East Hampton Center for Contemporary Art

The East Hampton Center for Contemporary Art (EHCCA) was a non-profit arts center and exhibition space located at 16R Newtown Lane in East Hampton, New York.[1]

East Hampton Center for Contemporary Art
TypeNon-profit
Location
  • East Hampton, New York

History

The EHCCA was founded in 1985 by artist Susan Tepper. The Center’s mission was to provide exhibition opportunities for deserving artists as well as sponsor lectures, readings, and site-specific outdoor sculpture projects to serve artists’ needs and promote and encourage public appreciation of contemporary art.[2]

The Center’s program was modeled after alternative venues such as Artists Space in New York City, and featured both established and emerging artists. During its six years of operation, EHCCA presented the work of more than 350 artists in 40 solo and group exhibitions.[3] EHCCA was regularly cited by critics for its dedication to emerging artists,[4] and its cutting-edge exhibition program.[5][6][7] Exhibitions at EHCCA were often thematic and included artists from the region as well as national and international artists.[8]

The EHCCA’s inaugural exhibition was New Talent / New York an exhibition of four East Village Artists.[9]

Noteworthy exhibits

Noteworthy exhibitions included Visual AIDS Day Without ART;[10] Americanos: Contemporary Allegories; Sculptors’ Drawings; Crosscurrents: An East Hampton / Provincetown Exchange; Particular Voices: Photographic Portraits of Gay Lesbian Writers by Robert Giard.

The EHCCA was a champion of women artists. Noteworthy artists who exhibited work at the EHCCA include: Petah Coyne, Joan Semmel, Mercedes Matter, Beverly Fishman, Beverly Buchanan, Miriam Schapiro, Elaine de Kooning, and Audrey Flack.[11][12][13]

The EHCCA also featured works by Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, and Alfonso Ossorio.[14]

In addition to mounting exhibitions, EHCCA staged special events including premiering performances by Joseph Pintauro; lectures by Joan Jonas, Robert Storr and Eleanor Heartney; and readings by Stanley Moss, Eileen Myles, Kenneth Koch and David Leavitt, among others.[15]

Board of advisors

In addition to Tepper, the EHCCA’s Director and Board Advisor was Jennifer Cross,[16] who has been a Chair of Visual Art at the Ross School in East Hampton since 1994 and co-directed and helped curate the EHCCA gallery. Others Board Advisors included the associate curator at MoMA’s Department of Drawings Magdalena DaBrowski, B.H. Friedman, former educational director at Guild Hall Museum, Hope Harris, Bill Jensen, artist, educator and Gallery Director Roy Nicholson, Li-Lan, Susana Torruella Leval, poet, critic, and English instructor at Southampton College Robert Long, Freda Mindlin, Frank Wimberley, and Alfonso Ossorio, who founded and ran a gallery in East Hampton called Signa, from 1957-1960. Tepper dedicated a show East Hampton Avant-Garde, a Salute to the Signa Gallery at EHCCA in 1990.[17]

Closing

After the death of Tepper, the EHCCA could not continue its funding, and was forced to close. The EHCCA closed in March, 1991.[18]

References
  1. Russell, Dan (2 August 1985). "In the Hamptons, Dan Flavin's Fluorescent Light Works are Aglow".
  2. East Hampton Center for Contemporary Art. (1986). East Hampton Center for Contemporary Art. Annual Report. East Hampton, New York.
  3. Sansegundo, Sheridan (28 February 1991). ""At The Galleries"". The East Hampton Star.
  4. Braff, Phyllis (16 December 2001). "Mercedes Matter and the East End's Aura".
  5. Braff, Phyllis (28 June 1987). ""Beyond Visual: Alternatives to Traditional Sculpture."". The New York Times.
  6. "Archives, The East Hampton Star".
  7. Smith, Roberta (24 August 1990). "Review/Art; Long Island Art, a Refuge From the Whirl". The New York Times.
  8. Cross, Jennifer (7 March 1991). "Letters to the Editor "Center is Closing"". The East Hampton Star.
  9. Dalphonse, Sherri (1986). ""Art & Artists"". Hamptons Newspaper.
  10. "Sally Egbert - Artist Biography". www.sallyegbert.com. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  11. Buchanan, Beverly. "Beverly Buchanan CV" (PDF).
  12. Coyne, Petah. "Petah Coyne CV".
  13. Braff, Phyllis (1989). "Braff, Phyllis. "The Challenge of the Figure". The New York Times. 1989" (PDF). The New York Times.
  14. "Ossorio Foundation CHRONOLOGY AND MUSEUM COLLECTIONS". Archived from the original on 2017-07-29. Retrieved 2017-07-28.
  15. ""Two Poets will Read"". The East Hampton Star. 24 September 1987.
  16. Cross, Jennifer (7 March 1991). ""Center is Closing"". The East Hampton Star.
  17. Harrison, Helen A. (23 September 1990). ""East Hampton Avant-Garde: A Salute to the Signa Gallery",".
  18. Martin, Alex (6 March 1991). "Newsday".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.