Arts

   It was a Thursday afternoon, and Monica Banks was home listening to NPR. But it could have been any day, really, as long as she was at work in her East Hampton Village studio or in the workroom she keeps in her house.

    The fact that the artist works to the jumbled sounds of nations crumbling, world economies sputtering, talking heads debating health care reform, or, perhaps in lighter moments, the poignant oral histories of “Storycorps” resonates in her artistic output and seems to urge her along in her practice.

Fireplace Opens Koh

    A solo show by Terence Koh, “yes, pleased,” will open at the Fireplace Project in Springs tomorrow. In his first presentation at the gallery, Mr. Koh will offer a variety of mediums drawn from his work in drawing, sculpture, video, performance, and the Internet.

   Scott Sandell grabbed one of a dozen baseballs from a tall glass vase on his desk and began rubbing the red stitching as he held the ball up for inspection. “It’s a good design,” he said, admiring the ball’s leather cover, “a beautiful thing.” The Sag Harbor artist said that the driving force in his life is his “quest to make a beautiful object.”

‘The Tempest’

    “The Tempest” will storm onto an outdoor stage at Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island for a two-night run this weekend. The 90-minute show, a presentation of the Green Theatre Collective, will start at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, with tickets sold at the door, $15 for adults and $5 for children. The production will take place in a field at the manor, 80 North Ferry Road, unless it rains, in which case it will move indoors to Havens House, 16 South Ferry Road.

   Films, thought-provoking talks, cab­aret, and pop music are on the schedule at Guild Hall this week.

    The Red Carpet film series will present two documentaries by Albert Maysles — “Gimme Shelter” tonight and “The Love We Make” tomorrow, both at 8 p.m.

    “Gimme Shelter,” tells the story of the tragic 1969 concert featuring the Rolling Stones at the Altamont Speedway at which a fan was stabbed to death in a near riot. Ali Wentworth will moderate a discussion after the screening with Mr. Maysles and other guests to be announced.

   Stony Brook Southampton announced last week that Christine Vachon, an independent filmmaker, has joined its faculty to begin the process of establishing a graduate program in film on the campus.

   If the East End teems with hidden artistic talent, then the annual studio tour sponsored by the Artists Alliance of East Hampton is one of the summer’s singular pleasures of discovery. In the era of slow food and organic harvest, it feels spot-on to find a studio at the end of a country road, discuss art with the artist, and perhaps leave with that gem for your empty wall space.

   When George Frederic Handel presented his newly composed anthems for the coronation of George II and Queen Caroline in Westminster Abbey in 1727, the Archbishop of Canterbury is said to have commented, “The Anthems in confusion; all irregular in the music.”

   Beginning this weekend a series of July art fairs will erect tents in a variety of fields from Bridgehampton to South­ampton, offering attendees a pleasant environment to see work from galleries from the East End to Europe and beyond under one roof while benefiting some local nonprofit organizations.

    First up is the oldest, ArtHamptons, which will begin its fifth iteration today at Nova’s Ark Project in Bridgehampton with two benefit previews for the LongHouse Reserve. It will remain open through Sunday.

Green Fashion

    Barbara de Vries’s design collection “Plastic Is Forever,” which incorporates plastic collected from beaches into fashion, jewelry, and lifestyle products, will be available at Flying Point Surf and Sport in Sag Harbor.

    A film about her project “One Beach” will be screened at the store on Monday from 5 to 7 p.m. It is sponsored by Barefoot Wine and the Surfrider Foundation,

   Guild Hall has a full lineup of films, concerts, and other events for this week that should appeal to everyone in one form or another.

   Filming on “A Maid’s Room,” a movie set on the East End and featuring details that will be entertainingly familiar to Hamptoners, wrapped up last week in Bellport.

   The summer benefit season is in full swing and residents are enjoying parties galore while supporting their favorite charities and organizations.

     If the walls are bare or need a change, the ArtHamptons preview party next Thursday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. might be of help. Guests can purchase artwork offered by 75 galleries from around the world at Nova’s Ark in Bridgehampton during a cocktail reception to benefit the LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton. Admission donations are $125.

    Not everyone played Ping-Pong with Leona Helmsley and lived to tell about it. No, she wasn’t quite that dangerous, said Brian Leaver, but she lived up to her infamous reputation more often than not. He and his brother, Rusty, rubbed elbows, gingerly, with Ms. Helmsley while working in her Greenwich, Conn., mansion.

Pollock Lecture

    Bobbi Coller, a co-curator of “The Persistence of Pollock,” will present a gallery talk on the exhibition at the Pollock-Krasner House on Sunday at 5 p.m. A reception will follow.

    Ms. Coller is an art historian and the chairwoman of the Pollock-Krasner House advisory committee. She will discuss how the committee selected the 13 artists in the show and the ways in which those chosen address Pollock’s legacy.

    The lecture is free; no reservations are necessary.

Art Walk Returns

    Guild Hall will present “Escape” a video art exhibition featuring the work of Laurie Anderson, Burt Barr, Lynda Benglis, Jonathan Horowitz, Joan Jonas, Tony Oursler and Constance DeJong, Keith Sonnier, Andy Warhol, and William Wegman, beginning on Saturday with a reception from 4 to 6 p.m.

Perlman Music Program

    The Perlman Music Program celebrated the opening of its new Kristy and James H. Clark Arts Center last week, on its Shelter Island campus. Programs this summer include, in addition to the summer music school, a chamber music workshop, an alumni concert, the “Tutti Suonare” chamber music concert weekend, and the annual summer benefit.

   The summer concert of the Choral Society of the Hamptons will take a British theme to mark the Queen of England’s Diamond Jubilee and the opening of the Olympic Games in London in July.

    The group will perform on July 7 at 7 p.m. at the parish hall of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton. Joining the members will be the South Fork Chamber Orchestra and four soloists: Anita Johnson, a soprano; Charlene Marcinko, a mezzo-soprano; Eapen Leubner, a tenor, and Frank Basile, a basso cantante.

   Joe Pintauro’s adaptation of Peter Matthiessen’s book “Men’s Lives,” which had its premiere as the inaugural production at the Bay Street Theatre 20 years ago, will be revived there again beginning with previews on Wednesday with an opening night on July 7. The play, directed by Harris Yulin, will run through July 29.

   How often does a true Hollywood ending happen in real life? Maybe more than immediately comes to mind, but still, not that often. The first film in the Hamptons International Film Festival and Guild Hall SummerDocs series, to be shown on Friday, July 6, has that Hollywood ending with an added surreal twist, and it is all a true story.

Vered Auction

    Vered Gallery in East Hampton will hold a reception for its 14th annual July Silent Art Auction on Saturday from 9 to 11 p.m. The auction will benefit Sheba Hospital’s post-traumatic stress disorder center.

   The first time Daisy Jopling performed at Guild Hall, in December, it sealed her reappearance there. Ms. Jopling, a violinist of international acclaim, will appear at the cultural center next Thursday night, this time with the Daisy Jopling Band, an ensemble of world-class musicians with a program quite different from Ms. Jopling’s solo six months ago. But the fire in her violin performance is just as hard to ignore.

Tria Giovan’s moody and restrained evocations of the Sagaponack shoreline, the subject of a new book and exhibition, were taken over the course of a decade.

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

    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.

   The restoration of the only extant 19th-century bathhouse in East Hampton Village, one of several outbuildings on the Thomas Moran property on Main Street overlooking Town Pond and the first to be restored, has been completed.

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.

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.

   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.

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.