A year ago, the Southampton Arts Center embarked on what Amy Kirwin, its artistic director, called “a pure experiment.”
“TAKEOVER! Artists in Residence” brought together nine East End artists who were given dedicated spaces within the center’s galleries to use as pop-up studios for two months. “We didn’t know what to expect from the exhibition as a whole, or what to expect from the artists and how they would take to the concept.”
Ms. Kirwin needn’t have worried. The show was such a success that its
This year’s participating artists are Jodi Bentivegna, Michael Butler, Isadora Capraro, Franco Cuttica, Esly Escobar, Melinda Hackett, Erica-Lynn Huberty, Dinah Maxwell Smith, Miles Partington, and Kerry Sharkey-Miller. Jen Muller, Cynthia Lin, Caraline Oakley, and Ava Cesario from Southampton High School will have their own small studio space, and Ms. Sharkey-Miller, a former teacher at Ross, will work with Ross students at the school and the center.
The educational component will be enlarged as well, with each of the 10 artists conducting workshops during the course of the show. Two of last year’s “TAKEOVER!” artists, Ruby Jackson and Laurie Lambrecht, will also conduct classes.
As during last year’s show, Thursday evenings have been designated as “hangouts,” when members of the community can spend the evening with the residents playing Ping Pong, having a drink, and socializing. This year each hangout will have a community partner, among them Organizacion Latino-Americana (OLA), the East End Food Institute, and the Watermill Center, to help form the content for each evening.
“We didn’t go into the show last year thinking it would be a great way to get repeat visitors,” Ms. Kirwin said, “but people kept coming back to watch the progress. It was an interesting experience for the artists, but also for the guests, to be able to see the progression of the work. The way the space looked at the beginning was so dramatically different from the way it looked at the end. The main takeaway is that there was excitement in the air all the time.”
Mr. Escobar, who lives in Westhampton, was somewhat apprehensive at first about participating. “I had to really think about it because I like to work by myself in my own space. So it’s definitely a new experience.” However, now that he has met the other artists in the show, he is looking forward to interacting with them and the public. Mr. Escobar was one of the two artists featured in the Parrish Art Museum’s 2018 Road Show.
Ms. Capraro was born in Italy and immigrated to Argentina soon after. She attended art school in Buenos Aires, then traveled to the United States with the intention of apprenticing with prominent artists. Having collaborated on several murals over the years, she is undaunted by working in public. “I really like to be in a crew and to share day by day with a group of people,” she said. “It’s one of the beautiful things you can do in life.”
Because her husband’s family lives in Southampton, she moved there “mostly for love.” Her husband, Lautaro Cuttica, her father-in-law, Eugenio Cuttica, and her brother-in-law, Franco Cuttica, are all artists. Franco and Ms. Capraro will have adjacent studio spaces in “TAKEOVER!”
The exhibition will open with a reception Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. and continue through April 12. A full schedule of workshops and public programs can be found on the center’s website.
