teaches at Rutgers University. Like Gornik he ended up choosing an artist whom he felt could use a little more exposure.  However, Sultan stresses ultimately he went with the work he found the most interesting.

Donald Sultan, who is Terrie Sultan’s brother, enjoyed the selection process stating, “This type of process is more inclusive. It’s a good way for museums not to create hostility but rather to create inclusivity by allowing artists to be more involved in the (selection) process.”

Noyac resident and artist Kevin Teare was one of the nine artists selected to exhibit. He is showing a piece entitled “The Beatles Will Save Us” which is one of several pieces he has created around the concept of the Beatles. Teare explains a lot of his work is about cultural obsessions and clearly the Beatles are the ultimate “cultural Rosetta stone.” He also says he felt drawn to the Beatles as a young student in the 60s because “they were an artier group, but unfortunately a lot of the art related to the Beatles in the past has been pretty bad.”

His work was selected by artist John Torreano. Teare wasn’t familiar with Torreano prior to this endeavor and enjoyed the experience of meeting and working with him on “Mixed Greens.” As a matter of fact, Teare explained that they were selecting the work to be hung in the show together, and trying to relate it to each other’s pieces with the assistance of the show’s curator, Alicia Longwell.

All of the artists are looking forward to the opening party this Saturday (which is open to the public), as they’ll have a chance to see all the work hanging together as well as have a chance to hang out with one another. Three of the jurors will join the three artists they selected in a panel discussion at 6 p.m., followed by a performance by the experimental punk band the xframes. Peter Dayton, one of the artists selected to exhibit, is actually in the band along with artist Jameson Ellis, and Stan Stokowski.

Terrie Sultan, who took over as director of the Parrish Art Museum a year ago says, “I’m looking forward to the show as I’m new out here and I was amazed at the high level of art created in the area. I hope we’ll do this type of show again. Maybe we’ll do it in another three or four years, but I’m still waiting to hear from everyone involved if they liked this process. So we’ll see.”

 “Mixed Greens” will exhibit the works of John Alexander, Michael Combs, Mary Heilmann, Richard Kalina, Michelle Stuart, Joe Zucker, Jessica Benjamin, Randall Rosenthal, Frazer P. Doughterty, Jody Pinto, Ellen Wiener, as well as the artists mentioned above.

 

By Marianna Levine

With movies ranging in subject from butterflies and turtles to building in an eco-friendly way, Stony Brook Southampton’s First Annual Green Film Series was started as a way to further celebrate and communicate the campus’s focus on sustainability. It features a free film about environmental sustainability each Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. and was  the brainchild of interim Dean Martin Schoonen, and the Avram Theater’s manager Leonard Ziemkiewicz. 

For the past two years Stony Brook Southampton has billed itself as a “green campus” and even offers a major in sustainability. In fact, according to Mr. Ziemkiewicz, it is one of the first colleges in the country to offer such an academic focus. 

The film series’ primary goal, according to the school’s media relations manager Darren Johnson, is to get the community, along with students and faculty, involved in serious and lively discussions about the varying aspects of sustainability and how it impacts everyday lives. 

The word “sustainability” has become a popular catchall phrase recently, but in this case it refers primarily to the idea that the Earth’s resources should be replenished at the same rate as they are used. However with today’s economic and environmental complexity one cannot just study ecology without bringing in economic and social issues.  Therefore the film series covers a number of topics including this week’s documentary, “Buyer be Fair,” a film that examines fair trade certification throughout the world.  Another film shown on  March 19th, “Black Diamond” explores all aspects of the diamond trade from the miners to the jewelry dealers.

After each viewing, the college hosts a discussion about the featured topic with one or two of Stony Brook Southampton’s teachers. Faculty members Heather Macadam, a writer, and Dr. Arlene Cassidy, the director of sustainable studies, will host this week’s discussion. 

“Sometimes the discussions last longer than the movie,” Mr. Johnson relates.  He notes that most of the films are just about an hour in length. Mr. Ziemkiewicz has been told that the students who attend the screenings bring the discussions into the classroom soon thereafter. 

However he notes, the crowds haven’t been entirely made up of students and faculty.

“We get a good mix of students, professors, and the general public attending each screening,” said Mr. Johnson. Which is exactly what the series’ founders were hoping would happen. Mr. Ziemkiewicz is hopeful the series will become an annual event, and stresses that he “really wants to get the local community involved in the discussion.”

Other upcoming films include, “The Monarch, A Butterfly Beyond Borders” and “Water First and Turtle World.” 

The film series will end with a film entitled, “Build Green,” which features Canadian environmental activist, David Suzuki, showcasing various environmental buildings and architects from around the world. This film should be of interest to the local community as Southampton Town has been trying to revamp its own building codes more recently to effectively comply with current green building standards.

Above: A scene from “Buyer Be Fair.”

By Marianna Levine

In honor of Black History month, the Eastville Heritage House on Hampton Road in Sag Harbor will feature an exhibition called “Partners in Progress” open every weekend in February. The exhibit highlights the cooperation between blacks and whites in the abolitionists and civil rights movements. In light of the recent election and inauguration of America’s first African-American President, the exhibition’s curators, Beryl Banks and Kathy Tucker, wanted to acknowledge and celebrate the interracial collaborations that made Barack Obama’s Presidency possible.

Ms. Tucker explained, “Every year we put up an exhibit for Black History month and this year we wanted to show blacks and whites working together. We wanted to show whites supporting our efforts, or struggle. We actually called it a struggle. So much of this is what we’ve lived through, we’re seniors, we remember the civil rights movement. We wanted to share this (information) with the community.”

The exhibit itself is rather humble although its message of personal struggle and sacrifice is not. The Eastville Historical Society is housed in what was a Sears & Roebuck mail order house, and therefore the exhibit has a cozy quality as one wanders from one small room to another while listening to songs from the civil rights movement playing over the house’s sound system. In a back room, one can hear Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech while looking at pictures of Barack Obama’s recent inauguration. There are pictures and newspaper articles displayed on black cloth boards of and about individuals who took a stand against racial oppression, sometimes losing their life in the pursuit of equality.

Of course there are recognizable names such as Rosa Parks that are featured, but there are also less well-known people honored, such as Viola Gregg Liuggo. She drove down to Selma to help with the Civil Rights Movement after being moved by news of the struggle on TV, only to be shot and killed by the KKK for her good intensions. Joanne Carter, a founding member of the historical society, specifies, “The purpose of most exhibits we do here is to bring to the public something that wasn’t necessarily known before.”

It is quite appropriate that Sag Harbor, and specifically the Eastville community Historical Society host such an exhibit since, according to Ms. Carter, it was, “one of the first fully integrated neighborhoods in the country.”

Ms Carter believes African-Americans arrived in the area either to work as freemen on the whaling ships or to escape on them to Canada as part of the Underground Railway.

There isn’t much historical documentation of Sag Harbor’s connection with the Underground Railway, however lack of documentation is a common challenge when studying the histories of minorities, the underprivileged, and women. Yet there are a few things that point to the plausibility of this commonly held belief within the Eastville community. For example, Sag Harbor and Shelter Island were home to a large Quaker population, and the Quakers started the Abolitionist movement in the 1830s. Ms Carter also points to the discovery of trap doors and hiding spaces underneath the altar and back pews of St. David’s church, Sag Harbor’s oldest church in its original site and a historically African-American church.

In support of this exhibit, Civil Rights Activist, Bob Zellner will give a talk focusing on Obama’s politics of non-violence, and his mobilization of a new youth movement at Christ Episcopal Church on Sunday, February 22 at 2 p.m. Mr. Zellner, a Southampton resident, was a white southern college student in Montgomery, Alabama when the Civil Rights Movement started up around him. He was so moved and inspired by the young black students who were willing to take a stand and get beaten up for their belief in equality that he ended up becoming one of the founding staff members of SNCC. That was quite a departure for the son and grandson of KKK members.

Mr. Zellner recalls, “The leadership of SNCC was mostly young African American men and women from the south, but blacks and whites from the North and South worked together. I was unusual since I was a white southern. However all us southern had more in common than we had differences. We were culturally the same (regardless of race).”

Mr. Zellner comments, “What we did in the civil rights movement is now bearing fruit with the election of President Obama.”

And he noted that during the inauguration President Obama asked John Lewis, an early comrade of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to stand up and be honored during his inaugural speech.

Despite all the progress that has been made in terms of racial equality, Mr. Zellner stresses that younger generations still need to be taught the importance of critical thinking. Exhibits such as this one may help younger generations to remember the struggles of the past and continue to uphold interracial respect and equality for the future.

By Marianna Levine

It is rare to find something interesting to do and beautiful to see for free in the Hamptons, but that is exactly what you get at the Dia Art Foundation’s Dan Flavin Art Institute in Bridgehampton.  Simply stated it is a permanent florescent light exhibit in a former church that was once a firehouse. However, the experience of visiting the DFAI is much more complex.  One enters a rustic looking building under a blue neon light awning that intensifies as the sky darkens. Walking into the bright white interior you’re greeted by the young and friendly Institute administrator, Grant Haffner. Haffner, a local artist, calls the institute “a hidden gem”, that has discreetly resided in Bridgehampton since 1983.  The building was personally scouted as a location for his work by Flavin back in the 1970s while he lived in Wainscott.  The building itself inspired the installation, a series of small, divided spaces inhabited by many hued sculptural light tubes.  That description does not do justice to the melding of colors, light, and space that confronts the viewer upon entering what sincerely feels like the sacred space it once was. It took Flavin five years to perfect the project, luckily with the unwavering support of Dia which believes in allowing artists take their time in order accomplish their project’s potential.

The Dia Art Foundation supports art and artists from the 1960s onward, with a specific interest in maintaining permanent or long-term exhibits around the United States. Heffner explains, “Dia’s goal is to give work as much time as possible to inhabit a space, more than two weeks or a month, because the idea is that work needs time to be experienced.  One needs to develop a relationship with a painting or work – to see it in different lights and moods.”  Haffner himself says that working at the Institute has been a pleasure; because he’s been able to experience his relationship with the artwork evolve over time. Pieces he once loved have now been dropped in favor of others, and he’s really noticed how the colors change and blend with each other in the florescent light installation.  Even DFAI’s visiting exhibits, currently German artist Imi Knobel’s painted color collages remain for a year or two.

Dia’s co-creator Heiner Fredrich explains that the DFAI in Bridgehampton is world renown and therefore throughout the summer art enthusiasts and their friends come out to the East End specifically to visit the museum. However, as a resident of Bridgehampton himself, Fredrich wanted to make sure DFAI was open and available to the local population, and therefore the Institute is now open every weekend from noon to 6pm through-out the year.  He also added that the Institute is now open on Fridays by appointment, which he hopes will enable local schools to visit. Haffner reports there have been a lot of families and repeat visitors coming during the winter months.  “Recently we’ve been remarkably busy.” And he’s noticed an increase in local visitors who return with friends to show them around as if giving a tour in their own home, which is really the point of having a permanent art installation such as this around.  Eventually the work becomes as familiar as family.

Also, Haffner has noticed that the early nights of winter have added a new aspect to viewing the work.  “ In the summer it stays out light later so you don’t experience the intensity of the light in the darkness that you do in winter.”  Haffner also muses that the winter is more of an art season since it invites contemplation. “Out here in the summer there’s so much to do. There are always so many events, and of course there’s the beach to go to.”

The dark and chill of a winter night makes the space cozy and inviting, as one wanders past the initial brightness of the white circle florescent sculptures and up into a v-shaped entrance split by a single red light. Children seem to be especially taken by the light and spacing of the installation. Each corner is welcomed with wonder and discovery by DFAI’s young visitors, and Heffner hangs drawing left behind by young patrons on his office walls. As a young girl ran up the stairs and turned the corner into the installation’s red entrance she gasped, “Oh!”  And then ran into the larger space, eagerly disappearing around another glowing wall. Haffner had warned earlier that the experience of serenity could easily change to an assult depending on the amount of people viewing the pieces and the brightness of the light. Yet all ways of experiencing Flavin’s work at DFAI, regardless of age, seems ultimately satisfying.

 

By Marissa Maier

At the 2008 Hamptons International Film Festival, Sag Harbor residents, and acclaimed husband and wife filmmaking duo, D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus will present their film “The Return of the War Room.” The work revisits material from their Academy-Award nominated 1993 documentary “The War Room,” which followed Bill Clinton’s talented and young campaign staff for the 1992 presidential election. Many of these Clinton staffers, including James Carville and George Stephanopoulos, were re-interviewed for the new film.

Despite the political nature of the original documentary, Pennebaker doesn’t believe “The War Room” is a political film. According to Pennebaker, the piece centers around a cast of entertaining characters who happen to work in politics. “Most of our films follow people who know how to do something well, are passionate, and are taking a huge risk. Running for president is one of the riskiest things you can do,” says Hegedus.

Hegedus and Pennebaker stumbled upon Clinton, who was then a governor from Arkansas best known for his long speeches. George Bush Sr.’s camp wouldn’t allow them to film his campaign, and at the time Perot refused to announce his bid to run for office, leaving Clinton as the only candidate willing to accommodate the two filmmakers.

In the beginning, Hegedus and Pennebaker encountered some difficulty in filming Clinton, who was already being followed day and night by a journalist and photojournalist. It was at the Democratic convention that Pennebaker decided to focus his lens not on Clinton, but on James Carville.

“Hilary had appointed him. I didn’t know who he was [at first], but he was the underground ruler of the whole campaign,” says Pennebaker. Hegedus adds, “We stumbled upon James [Carville] and George [Stephanopoulos], who were such unlikely characters and we stuck with them.”

As the campaign progressed, Carville and Stephanopoulos gained national notoriety. Carville was known for his short, biting slogans, such as “It’s the economy, stupid.” Stephanopoulos’ boyish charm, and academic achievements — he is a Rhodes Scholar — made him a press favorite.

“‘92 was the first campaign were the behind the scenes people were so glamorous to the press, all of it coming together was really operatic,” says Mary Matalin, the noted Republican political pundit and wife of Carville, in “The Return of the War Room.”

“The War Room” focused on the friendship between these two characters, and tapped into the human element of the campaign story. “With Clinton it was all front parlor talk,” says Pennebaker, “[but with Carville and Stephanopoulos] we were much closer to the nerve centers of the campaign.”

The political tactics Carville and Stephanopoulos honed during the 1992 presidential campaign revolutionized campaign management. Commentators in “The Return of the War Room” recall the time before “The War Room,” when campaign staffers would compete with each other. Campaign employees used information as a way to launch their personal careers and each department within the campaign worked independently.

“[Carville] said people always want to have a War Room, but they don’t want to do the things that make a War Room … You have to share information, have a unified message.”

Carville shattered this previous campaign model. Everyone in the Clinton campaign shared information amongst each other, and staffers in all departments worked side by side.

“I think ‘The War Room’ took its nature from some of the people involved, particularly Carville. He liked [everyone working] in a room the size of a basketball court. He felt it bred the democratic spirit … And Stephanopoulos was a very smart person who saw how to make that work,” says Pennebaker, “They had a one-two punch, even when faced with unbelievable scandals.”

The staff of the war room were known for their aggressiveness when handling unsavory allegations, such as Gennifer Flowers alleged affair with Clinton, and had a talent for spinning a scandalous story into a positive one.

Since the 1992 presidential elections almost every major political campaign has incorporated political strategies pioneered in the War Room. Tony Blair hired Carville to recreate the War Room for his campaign in such detail that they used the same floor layout. Frank Luntz, a Republican consultant and pollster, told Hegedus, that “Clinton was able to use language. [Frank] told me that he put the spin on it that he wanted, but [Clinton] used it for the right instead of the left.”

More importantly, the war room changed the way the Democratic party was seen on the political stage. Before Clinton was elected, the Republicans controlled the White House for twelve years. Bob Boorstein, deputy communications manager for Clinton’s 1992 campaign, likens the shift to a scene in Brian De Palma’s film “The Untouchables.”

“The guy goes to kill Sean Connery’s character and the guy goes in holding a knife and Connery knows he is there and he turns around with this shot gun and says ‘isn’t that just like a whoop carrying a knife to a gun fight’ and that’s what Democrats were like before ‘The War Room.’ We were the ones carrying the knives,” says Boorstein.

Although, “The War Room” reinvigorated the Democratic party, and subsequently transformed campaign management, Hegedus and Pennebaker are doubtful whether an equivalent to it exists in this year’s election.

“The people who were involved in that campaign were a unique, wacky group. I am not sure if you find that in a campaign any more, [at least] not as a group.” In “The Return of the War Room,” Stephanopoulos says he wouldn’t know how to run a campaign today. The advent of user-controlled websites, like YouTube and Facebook, has created a level of transparency and flow of information absent in previous elections.

“People are more aware of the power of the camera. We are observing people’s lives non-stop. Everything candidates do is so covered. There are no private moments on the campaign trail.”

There are certain similarities between the issues raised in “The War Room” and this year’s election. During the 1992 campaign, Clinton widely discussed the nations failing economy. Clinton, aided by his campaign staff, transformed himself from a virtually unknown politician into an eloquent candidate with a fresh perspective. He represented himself as the voice for change. Barack Obama, this year’s Democratic presidential hopeful, has no doubt taken pointers from Clinton and the War Room staff. Obama has infused the Democratic party with new blood and a fresh message, much like Clinton, Carville and Stephanopoulos worked so hard to do sixteen years ago in “The War Room.”

 

Sometimes it’s simply easier to think in an uncluttered space, and Silas Marder knows as much. He knows that by not filling the old Christys Auction House space on Main Street to capacity, by letting the space breathe and with the assistance of some old sea chanteys and whaling songs, visitors to his temporary gallery will have no problem imagining the Sag Harbor of old.
For the space’s first exhibit, Marder wanted to pay homage to his new locale and enlisted a number of artists, some local, some not, to create works related to the sea. He could have gone overboard, hanging buoys and fish net and giant harpoons, but instead chose only to provide a little background music. The result is an exhibit that is equally respectful of the art, the space and this village.
“I’ve been here for a while and I’m still finding new things,” said Marder about the building from 1843. “There is just so much detail.”
He’s calling the space the “Temporary Silas Marder Gallery” because, well, he’s not sure how long he’ll be there. His lease is up in October and from there he’ll go “month to month.” But for the time being Marder has embraced the three rooms that make up the 2,500 square foot basement with their cement and stone walls and bricked archways.
And Marder knows a little something about unique spaces. His main gallery, located in Bridgehampton behind his parents’ landscaping business, is a gigantic barn.
With the new space he saw a lot of opportunities that don’t exist in the barn, mainly the smallness and the intimacy. It also allows Marder to have a project space, something that’s missing in Bridgehampton.
The back room currently holds a single piece by Cynthia Knott entitled “At the Horizon I and II” consisting of two enormous canvases suspended in mid-air by a series of C-clamps and cables. One canvas represents the sea and the other the sky and they’re arranged in a way that allows you to walk inside them and become engulfed.
But Marder hopes the two spaces also work together. He’s currently planning an architecture and space exhibit that he plans to open in his main gallery one weekend and then continue in the temporary gallery the next to create a continuation of a body of work. “One of the advantages of having the two spaces,” he said, “is having a dialogue between them.”
The new space is also allowing Marder to experience what a Main Street gallery feels like, something he’s been thinking about for a while.
“We’ve been playing around with the idea of a temporary location for the last couple of years and thought it would be a great way to try out a Main Street space – to see if it suits us and see what it does for the artwork.”
He said he’s certainly enjoyed being in Sag Harbor over the last two months.
“In Bridgehampton, we’re sort of a destination space. People are coming to find us there,” said Marder. “Here we’re getting all sorts of different backgrounds and different people coming through the door and different reactions to the art work and it definitely gives the installation a different type of energy.”
The energy of the new space is central to the current exhibit it holds, which consists of 13 works by six different artists. While Knott’s piece is by far the largest, the other pieces are just as exquisite. Oliver Peterson’s collage serves as a nostalgic ode to a forgotten maritime and Stephanie Stein’s tiny watercolor ships on paper are gentle reminders of the ocean’s vastness. And some pieces like Raymond Pettibon’s lithograph of a giant wave are, in Marder’s words,  “a little dark and sinister.” Overall, the space and the exhibit compliment each other perfectly.
“There’s a delicate balance,” said Marder.  “The space could dominate, but at the same time you want to give the artwork a place as well. You don’t want one to overwhelm the other.”

Photo: Cynthia Knott’s “At the Horizon I and II” hanging in the back room at the Temporary Silas Marder Gallery – photo by Danny Gonzales