Whether buying it or creating it, fine art has many benefits, including stimulating creativity, soothing the senses, and of course, decorating a home.
It also has the potential to build and support a local community.
Two North Fork galleries — Alex Ferrone Gallery in Cutchogue and VSOP Projects in Greenport — are running exhibits that hit all those marks.
U-PICK ART: Alex Ferrone Gallery, Cutchogue
Taking a cue from the North Fork’s celebrated pumpkin- and apple-picking season, gallery director Alex Ferrone created a bona fide ART PATCH on her gallery’s front lawn. Over 50 unframed artworks are “staked” in the grass, all ripe for the picking and on sale for just $60 each.
To benefit a segment of the population in need during this time of harvest and plenty, a portion of the proceeds will benefit Long Island Cares (The Harry Chapin Regional Food Bank). The U-PICK ART event is this Sunday, October 24 from noon to 5 p.m. It will repeat every other Sunday until the end of November, weather permitting.
Ferrone was inspired while chatting with her partner about the region’s infamous seasonal traffic.
“I mentioned, ’We should have a U-PICK ART sign in front of the Gallery,” she said. An idea was born. “The U-PICK ART event is a light-hearted way to bring awareness to folks that while we have wonderful farms and wineries here to visit and patronize, we also have an incredible art community to enjoy and support as well.”
Photography and fine art prints are by Patricia Beary, Karen Bell, Ennid Berger, Carolyn Conrad, Laura Dodson, Alex Ferrone, Jim Lennon, Katherine Liepe-Levinson, Scott McIntire, Winn Rea, Jim Sabiston, Pamela Waldroup and Constance Sloggatt Wolf. Additional artists will be joining throughout the run of the event.
While at the event, make sure to also contribute to the gallery’s food drive for Long island Cares. Visitors are encouraged to drop off non-perishable items in the oversized food bins on the gallery’s front porch during open hours.
Alex Ferrone Gallery is at 25425 Main Road, Cutchogue. Visit AlexFerroneGallery.com for more info or call 631-734-8545.
15th Annual 10 x 10 = 100 Art Show & Sale from December 2020. (Credit: VSOP Projects)
10 x 10 = 100 Open Call and Sale: VSOP Art + Design Projects, Greenport
If you ever wanted to see your own creation hanging in a gallery, rub shoulders with some of the area’s most renowned artists and raise money for a community benefit, now’s your chance. You don’t even need to be a professional artist.
In an ongoing community project and benefit, contemporary art gallery VSOP Art + Design Projects has put out an open call for the fourth installment of its renowned “10 x 10 = 100” art show and sale. VSOP’s represented artists plus the community at large are invited to create works on a 10” x 10” wooden panel (supplied by the gallery), which are all presented in a tightly knit art grouping, usually around 200 works in total.
Each 10 x 10 piece will sell for exactly $100, whether created by a local student or a world-renowned artist whose art normally sells for thousands of dollars, and the proceeds benefit Peconic Public Broadcasting (WLIW) and C.A.S.T.
“The beauty of this event is that anyone who is interested in participating can join in,” said gallery owner and director Jonathan Weiskopf. “It’s an open call and the money goes to a good cause.”
The art sale begins Saturday, Dec. 4 (preview is Dec. 3), but all submissions must be dropped off in November, so get those paintbrushes, pencils, pastels, crayons, glue sticks, or anything else your mind conceives ready.
“Doing work for the community is at the core of my holiday time programming,” says Weiskopf. “I am using artists that don’t typically have an opportunity to show work in this type of setting. We’re raising significant money for these organizations, which year after year are in deeper and deeper need, and also creating a situation where people who want to collect or gift art can do so comfortably.”
For art buyers who want to purchase a larger piece, VSOP also commissioned six artists to participate in a special segment of the show: the 20 x 20 = 400 Invitational to benefit C.A.S.T. All artworks will sell for $400.
“This year, I am inviting people whose work has surprised and impressed me in the last 10 x 10 show — Kelly Franké, Isidore McCandlish, Elaine K. Lou, Matt Krefting, Anne Sherwood Pundyk and Chiaozza (Adam Frezza & Terri Chiao)— and I’m inviting them to step it up with a 20 x 20.”
All the gallery artists and many artist friends of the gallery participate in the 10 x 10, including Rainer Gross, Andre Worrell, Lisa Baglivi, Kara Hoblin, Peter Treiber Jr. and Louise Crandell. Additionally, students from the New Suffolk School, a large group of residents of Peconic Landing, Tina Nadeem’s art students from the Bayport-Blue Point School, and a number of international artists will be contributing.
To participate, pick up your 10 x 10 wooden panel at the gallery (do not attach and hanging hardware to the back). Complete the form available here, and drop off your entry and form between noon and 5 p.m. on Nov. 13, 14, 20, 27 and 28. Artists may submit one work only in any medium, and all work must be completely dry when submitted.
VSOP Art + Design Projects is at 311 Front St, Greenport Village. Visit www.vsopprojects.com or call 631-603-7736.
