As the live open-mike music was about to begin last Thursday night, Jesse Matsuoka, the co-owner of Phao Restaurant on Main Street in Sag Harbor, remarked that his decision to bring on Alfredo Merat as manager was one of the best he’d ever made. He wanted someone with a local connection, he said, to “spice up the front of the house.”

    The back of the house, otherwise known as the kitchen, with its Thai and Asian-fusion cooking, is already nicely seasoned after two years. Mr. Matsuoka, who with his partner, Jeff Resnick, also owns Sen, the Japanese restaurant next door, knew Mr. Merat as a musician before he went to work at Phao. “People have loved the changes” since then, he said. Aside from a variety of well-received new dishes, “Alfredo has edge and personality [and] positive energy, and provides a comfortable and welcoming atmosphere.”

    Having been part of a group called Hamptons Singers and Songwriters that performed weekly at the Bay Street Theatre for a few years, Mr. Merat was on a mission to find a new venue where talented musicians with their own lyrics could be heard. While searching Sag Harbor he found Phao, where he manages not only the restaurant but the live entertainment.

    John Monteleone, another member of the songwriters group, was enjoying dinner and sake at Phao’s open mike night two weeks ago. The group “was very successful for a long time,” he said, but “if there’s no place to do it, it won’t exist.”

    Brian Downey, also a member, said that many of the 28 musicians auditioned at his Bulldog Studio. Some of them are well known, such as Nancy Atlas and Gene Casey, but the group also includes a number of teenagers on the way up. “Where else are they going to get the chance?” said Mr. Downey.

    The mike is also open to outsiders. Mr. Merat makes the strong suggestion that they bring original songs, but doesn’t insist on it. “Talent is best found through original music,” he said, but audiences like to hear cover songs, and many musicians do a nice job of making them their own.

    Mr. Downey brings all of the sound equipment and assists with the lineup as well, agreeing with Mr. Merat that they support the younger generation. “We like that. We want to help them showcase their talent,” he said.

    Poets have been welcomed, too, to the weekly Thursday-night event, which begins with one or two featured acts before the musicians get their chance. Last Thursday, members of the Complete Unknowns — Klyph Black, Randolph Hudson, and Michael Weiskopf — were featured. Another highlight was a tribute to the great Doc Watson, who died last week, performed by Walter Us, a painter, and George Howard, who is usually behind the scenes as a sound engineer.

    Two weeks ago, Mr. Merat’s own daughter, Lilly-Anne Merat, was the featured act, jumping on the microphone with a ukulele, a soothing voice, exquisite beauty, and confidence. Ms. Merat, who splits her time between her parents’ homes on North Haven and East Hampton, appeared on the television show “X Factor” last July with her acoustic group of Sonneteers, who made it all the way to the judges’ round of the singing competition. Simon Cowell told his daughter to come back as a solo artist, said her proud father, and they are awaiting the call for a date.

    Ms. Merat’s uncle, Xavier Merat, a well-known Sag Harbor hairstylist and salon owner, was in attendance that night enjoying scallops and sake while he watched his niece perform. He said he was glad to see that his brother, who has “managed the best of places in Paris,” is happy, and feels the venue is a good fit. Xavier Merat is also a musician; he plays with the Escola de Samba drummers.

    Alfredo Merat has also added to Phao’s entertainment agenda acoustic reggae on Sundays and a salsa industry night with Mambo Loco on Mondays. Friday brings the Voice of Phao sing-along with Monica Hughes, and on Saturdays there’s lounge house music with D.J. Matty Nice, who will “mix it up with rhythm and blues, funk and disco.”

    We are “fusion” everywhere, said the musician-manager, who suggested that Phao, as it is now known (and often mispronounced Phay-o rather than Pow), be morph­ed into Le Petit Pao Lounge Sag Harbor, coming soon. He has been working with the chef, Michael Swan, to tweak the Asian-influenced Thai menu, which includes such entrees as pan-roasted sea bass, seared sea scallops with lobster dumplings, and a spicy hanger steak.

    When not managing the music, menu, staff, and service, Mr. Merat, who’s played and sung since he was 19 in cafes in France, where he grew up, will occasionally grab the microphone himself. He will be the featured act in July, and said he also keeps an extra guitar in the back, in case Jimmy Buffett wants to stop by.

Markus at Ille

    Ille Arts in Amagansett will present Liz Markus, a New York City artist, in “11,” opening on Saturday evening at 6. For those who know the cult classic “This Is Spinal Tap,” the title indeed refers to the number the amplifiers go to. Just as in the movie, the paintings are intended to be “one louder.” There is little subtlety in the confident brush-strokes and saturated colors on unprimed canvases.

    According to the artist, “In May my father became ill and passed away. I spent three weeks in Buffalo in the house I grew up in and I was thinking a lot about growing up in the late ’70s and having too much free time in the summer, hanging out with my brother, listening to music, and watching TV. From that, I ended making paintings that look like they might be doodles out of some bored, metal-head, high school kid’s history book.”

    The paintings allude to her family, punk bands, Willem de Kooning, and a host of other personal and cultural references. The show is on view through July 11.

New Seminar by Jane Martin

    Jane Martin will present a four-part series of courses to help artists navigate the business end of their work, beginning tomorrow at 5 p.m. The seminar is being presented through the community arts project of the Springs Presbyterian Church. Each session will cost $40, cash or check only.

    This week’s session, “The Professional Artist,” will address consignments and contracts with galleries, how to invoice clients, and the tax advantages of selling art. Janet Goleas, an independent curator, writer, and artist, will be the guest speaker.

    On Friday, June 22, there will be a discussion of pricing and organizing artwork, the benefits of Web sites, and catalogs, grants, and other resources available to artists. Classes on June 29 and July 10 will look at promotion and other ways to sell and market art.

    Ms. Martin, a painter, photographer, videographer, and ex-filmmaker, has exhibited both in this country and internationally. She can be reached for more information at [email protected].

Pop-Up Gallery in Wainscott

    This weekend only, the Mad Gallery, a side venture of Keyes Art Projects, will open at 39 Industrial Road in Wainscott for viewing today through Sunday. The show will include work by Fab 5 Freddy, Evan Yee, Tammy Smith, and Wyatt Neumann.

    Julie Keyes said she is attempting a contrast “to the usual Hamptons landscape art scene,” aiming instead for a more urban sensibility. “The people who buy landscapes and beach scenes already know where they’re going . . . we don’t sell that kind of work,” she said in a release.

    Mr. Neumann is a photographer with “a raw and intense view of the American experience.” Mr. Yee, who spends time in Sag Harbor, takes shots from erotic film and incorporates them into sculptures and collage. Fab 5 Freddy was an early pioneer in the street-art scene. Ms. Smith’s works are described as visceral, playful, and introspective.

    Hours are noon to 4 p.m. except on Sunday, when the gallery will close at 3.

Naive Work at Kramoris

    The Romany Kramoris Gallery in Sag Harbor is featuring the work of Paul “Pol” Mayer, who died in 1997, along with Randy Smith, through June 28. A reception will be held on Saturday from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Proceeds from the exhibit will benefit the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation.

    The gallery describes Mr. Mayer’s paintings as “witty and sometimes humorously absurd,” including subjects such as “penguins in babushkas on ice skates.” It adds, though, that “he was a dedicated and serious painter his entire life, even though his family pressured him into full-time business.” Mr. Mayer, who was born in France and has a naive style that is popular there, arrived on the South Fork just after World War II. His daughter is Sony Schotland of Sagaponack.

    Mr. Smith is a plein-air painter who expresses himself in a form of neo-Impressionism. He lives in Sag Harbor.

Pearlman at Water Mill Museum

    The Water Mill Museum will present the work of Jonathan Pearlman from today through July 9. It is the East Quogue artist’s second showing at the museum, and for it he has designed a sculpture so as to display his smaller and whimsical pieces.

    The artist has worked in film and television and is the author of “Two to Tango,” a novel published by Simon and Schuster.

Hamada Included in Book

    Hiroyuki Hamada, an East Hampton 4sculptor, has been included in a new book, “Raw + Material = Art” by Tristan Manco, published by Thames and Hudson.

    According to the artist, the book is the author’s first attempt to survey contemporary fine art after a career documenting street art. While the author’s aim was to look at the role of found materials in their work, the book also features 38 artists who actively use the Internet to share their work.

Spanierman

    The Spanierman Gallery in Manhattan is presenting three shows this month dedicated to the art and artists of the East End. One exhibition focuses on John Little (1907-1984) and another on Edith Mitchell Prellwitz (1864-1944) and Henry Prellwitz (1865-1940), her husband.

    John Little came to the East End at the invitation of Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, via Alabama and Buffalo. He was a student of George Grosz and Hans Hofmann. Like most artists of his era, he was influenced by both Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. His house in Springs, Duck Creek Farm, has been preserved by the town of East Hampton. The show will include works from the 1940s up to 1980.

    The Prellwitzes were early visitors to Peconic, on the North Fork. They painted seasonal, Impressionist-inspired  landscapes, figural images, and allegorical works influenced by their many years of academic training, according to the gallery.

    In addition, a group show, “Artists of the East End: Past and Present,” will be on view through July 7. It features artists from the mid-20th century to the present, such as Mary Abbott, Perle Fine, Charlotte Park, Gertrude and Balcomb Greene, David Budd, Syd Solomon, Dan Christensen, Frank Wimberley, Carol Hunt, Immi Storrs, Fulvio Massi, Susan Vecsey, Neil Williams, and Betty Parsons.

19 at Ashawagh

    “For the Love of Art,” a show of 19 artists, will be on view at Ashawagh Hall from Saturday to June 24. The exhibition focuses on the East End’s unique relationship to art making through the work of contemporary artists.

    They include Abby Abrams, Mary Antczak, Zoe Breen, Rosalind Brenner, Linda Butti, Hector deCordova, Phoebe Fisher-Wolters, Suzzane Fokine, Trish Franey, Phyllis Hammond, Anne Holton, Mary Laspia, Cynthia Loewen, Setha Low, Deborah Palmer, Alyce Peifer, Pamela Vossen, Kris Warrenburg, and Evan Z.

    A reception will be held on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m.

New Studio on the Rock

    A newly opened studio on Shelter Island, Handwerklab, is dedicated to the work of artists who are producing “intelligent handmade work,” according to John Pagliaro, its owner. He is presenting his own art at its inaugural exhibit, called “Memories Underfoot: Remnants of the Crystal Point People.”

    His large framed photographs reflect the many times when, while fishing at some of his favorite spots, he has discovered ancient Native American stone artifacts. The beauty of those moments was enhanced by the “otherworldly light of the East End,” Mr. Pagliaro said. He identifies with those who used the tools thousands of years ago to provide food for themselves and their community. Over the winter, the nature-loving Islander added over 300 of the tools to his personal collection, which is also on display.

    Mr. Pagliaro’s photographs, a departure from his ceramic creations, which can be seen in several national museums, will be on view at 36 North Ferry Road from Thursday through Sunday, 10 to 5 p.m., or by appointment, through this month.

Pianofest Begins

    Pianofest in the Hamptons will begin its 24th season of concerts on Monday at the Southampton Cultural Center. Seven additional concerts in Southampton will follow this summer at the Avram Theater at Stony Brook Southampton, all to begin at 5:30 p.m.

    In East Hampton, Pianofest will visit St. Luke’s Episcopal Church with three concerts, beginning on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Two events at Brookhaven National Laboratory will occur on June 27 and July 25 at noon.

    Pianofest, directed by Paul Schenly, is a showcase for young musicians from all over the world, who play classical piano pieces from all centuries. The concerts are embellished by commentary by Mr. Schenly; receptions to meet the artists follow.

     All Monday tickets are $20 per person at the door only. Students are admitted free, and no reservations are needed. Complete information on all Pianofest events is available on the Web at pianofest.org.

Friday Films  

    “Films on the Haywall,” a partnership between the Silas Marder Gallery and the Hamptons International Film Festival, is celebrating the fifth year of the outdoor film series. Screenings begin at 9 on Friday nights until Labor Day, in the landscaped gardens of Marder’s Nursery in Bridgehampton. Guests are encouraged to take a beach chair, a blanket, and a picnic.

    The free series kicks off tomorrow night with Hal Ashby’s “Being There.” “Sullivan’s Travels” will be presented on Friday, June 22, in partnership with FilmAid, a nonprofit organization that brings “lifesaving information, psychological relief, and much-needed hope” to refugees and others in need, according to its Web site.

Party at the Talkhouse

    The Stephen Talkhouse will host a CD release party tomorrow at 8 p.m. for Inda Eaton’s new album, “Go West.”

    The album was recorded live in three days of intense sessions at the state-of-the-art Monk Music Studios in East Hampton. The artist said the band was “teetering on the edge of love and intensity” as they laid down the record’s 11 tracks in complete takes at the studio, which is run by Cynthia Daniels, a Grammy Award-winning engineer.

    The album also features some of the area’s favorite vocalists, Nancy Atlas, Caroline Doctorow, and Lee Lawler.

Watermill Center

     The Watermill Center will hold a demonstration on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. by artists now in residence there, including the choreographer Christopher Williams, the composer Gregory Spears, and the costume designer Andrew Jordan, who will present an informal look into the early stages of creating their latest work, “Wolf-in-Skins.”

    According to the center, the work is “inspired by ancient themes of the ‘mythic hero’s journey’ found in the faerie legends, folklore, and earliest literature of Celtic cultures.” A discussion with the audience will follow. 

Special Players Gala

    Hans VandeBovenkamp will open his Sagaponack studio and gardens tomorrow from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. to benefit the East End Special Players.

    The benefit will showcase the actors in a series of tableaus vivants. Paintings by the costume and set designer Gabrielle Raacke will be projected behind the actors, who will “strike the pose” as life imitates art. They will then perform a skit that they have written and honed over several weeks. This troupe of learning-challenged  actors has performed on the East End since 1985.        

    In addition to the workshop performance, Murphy Davis of the Bay Street Theatre will auction off various works of art. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased at eastendspecialplayers. com.

Happy Birthday

    To honor the bicentennial of the birth of Charles Dickens, Robert Spiotto will perform in “Meet Charles Dickens,” a one-man play by Philip J. Kroopf.

    The free performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, at the Montauk Library.

The Funny Side

    Bay Street Theatre will present the Ivy League of Comedy on Monday night at 8 with Shaun Eli as the host with Myq Kaplan, Joe DeVito and Dan Naturman. Tickets are $25.

     Mr. Eli is a writer an performer who is a frequent contributor to the opening monologue of The Tonight Show’s Jay Leno. Mr. Naturman began performing stand-up in law school and decided to pursue it instead of the bar and has been a performer on many late night talk shows. Mr. Kaplan is also a late-night regular and has had his own half-hour Comedy Central Presents special. Mr. DeVito was a journalist and advertising writer, who gave into his coworker’s demands to try performing. He has also had a number of guest appearances on television.

Fish and Fowl

    The Bridgehampton Historical Society will open its new exhibit, “Catch of the Day,” tomorrow at 5 p.m.

    Both Native Americans and European immigrants sustained themselves by harvesting the bounty found in and near the sea, a private pursuit that has largely become commercial today. Art from the Hoie Foundation, carvings by local artists, and tools handmade by local blacksmiths will celebrate the South Fork’s history of harvesting both fish and fowl.

   Upon hearing that a Moran family show is opening in East Hampton, it is difficult not to prepare for disappointment. Despite the rich history the family has in this village and town, it seems that it is always the usual few things that are trotted out — a palette from the library here, some etchings there, a couple of paintings from Guild Hall. There is a decent representation to be had from the typical local vaults, but all items are a little too familiar at this point to be worth taking much notice of.

    What a delight, then, to come upon the engaging exhibition that the East Hampton Historical Society has put together with Charles Keller and Glenn Purcell, two volunteer curators and Dominy enthusiasts who turned their attention to Moran as part of their fascination with East Hampton history.

    Their enthusiasm must be contagious, because the loans in this show from several private East Hampton collections are really outstanding examples of the entire family’s oeuvre. Thomas Moran, the man whose depictions of this country’s natural treasures such as Yellowstone, almost single-handedly brought about the creation of the National Parks program, is well represented here with surprisingly superior paintings as well as documents of his working approach, photographs, and, of course, the requisite etchings.

    Yes, the library’s palette is here, but brought out into the light, floating in its vitrine in a way that suggests that it is waiting for its owner to return momentarily. Everything has a lively air to it. The spotlights on the paintings bring out all of their subtlety while not interfering with the more delicate paper works. Even the chest from the studio, walked over from the East Hampton Library, gets a fresh and light-filled airing with all of its intricate carving, believed by the organizers now to be from India instead of Italy as was once assumed. Outside of its darker and more familiar habitat, it can be appreciated anew.

    Even the old photographs of the places taken around the time Moran was painting them look less archival and more interactive in this dynamic setting. Moran’s two paintings are the real standouts, however. One, “Hook Pond in Shadow, Looking Toward the Atlantic” from 1904, shows Moran taking on the local landscape the way he might approach the Grand Tetons, with an open and Western feeling, far more exuberant than the tamer Hudson River School style he adopted earlier for these subjects. Easel-size, its dramatic sky and open vista seems grander.

    His more intimate oil-on-tile painting of an “East Hampton Landscape” from 1880 has the more familiar feel, but its detail and delicacy amid the summary brushwork are extraordinary. One could look at the reflections of the vegetation in the water for hours and still find something new in them.

    While Thomas was arguably the most famous and significant of the Morans, it is a family show and there are a number of small galleries devoted to the rest of the clan. There are his wife Mary Nimmo Moran, his brothers Peter and Edward, and his nephews Leon Moran and Edward Percy Moran, among others.

    Some of the family members worked almost entirely in etching, including Mary and Peter, who was known for his Barbizon-style depictions of rural subjects, painted primarily in Pennsylvania and the Southwest, although he was a visitor here.

    Mary Nimmo Moran, revered for her intricate etchings rendered as fully formed original works in their own right, is also well represented, with some of her popular East Hampton views on display as well as one of her original etching plates and a photograph of her in her garden.

    Historically, etching was often considered a reductive studio pursuit, inferior to painting, but used to replicate certain paintings to make them available to a larger audience, both for higher purposes such as devotional images, or baser ones, including erotica. Etchers often worked separately from the artist who produced the original work, copying it faithfully if not exactly.

    While she also painted, Mary was one of those artists who viewed etching as an end in itself and she could be found in East Hampton, sometimes with her husband, out in nature and working on the plate directly from what she saw rather than through an elaborate preliminary sketching process. Although she signed her works M. Nimmo Moran to keep her gender private, she was a member of both the Society of Painter-Etchers of New York and the only woman of the original members of the Fellows of London’s Royal Society of Painter-Etchers.

    Edward Moran’s dramatic painted seascapes were what defined him. There are a couple of examples in the show that give some hint of why he was compared to J.M.W. Turner and considered one of the best marine painters of his era.

    The second generation of artists is also represented in the show, both of whom focused on more figurative works, all apparently striving for their own identities. Percy painted historical and colonial subjects, often dressing his relatives up in old costumes to paint them for his compositions.

    As the inclusion of the chest attests, the show attempts to make the lives of the family members tangible. There is a chair from Moran’s studio with a photograph of the studio from the time they were there as a mural backdrop. A photograph of Moran working in the studio is included. Other souvenirs that capture the Morans’ lives and times are placed throughout to keep the personal lives present in each of the individual displays.

    During the installation, Mr. Keller and Mr. Purcell emphasized this living history aspect to the show. Surveying the sum of their work in the gallery, they were pleased and grateful to have so many outstanding loans, overwhelmed by the generosity of the lenders. Because so many works in the show are in private hands, it is imperative to visit soon. The exhibition comes down July 8.

Shakespeare on Aging

    Maurice Charney, a past president of the Shakespeare Association of America, will give a talk called “Shakespeare on Aging” at the Montauk Library on Sunday afternoon.

    In the 17th century no one expected to live much past 60 or so, and Shakespeare himself never quite got there; he died at 52. Nevertheless, the theme of aging can be found throughout his poems and plays.

    Dr. Charney, professor emeritus at Rutgers University, will speak at the free event from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

For Bay Street Faithful

    This is subscriber appreciation Sunday at the Bay Street Theatre, with complimentary wine and hors d’oeuvres for the theater’s most faithful audiences from 4 to 6 p.m. in the theater lobby.

    There is still time to participate; subscriptions are available online at baystreet.org. “My Brilliant Divorce,” which has garnered brilliant reviews, is playing through June 24; “Men’s Lives” will play July 3 through July 29, and “Big Maybelle: Soul of the Blues,” from Aug. 7 through Sept. 2.

    Those planning to attend Sunday’s reception have been asked to R.S.V.P. to [email protected].

Schoultz New at Firestone

    The Eric Firestone Gallery in East Hampton will bring the work of Andrew Schoultz, a San Francisco artist, to East Hampton beginning Saturday with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m.

    “Ex Uno Plura” — or from one, many — is the inverse of e pluribus unum (from many, one), a United States motto seen on our currency. The exhibition will include a mural and works reflecting on the American flag.

    The artist applies layers of paint as well as gold and white gold leaf onto fabric flags to provoke and stun the audience with their showy beauty. He is known for his cultural commentary that incorporates or references graffiti, collage, cartography, medieval script, woodcut printing, Benday dots, Arabic calligraphy, and Indian mural painting.

    He has exhibited internationally and been reviewed in many publications. The exhibition will be on view through July 7.

Davenport & Shapiro’s

New Show

    Today through July 23, Davenport and Shapiro Fine Art in East Hampton will present “Harriette Joffe:  A Lifetime’s Journey.” The exhibition is both a retrospective and a show of new work to track the progress of a figurative artist whose subjects often dissolve into abstracted shapes and patterns.

    The show will feature works from her “Riversong” series and will be organized by Robert Linsley.

Puerto Rico in Southampton

    Tripoli Gallery of Contemporary Art in Southampton Village will present the work of Felix Bonilla Gerena and his “Landscapes of Bajura” today through July 9. An opening reception will take place tomorrow from 5 to 8 p.m.

    In his fourth exhibition at the gallery, the artist will display recent paintings and some older works, some incorporating mixed media. The work is striking in its use of color both linearly and in form. Figures are often delineated while settings appear more generalized, but both contain much movement and activity.

    La Bajura refers to an area of Jobos Beach in Puerto Rico that has a reputation of being a utopian setting full of bright colors and magical light. The paintings are Dionysian, but contain a warning that too much paradise can lead to folly. The artist has exhibited throughout North America and the Caribbean.

“Landscrapes” at Demato

    Richard J. Demato Fine Arts Gallery in Sag Harbor will present a solo show of the work of Dan VanLandingham called “Landscrapes,” today through July 21.

    The artist is a painter working in acrylic and mixed media on canvas. A resident of Martha’s Vineyard, he incorporates geometric acrylic collage into his compositions. The artist describes his creative process as analogous to the way landscapes and spaces are built, according to the gallery.

    The gallery’s main floor will feature work by Kevin Sloan, Andrea Kowch, Zachary Thornton, and Jeff Aeling. A reception will be held Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m.

Multi Artists and Media

    The Depot Gallery is presenting four artists in a multimedia show through Monday.

    The exhibition includes paintings by Aaron Monet and photographs by Steph­en James Cole that feature seas­capes, water birds, boats, and other familiar Montauk sights. Joanne Mannes has decided to focus on swans and cygnets in her photography and also has paintings on view. Cathy Hunter makes wall-hung sculptures out of found objects and cardboard.

    The gallery is at the Montauk railroad station and is open from noon to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday.

Ceramic Art

    Celedon Clay Art Gallery will present the “Greenwich House Faculty Invitational” show tomorrow through July 15. A brunch reception will be held on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

    The show consists of works from three artists, Kathy Erteman, Julie Terestman, and Sheryl Zacharia. Two of the artists will speak about their work after the reception from 1 to 2 p.m. There will also be a demonstration with Ms. Zacharia at 2 p.m. On Saturday, a master’s workshop will be held with Ms. Erteman, called Clay Mono Printing. Preregistration is required for that event at hamptonsclayart.org.

    Ms. Zacharia has studied painting and has also had a career as a singer-songwriter. She studied and worked in various ceramic mediums and has exhibited both locally and nationally. Ms. Terestman apprenticed in Ireland and then with Rick Hirsch and Chris Gustin at the Program in Artisanry, then part of Boston University, and at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. She now teaches ceramics in New York City. Ms. Erteman makes vessels and architectural wall pieces. She received her B.F.A. from California State University Long Beach, studied with Adrian Saxe at the University of California Los Angeles, and worked with Judy Chicago on the Dinner Party after graduation. She is also a part-time teacher.

    Two photography exhibitions at the Parrish Art Museum will open to the public on Sunday, following special previews and talks on Saturday. The shows are “Liminal Ground: Adam Bartos Long Island Photographs, 2009-2011” and “The Landmarks of New York,” which was organized by Barbaralee Diamondstein-Spielvogel.

    Mr. Bartos will exhibit 16 large-format inkjet prints that transform ordinary sites and sights into something else entirely. His career has been devoted to visually ennobling the common detritus of human life, whether it is a crumbling building, an out-of-date car, or the land-bound flotsam of the typical weekend yard sale. Even his pictures of Paris are well-composed moments of urban banality.

    His Long Island landscapes focus on ruins, abandoned businesses, or ramshackle houses. They look dated and have an archaeological patina about them that imparts a sense of futility, dashed hope, and deprivation. Still, they have their own beauty, coaxed out from the accretion of details that make up the whole.

    “Much of my work involves . . . some aspect of 20th-century utopianism,” the artist said in a statement. A native New Yorker, Mr. Bartos grew up spending weekends and summers in Huntington and now lives and works in New York City and East Hampton.

    Mr. Bartos and Alicia Longwell, the head curator of the museum, will conduct a tour of the exhibition on July 20 as part of the museum’s ongoing series, Fridays @ Noon: The Artist’s Eye. The program is free with museum admission.

    “The Landmarks of New York” will feature 90 photographs from the book “The Landmarks of New York: An Illustrated Record of the City’s Historic Buildings,” published by State University of New York Press/Excelsior Editions.

    Dr. Diamondstein-Spielvogel is an author, television interviewer and producer, preservationist, and civic activist who is also a chairwoman of the Historic Landmarks Preservation Center and vice chairwoman of the New York State Council on the Arts. She is also a director of the Trust for the National Mall in Washington, D.C., among other similar positions.

    At the opening reception on Saturday at 6 p.m., she will moderate a panel of award-winning architects to include Richard Meier, Rafael Vinoly, and Annabelle Selldorf, who will discuss “The Future of the Past.” A series of public programs addressing issues of preservation, development, and community involvement, featuring prize-winning architects, designers, and an editor, will be presented on Thursday evenings at 6:30 p.m. this summer.

    The Historic Landmarks Preservation Center raises awareness of the legacy of New York buildings through published works as well as television programs, educational programs, and art exhibitions involving the themes of historic preservation and history.

    The exhibition will include images of the Woolworth Building, Rockefeller Center, the Plaza Hotel, the Brooklyn Bridge, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and less familiar sites such as the Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House in Brooklyn, the oldest building in New York State, the Alice Austen House on Staten Island, the former Jamaica Savings Bank in Queens, the Charlie Parker residence at 151 Avenue B, and the Little Red Lighthouse in Fort Washington Park.

    “Landmarks of New York” has been touring museums, historical societies, and university galleries throughout New York State since September 2011 and will continue to travel through June 2013, with ancillary exhibits and celebrations showcasing local historic preservation efforts planned in each venue.

    Landscape Pleasures: Down the Garden Path, the Parrish Art Museum’s annual two-day horticultural event and fund-raiser, will be held this weekend.

    On Saturday morning, Eric Groft, Paula Hayes, Doug Reed, and Edwina von Gal, all noted landscape designers, will participate in a symposium from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Then on Sunday, a self-led garden tour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. will include four private gardens, several of which were designed by the guest speakers, and the Peconic Land Trust’s Bridge Gardens in Bridgehampton will be open to ticketholders.

    The co-chairwomen for this year’s event are Lillian Cohen, Martha B. McLanahan, and Linda Hackett Munson.

    Mr. Groft, who will speak at 9 after a continental breakfast, will discuss “The Artful Garden: Creative Inspiration for Landscape Design.” Based in Washington, D.C., Mr. Groft has more than 25 years’ experience in residential, commercial, and institutional work with a specialization in environmental and wetlands restoration and shoreline stabilization and revetment. He has designed gardens all over the Northeast.

    At 10 a.m. the talk will be “Doug Reed Reveals: Behind the Scenes of the Parrish Landscape Design,” presented as a conversation with Terrie Sultan, the director of the Parrish. The two will discuss the creative process and inspiration for the design of the new museum’s grounds. Mr. Reed founded his firm, now called Reed Hilderbrand, in Watertown, Mass., in 1993. He has been in partnership with Gary Hilderbrand since 1997. His landscape designs have included projects at the Phoenix Art Museum, the United States National Arboretum, and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.

    At 11:15 a.m., Ms. Hayes, a New York-based landscape designer and artist, will discuss the projects in her new book from the Monacelli Press and how the intersections between art, design, landscape design, and ecology have formed her approach to making work over the past two-and-a-half decades. Her clients include Marianne Boesky, Rafael and Diana Viñoly, David and Monica Zwirner, and Jill Stuart and Ron Curtis.

    Ms. von Gal will speak at noon on her design development over time. She has received several awards for her garden and landscape designs and her work has been published in magazines such as Architectural Digest, Garden Design, House Beautiful, House and Garden, Martha Stewart Living, The New York Times Magazine, and Vogue. She was selected by Frank Gehry to design the botanical park for his museum in Panama, the Biomuseo. Her projects or clients have included Great Hill in Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Ross Bleckner, Calvin Klein, Richard Meier, Leonard Riggio, Charlie Rose, Larry Gagosian, and Ina Garten. She is working on a park in downtown Newport, R.I., with Maya Lin. 

    Among the gardens on the tour will be that of Alexandra Alger and Daniel Chung in East Hampton, designed by Mr. Groft’s firm; Gus and Liz Oliver in Sagaponack, designed by Edwina von Gal; Theodore and Ruth Baum’s waterfront estate in Southampton; Joan and Mort Hamburg’s Sagaponack garden, and Bridge Gardens on Mitchell Lane in Bridgehampton.

    Tickets for Landscape Pleasures are $200 or $150 for Parrish members and are available at parrishart.org. They include admission to both the symposium and the garden tours. Sponsors, patrons, and benefactors at the $350 level and up are also invited to attend a private cocktail party from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday at Alexander and Mary Kathryn Navab’s historic Southampton Village house.   

‘LUV’ Opens

    The play “LUV” by Murray Schisgal will open at Guild Hall on Saturday after previews tonight and tomorrow night. It now stars Kahan James, who has replaced Ricardo Chavira. The cast also includes Jennifer Regan and Robert Stanton.

    The play, a reprisal of the 1964 Broadway hit, is directed by Lonny Price. It will run Tuesdays through Sundays until July 1. Tickets, which range in price from $40 to $85 with discounts for members, are available at the box office or at guildhall.org.

Parrish Happenings

    The Parrish Art Museum’s Opera in Cinema series will present an encore screening of Benjamin Britten’s “Peter Grimes” on Sunday at 2 p.m. The production was recorded last month in Milan. Tickets to the three-hour program are $17, $14 for Parrish members.

    The story is set in an English fishing village around 1830 and centers on a character who villagers suspect had a hand in the deaths of two men. It was intended “to express my awareness of the perpetual struggle of men and women whose livelihood depends on the sea,” said the composer, as well as to examine the struggle of the individual against the crowd.

    Next Thursday the Parrish will partner with the Watermill Center to pre­sent a free information session for artists and organizations, featuring Fractured Atlas, at 5 p.m. It will describe the benefits and use of Fractured Atlas’s fiscal sponsorship program as a fund-raising tool for individuals, emerging organizations, the general public, currently sponsored projects, and potential applicants. Also to be discussed are the benefits of sites such as IndieGoGo, Kickstarter, and RocketHub, and how to make crowdfunding an effective fund-raising tool.

Solo Piano in Montauk

    The Montauk Library will present a concert by Quynh Nguyen, a classical pianist, on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

    Ms. Nguyen will perform master works for solo piano by Beethoven, Chopin, and Ravel. 

    She was admitted at 6 to the Hanoi Conservatory of Music and made her orchestral debut at 11. Ms. Nguyen won a scholarship to study piano performance at the Gnessin Institute in Moscow at age 13.

    She has performed extensively in major concert halls throughout the United States and Europe.

    Ms. Nguyen is a winner of numerous awards and distinctions, and has won the United States Presidential Academic Award, the Los Angeles Maestro Foundation Award, and a Fulbright Fellowship to study music in Paris. 

    She is on the faculty of Hunter College and the International Keyboard Institute and Festival at the Mannes College of Music.

The Funny Side

    Joseph Vecsey, a comedian, will host “The All Star Comedy Showcase” at the Bay Street Theatre on Monday at 8 p.m. The showcase will feature the comedy of Yannis Pappas, Kenny Garcia, Sergio Chicon, Kareem Green, and Dawn B.

    Mr. Vecsey’s weekly podcast discusses the art and business of comedy and features interviews with well-known comics who discuss their career and how they develop their material. The podcast can be found at podomatic.com/profile/josephvecsey.

    On June 18, Bay Street will present “The Ivy League of Comedy,” with Shaun Eli as M.C. and the stand-up comedians Myq Kaplan, Joe DeVito, and Dan Naturman.

    Tickets for each evening are $25 and can be purchased through baystreet.org.

   The opening salvo of jangly guitar licks on “Ex Post Facto,” from Chris Campion’s new EP, is so arresting, practically spellbinding, it raises the question of the extent to which pure sound, at once propulsive, insistent, and melancholy, can be a character in a 4-minute- and-50-second rock ’n’ roll tale.  Instrumentals can of course call to mind all manner of emotions, but what about embodying, say, futility, or striving, or loss? Any one of those could be standing over your shoulder as the disc spins.

    That may be one for the musicologists and philosophers. This listener’s real-world experience of playing the tune some two dozen times in relatively short order reveals that it carries a voltage that no amount of repetition will diminish. Directed to a depressed or at least self-pitying friend “lapping up that soul-soothing salve,” it might be the happiest sad song you’ll hear.

    The disc, a remarkably full five-song solo effort, extends Mr. Campion’s creative successes of late: the run of his stage show of music and storytelling, “Escape From Bellevue,” at the Village Theater (now Le Poisson Rouge) in Manhattan, and his memoir of the same name, subtitled “A Dive Bar Odyssey,” published by Gotham in 2009.

    The new release is called “The Saloon Singer,” and it would be remiss not to point out that a sense of Mr. Campion’s showmanship can be had — where else? — online, at reverbnation.com/ chriscampion, where there’s a video of “Ex Post Facto” featuring the yoga poses of a bracingly limber woman of a certain age who appears to have no teeth. (An urban attention seeker, maybe, in the cartoonist Daniel Clowes’s phrase.) And there you can see our man grilled by Shemp Butler, a blunt workingman of a “radio personality” who seems . . . strangely familiar.

    Come the fall, Mr. Campion as the Saloon Singer is to be back onstage in New York. And though it’s been a while since his Knockout Drops have played the Stephen Talkhouse, on July 21 he’ll perform in Amagansett at Rock the Farm with the reggae ensemble Steel Pulse to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project.

    In the meantime, the EP alone is welcome news — even if you haven’t been despairing of the state of popular music on the Island. Mr. Campion’s songwriting can be enjoyed by adults, for one thing. “Stolen Winter” offers an apocalyptic vision — “I walk a mile on one drunk foot, as I drag the other with me, like a mad nag loose in the city, unbridled, unhitched, and unsung” — before this slow processional of a song becomes something of a hymn, with all the slightly hair-raising power that implies.

    Mr. Campion, who grew up in Huntington and lives in Woodside, Queens, is nothing if not likable — for his empathy for losers and weirdos, for instance. In “Esteban,” he tells of a dreamer helpless against the distraction of the breeze in the trees. In the face of his terminally misguided focus, his wife has been his savior: “Every time I get close, she cuts me down and hides the rope,” Mr. Campion sings with rising emphasis. “I love her more than she’ll ever know, and one day soon, I’ll tell her so.”

    But he isn’t going to, is he. Just as I’m going to fail to get across what’s so moving about those lines.