Some art exhibitions are more about the opening party than the show that remains hanging after it’s over. The “Community Art Exhibition” at Grain Surfboards, hosted by the design group Stick + Stone, has that vibe but is definitely worth a visit even after the revelry.
Set in the Grain workshop at the Amagansett Applied Arts building on Indian Wells Highway, the exhibitions on view in the summer there and now in the off-season fit in nicely. Grain’s craftsmen make wooden surfboards by hand and invite their clients to take part in consultation or even build the boards themselves. The studio also designs furniture and skateboards.
The art show boasts an extended list of contributors, many from the surf and artist community here. There are new and familiar names, but almost all tend toward themes related to the earth, particularly the water. Those whose works are on view are Dalton Portella, Aileen Florell, Paton Miller, Peter Spacek, Idoline Duke, Aynsley Schopfer, Ondine Karady, Richard Silver, Gian Carlo Feleppa, Cindy Pease Roe, Aaron Warkov, Kara Hoblin, Joanlee Montefusco, Jane Parkes, Tali Hinkis, Jessica Barensfeld, Scott Bluedorn, and Simon Howell.
One of the striking things about the show is how tied to the environment and local ecosystem many of the works are. For her sculptures, Ms. Parkes employs driftwood that she sands and paints, forming intricate assemblages. Mr. Spacek offers a very large claw embellished with a googly eye. Ms. Floral fires earthenware in a group of burnished ewers. Ms. Duke takes a variety of tumbled rocks and adorns them with designs inspired by octopi or fanciful sea creatures. Ms. Barensfeld’s printed compositions are formed from stones or broken shell pieces to look like natural phenomena. Ms. Karady works in clay to make both art objects and functional design pieces.
Some artists here also reclaim things that might otherwise be a pollutant. Ms. Roe transforms beach debris with wire and wood into sea-themed creatures or, as in “I Love Long Island,” a geometric abstraction with some recognizable shapes and symbols. It feels like a puzzle that needs to be solved. In charming evocations of birds and fish, Mr. Spacek recycles discarded surfboards with some creative cutting and ink.
Mr. Portella incorporates a small animal skull into his “Self Portrait,” which itself has a skull-like appearance, covered in resin and set on a reclaimed wooden board. Marked by his usual primitive style, Mr. Miller’s oil painting on wood has the feeling of something that has been unearthed after a long period of dormancy. There are portraits of trees by Mr. Silver and an interpretation of a butterfly by Ms. Hoblin. A striking watercolor of humpback whales by Ms. Duke is large and beautiful in shades of gray and blue. LoVid offers an interpretation of a “Bird” in digitally printed cotton, stitched with thread and finished with ink.
The outliers in this show are fascinating as well. Ms. Montefusco’s monotypes feature layered imagery and a cryptic but readable text. Mr. Howell’s abstracted photographs show portions of magenta orbs and scores of bubbles at the surface, suggesting some kind of underwater scene. Ms. Schopfer’s two-panel “Nude” in oil and gesso on wood is cryptic and mysterious. Mr. Bluedorn’s monoliths superimposed in mostly natural settings are small but striking. Mr. Feleppa’s accumulation of images is vibrant and trippy and deserves a longer look.
Believe it or not, there is much more in this group of small but captivating works, and it all can be seen on weekends through March 15.
