The Church as Campus for Artists

“Here and There: The First Churchennial,” the multimedia exhibition now on view at the Sag Harbor arts center, represents one of the many ways in which the venue is unusual, if not unique. The fact that its residency program hosts some 40 artists each year is in itself impressive, especially given the modest size of its staff and the scope of its other programs.

 

But while several other venues, among them Skowhegan and MacDowell, have more residents each year, they are only residency programs. “We are the only ones I’m aware of who have ever done a triennial exhibition of their residency artists,” Sheri Pasquarella, The Church’s executive director, said during a tour of the exhibition.

 

“I was inspired to start the triennial because what I do understand from working with artists in the residency cycle is that they crave ongoing support and dialogue both with the communities they come into as well as the organization they come into. And artists are always seeking to have some measure of visibility and platform for the work they create. It is rare to have a residency program that has such a platform.”

 

The program was a core component of the vision for and acquisition of the deconsecrated church. When April Gornik and Eric Fischl first bought the building, “they thought of it as a campus where artists would live and work,” Ms. Pasquarella said.

 

Mark Segal, The East Hampton Star