The Church: SPECULATION & FRENZY: American Art & Its Market from 1826 / August 14th, 5 PM

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SPECULATION & FRENZY:

American Art & Its Market

From 1826 to Today

with SHERI PASQUARELLA

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2026
6 PM

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TICKETS:

General Ticket: $10

Member Ticket: Free

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As part of This Land: Considering the American Landscape, The Church presents a talk with Executive Director Sheri Pasquarella exploring the origins of American art, artists, and the art market beginning with the Hudson River School. Drawing connections between the exhibition’s 19th-century paintings and contemporary artists working today, the lecture will examine how ideas about landscape, nationhood, community, and value have shaped American art for nearly two centuries.

This Land juxtaposes works from the Hudson River School—America’s first major art movement—with contemporary artists whose practices both draw upon and challenge enduring notions of the American landscape. Less widely known is that this same period also witnessed the emergence of the American art market, the founding of some of the nation’s earliest museums and art schools, and the development of collecting practices that continue to influence the global contemporary art world.

What was the Hudson River School, and why did it become so influential? How did its rise coincide with the creation of America’s cultural institutions? When did the term “speculator” first enter conversations about emerging artists and the art market? And how do these histories continue to shape the ways art is exhibited and collected today?

Drawing on nearly a decade of independent research presented at Yale University, Columbia University, Christie’s Education, and other institutions, Pasquarella will place American art in the broader context of culture, community-building, and the market, offering a fascinating look at the historical forces that continue to shape artistic production and patronage today.

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SHERI PASQUARELLA

Sheri L. Pasquarella is Executive Director of The Church and a cultural strategist with more than twenty years of experience in the visual and performing arts. From 1998 – 2002 she was an Associate Director of Marlborough Gallery, NY and 2002 -2005 Director of Gorney Bravin + Lee gallery. In 2002, she conceived and co-founded the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA), a global 501c6 organization of which she is President Emerita. In 2020 she founded the SLP Women’s Group, a national network of female arts leaders; and in 2021 co-produced, with the Black Women in Visual Arts, The Convening. From 2002 – 2019 she was on the Art Advisory Board of the Coalition for the Homeless and served as a consultant to that organization. From 2003 – 2012 she was Adjunct Faculty in the Art Market M.A. Program at SUNY FIT and delivered lectures on her research in the American art market and its culture at Yale University, Columbia University, and others. She holds a B.A. (Art History and Criticism) and a B.S. (Biology) from SUNY Stony Brook; did post-baccalaureate course work at Reid Hall, Paris; and in 2022 earned a certification in CORe Business Fundamentals from Harvard Business School online.

Sheri Pasquarella photo by Sangwoo Suh

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The Church was established in 2019 by artists Eric Fischl and April Gornik. Housed in a deconsecrated 19th-century church, its doors were opened in April 2021. Our mission is to foster creativity and to honor the living history of Sag Harbor as a maker village. The East End represents an exceptional artistic legacy, spanning the practices of indigenous art of several centuries ago, Abstract Expressionists of the mid-20th Century, and the many celebrated writers, makers, musicians, and visual artists of the recent past and current moment. Core programming includes visual art exhibitions, concerts and events, educational programming, workshops, lectures, and an artist’s residency.

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The Church’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.