Talks & Thinkers
Upcoming Events
The Church is honored and grateful to present a rare discussion with the legendary multidisciplinary artist Bruce Nauman. Joined in conversation by The Church co-founder and visual artist Eric Fischl, Nauman and Fischl will speak about art and process, touching on the themes present in Nauman’s work that is included in our summer exhibition, The Ark, curated by Fischl.
Working in nearly every artistic medium, thoughtfully refusing to adhere to rigid artistic distinctions, and sometimes creating new genres while completing his work, Nauman is an indispensable source of insight and a model of artistic authenticity and integrity. This rare opportunity, as Nauman seldom speaks about his work and creative process, promises to be a celebratory event of profound revelation.
Nauman’s work 2 plaster foxes head to foot with plaster can and hammer, 2024 is part of our summer exhibition The Ark, and can be experienced during our exhibition hours, Thursday through Monday 11 AM – 5 PM. To learn more about our exhibition and to check out the exhibition checklist, please visit our exhibition page here.
“You learn for yourself not for others, not to show off, not to put the other one down learning is your secret, it is all you have, it is the only thing you can call your own. nobody can take it away…” – Louise Bourgeois, Louise Bourgeois: The Return of the Repressed: Psychoanalytic Writings.
In a unique pairing to discuss a one-of-a-kind artist, Philip Larratt-Smith, esteemed curator, writer, and Curator of The Easton Foundation, which administers the legacy of Louise Bourgeois, joins in dialogue with Jamieson Webster, clinical psychoanalyst, teacher, and writer who has published work on Bourgeois and many other artists. The two will examine Spider Couple, 2003, Bourgeois’s iconic 12-foot sculpture featured in our exhibition The Ark. They will also expand their discussion to include the symbolic use of animal imagery prevalent in late artist’s profound body of work. There will be a Q&A following the discussion.
One of the most important and influential contemporary artists of the last century, Lousie Bourgeois is a fearless diver into the psychological realm. Over several decades, the artist plunged into the depths of her own psyche, fueling her creative process with heightened introspection, cathartic examinations of early childhood trauma, and more. Her use of personal symbolism, recurring motifs, and psychological release within her work created a unique stylistic dimension and a distinctive symbolic code. This code, though highly personal and individualized, has helped to capture the complexity of human experience and emotion, creating a collective sea of understanding around it. Join us as we submerge into Bourgeois’s world and perhaps contemplate our own introspective reality and its role in the creative process.
Louise Bourgeois’s work Spider Couple is on view on our outdoor deck adjacent to our mezzanine level during our exhibition hours Thursday – Monday, 11 AM – 5 PM. In addition to being the first time The Church will use the outdoor deck as part of the exhibition, it also marks the first time one of these celebrated works will be shown at an arts institution on the East End. We invite you to stop by and see a little web of history as it’s being made.
What is blocking you from being happy, leading a full life, and moving you forward? No stranger to healing, Brahna Yassky, painter, and author, who is trained in art therapy invites you to find out in this Wellness Monday. Using healing techniques that she herself has used, Brahna welcomes you to look at the world in a different way. Using an intense focus on a particular object, art, and writing, participants will uncover memories, sensations, and emotions that are tied to their wellness.
In this hands-on workshop participants are asked to bring with them an object that has great significance to them (or a photo if the object cannot be moved), their own art supplies (sketchbook, pencils, watercolors, paintbrush), a notebook, and a pen. Through Brahna’s guidance, you will spend your time during the workshop drawing or painting the object and/or activating your language center as you write about the object. There will be an opportunity to share your thoughts and reflections on your work.
In 1982 Brahna was literally on fire. This accident resulted in Brahna’s arduous and painful healing journey. This journey and the path to her success are documented in her book Slow Dancing with Fire – A Memoir of Resilience. Brahna will read a passage from the book that illuminates how she learned to see differently. The author and artist welcomes you to learn from her experience, engage in community, and chip away at the things holding you back so you can bloom in your wellness. Copies of Brahna’s book will be available for purchase.
Natural forms and space are at the heart of Bryan Hunt’s sculptures and paintings. The creative explorer joins us for a very special Insight Sunday and invites the audience to an intimate dialogue centered on Ceta-II the wood, synthetic fabric, and steel sculpture included in The Ark. Is it a bird wing? Is it a tentacle? Is Ceta short for Cetaceans, otherwise known as a marine animal like a whale, dolphin, or porpoise? Is it a space creature infiltrating the animal-laden vessel? There is only one way to find out! Ask the man directly. Come with questions and leave with insight at our first Insight Sunday of the summer.
To view Ceta-II stop by during our exhibition hours, Thursday-Monday 11 AM – 5 PM. The exhibition is free and open to the public. To learn more about The Ark, visit our exhibition page here.
“In order to escape madness, I will live madly. I will risk my life, in order to save it.” – Cory Richards
Join us in giving a warm welcome to Cory Richards, the man who summited Everest without supplemental oxygen, the only American to climb one of the highest peaks in the world in the winter, and 2012 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. The inspirational Renaissance man invites you to a deeply personal keynote that explores his most profound journey: navigating the depths of his own struggles with mental health. Following the talk, Cory will engage the audience in a thoughtful Q&A and host a book signing for his best-selling work.
Blending lived experience, hard-won insight, and breathtaking imagery and storytelling, Cory explores how depression, ADHD, anxiety, bipolar, and trauma –often labeled as disorders— can become the roots of creativity, grit, empathy, and innovation. He will unpack the myth of brokenness through the lens of mental health and neurodivergence, helping us see that the very real challenges of an unquiet mind can be transformed into the traits that drive bold exploration, artistic endeavors, and healing.
The best-selling author of The Color of Everything and BIPOLAR, welcomes you to an evening of hope, as we enter the mind and heart to receive a radical human perspective: “Our differences are not our downfall—they’re our design. And that design can become our most powerful gift. The goal isn’t to fix what’s broken. It’s to break the story that says we are.”
It’s a purrfect time to find a furry companion and pick up some pet-friendly tricks from our friends at the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation (SASF)! Join us as founding President, Jonathan McCann introduces the work of the non-profit, open-admission, no-kill shelter, and then turns the mic to volunteer and Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner Susan Denis for an afternoon program designed to give you the skills to calm and care for your pet. Bring your family and visit our parking lot, where the Southampton Animal Shelter’s mobile adoption unit will be set up, and SASF staff will be eager to help you find your new furry forever companion. Unable to have a pet but still love animals? Come by and support the shelter and find out ways you can volunteer, foster, donate, and support the foundation.
What is love? Is it different than a Crush? Is there truth written in the lines of fiction? Esteemed authors Ada Calhoun and Jessica Soffer invite you to a discussion about their latest novels, Crush & This is a Love Story, and to dive with them into the sea of inquiry as they trace their lines of intersection and experience. Both books were two of the most discussed books of the year, with This is a Love Story breaking into the New York Times best-sellers list and Crush, being named a most anticipated book of 2025 by Time, Vulture, Bustle, Bloomberg, AARP, and Literary Hub. Following the discussion, there will be a brief Q&A with the authors. Books will be available for purchase and can be signed at the end of the event.
Both works of fiction published earlier this year have an inspirational jump-off point rooted in the authors’ lives and deal with themes around partnership, love, loyalty, responsibility, and more. The nets in each book are cast wider than romantic love and allow readers to question the mechanics of love as it pertains to friendships, family, and professional colleagues.
Crush, published February 25th, 2025 with Viking/Penguin is Calhoun’s debut work of fiction. The author of the celebrated memoir, Also a Poet, as well as cultural histories St. Marks Is Dead and Why We Can’t Sleep, brings her signature wit and humor to the gripping, sumptuous, zeitgeist-y novel about the state of marriage, midlife, and what happens when both are upended by the sudden, electrifying passion of a crush.
“Crush (Such a charged word) interrogates all that we think we know about love and soulmates, commitment and conviction while tracking the long struggle to fully become oneself and do right.” – Booklist [starred review]
This Is A Love Story, published February 4th, 2025, through Dutton is Soffer’s sophomore novel and was received with enthusiastic critical acclaim like her debut novel There Will Be Apricots. Soffer brings a realistic, poetic, and delicate artistry to a moving family saga about a couple’s enduring love intermingling with their son’s feeling of alienation, a story of how hard life can be, and how the bond of love though tested can still endure in the face of inevitable challenges.
“Written with delicate and beautiful brush strokes, this is a love story of a long marriage, a love story of Central Park, a story of how hard life can be, and how the hard leaves its mark, but the love does too. Every once in a while I read a novel and think, what a gift. This is one of those books.” – Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful and Dear Edward
This program is presented with the support of Blue Rider Group at Morgan Stanley and Impax Asset Management
What technologies, innovations, and research are underway for a biodiverse and sustainable future – and how might you support these efforts? Connecting with the themes of humanity’s relationship to nature at the core of The Ark, this provocative discussion explores the ways the private and public sectors are investing in the future of our environment. The Church is grateful to welcome David Loehwing, Head of Sustainability and Stewardship, North America, Impax Asset Management, and Kevin McDonald, President, Nature Conservancy. The pair will be joined by moderator Anna Raginskaya, Partner, Blue Rider Group at Morgan Stanley, and take a deep dive into the technologies and plans currently being developed to protect biodiversity in the future.
Loehwing’s expertise in sustainable investing, deeply engaged with these ideas is paired with McDonald’s experience working at the intersection of private and public interests coming together to build and protect the natural resources of our region.
It’s time to talk about perspectives and perceptions with artist Thomas Deininger. Deininger, whose art is a direct response to consumer culture and a call to action toward social-spiritual responsibility and evolution, will be joined in conversation by The Church co-founder and The Ark curator, Eric Fischl. The two will discuss Deininger’s work Pigeon on the Giacometti, 2024, which is included in the exhibition and will dive into Deininger’s creative process, his use of found objects, and how his work advances his values. Following the discussion the audience is invited to a Q&A with the artist and curator.
To view Deininger’s perspective-bending sculpture, that changes upon where you are standing in relation to it, stop by during our exhibition hours, Thursday – Monday, 11 AM – 5 PM. For more information about The Ark, including exhibition dates, please visit our exhibition page here.
Nadia Ernestus wants you to think about gut health, the human microbiome, fermented foods, and the practical, delicious ways to nourish yourself naturally. Demonstrating how to ferment vegetables step-by-step and preparing a simple dish using fermented vegetables, the respected health coach will show us how easy it is to create and use this health benefit, offering participants a taste of a few ferments. Experience the different flavors and textures as you learn how to improve your health naturally and deliciously.
With a careful focus on traditional fermentation, participants will be invited to think about the connection between food and health and the powerful ways it can support our immune system and digestion. Nadia will cover the basics of how and why fermentation, a part of every traditional diet for thousands of years, works and share the science behind its benefits. Space is limited, please reserve your space in the workshop in advance. While participants will not be making their own fermented foods, they will enjoy a ‘taste buds’-on experience of the foods Nadia creates.
Monica Banks invites you to an inside look at the process and inspiration behind her work Restless Things, 2024, which is included in The Ark. Drawn to contrast and dissonance, Banks’s porcelain sculptures of dead birds and insects reference the delicate beauty and tragedy found in birds and small winged creatures. For Banks, “birds are everything,” and her work contains a deep sense of spirituality and hope that she considers “essential in all of us corporeal beings.” Join us for an intriguing discussion followed by a Q&A and leave with insight into the world of birds and winged things, as well as the artist’s unique approach to the traditional technique of porcelain.
To explore Bank’s work stop by during our exhibition hours Thursday-Monday, 11 AM – 5 PM. More information about The Ark can be found by visiting our exhibition page here. Our exhibition is free and open to the public, no RSVP necessary.
