Guild Hall's 85th Artist Members Exhibition will open on Sunday at noon in conjunction with "Still," a solo show of paintings by Linda Reville Eisenberg, the winner of the exhibition's top prize in 2021.
As in the traditional salon exhibition, in the members' show works by established artists hang alongside those of emerging talents and first-time exhibitors, reflecting the range of artistic practice within the region. Early participants included James Brooks, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Alfonso Ossorio, Charlotte Park, and Jackson Pollock, among many others.
This year's more than 300 entries will be judged by Storm Ascher, an independent curator, writer, and founder of Superposition Gallery and the Hamptons Black Arts Council. Superposition is a nomadic gallery that mounts exhibitions in borrowed spaces in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and internationally. The mission of the Black Arts Council is to uphold the legacy of Black art institutions on the East End.
Ms. Ascher will be joined at 2 p.m. on Sunday by Phyllis Hollis, host of the podcast "Cerebral Women Art Talks" and a Guild Hall trustee, for a conversation about Ms. Ascher's career in the art world and her experience as guest juror of this year's members show.
Tickets for the talk are $15, $13.50 for members.
Ms. Eisenberg, who lives in Manhattan and Sag Harbor, was awarded top honors for her portrait "Lee" in 2021 by Antwaun Sargent, a curator and director at Gagosian. She drew inspiration initially from 1920s German portraiture and later from the Dutch still life tradition. Both her portraits and her still life paintings have minimal backgrounds -- in contrast to the opulence and abundance characteristic of 17th-century still lifes -- placing the focus on a singular subject or object.
Of still life paintings, she has said, "For me, it's their very stillness -- a quality that's timeless, universal, and mutes the noise that surrounds us. For me, such stillness is best captured in the form of branches or flowers I arrange in vessels, which I often set atop a pedestal, testament to how much I treasure the calm they afford."
"Still" has been organized by Melanie Crader, director of visual arts, with Philippa Content, the museum registrar and exhibition coordinator. Both exhibitions will continue through Jan. 5.
