Guild Hall has opened the application process for its 82nd annual Artist Members Exhibition.
Artists can enter the Artist Members Exhibition by visiting guildhall.org/artistmembers. Registration must be postmarked by February 17, 2020 or completed online by midnight February 21, 2020. This year’s jurior is welcome Susan Thompson, Associate Curator at the Guggenheim Museum. The exhibition itself will be on view March 7 through April 18, 2020.
Thompson is one of the organizing curators for the Guggenheim’s Young Collectors Council, which acquires the work of emerging artists for the museum’s permanent collection, and for the Photography Council, which expands the museum’s holdings in the medium of photography through acquisitions.
She will review the entire exhibition and award up to 17 artists in the categories of Best Photography, Best Representational Work, Best Sculpture, Best Abstract, Best Mixed Media, Best Work on Paper, Best New Artist, Catherine & Theo Hios Best Landscape Award, and up to eight Honorable Mentions.
A Top Honors award will be given to the juror’s top choice with the winner receiving a solo exhibition in the museum’s Spiga Gallery at a later date. Thompson will honor the winners of the 82nd annual edition through an awards ceremony and plans to attend the private Members Reception held on Saturday, March 7, 2020, from 4 to 6 p.m.
“It is a wonderful opportunity for artists to exhibit their work and it allows us to touch base with over 400 artists,” said Christina Strassfield, Guild Hall Museum Director and Curator. “Through the exhibition I am able to see the different types of work artists are doing and to speak with some of the artists. I always keep these artists in mind for future exhibitions. It is a great opportunity as work can be seen this year by the Associate Curator of the Guggenheim, other local curators, art collectors and fellow artists.”
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Examining art at Guild Hall Artist Member Exhibition. Photo by Jessica Dalene. Courtesy Guild Hall.
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The first installment of Guild Hall’s Artist Members Exhibition took place in 1938, shortly after Guild Hall’s inception in 1931. The exhibition—then as it is today—features artists who are members of the museum with an artistic practice at any level. It is the oldest non-juried show on Long Island and one of the few non-juried exhibitions still running.
The exhibition is a popular one and around 400 artists have participated each year. Deeply rooted in the history of the East End artist colony, early participants included Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Alfonso Ossorio, Perle Fine, Bill King, James Brooks, Charlotte Park, John Little and many more, showing their support of Guild Hall and its role as their community Museum, Theater, and Education Center.
Past Top Honor’s winners’ quotes on their experience entering the show every year and what being a top honors winner meant to them:
I would not think of not being a part of the Artists Members Exhibition every year. The exhibition is both historic and democratic and a genuine community experience. One walks in the footsteps of de Kooning, Pollock and Krasner, et al., who all participated in this event in their day. As a two-time top honors winner, I can only say that I am humbled by the awards, loved having 2 solo shows at Guild Hall, and gained a great deal of confidence because of these awards.
-Stephanie Brody-Lederman, [email protected]
Being singled out from among the many talented artists of our area for any of the awards or distinctions in the members show gives a feeling of belonging. It is no wonder that Guild Hall has given itself to this encouragement for all of us artists working alone in our studios...this is the moment we come together and celebrate making. The museum has always offered itself to our community and this is the height of that mission. Good luck to everyone in this year’s exhibition, and thank you for participating.
-Darius Yektai, [email protected]
Guild Hall's Artist Members Exhibition is a blessing. It gives me the opportunity to show my artwork in a quality museum to an audience that welcomes different and singular, even uncomfortable, art. I recommend it to everyone! Last summer Guild Hall had Tony Oursler and Ugo Rondinone. How lucky we were! And my solo exhibit last fall was amazing; I felt at home, my work appreciated and welcome in good company.
-Joyce Kubat, [email protected]
The Artist Members Exhibition is supported, in part, by the Giuppy Nantista Fund and the Helen Hoie Fund. Guild Hall Museum is open Monday, Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.
About Guest Juror Susan Thompson
Susan Thompson is Associate Curator at the Guggenheim Museum, where she has curated several exhibitions including the two-part project Implicit Tensions: Mapplethorpe Now (2019–20); Simone Leigh, Loophole of Retreat (2019); Anicka Yi, Life Is Cheap (2017); Paul Chan, Nonprojections for New Lovers (2015). She has also contributed to such exhibitions as Danh Vo: Take My Breath Away (2018); Photo-Poetics: An Anthology (2015–16), and Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video (2014).
Thompson is one of the organizing curators for the museum’s Young Collectors Council, which acquires the work of emerging artists for the museum’s permanent collection, and the for the Photography Council, which expands the museum’s holdings in the medium of photography through acquisitions. She holds a BA in art history and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MA in modern art from Columbia University.
About Guild Hall
Guild Hall, one of the first multidisciplinary centers in the country to combine a museum, theater, and education space under one roof, was established in 1931 as a gathering place for community where an appreciation for the arts would serve to encourage greater civic participation. For nearly nine decades, Guild Hall has embraced this open-minded vision and provided a welcoming environment for the public to engage with art exhibitions, performances, and educational offerings. Art and artists have long been the engine of Guild Hall’s activities and the institution continues to find innovative ways to support creativity in everyone.
All Museum Programming supported in part by The Melville Straus Family Endowment, The Michael Lynne Museum Endowment, Vital Projects Fund, Hess Philanthropic Fund, Crozier Fine Arts, The Lorenzo and Mary Woodhouse Trust, and public funds provided by New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Museum admission is always free thanks to BNB Bank and Landscape Details.
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Photo by Jess Dalene