SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8 – SUNDAY, JANUARY 10

86TH ARTIST MEMBERS EXHIBITION

The Artist Members Exhibition began in 1938, and Guild Hall continues this long-standing democratic tradition by hosting the oldest non-juried museum exhibition on Long Island. This lively presentation features more than three hundred works and showcases a variety of mediums. As in the traditional salon exhibition, works by established artists are shown alongside those of emerging talents and first-time exhibitors, offering a sampling of artistic practices within our community. This initiative provides an opportunity for audiences to support and celebrate the artists who live and work in our immediate region and for artists to sell their works. In turn, artists show their commitment to and support of Guild Hall. Early participants included James Brooks, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Alfonso Ossorio, Charlotte Park, Jackson Pollock, and many more.

Guild Hall invites nationally and internationally recognized art professionals to select the Top Honors Award and Honorable Mentions, with Marcela Guerrero, DeMartini Family Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, making this year’s selections.

The recipient of the Top Honors Award is given a future solo exhibition at Guild Hall.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8 – SUNDAY, JANUARY 10

MICHAEL A. BUTLER: SOMEWHERE IN TIME

Michael A. Butler is the Top Honors recipient of the 85th Artist Members Exhibition, selected by Storm Ascher, independent curator, writer, and founder of Superposition Gallery and the Hamptons Black Arts Council.

A self-taught artist with a strong interest in art and history, Butler has exhibited widely over the past three decades. His small-scale narrative paintings draw on mythology, religion, dreams, and storytelling to illuminate overlooked histories—particularly those of enslaved and Indigenous communities on the East End. Rooted in the belief that the past remains a living part of the present, Butler’s work gives visual form to the lives and events often left undocumented. Descended from a Sag Harbor family whose presence dates to the 1920s, Butler has made the village his full-time home since 1988.

Working primarily in acrylic on canvas, Butler describes his practice as narrative or “intuitive” painting. Through a sense of wonder, he constructs imagined realities that merge historical fact and creative vision—echoing a poetic, dreamlike spirit while asserting a distinctly contemporary voice. Butler’s practice reimagines collective memory as an active, evolving narrative, transforming fragments of history into visual allegories that connect personal lineage with broader cultural identity.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 6-8 PM

ART SOCIAL: PAINTING TINIER WITH MICHAEL A. BUTLER

Join current exhibiting artist and 2024 Artist Members Exhibition Top Honors Winner Michael A. Butler for another session of even tinier painting. Bring a magnifying glass to help with detail as we work off the teeniest, tiniest canvas you have ever seen!

Michael A. Butler is an artist, historian, and humanitarian, and describes himself as an intuitive self-taught artist, defining his style as narrative folk art and primarily works in acrylic. The intricate details in his small-scale works have a powerful impact.

Admission includes wine and refreshments courtesy of Red Horse Market!

MUSEUM, LOBBY BOX OFFICE, & COFFEE BAR HOURS:

The museum will open on Sunday, November 8, to the general public.

Thursday-Sunday, 12-5 PM

 

Museum Admission: FREE

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

       

The Artist Members Exhibition is supported, in part, by the Giuppy Nantista Fund and the Helen Hoie Fund.

Visual Arts programs are supported by Principal Sponsors Lucio and Joan Noto, with additional support provided by The Giuppy Nantista Fund, The Hoie Fund, The Melville Straus Family Endowment, The Michael Lynne Museum Endowment, and Vital Projects Fund.  

Additional support provided by Friends of the Museum: Danielle Mandelbaum Anderman, Shari and Jeff Aronson, The Artist Profile Archive, William L. Bernhard, Elizabeth Gordon and Woody Heller, The Hayden Family Foundation, Robert Longo and Sophie Chahinian, Elin and Michael Nierenberg, Onna House, Lori and John Reinsberg, Jeff and Audrey Spiegel, Hillary and Jeff Suchman, Jane Wesman and Don Savelson, and Yurman Family Foundation.

Art Social Hospitality Partner:

Red Horse Market

Learning + New Works programs are supported in part by funding from Bobbie Braun -The Neuwirth Foundation, the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Endowment Fund, The Melville Straus Family Endowment, and additional support by Collegiate Gateway and Vital Projects Fund.

Additional support provided by Friends of Learning + New Works: Toni and Seth Bernstein, Julie Raynor Gross, Stephanie Joyce and Jim Vos, S. Kutler Foundation, N. Glickberg, D. Glickberg, and J. Abrahams, and Barbara Toll.

PHOTOS:

Installation view of 85th Artist Members Exhibition, November 17, 2024 – January 5, 2025. Guild Hall, East Hampton. Photo: Gary Mamay 

Michael Butler’s studio, 2025. Photo by Melanie Crader

Guests at Art Social: Painting Tiny with Michael A. Butler. Photo: Amy Kirwin

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