For those who have yet to see “Dear Mazie” at The Church, or would like to dive more deeply into it, Amber Esseiva, the show’s curator, will be joined by Emanuel Admassu and Jan Wood, founding partners in the art and architecture practice AD-WO, for a conversation on Friday at 6 p.m. The show includes work by AD-WO, which also helped design the installation.
“Dear Mazie,” which originated at the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, is inspired by the life and work of Amaza Lee Meredith (1895-1984), the first known Black queer woman to practice architecture in the United States. It celebrates Meredith while reflecting her continued relevance through the work of contemporary artists, designers, and architects.
Tomorrow’s program will illuminate the exhibition’s conception and realization, and how it came to Sag Harbor. The participants will take questions after the discussion, and there will be a chance to see the show outside regular exhibition hours.
Esseiva is a Swiss-Senegalese-American curator and educator who specializes in organizing contemporary art shows and programs by national and international midcareer artists. She is the senior curator and director of curatorial affairs at V.C.U. and curator-at-large for the Studio Museum in Harlem. “Dear Mazie” is the first contemporary art exhibition dedicated to the life and work of Meredith.
Rooted in Black studies and conceptual art and founded in 2018, AD-WO designs buildings, tapestries, and installations, and has had work exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and the Venice Biennale of Architecture. AD-WO has designed exhibitions at the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Bard Graduate Center, and has work in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.
Admassu is assistant professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. He is at work on a book, “Animist Urbanisms,” that articulates the relations between certain cultural practices and contemporary urban systems in Atlanta, Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
A registered architect in New York State, Wood has nearly two decades of experience working for architectural practices in Melbourne and New York. Her approach to architecture draws from her experience leading environmentally ambitious projects, according to the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, in which AD-WO took part.
Tickets are $20, $15 for members.
Bookbinding Workshop
Hadley Vogel, a second-generation bookbinder, will lead an introductory workshop on drum leaf binding on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The technique allows a book to be put together with little equipment — pages can lie flat and be displayed without the use of stitching.
Participants will learn how to develop and bind a simple hardcover book of their own, with instruction on the anatomy of a book and how to use the tools and materials associated with bookbinding. Vogel has asked participants to bring 10 to 15 printed 8.5-by-11-inch, single-sided sheets of glossy or matte paper, with a weight of 120 to 265 grams per square meter. These will be folded in half to form the pages of the book. Additional printed material will be provided for anyone unsure of the content they would like to include, and all other materials will be provided.
Vogel apprenticed with her father, Paul Vogel of East Hampton’s Vogel Bindery, and with Martin Farfan Patino, a master binder in Mexico City, working with rare books and institutional collections.
The cost is $250, and the workshop will be limited to 12 people.
Inda Eaton’s Stories
The Church’s Insight Sunday series will feature Inda Eaton, a singer and songwriter, on Sunday at noon, using her song “Once” from her album “Shelter in Place” as a way to explore her work and inspirations. She will take questions after the discussion.
Eaton’s music blends country, rock, and storytelling rooted in the American landscape, according to The Church. She has performed nationwide as a solo act and band leader, and has opened for John Hiatt, Blues Traveler, Earl Scruggs, and Hootie and the Blowfish, among others. She hosts “The IndAmerica Radio Hour” on Saturdays at 7 p.m. on WFRM 94.5 the Farm.
Tickets are $10, free for members who R.S.V.P.
