Two at Ille Arts

“R&R,” an exhibition of paintings by Mari Rantanen and sculpture by Bonnie Rychlak, will open at Ille Arts in Amagansett on Saturday, with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. It will continue through Oct. 23.

The artists are longtime friends and share a studio in Long Island City, but their work has little in common. A native of Finland, Ms. Rantanen creates vibrant abstract paintings that “bounce between ultra-flatness and the multi-dimensional, while patterns find synthesis amid popping, polyphonic color,” according to an essay for the show’s catalog by Janet Goleas, an artist and critic.

Ms. Rychlak’s sculptures emerge in part from childhood memories of growing up in Southern California. Her photo-narratives consist of photographs, and in some cases objects, partially obscured by an overlay of pebbled glass that suggests the elusiveness of memory. Other works include cast wax and hand-carved sculptures of drains, sewer grates, and a vintage diving helmet.

Abstraction at Ashawagh

“Mostly Abstract 5,” a show of work by 10 artists who approach abstraction in different ways, will be on view at Ashawagh Hall in Springs from tomorrow through Monday. A reception will take place Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m.

The exhibition includes painting, glass, clay, wood, photography, collage, graphite, and resin. The participating artists are Beth Barry, Barbara Bilotta, Anahi DeCanio, Anna Franklin, Katherine Hammond, Mary Milne, Bo Parsons, Sheila Ratner, Live Thiers, and Mark Zimmerman.

New at Grenning

“Sag and the City,” an exhibition of scenes painted on the East End and in New York City, will open Saturday with a reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and continue through Nov. 12 at the Grenning Gallery in Sag Harbor.

Stephen Bauman and Steven Forster have collaborated on a series of cityscapes, including “Queensboro,” a painting of that landmark bridge. Marc Dalessio will be represented by depictions of Times Square and of the beach in Amagansett.

The show will also include work by Maryann Lucas, Ben Fenske, Carl Bretske, Benjamin Lussier, and Laura Grenning.

White Room Gallery Tagged

“Up From Underground,” with work by the graffiti artists V.P. Dedaj, a.k.a. Vic 161, and Dominick S. Vetro, a.k.a. TAG, opens at Bridgehampton’s White Room Gallery today, and will be on view through Oct. 22. A reception, including a live graffiti demonstration, will be held Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m.

Born in Brussels in 1959, Mr. Dedaj moved to the Bronx with his family in 1967. He was a celebrated graffiti artist known as Victor-161 by the mid-1970s, when he was admitted into the graffiti clique Wild Style.

A Bronx native, Mr. Vetro was recognized by 1979 for his hand tag in bus yards and other public surfaces throughout the city. He was affiliated with the Throgs Neck Crew and United Artists, writing teams that found it smart to stick together in the Bronx in the 1970s.

Both artists have been influenced by cartoons, animation, surrealism, abstraction, and Pop Art.

“Women Painting Women”

“Women Painting Women: A Voice With Vision” will open at the RJD Gallery in Bridgehampton with a reception Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. and remain on view through Nov. 5.

Work by 19 artists was selected for exhibition from more than 200 submissions from around the world. Gallery artists will also be represented in the show.

Marcia Marcus at Firestone Loft

“Role Play: Paintings 1958-1973,” an exhibition of paintings by Marcia Marcus, will open next Thursday at the Eric Firestone Loft on Great Jones Street in Manhattan and continue through Dec. 2. A reception will be held next Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m.

A portraitist who worked at the intersection of painting, proto-performance art, and identity politics, Ms. Marcus was a central figure in New York’s avant-garde art world during the 1950s and 1960s. She collaborated with Allan Kaprow and was invited by Red Grooms to join the Delancey Street Museum, an artist cooperative, where she staged a “happening.”

According to the gallery, her “portraits, self-portraits, and group portraits — of artists, writers, family, friends, and acquaintances — show how portraiture sheds light on the shifting roles we all embody.” A panel discussion focused on her work will take place at the loft on Oct. 17 at 7:15 p.m.

Images of Costa Rica’s Beaches

“Impressions in the Sand,” a show of photographs by Nancy Breakstone, will open at Grain Surfboards in Amagansett with a reception Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m. It will remain on view through Oct. 20.

An avid windsurfer, sailor, and paddleboarder, Ms. Breakstone began the series after noticing how, twice a day, the Pacific Ocean left designs of startling complexity and delicacy on beaches in Costa Rica. The exhibition includes her photographs of those designs, some of which resemble objects in nature, others of which are abstract.

One-Day Benefit 

“Art in the Barn,” a sale of paintings by Paton Miller and sculpture by the late Don Saco to benefit the Southampton Cultural Center, will be held on Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. at Mr. Miller’s house at 459 Magee Street, in Southampton. Entertainment and light refreshments will be provided.

Pop-Up in East Hampton

The Gallery at 46 Green Street Studios in Hudson, N.Y., will mount a pop-up art exhibition this weekend at 1 Cobblers Court in East Hampton. The show will include work by 16 artists from the Hudson Valley, New York City, and the Hamptons.

The opening event, which will feature a food truck, local wine, and a D.J., will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. on Saturday. Artwork can be previewed that day between 1 and 3 p.m. The show will also be open on Sunday, from 2 to 6.

During the summers of 2014 and 2015, the Sag Harbor Whaling Museum presented “Captains, Mates, and Widows,” paintings by Sabina Streeter of figures from Sag Harbor’s whaling history. One of those characters was Capt. David Hand VI, a Revolutionary War hero nicknamed Slippery Dave for his numerous escapes from British prison ships.

“I was so fascinated by his whole history that I thought he deserved more exposure,” Ms. Streeter said during a recent telephone conversation. The result is “The Five Wives of Captain Hand: A Maritime Melodrama,” an exhibition focused on Hand, his wives, and his family, that will open Saturday at the Whaling Museum and remain on view through Oct. 31. A reception will take place Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m.

Four of the wives predeceased the captain when they were still young. “We don’t know how they died,” said Ms. Streeter, “except it wasn’t in childbirth. They’re all buried next to each other in the village’s Oakland Cemetery with identical sandstone gravestones,” which are flanked on one side by Hannah Sayre, his fifth wife, who has a marble monument, and on the other by the captain.

James Fenimore Cooper, who lived for a time on Shelter Island, heard of Hand’s exploits and created a character modeled after him named Natty Bumppo, a brave frontiersman and hunter raised by Indians, who was the protagonist of Cooper’s “Leatherstocking Tales,” which include “The Last of the Mohicans,” “The Deerslayer,” and “The Pathfinder.”

The exhibition will include, in addition to her portrait of the captain, portraits of his mother, his brother, Isaac, and Fenimore Cooper, among others. Ms. Streeter did not have existing imagery to work from. As was often the case with “Captains, Mates, and Widows,” she used as models friends whose faces she felt were appropriate for the characters.

Ms. Streeter has a personal connection to the Hand family’s history. She lives in the 1828 house of a prominent whaling captain, Abram Vail, who was married to one of Hand’s daughters. The Hand house, one of the oldest in Sag Harbor, was moved from Southampton to Sagaponack to Church Street, where it is now, in Ms. Streeter’s backyard. “At one point the Vail House and the Hand House were a family compound, so I obviously feel a big connection,” she said.

She noted that during the Watchcase construction, the Hand house suffered such damage to its foundation that it was sold. While it was being rebuilt, she asked the new owner for permission to look for artifacts on the property. “A leftover wife, perhaps? But the only thing I found was a porthole from an old ship. We plan to show a short movie in the exhibition that will be seen through that porthole.”

Another exhibition of Ms. Streeter’s work, “Stonington Portraits: A Seafaring Saga,” is on view through Oct. 31 at the La Grua Center in Stonington, Conn.

Michele Dragonetti at Roman

“Under the Surface,” an exhibition of photographs by Michele Dragonetti from her “Boat Hulls” series, will open tomorrow at Roman Fine Art in East Hampton and continue through Oct. 29. A reception will be held on Oct. 7, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Ms. Dragonetti began the series in 2013, when she was drawn to boats in need of repair in the marinas of Montauk. Her compositions focus on the triangular patterns of the hulls within a square format, highlighting the geometry of the images. The abstract patterns of the painted lines and colors of the hulls contrast with the materiality of their scarred, weathered surfaces. 

Since undertaking the series, she has photographed boats in Argentina, Cuba, London, Lisbon, Barcelona, the southern coast of Portugal, and throughout the United States.

Group Show at Ashawagh

“Faces and Places,” a group exhibition of paintings, sculpture, and photographs, will be on view at Ashawagh Hall in Springs for one night only, Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m.

The show/reception, which will feature a pianist, will include work by Abigail Vogel, Toinette Gay, Tomas Ickovic, Bill Kiriazis, Mary Antczak, Tito Saubidet, Monah Hoppe, and William Falkenburg.

Dan Welden Demonstration

Dan Welden, a master printer, painter, and educator, will conduct a one-hour demonstration in total silence next Thursday at 7 p.m., at the Golden Eagle barn on North Main Street in East Hampton.

For this one-time-only event, the artist will use ink, drawing tools, paper, and a press to improvise his way toward a completed work. Titled “Stille Zeit (Silent Time),” the evening will be age-restricted, according to a release,  to individuals who respect the meaning of silent time.

Space is limited, and seating will be on a first-come-first-served basis. Admission is by donation, with proceeds benefiting Inspiration Plus, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life through education, and co-sponsor of the event with the Golden Eagle.

Four Painters at Kramoris

Artwork by Lianne Alcon, Joyce Brian, Muriel Hanson Falborn, and Sonia Grineva will be on view at the Romany Kramoris Gallery in Sag Harbor from today through Oct. 19, with a reception set for Saturday from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

Ms. Alcon’s loose, expressionistic paintings often take as their subjects flamenco dancers, toreadors, and other scenes from her native Spain. The landscapes and light of Italy and the East End inspire the colorful, semi-abstract canvases of Ms. Brian.

The impressionistic paintings of Ms. Falborn, who is also a landscape designer, reflect her experience with hundreds of gardens and parks. Ms. Grineva, who was born in Moscow, will also be represented by colorful, airy floral works.

Janet Jennings at Chase Edwards

“The Quiet Storm,” a new series of paintings by Janet Jennings, is on view at Chase Edwards Contemporary in Bridgehampton through Oct. 17. Ms. Jennings’s luminous oil and watercolor paintings are inspired by natural events and landscapes that are represented in varying degrees of abstraction. 

Weather plays an important role in these paintings, with tension between light and dark, clouds and storms, and the sky and the horizon. Although Ms. Jennings uses sketches and photographs for reference, her paintings are informed by her thoughts and feelings about her life and the world at large.

Two Watermill Center artists-in-residence, Lilian Colosso and Lua Rivera, will present their work on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. as part of the center’s “In Process” series, which encourages engagement between the residents and the community.

Ms. Colosso, a Brazilian artist who lives in Los Angeles, attempts to reconcile the discordant relationship between her body and the outside world in her performance and video work. In “MetaHorizonte,” for example, she attached a plow to her body and pulled it for hours across the desert floor.

Ms. Rivera, who lives in Mexico, uses multidisciplinary resources such as intervention, collage, photography, and textiles to erase the boundaries between disciplines and to get beyond the walls of the gallery.

Prior to those presentations, at 1 p.m., the center will offer a guided tour of the building, grounds, gardens, art collection, and library. Reservations are required for the tour and the artists’ talks.

Artists’ Table, a farm-to-table meal prepared by Jason Weiner, a chef and restaurateur, will include an intimate presentation by Royce Weatherly, a fellow at the center, on Sunday at noon. Reservations are available for a donation of $75 per person.

Ned Rifkin, a friend and mentor of Andrea Grover, interviewed her on Saturday at the Amagansett Library about her philosophy and vision for Guild Hall, where she is the executive director. He started off the exchange with a rapid-fire series of questions, presented here.

Q. Of these three artists [Matisse, Picasso, Duchamp], which do you like the best?

A. Duchamp.

Q. Which word do you like best, “analytical” or “pensive”?

A. Analytical.

Q. Which do you like best, poetry reading or reading poetry?

A. Reading poetry.

Q. Which do you like best, dance or dancing?

A. Dancing.

Q. Which do you like best, a good cry or a deep sigh?

A. A good cry.

Q. Which do you like best, sunrise or sunset?

A. Sunset.

Q. Which blue do you like best, cobalt or cerulean?

A. Cobalt.

Q. Which do you like best, avocado toast or huevos rancheros? [This was sort of an in-joke, since they have breakfast every couple of weeks, and they knew each other in Houston, where Ms. Grover directed the Aurora Picture Show.]

A. Avocado toast.

Q. Which do you prefer, watching or seeing?

A. Seeing.

Q. What is the most exhilarating experience you have ever had?

A. Polar plunge [a Jan. 1 dip in the ocean].

Q. Fill in the blank: I hope to __.

A. Write a book.

Q. __ is the most admirable person I have ever met.

A. Laurie Anderson.

Q. Your favorite season is?

A. Summer.

Q. Your favorite seasoning?

A. Turmeric.

Q. What books are you reading now?

A. Something by Neil Gaiman and also “Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow” by Yuval Harari.

Q. What musical genre do you like best?

A.  Punk.

Q. What television program do you like best?

A. Reuters on Apple TV.

Q. If you had a dinner party, what living person would you want to invite?

A. Werner Herzog.

Q. What dead people would you like to invite?

A. Walter Hopps [the museum director and curator] and Marcel Duchamp.

The talk was part of the Art/History/Amagansett series organized by Ellen T. White. Mr. Rifkin is a former museum director and former undersecretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

Katherine C.H.E., a singer and songwriter who lives in Amagansett, has collaborated with Bakithi Kumalo, a Grammy Award-winning bassist and composer from South Africa, on a new song that continues the theme of her 2016 release, “Campfire Sessions.” With “Love Five,” however, she has added an interactive component, inviting people from around the world to submit content for inclusion in the song’s video. 

“Campfire Sessions,” an 11-song solo performance, was meant to soothe listeners and evoke simpler times, she said of the album that reached No. 1 on Amazon’s folk chart and No. 2 on its singer-songwriters chart. 

“I keep writing in response to the craziness in the world,” Ms. C.H.E. said last week. “My response is to try to find a way to infuse more loving energy.”

A “love five,” she said, is the gesture made by putting two hands together to form a heart shape, which she called a playful alternative to the high five. “It occurred to me when people make that gesture, that you could turn it around and do it with somebody else. I was playing around with that, and wrote a song about it.” 

The song was recorded at Mr. Kumalo’s studio in Bethlehem, Pa. The bassist is best known for his work with Paul Simon, having recorded and performed with him since the 1986 “Graceland” album, featuring his now-iconic bass licks on the song “You Can Call Me Al.” He and Ms. C.H.E. have recorded previously, including on her song “In the Hamptons,” and performed together at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett last month. 

“Now, I’m working on this video,” Ms. C.H.E. said, as a means of furthering the positive spirit of the song. People in South Korea, Thailand, and Colombia have committed to participate, she said, as well as residents of the South Fork and around the United States. “I want to be as inclusive as possible,” she said. “That’s the message of the song. It’s a way of connecting with people.” 

All have been invited to submit video snippets depicting two people joining hands to create the “love five” sign. Video can be recorded on a smartphone, video camera, or other device, she said. Details and instructions for submitting content are at katherinechemusic.com/ be-in-my-video. 

Video will be accepted through Oct. 14. Ms. C.H.E. said that the song and video will be released on Oct. 19, and will be available via katherinechemusic.com/store, iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify. The video will be on YouTube.

Our Fabulous Variety Show will bring three new programs inspired by “Alice in Wonderland” to Guild Hall this weekend, starting tomorrow night at 7:30 with “Wonderland,” the troupe’s 18th production, which explores the balance of power in a utopian world inhabited by Alice, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and many other denizens of Lewis Carroll’s wondrous creation. “Wonderland” will also be performed on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

“Alice Jr.,” which will be presented Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 6 p.m., tells how a young Alice fights for imagination in a Wonderland stripped of color and creativity by the White Queen. Both shows include dance numbers and original music.

“Wonderland After 9” will feature the drag queen divas RaffaShow, Naomi, and Rusty Nails, as well as local musicians, singers, and dancers, who will perform Saturday evening at 9. Tickets range from $20 to $55 and are available at ourfabulousvarietyshow.org.

Fantasy will yield to reality on Tuesday evening at 7:30 when JDT Lab will present “Vietnam . . . Through My Lens,” a solo performance by Stu Richel based on his service during much of 1969 as a combat photographer and writer with the First Infantry Division in Vietnam.

Mr. Richel will share memories and reflections on how he got to Vietnam, what he did there, and how things have played out since. His commentary will be supplemented by video projections of some of his Vietnam photographs. Guild Hall has suggested reservations for the free program.

“The Watery Owl of Minerva,” a live multi-projection and sound performance by Optipus, an artist collective and orchestra from New York City, will take place outdoors at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill on Saturday at 8 p.m.

Celebrating the natural world throughout history, with a focus on water, the piece combines original and found imagery, Super 8 millimeter and 16 millimeter film, overhead projections, and digital video, with original music and sound relating to nature. Bradley Eros composed the expanded cinema event.

Optipus’s performance is part of the museum’s weekend of programming focused on climate change and water as a resource. A symposium on the subject will take place tomorrow evening at 6. Tickets to the performance are $20, $5 for members and students.

The Sixties Show, a band known for its impeccable, note-for-note recreations of the hits, B-sides, and deep cuts from the 1960s, will return to Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater on Saturday at 8 p.m. Band members have performed with Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, James Brown, Ray and Dave Davies, and the Smithereens. 

A handful of seats on the left and right sides priced at $29.99 are still available.

Kenny Mann was born in Kenya in 1946 and lived there until she graduated from the University of Nairobi in 1968, when she “left Kenya for good,” according to her website. If you read only that statement, you might not realize that the filmmaker and writer has never really left, at least not in the ways that really matter.

“My brother Oscar lives there, and I try to go back every year,” she said during a recent conversation at her house in Sag Harbor. Not only was her brother there for a visit, so was Nickson Parmisa, a Maasai chief from Kitengela, a village approximately 20 miles from Nairobi and close by the farm on which Ms. Mann grew up.

Her many projects on Africa include documentary films and a series of books on African history. She speaks Swahili, “better than most white people, but not very well. None of us speak it very well.” Several years ago, she taught film at schools in Kenya.

Her most recent project is “Naisula — A Prayer for a White Woman, Her African Servant, a Shaman, and a Spirit Child,” an epic poem she wrote and has now staged for a performance at Guild Hall on Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the venue’s JDT Lab, which is devoted to works in progress.

“ ‘Naisula’ grew organically out of my lifetime of experiences in Africa,” she said. “Growing up during the colonial period in Kenya, I witnessed some very ugly scenes between white women and their African servants, whom they often treated with utter disdain and cruelty. ‘Naisula’ is based on such a relationship.” 

In the mythical tale, set in Kenya in the late 1950s among the Maasai in the landscape where Ms. Mann grew up, a shaman finds ways to heal the wounded souls of a white woman and her African servant, in part through the intercession of a spirit child named Naisula, a common Maasai name that means “woman of power.”

“For me, that name is a dedication to women, especially to Maasai women, because that’s who I feel most connected to, but also to women everywhere. Women are rising, and women are extremely important in Africa.” 

While Ms. Mann has written poetry before, “I wouldn’t call myself a poet. I just sat down and wrote it. It came very quickly, and I haven’t had to revise it a great deal.” After giving a reading for some friends and realizing it was very visual, she submitted it to Josh Gladstone, the artistic director of Guild Hall’s John Drew Theater.

“I don’t think they knew what they were getting into when they accepted it,” she said, “because many of the JDT Lab shows are staged readings. Mine is almost a full production. I want people to see it, and I want to take it further.”

Ms. Mann has established a page on gofundme.com that will not only help fund the project but will also help Maasai girls in Mr. Parmisa’s village. “I’ve known Kenny for six years now,” he said, “and Oscar for 20. When she comes to Kenya we share with her what we’re going through.” 

One of the challenges he faces is “rescuing” teenage Maasai girls from homes where they may be forced to marry much older men, undergo female genital mutilation, or even be sold off in exchange for livestock. 

“We talk to the girl and tell her it is better for her to go to school and graduate and then be married when she is in a position to support herself in a sustainable way,” he said. In addition, the law stipulates that any girl below the statutory age must be given the opportunity attend school. 

“So when you bring all these things together, we get support from the mother, support from the girl, support from the government and me as a chief, and then in the end we convince the old man that this girl should go back to school.”

“We started Empakasi High School three years ago on village land set aside by our fathers as a site for a local church,” Mr. Parmisa said. “At first a politician wanted to subdivide the land and share it with his friends. I told them no, this land is public, and we must build a school. Then I spoke to a member of parliament, and we were allowed to proceed.”

Opened with two girl students, the school now has 250 girls and 100 boys in attendance and serves as a sanctuary where Maasai girls are relatively safe and can complete their education. A portion of every donation to the project goes to the women of Kitengela and their daughters.

Casting for “Naisula” was done in New York City by Ms. Mann and Sue Crystal, a casting director, who selected 10 actors from almost 200 applicants. The story is narrated by Maria Bacardi, who lives in Springs, and Ms. Mann. There are several monologues but only a few occasions when the characters speak to one another. 

In addition to the white woman (Bevin Bell-Hall), the servant (Lambert Tamin), the shaman (Dianne Nixon), and the spirit child (Adrienne Hardin), six other actors portray ancestors and, in a few cases, double as animals. 

“And then you have these creatures we don’t actually see, including the praying mantis, the hummingbird, the chameleon, and the yellow dog. You hear music, and as I talk about them the stage goes dark so everyone must listen for a moment before the action starts again. Those creatures, especially the praying mantis and the chameleon, always play a big role in African mythology.”

There is also dance, choreographed by Marcea Daiter, that is based on the Katherine Dunham technique and on traditional dances from Rwanda. Lutz Rath (cello) and Tyler Sussman (did­geridoo, flute) composed and will perform the original music.

Sophie Howell of Sag Harbor made baboon masks based on drawings by the Southampton artist Paton Miller and headdresses based on those of the Omo River tribes in Ethiopia. “It has been an extraordinary collaboration between talented local and Manhattan people who are interested in this project,” said Ms. Mann.

The program is free, but advance reservations are required and can be made on Guild Hall’s website.