Visitors to the art space at Vine + Sand (47100 Main Road, Southold, 631-620-9253) are invited to experience the calm of nature with Forest Bathing, a joint effort between Greenport artist Dena A. Zemsky and her longtime friend and fellow artist, Robert Bentley. The show pairs Zemsky’s richly textured ceramic sculptures with Bentley’s evocative tree portraits for a contemplative experience.
Forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku, is the Japanese practice of grounding oneself by spending time in nature. Zemsky and Bentley’s work recreate a soothing natural atmosphere within the walls of the space, inviting the viewer to get lost in the natural world.
Zemsky, who curated the exhibition, has known Bentley for fifty years; the duo met when they both worked in the restaurant world of Soho in New York City in the 1970s. “I’ve been painting since graduating from Pratt in 1972,” says Bentley, while Zemsky, also a painter and a photographer, has delved into ceramics for the last 15 years, working largely out of her Greenport studio.
Zemsky’s ceramic sea nymph totems displayed in the show developed from a piece she made in a prior series called Seascapes. “I sort of distilled it down to this totem iconography … they’re not typical,” she says.
The pieces are hand-built from chocolate or red stoneware/clay using a coil method and are all one of a kind. The vessels are layered in varied colors using smudging and blowing techniques and are fired two or even three times to produce a rich surface; “basically the glaze turns to glass,” Zemsky says. The pieces, encrusted with small rows of bumps, which Zemsky calls “nubbies,” — each one added individually — resemble undersea plants and sponges.
Dena Zemsky’s sea totems, 2026, handbuilt high fire stoneware; the works can be found in the Forest Bathing exhibition. (Photo Credit: Dena Zemsky)
The sea nymph totems share the space with Bentley’s paintings of trees, mostly large-format works done in oil, with a few smaller, more abstract watercolors represented. “At first glance, the paintings might appear to be landscapes,” says Bentley, “but I tend to think of them as tree portraits. I spend much of my summer deep in the Adirondack Park, where my cabin is surrounded by thousands of acres of forever-wild forest. I hope that, on closer inspection, some of the spirit, mystery and serenity of that wilderness comes through in the paintings.”
Robert Bentley’s Tree Portrait (7), 2025, oil on canvas (left) and Tree Portrait (2), 2025, oil on canvas (right) can be viewed in the Forest Bathing exhibition. (Photo Credit: Matt Flynn)
Zemsky feels that the two artists’ work complements the other quite well. “I think they mimic each other on some levels … I think it’s very much about both of our attention to detail and attention to brushstrokes,” she says.
While Zemsky has curated several exhibitions at Vine + Sand and at the now-closed VSOP Projects gallery in Greenport, this is the first joint show of work by Bentley and herself. Zemsky credits her Greenport garden with helping her to transition into working in three dimensions. “Moving into ceramics, you have to see differently. I think my garden helps me get there, because you learn what looks good next to each other and what textures [to use].”
Forest Bathing is one of a series of art exhibitions that John Pierce, co-owner of Vine + Sand, has presented featuring North Fork artists; a fall exhibition is in the planning stages. The show, which has been extended to July 19, can be seen on weekends from noon to 5 p.m. or by appointment; for more information, check Vine + Sand’s Instagram.
