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Each exhibition, The Church presents an ‘after hours’ session that provides a stimulating, in-depth look at the show with the people who made it happen. For The Churchennial, we are presenting a dynamic format: an introduction about how the exhibition came to be, followed by a ‘lightening round’ exhibition tour with several of the artists!
The program begins with a brief talk by Sheri Pasquarella, our Executive Director, who will share the insights and inspiration behind the show & the exhibition design. We’ll then go through the exhibition with ‘lightening rounds’ with exhibiting artists who will discuss or describe their work in their own words – including Linda K. Alpern, Amy Wickersham, John Wittenberg, Mark Webber, Sharon van Liempt-Brown, Margaret Garrett, Jim Gingerich, Roisin Bateman, Peter Solow, Francine Fleischer, Kerry Sharkey-Miller, Susan Bachemin and others tba!
What was the impetus behind the move to create this exhibition format, highlighting former artists in residence? How did we come up with the exquisite exhibition design? What does the work mean in the artists’ own words? Come find out in this unique experience within the Fall exhibition Here & There: The First Churchennial. Audience Q&A will be integrated into the tour and format.
November 23rd Query: What hardships are you grateful for?
Still, Small Voice draws its name from the idea of the "still, small voice" within—a quiet, inner voice that guides us in moments of reflection. This monthly gathering, started in 2023 as an artistic experiment, now returns as a community-led practice with rotating facilitators. It invites participants to engage in silent reflection and thoughtful sharing, centered around a question about creativity, community, and being human. We forever ever grateful for Nanao Anton & Erling Hope for their contributions, inspirations, and commitment.
This is a space to hear your and others’ authentic voices & own it in community, free of judgement or reaction, as necessary
This is not group therapy, a study group, a political action group or Quaker Meeting.
Please review our Community Values before attending.
What are the points of intersection between writing a biography and writing a memoir? Authors Bill Goldstein and Thymaya Payne explore this and more! The two discuss their latest literary endeavors that find them in a state of “trusting the process.” Each will share an excerpt from their current works-in-process before diving into a discussion about the intersections of their practices and experiences. The talk will close with a welcomed Q&A with the audience.
Goldstein’s work-in-process is a biography of Larry Kramer, the legendary American playwright, novelist, film producer, and AIDS activist. His work is born from years of research as well as a working relationship with Kramer while he was alive. This vantage point of both being present in Kramer’s physical timeline as well as conducting the research as a third person observer has presented unique challenges to Goldstein’s process.
Payne shifts gear to turn the narrative to his own life, a sharp contrast to researched-based works that explored the lives of others – including his forthcoming biography on civil rights leader Walter White and a documentary film on Somalian Pirates. His memoir-in-process, entitled AIDS, Raves, and Pirates, explores reflections on his relationship with his father. Payne’s process explores the validity of memory and questions the mind and heart’s tendency toward projection.
Both Goldstein’s and Payne’s projects were in development here at The Church during Goldstein’s and Payne’s respective residencies.
This program has been programmed in tandem with our Fall exhibition Here & There: The First Churchennial. Join us as we honor the legacy of an activist, celebrate our LGBTQIA+ community, and stand together in allyship and community.
Please note that this conversation has been rescheduled from its original October 11th date.
Do you enjoy digging deeper and learning about the history and concepts of art? The Church’s Executive Director, Sheri Pasquarella, and the photographer Ben Hassett invite you to join them as they build a dialogue around ten photographs that date from the advent of photography through today. Pasquarella and Hassett will each present five photographs — which will only be revealed as the event unfolds. The pair will then spontaneously examine, discuss, and appreciate the ten photographs individually, engaging the audience with a fun conversation designed for art-appreciators of all levels of experience, whether new to art criticism or aficionados. Join the conversation! What photographs do you think will be revealed?
This program is a part of the exhibition Here & There: The First Churchennial, which presents arts and works from the artist in residency at The Church from 2021 – 2024.
When it is finally ours, this freedom, this liberty, this beautiful
and terrible thing, needful to man as air / usable as earth; when it belongs at last to all...”
Robert Hayden, Frederick Douglass
The Power of Poetry returns for its fourth verse! We invite our poetry-loving friends to the next iteration of our recurring community-driven poetry ‘read-in’ series. Verse 4: Poetry Exploring Liberation celebrates voices that explore the many dimensions of liberation. Selected poets will include Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Robert Hayden, Audre Lorde, Aja Monet, Mary Oliver, Ocean Vuong, and others.
In this ongoing series, poems are curated in advance then assigned to readers upon arrival. Poems remain a mystery to the readers until they step up to the mic. The poems are not pre-selected, rehearsed, or memorized. Instead, they are felt, experienced, and actively engaged with in the moment. We are ever grateful to the positive feedback from our community who have organically help to co-create the Power of Poetry format and experience.
Be it social, spiritual, or political, the journey of liberation is both individual and collective. Reflecting on this, we encourage you to join us as we read, listen, and contemplate poetry in real-time.
If you are interested in reading, please purchase/reserve a ticket first. After check out, there will be a link to the “Request to Read” form on your confirmation screen.
If you have any questions, please email kristen@thechurchsagharbor.org
Each Verse of this recurring community-driven series presents a curated selection of poetry that is woven together around a common thematic thread. For those who have missed our previous ”verses,” check them out here: Verse 1 – Saints of Sag Harbror, Verse 2 – An Ode to Some Odes, and Verse 3 – I’m with the Banned.
Move with dancer Johnnoy Johnson in this workshop designed for all skill levels. Learn about the special and powerful Feminine Divine that resides in all of us, regardless of gender. Johnnoy will introduce us to fundamental spiritual concepts and deities, explain how these notions and sacred histories are expressed through movement, and then guide us through gentle movements as a group.
Explore the deities of the Yoruba pantheon through movement and celebrate feminine beauty, strength, and nurturing essence. Engage in mindful activities designed to honor and awaken the divine energy that resides in each of us. Lean into the energy within that fosters creativity, compassion, intuition, and balance.
This program is open to all movement skill levels. Participants should wear comfortable clothing that they can move easily in, avoiding jeans. Proper footwear includes sneakers, socks, or bare feet.
In a world saturated with technology, Jamie Diamond invites viewers to explore the evolving nature of relationships in her short film Skin Hunger. Join us at The Church for a screening of the film and a follow-up discussion and Q&A with the Creator Jamie Diamond, Director of Photography Matt Cianfrani, producers Amy Lawday and Abby Russel, and touch practitioner and subject of the film: Ella.
Peering into the epidemic of loneliness and the service economies that have emerged in response to the growing need surrounding touch, intimacy, Skin Hunger explores the emergence of a new kind of service: the renting of people for nonsexual touch, a.k.a. cuddling.
The 26-minute short film introduces viewers to Steven, a handsome, affable 60-year-old man who lives alone in Coney Island. He’s a film buff and, each day, he travels to Times Square for work where he is surrounded by people. But, inside, he is suffocating from loneliness and a yearning to be touched — or “skin hunger.” He contacts Ella, New York City’s leading touch practitioner, and embarks on a wild journey of discovery. “Skin Hunger” spotlights the phenomenon of paying for platonic touch, and its rapidly growing community which seeks to share the mental and physical restorative benefits of touch with the rest of the world.
This screening has been program in tandem with our Fall exhibition Here & There: The First Churchennial. Learn more about the show by visiting our exhibition page here.
Peter Solow joins us for our final Insight Sunday of the year. An esteemed visual artist in both oil painting and drawing, Solow is also a beloved educator of the East End. Join the pedagogue for an inspiring discussion that takes a deep dive into his work Piazza Signoria, which is included in our exhibition Here & There: The First Churchennial.
Hear how “the act and process of drawing [is] a creative, transformative, experience,” and how those ideas about the art making process are at the heart of Solow’s work. The discussion will then open to a thoughtful Q&A with the audience.
Piazza Signoria, which is part of a larger body of work known as A Field Guide to Florence, is one of the largest works in our exhibition. It can be seen during our exhibition hours, Thursday – Monday, 11 AM – 5 PM, up on our mezzanine level.
Witness the development of a new performance by artist & choreographer Matty Davis. Planned as the culmination of his residency, Davis will host an Open Rehearsal of a newly developed in-progress work, inviting the community to observe his choreographic process throughout its early stages.
Matty Davis is an artist and choreographer based in New York City. His work uses choreography as an instrument to cultivate high-stakes relationships—ranging from the interpersonal to the cosmic—that push himself, his collaborators, and his audiences to face and explore forces that drive some of the most important parts of our lives, such as trust, love, and responsibility. Marked by full-throttle physicality and inventive movement vocabularies, his performances have been described as “balancing ecstatically on the edge of life and death” (Jesse Zaritt).
December 29th Query: Why are you here?
Still, Small Voice draws its name from the idea of the "still, small voice" within—a quiet, inner voice that guides us in moments of reflection. This monthly gathering, started in 2023 as an artistic experiment, now returns as a community-led practice with rotating facilitators. It invites participants to engage in silent reflection and thoughtful sharing, centered around a question about creativity, community, and being human. We forever ever grateful for Nanao Anton & Erling Hope for their contributions, inspirations, and commitment.
This is a space to hear your and others’ authentic voices & own it in community, free of judgement or reaction, as necessary
This is not group therapy, a study group, a political action group or Quaker Meeting.
Please review our Community Values before attending.
POSTPONED
Diana Diamond is a preeminent expert on personality disorders, attachment, and narcissism. Join us for the opportunity to gain invaluable knowledge from a distinguished member of our community as she discusses narcissism as a clinical and social phenomenon. Dr. Diamond will reveal the impetus for her latest book, Treating Pathological Narcissism With Transference-Focused Psychotherapy. Cultural representations from art, literature, and film will be used to illustrate the universal fascination with narcissism. After the discussion there will be a lively Q&A.
The discussion will illuminate the special challenges of treating individuals with narcissistic disorders who retreat from reality into compensatory grandiosity, thereby compromising their lives and relationships. She will also discuss how to recognize when narcissistic traits become pathological and require treatment, and how practitioners can engage and connect more deeply with patients suffering from pathological narcissism. The ramifications of pathological narcissism in political and organizational life and relationship between collective and individual narcissism will also be discussed.