Tickets
General Ticket: $15
Member Ticket: $10
“If we are to preserve culture, we must continue to create it.” -- Johan Huizinga
From rehabilitation to restoration to public acquisition, the act of preservation requires inspiration and vision. It communicates the values of a culture it looks to preserve, as well as creating standards of culture in the process. It is itself a creative act.
We invite you to explore architecture and design from this perspective with Jess Frost, executive director and co-founder of the Arts Center at Duck Creek in Springs, Matilde Guidelli, curator and curatorial department head of the Dia Art Foundation, and Lee Skolnick, architect and renovator of The Church. Using their respective institutions as examples, the participants will illuminate the art of preservation.
The conversation will be moderated by Paul Bentel, a practicing architect, professor at Columbia University, architectural historian, and preservation advocate who will bring a unique and unifying voice to the dynamic discussion. Representing Preservation Long Island, Bentel is a long-time board member and until recently the chair of the Historic Preservation Committee. Following the presentation there will be a Q&A.
JESS FROST
Executive Director and Co-founder of the Arts Center at Duck Creek
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Jess Frost spent her childhood summers in a modest cottage across the street from Duck Creek, imagining the creative lives of the artists who lived there. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in painting from SUNY Purchase, she moved to New York City and began a career working with influential dealer Barbara Gladstone, artist Matthew Barney, and musician David Byrne. When she returned to live on the East End full time in 2004, she worked with several art galleries, publications, and private collections, eventually taking a position as associate curator of the permanent collection at Guild Hall, where she digitized the museum’s extensive art collection between 2015 and 2020. Frost is now manifesting her lifelong advocacy for the arts and love of the East End community at the Arts Center at Duck Creek.
MATILDE GUIDELLI
Curator and curatorial department head of the Dia Art Foundation
Photo by Gabriela Herman
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Matilda Guidelli is a curator and curatorial department head at Dia Art Foundation, where she organized exhibitions of work by Leslie Hewitt, Mario Merz, Senga Nengudi, Cameron Rowland, Fred Sandback, Meg Webster, and Jack Whitten, among others, and edited the publications An Introduction to Dia’s Locations and Sites (2021), Jack Whitten: The Greek Alphabet Paintings (2023), and the upcoming Populated Air (2025), a primary-source book on Nengudi. As the organizer of the Artists on Artists Lecture Series, she commissions a growing roster of contemporary artists to respond to their peers and Dia’s institutional history.
LEE SKOLNICK
Architect and renovator of The Church
Photo by Ralph Gibson
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Lee H. Skolnick seeks to synthesize art, science, and architecture to create memorable and meaningful experiences. He unlocks each project’s “motivating story” to inspire imagination, curiosity, and understanding. For more than 40 years, Skolnick has passionately developed and pursued his philosophy of “design as interpretation,” wherein he seeks to unearth the unique themes and compelling concepts that characterize each project and to translate them into concrete expression.
His museum, cultural institution, and residential projects have been recognized as works of innovation and inspiration. Skolnick has employed his integrated design philosophy on projects for such clients as the Aileron Center for Entrepreneurial Education in Dayton, OH; Muzeiko: The America for Bulgaria Children’s Museum in Sofia, Bulgaria; the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga, TN; the New-York Historical Society; the New York Hall of Science in Queens; the Cooper Hewitt National Museum for Design in New York City, and the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, KY, among many others.
Mr. Skolnick has also served on the Boards of the Cooper Union, LongHouse Reserve, the Society for Experiential Graphic Design, and the editorial advisory board of the Journal of the National Association for Museum Exhibition. He has served on panels and juries for the New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the American Institute of Architects. He is also a frequent lecturer, instructor, and author of scholarly papers and popular works and is an honorary research fellow at the University of Leicester, England.
PAUL BENTEL, PH.D.
Architect, Columbia University Professor, Architectural historian and preservation advocate
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Paul Bentel has taught for more than 20 years at Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in a wide range of areas including historic preservation, architectural design, history of architecture, and documentation. He has written and lectured extensively on American architectural history and theory including historic preservation. Paul received his Ph.D. in the history and theory of architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his master’s of architecture degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and his bachelor of arts degree in visual and environmental studies at Harvard College. Prior to his graduate work, he was a sculptor working in the stone in Pietrasanta, Italy.
Paul is a partner in the studio of Bentel & Bentel, Architects/Planners AIA. His architectural work includes libraries, gymnasia, classrooms, research facilities, and religious buildings as well as some of the finest hotels and restaurants in the world including the Modern at the Museum of Modern Art. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and has an international reputation for design excellence with recognition for his work from the American Institute of Architects, the American Craft Museum at the Smithsonian Institute, the International Interior Design Association, the James Beard Association, and the Society of American Registered Architects to name but a few.
PRESERVATION LONG ISLAND
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Preservation Long Island is the not-for-profit regional advocate for historic preservation on Long Island. Its mission is to celebrate and preserve Long Island’s diverse cultural and architectural heritage through advocacy, education, and stewardship of historic sites and collections. https://preservationlongisland.org/
Working to raise awareness, appreciation, and support for the protection of a shared past, its program areas include: interpreting historic sites; collecting art and material culture pertaining to Long Island history; creating publications and exhibits; and providing direct support and technical assistance to individuals and groups engaged in local preservation efforts.
Preservation Long Island’s preservation advocacy services support the work of individuals and local partners in communities across the region. It offers consultation and strategic guidance for those seeking help with local preservation projects, including historic resource surveys, local landmark designation, National Register listing, and restoration of adaptive reuse of historic buildings.
Preservation Long Island also maintains and interprets four historic sites, including the collections housed within each:Joseph Lloyd Manor, Lloyd Harbor
Custom House, Sag Harbor
Sherwood-Jayne Farm, Setauket
Old Methodist Church and Exhibition Gallery, Cold Spring Harbor
SAG HARBOR HISTORICAL MUSEUM
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The Sag Harbor Historical Museum is a nonprofit organization established 40 years ago to promote and encourage public education and appreciation with respect to the history of the Village of Sag Harbor, and to foster and otherwise work for the preservation of the historic buildings, sites, and other materials. The Museum maintains two buildings on its property: the museum building housed in one of the oldest homes in Sag Harbor and the Whaleboat Shop.