Coastal Adoration And Concerns To Be Addressed During Hamptons Museum’s “Tideland Sessions”

Carl Safina, renowned ecologist and research professor at Stony Brook University, will take the stage as the keynote speaker at the Parrish Art Museum’s Tideland Sessions. The day-long event will include engaging talks, a boat-building workshop, a performance and conversations that connect artists, writers, scientists, historians and the community.

Tideland Sessions came to fruition after a meeting between water-focused non-profit organizations and businesses in 2015. Radical Seafaring, one of the Parrish’s current exhibitions, directly correlates with the upcoming session. Tideland Sessions offers a unique opportunity for artists to present works that address issues the world faces today with sustainability, maritime law and marine pollution. This event hopes to bring to light some of the most devastating, yet prevalent issues in our ecosystem.

Andrea Grover, program organizer and Century Arts Foundation Curator of Special Projects, remarked, “Tideland Sessions will provide a gathering place for in-depth discussions, lead by artists and leaders in the environmental field, on creating a healthy, accessible, and resilient coastal community.”

Mare Liberum, Dory (salvaged plywood, drywall screws, housepaint) at the Tugboat Graveyard, Staten Island, NY, 2010. (Photo: Stephan von Muehlen)

From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., participants can take part in an interactive paper boat-building workshop led by the Brooklyn-Based wrist collective Mare Liberum. Participants will build 18-inch paper dories, while Southold Project in Aquaculture Training (SPAT) will provide free oysters during the lunch hour session.

Keynote speaker, Carl Safina, will lead a lecture at 11 a.m. Safina is an acclaimed author and President of the Safina Center at Stony Brook University. Following his keynote address, Safina will hold a book signing in the Parrish’s lobby. Safina has been recognized with the Lannan Literary Award and the John Burroughs, James Beard, and George Raab medals, and is the inaugural Endowed Research Chair for Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University. A few of Safina’s books include Song for the Blue Ocean, The View From Lazy Point, and Beyond Words. On another spectrum, Safina currently hosts Saving the Ocean on PBS.

Lunch will be held at 12 p.m. Attendees are invited to participate in breakout discussions, and each table will be headed by representatives of regional environmental initiatives. Pre-reserve your boxed lunch with The Golden Pear Café for $16.95 when you pre-register on the Parrish website.

Join Nancy N. Kelley of The Nature Conservancy on Long Island, Edwina von Gal of Perfect Earth Project, and Mara Dias of Surfrider Foundation for Something in the Water, a discussion on water quality, at 1 p.m.

Following Something in the Water, Radical Seafaring artists will discuss their work at 2:30 p.m. The talk, What We Sea: Artists’ Views from the Water, will feature Shinnecock Nation artist Courtney Leonard, eco-boat artist Mary Mattingly, and the Mare Librium boat building collective. Each artist will give a 10-minute illustrative presentation.

Constance Hockaday, You Make a Better Wall Than a Window Ferry Tour of San Francisco Bay, 2014. (Photo: Constance Hockaday)

The 4 p.m. session, Working the Waters, will be held by Sag Harbor commercial fisherman Jon Semlear, Hampton Bays boatman Ken Mades, and folklorist Nancy Solomon of Long Island Traditions.

Guests can conclude this eventful day with Blue: a performance of storytelling and images by Constance Hockaday at 5:30 p.m. Hockaday is a TED fellow whose neon You Make a Better Wall Than a Window piece can be seen in Radical Seafaring.

Over a dozen artists will be exhibited at the event, including Bas Jan Ader, Ant Farm, Courtney M. Leonard, and Marie Lorenz.

Admission is $10, but complimentary for members, children, and students.

The Parrish Art Museum is located at 279 Montauk Highway in Water Mill. For more information, call 631-283-2118 or visit parrishart.org.