In the News
The Art of Community: April Gornik’s The Church Brings Art to All
An expansive arts center with challenging and enriching exhibitions and residencies, as well as a tribute to the many storied artists and other creative individuals who have been part of Sag Harbor’s past and present.
East End Community Spotlight: The Church In Sag Harbor
…keeping alive the history of art making on Eastern Long Island – a history that goes back to the very founding of the region…
Space - Sight - Line Presents Collaboration
and Conversation at The Church
Collaboration is key in the arts, though at The Church, collaboration is effortless.
The Art of Science
Sheri Pasquarella: The Church Finds Its Soul Mate
The East Hampton Star, March 7, 2024
Back at Stony Brook, faculty in both the art history and biology departments assured her she'd be able to do something worthwhile with her life in either field. "So, I chose the one I have more fun doing."
A Show to Enhance Perception
The East Hampton Star, March 6, 2024
The works chosen will reflect how these artists address visual perception, incorporating the perspective of the potential viewer. The works may offer optical illusions that cause those in front of them to question what they are seeing.
The Church Examines
Nuanced Art of Printmaking in Sag Harbor
Dan’s Papers, January 17, 2024
…Master Impressions: Artists and Printers on the South Fork (1965 - 2010) is sort of a master class in demonstrating how the art of printmaking is far more complex, interesting, and creative than simply duplicating an existing image on paper.
Explore the Art of the Bicycle at The Church in Sag Harbor
Dan’s Papers, October 21, 2023
Combining these photographs depicting the varied roles bicycles play in lives around the world, together with the actual physical objects, makes for an enlightening experience, even moving at times.
10 Churches Around the World Given Amazing New Life
Fischl’s portraits of local artists have been transferred to translucent film and mounted on some of the windows, where traditionally stained-glass saints would have been.
Broad Church: Artists & Boxing in Sag Harbor
“Summer in the Hamptons offers many pleasures. For me, one is going to The Church.”
See Works by Eric Fischl, Carrie Mae Weems, and More
in a Knockout Show on the Surprising Links
Between Art and Boxing
Little did [Fischl] and his eventual fellow curators know what a rich vein they were about to mine. “I have to say, as a curator, I’ve never been involved in a show that revealed itself to be so deep within this topic,” said Cochran in a phone interview with Artnet News.
Roll With the Punches
Cultured Hamptons, June/July 2023
This tandem show is for you whether you venture out East for July or relish the city as artscape this month. Unfurling over two uniquely suited architectural spaces, The Church in Sag Harbor and the FLAG Art Foundation in Chelsea, “Strike Fast, Dance Lightly: Artists on Boxing” gathers a deep roster of contemporary heavyweights across mediums, including Robert Mapplethorpe, Caroll Dunham, Lonnie Holly, Rashid Johnson, Andrea Bowers, and Carrie Mae Weems…The sweeping exhibition sparks an intense visual dialogue about boxing as metaphor for interpersonal battle, perseverance, and cultural identity—with some brilliant curatorial surprises.
It Takes a Village
Cultured Hamptons, June/July 2023
At the start of the summer season, a group of friends gathered—much like they do throughout the year—to reflect on their chosen community. Multigenerational, multidisciplinary, and multifaceted in every way, together they’re a reflection of this moment in time in the East End’s great artistic legacy.
Strike Fast, Dance Lightly: Artists on Boxing | Sag Harbor
In Sag Harbor, one of the diamonds in the crown that makes up The Hamptons, “Strike Fast, Dance Lightly: Artists on Boxing” proves to be a tremendous showcase of the “art” of boxing, stumping the argument that it’s merely a barbarous display of humanity. With a multi-medium experience, ranging from photography to physical art pieces, the series is a worthy experience for fans and bystanders.
The Church and Sag Cinema Enter the Ring
East Hampton Star, June 21, 2023
Boxing here is taken as "theme and metaphor, evoking complex and multifaceted cultural meanings," according to the curators. The shows were "developed in tandem and curated independently," with historical and contemporary representations and new commissions addressing things worth fighting for and against, and more recent work questioning traditional portrayals of male dominance and violence as well as issues of race and economic need.
An Artist Salon Springs Up In Sag Harbor
Edible East End, June 18, 2023
Hosted by The Church in Sag Harbor, a not-for-profit art center founded by world-renowned artists Eric Fischl and April Gornik, these [salon-style] artists dinners are a natural and yet highly intentional outgrowth of the mission of The Church itself: “to foster creativity on the East End and to honor the living history of Sag Harbor as a ‘maker’ Village.”
The Church Scores TKO with ‘Strike Fast, Dance Lightly’
Building New York’s Leading Arts Hub in a Sag Harbor Church
Since [Eric Fischl and April Gornik] opened the doors on April 15, 2021, [The Church has] hosted 96 events and counting and seen upwards of 15,000 people come through its doors. “The fundamental aspect of churches within community, maybe at its most basic level, is community,” says Fischl, “and is the way of exchanging in a belief in something higher, whether its gods or culture—and that’s something that’s being easily demonstrated by the way people have been enlivened by the presence of this place.”
“Coming out of Covid, people were just so grateful to have this space — and the cinema — to go to. We’ve had a lot of things that were spiritually moving in terms of the feeling that you got from it,” notes Gornik. “Everybody got why we were doing this.”
A Journey Back in Time
East Hampton Star, April 12, 2023
[‘Return to a Place By the Sea’], now mounted at The Church in Sag Harbor, revisits an important gallery show from 1999 that featured four Black artists who all had ties to the village's Eastville/SANS enclave and were loosely known as "the Eastville Four."
All respected and successful abstract artists, Nanette Carter, Gregory Coates, Al Loving, and Frank Wimberley were also friends and jazz aficionados. Some 25 years ago, their group exhibition "A Place by the Sea" was shown in Albany and New York City, in addition to the Arlene Bujese Gallery in East Hampton.
Four Black Artists Reprise Important Show in Sag Harbor
Dan’s Papers, February 10, 2023
The Church in Sag Harbor is celebrating the village’s legacy of Black artists with a new exhibition, Return to a Place by the Sea featuring Frank Wimberly, Nanette Carter, Gregory Coates and the late Al Loving — four abstract artists with local roots and a shared past.
These four talents previously showed together in 1999’s A Place by the Sea, an exhibition in Albany curated by Jim Richard Wilson, director of the Rathbone Gallery at Russell Sage College, that traveled to Christiane Nienaber Contemporary Art in NYC and then Arlene Bujese Gallery in East Hampton.
The show, which inspired The Church’s sequel this year, explored the work and relationship between the artists with Sag Harbor connecting them.
Rare Guitars and Artists’ Hands
East Hampton Star, October 6, 2022
Hand Made: Guitars According to G.E. Smith & The American Artists' Hand Archive" brings together two unique but cohesive collections: a group of 16 rare and classic guitars and a collection of 31 bronze cast sculptures depicting the hands of visual artists.
"This is an important exhibition for The Church given our belief that creativity is something that is open to everyone," said Ms. Cochran. "It provides a unique opportunity for our visitors to look through the eyes of G.E. Smith and study the hands of many well-known artists -- integral tools of their remarkable careers."
Through the Eye of the Needle
East Hampton Star, September 1, 2022
"Threading the Needle," its second and final show of the high season, is another winner, particularly given a subject that feels overly familiar. Yet, just as in the spring's "Empire of Water," the curators, Sara Cochran and Eric Fischl, have found new life in what could otherwise be a tired tour through the fiber arts. Instead, viewers should leave enlivened, inspired, and even ecstatic that so much creativity can be had within the subject's confines of contemporary craft techniques focused on weaving and fabric.
The show offers an artistic mix of art world superstars and local favorites who may not be as recognized in the international blending of commercial and institutional spaces and fairs. It's beautiful in its nondidactic quietude, the simple inclusion speaking for itself. All viewers need to do is experience the less familiar artists mixing seamlessly with the household names to draw their own conclusions.
Take Me To Church
[‘Threading the Needle’] fills the entire area, from the upstairs areas to the ground floor with works that ask, each in their own way: What is Art? Can Art be made from fabric, or discarded metal? If a thread dissects a space, does it define it, and claim it as a creative endeavor? Although to each viewer the answer may not always be “Yes,” in the aggregate this far-ranging show demonstrates the diversity of artistic expression in ways that challenge us, educate us, and lift one’s spirit. The intelligence with which the exhibition is curated and the broad gathering of artists, some iconic, some well-known, others yet to be discovered speaks volumes about Eric Fischl and April Gornik’s own standing in the Art community as well as Sara Cochran’s intelligence, taste, and discernment.
In Sag Harbor, April Gornik Helps to Uplift Her Hamptons Community
Cultured Magazine, July 19, 2022
In 2018, the artist couple April Gornik and Eric Fischl purchased a white clapboard church in Sag Harbor, the Hamptons town in which they’ve lived for over 30 years. They spent the ensuing years renovating the space—now simply known as The Church—and in 2021, it opened to the public as a nonprofit community arts center. Dedicating her time and resources to cultivating a space for community is perfectly in sync with Gornik’s values, and for this special edition, she spoke to Cultured about what she cherishes within the town she calls home.
Water Works in Sag Harbor
East Hampton Star, April 28, 2022
The Church in Sag Harbor has already established itself as a thoughtful and discerning source of exhibitions that explore simple subjects in ways that are unexpected and penetrating.
"Empire of Water," its current show, is an example. Taking the theme of water broadly, it encompasses historically styled seascapes as well as the most contemporary of conceptual explorations, and many things in between, all while giving voice to local artists when applicable.
Diving Into ‘The Empire of Water’
Including 47 artworks by 44 artists in a variety of mediums including painting, photography, sculpture and digital work, this exhibition brings together established and emerging artists in the area with artists from across the globe. Their artworks represent and use the theme of water in myriad ways and artists Doug Aitken, Linda K. Alpern, Reneke Dijkstra, and Sally Mann who address its place in leisure; Daniel Beltra, Scott Bluedorn, Edward Burtynsky, Liza Lou and Andy Warhol find beauty, horror, and humor in the realities of pollution; Tonico Lemos Aud, Cappy Amundsen, Paton Miller and Duke Riley reflect on the traditions of those who live by the sea; and John Alexander, Ross Bleckner, Jim Campbell, Vija Celmins, Thornton Dial, April Gornik, Lawren Harris, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Longo, Clifford Ross, and Hiroshi Sugimoto create compelling images of waterscapes.
The Church Presents ‘Clear Out To Sea’ With Artists Thomas Joshua Cooper, Sally Gall, & Jane Martin
James Lane Post, November 1, 2021
Through the work of these three photographers, the exhibit “considers the ability of photography to embrace both the abstract and the tangible in the same image. Working in nature, each of these artists is focused on the precise elements in front of their lens and yet the resulting images are ambiguous. Their work plays with depth, direction, representation, and interpretation in order to remake the real,” reads the show’s description.
Car Culture in Sag Harbor
East Hampton Star, September 9, 2021
The former Methodist church building has been restored to proffer a faithful facade to the Sag Harbor streetscape. Inside, it has been renovated to add contemporary style and functionality to a soaring interior and create exhibition, performance, library, and live/work spaces for its rotating residents.
Still, "Road Rage," its summer show, manages to steal some of the spotlight back, particularly with its large-scale sculptures and installation pieces.
Justin Favela's "Blue Dream," which was built on site, is such an example. The life-size car form is made out of what the organizers call pinata materials -- found objects, cardboard, Styrofoam, glue, and layers of repurposed newspaper and magazines below and decorative tissue paper on the surface -- and partially suspended from the rafters as if caught in mid-bounce.
Mr. Favela's home turf of Las Vegas feels right for this celebratory glitz-fest, which is joyful but also a serious reflection on Latinx popular and car culture. The curators note that it is not filled with candy. Yet it illustrates the serious ambitions that The Church's founders, April Gornik and Eric Fischl, and its director, Sara Cochran, have for the space.
The Church: Road Rage
“Our relationship to cars is massively complex,” says Sarah Cochran, executive director and chief curator of The Church, a Sag Harbor arts institution housed in a deconsecrated 19th-century Methodist house of worship. “Over the years, they’ve been lionized and fetishized due to their design, performance, and engineering. They’ve also been vilified and disparaged as a factor in climate change and as symbols of homeless and the decline of manufacturing in this country.”
Eric Fischl’s Saints of Sag Harbor: A 10-part Series, Part 1
by Bridget Leroy
The religious past and the art-as-religion future have intersected within the walls of the Sag Harbor Church, a former house of worship turned cultural hub, with famed artists/activists April Gornik and Eric Fischl as the founders of the movement to create and open the space, and Sara Cochran as executive director.
The soaring Sag Harbor Church is home to 20 windows—the center of each a large square of glass—it is there, explained Fischl while The Church was still undergoing renovations last year, where the “arts saints of Sag Harbor, the dead saints, will be canonized.”
Building a New Sanctuary on Long Island for Culture Lovers
By Dorothy Spears
The New York Times, Sunday, May 31, 2020
This article is part of our latest Design special report, which is about crossing the borders of space, time and media.
Almost two years ago, the married artists April Gornik, 67, and Eric Fischl, 72, bought a deconsecrated white clapboard church in Sag Harbor, N.Y., a former whaling village on the East End of Long Island, where they have lived for more than three decades. Inspired by its stone foundation, rare in an area with mostly sandy soil, and the craftsmanship of its soaring rafters, the couple were loath to see yet another local building become an opulent private home.
Eager to draw upon Sag Harbor’s history — the village is home to a vibrant and longstanding African-American community and Long Island’s first synagogue, and is a haven for artists and writers — Ms. Gornik and Mr. Fischl have transformed the church into a community arts center and artists’ residency...
Eric Fischl and The Saints of Sag Harbor
By Bridget LeRoy
The Independent, Sunday, January 28, 2020
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Anthropologist Margaret Mead’s quote still holds true. And nowhere is that more apparent locally than in Sag Harbor, where April Gornik and Eric Fischl have given generously of their time, talent, know-how, and cash to bring the arts and the history of the village even more to the forefront.
While Gornik is currently taking the lead “midtown” with the Sag Harbor Cinema, Fischl is busy “uptown” with the new Prime House Writers’ Retreat at 31 Madison Street, and, diagonally across from that, the old Methodist Church — now known simply as The Church — which has been gutted in preparation for its new role as an arts and culture center.
New Church Residency Conceived by Artists Eric Fischl and April Gornik Names First Director
By Alex Greenberger
ARTNews, January 16, 2020
As it prepares to open later this year, the Church—a new residency program and exhibition space being created by artists Eric Fischl and April Gornik in a former Methodist church on New York’s Long Island—has a new leader.
Sara Cochran, the former director and chief curator of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art in Arizona, will serve as the executive director and chief curator of the Church in Sag Harbor. She will oversee the space’s staff and board, and will help organize exhibitions there.
In an interview with ARTnews, Fischl said he had known Cochran for 15 years, having worked with her an educational program facilitated in collaboration with Phoenix College in Arizona, where Fischl has lectured. “She contacted me to ask if I would find it awkward if she applied for the job, and of course it was quite the opposite—I was thrilled,” Fischl said, praising Cochran for her “dynamism.”
Guild Hall Presents ‘Art As Ecosystem’ With Eric Fischl And The Church
By Staff Writer
27 East, July 14, 2019
On Saturday, July 20, at 2 p.m. at Guild Hall in East Hampton, Eric Fischl will lead the first itinerant event sponsored by The Church, Mr. Fischl and April Gornik’s new arts initiative in Sag Harbor. The Church is a former Methodist Church that is being renovated by the couple, who are both artists, as an arts-incubator and artists-in-residence center.
Although presently under construction, the collaboration with Guild Hall gives The Church an opportunity to host this discussion that brings together luminaries of the art world known for their philanthropy and vision. Called “Art as Ecosystem,” the panelists are: FLAG Art Foundation’s Glenn Fuhrman, Roy Lichtenstein Foundation President Dorothy Lichtenstein, and MacArthur Genius artist Rick Lowe, head of Project Row Houses. The focus of the discussion will be to identify the way art impacts communities and the world, and the way in which philanthropy invests in a community’s future and connection.
Building on Faith in Sag Harbor
By Jennifer Landes
East Hampton Star, May 23, 2019
Last June, as the summer crowds returned to Sag Harbor, the buzz was about the sale of the old Methodist Church building on Madison Street and a short-lived mystery surrounding who had purchased it. The buyers turned out to be the artist couple Eric Fischl and April Gornik, who announced plans for a public and humanistic purpose for the building and its distinct nature — to make it an arts center.
The site has had a history of false starts since the United Methodist Church sold it in 2008. These included two separate plans for elaborate private residences and another for a commercial space to showcase design. Now, the building might be described (in real estate parlance) as on its way to achieving its “highest and best use,” after its initial one.
With the exterior almost near completion and its original bell reinstalled, the building looks refreshed and slightly modernized this year. Soaring clear-paned windows have taken the place of stained glass, and the clapboard is clean and bright white. New landscaping will develop over the next several months.
Artists Eric Fischl and April Gornik Are Launching a Residency Program in an Old Hamptons Church
By Eileen Kinsella
Artnet News, June 6, 2018
After decades of living full time in Eastern Long Island and supporting the burgeoning local art scene, the husband-and-wife artists Eric Fischl and April Gornik are kicking their philanthropic activity in the area up a few notches.
Fischl and Gornik are acquiring a historic former Methodist church in Sag Harbor, which they will turn into a center for artists and the community. They plan to offer residencies to four artists at a time, as well as public space for programs and exhibitions. (The sale of the building is scheduled to close later this month.)
While artist-led foundations have become a growing force in cultural philanthropy for more than a decade, Fischl and Gornik are part of a growing group of established artists—including Bosco Sodi, Alex Katz, and Jasper Johns—who are putting the money they’ve made from their art back into cultural initiatives while they’re still alive to see the impact.