“East End Collected3” Commemorates The End End’s Long Tradition Of Fostering Creative Talent

With the changing of the season springs the annual East End Collected3, a conglomeration of masterpieces created by East End artists, at Southampton Arts Center (SAC). The group art show will be featured from Friday, April 14 to Monday, May 29, with an opening reception on Saturday, April 15 from 5 to 7 p.m.

Intimate Apparel by Gerson Leiber.

East End Collected3 will be curated by returning artist-curator Paton Miller. The internationally acclaimed artist has been featured in solo and group exhibitions from Florence to Shanghai, as well as domestically across the United States, though he notes that he specifically enjoys the East End of Long Island for its ability to provide artists with a progressive artistic community in a meditative and natural setting.

“I love living out here. I can send my kids to public schools,” he told Hamptons.com. “I can go surfing – it’s still a country kind of place and yet we have this great artistic community. It’s a great mix.”

East End Collected‘s original premise was to provide an “exhibition that was relevant to the area with works from collectors,” noted Miller. “Now it’s more from the artist collection. The general reason it got started was that it was a new institution [Southampton Arts Center] and over the three years we’ve now exhibited over 100 artists.”

When curating the first show, Miller had no idea it would be so well received. “The first year I thought it was going to be a one and done thing, so I included myself,” Miller said. “Then they asked me to curate again so I sort of made a rule that there wouldn’t be any repeats, as long as I could do it. For the 100 artists I exhibited, including this show, no one’s been invited back.” Over 2,000 people came out to see the 2016 show. “Every year when we open we have a huge turnout,” he shared.

Collage Totem by William Falkenburg.

The 2017 edition will feature Stephanie Brody Lederman, David Bunn Martine, Arthur Carter, Jennifer Cross, Janet Culbertson, Franco Cuttica,  Josh Dayton, Eric Dever, Adriana Echavarria, Chris Engel, William Falkenburg, Brian Farrell, Terri Gold, Lautaro Keudell, Mary Lambert, Laurie Lambrecht, Gerson Leiber, Judith Leiber, Brett Loving, Lynn Matsuoka, Simon Parkes, Olivier Robert, Dinah Maxwell Smith, Jonathan Morse, J. Alan Ornstein, Pamela Ornstein, Gabrielle Raacke, Maria Schon, Neill Slaughter, Eileen Stretch, Susan Tepper, Diane Tuft, Sarah Jaffe Turnbull, and Frank Wimberley.

“I am honored to be a part of and in such a great collection of artists. I am grateful to Southampton Village, especially the Southampton Arts Center for going above and beyond to host and support a fabulous event,” shared Farrell. “A huge shout out to Paton Miller on a fabulously curated show. I came from Los Angeles to be a part of the event and would not have missed it for anything. It’s going to be great and one of the top shows of the coming season.”

Miller seeks out artists that reside all across the East End. “Basically it’s North and South Fork – some of the artists are full time residents and some are not,” he explained. “Mostly are, but some are more New York artists. It’s a real mix.”

“Sometimes it’s serendipitous,” he said about finding new artists to highlight. “I’ve been living out here for 42 years, so I do know a lot of people.”

Some of the featured artists are quite established in the art world, but that’s not a requirement for Miller. “In the process of curating these shows I’ve had an interesting time inviting artists who are very well known, and some that work in their mother’s basement,” Miller said. “I was at the Rogers Memorial Library a couple of years ago and there was an artist that was exhibiting his work at the Library, and his work was incredible. He had never exhibited before – he was completely unknown, and for me, it’s been a great opportunity to know an area that I’ve lived in for 42 years even more.”

Self Portrait by Jonathan Morse.

While it might seem like a daunting task to find new artists for each show, Miller is up for the challenge, and if East End Collected returns in 2018, he’s already come up with his dream artist. “This year I wanted to get Robert Harms. Robert is a great artist, but I sent out feelers – I don’t have his number, and I never heard back from anybody,” he explained. “So Robert’s not in the show and he should be. Maybe they’ll let me do this again next year and I’ll try harder. He lives in Southampton. It’s not like it’s a Sherlock Holmes job, but I can’t seem to find him.”

Civilization Sinking by Neill Slaughter.

On Sunday, April 30 at 2 p.m., SAC will present an EEC3 Artist Talk where six of the exhibition artists will present slides of their work before a brief Q&A with Miller.

“It’s been a great service, I think, to the artistic community,” Miller added. “It’s a great display of what’s going on out here.”

Washington Square by Christopher Engel.

Additionally, A Drawing and Painting Workshop with Paton Miller for Kids and Teens will be held on Saturday, May 6 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and a Closing Concert with Mambo Loco! will take place on Saturday, May 27 at 8 p.m.

Southampton Arts Center is located at 25 Jobs Lane in Southampton. For more information, call 631-283-0967 or visit southamptonartscenter.org.