1. art and entertainment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Susan Galardi
631-283-2118 x122
galardis@parrishart.org
PARRISH ART MUSEUM DEPUTY DIRECTOR SCOTT HOWE SPEAKS ABOUT THE
CONNECTION BETWEEN THE MUSEUM’S LANDSCAPE DESIGN AND LONG
ISLAND’S NATURAL HISTORY, WHICH HAS INSPIRED ARTISTS FOR
GENERATIONS
Parrish Art Museum. Photo: copyright Hufton + Crow
The Talk, on Thursday, April 9, at Noon, is Part of the Parrish’s Brain Food
Lunchtime Lecture Series
WATER MILL, NY 3/24/2015—Parrish Art Museum Deputy Director Scott Howe will speak about the
Museum’s landscape design in relation to its setting on the East End and its influence on the artists who
have worked here. Howe will use maps, paintings, and photographs to connect the Museum’s landscape
design to Long Island’s geology and natural history, which have inspired generations of artists in the
Museum’s collection and continue to shape life on the East End. The talk, on Thursday, April 9, at noon,
is part of Brain Food, the lunchtime lecture series at the Parrish where audience members are
encouraged to engage with the speaker and invited to bring lunch into the Lichtenstein Theater.
“Unlike New York, where natural history is an oxymoron, the East End reveals its natural history more
readily,” said Howe. “Understanding that history has led me to a deeper appreciation of the East End, its
legacy in American culture, and the Parrish’s contribution to the area’s rich history and unique
environment.”
Every aspect of the Parrish Art Museum’s design reflects consideration of its location and mission, and
the Museum’s landscape is no exception. Landscape architect Reed Hilderbrand Associates designed the
fourteen-acre site to evoke the agricultural heritage and iconic natural features of Long Island’s East End.
Meadows, wetlands, scrub woodlands, and long views of the sky and fields—all have been the source of
artistic inquiry and creation in the region since the late nineteenth century. Together, architecture and
landscape give a physical expression of the Museum’s identity as a cultural resource with a significant
artistic legacy. Howe will address these aspects of the Parrish landscape in his Brain Food talk.
Scott Howe holds a B.A. in English from Washington and Lee University, an M.A. in Art History from the
University of Texas at Austin, and a doctoral degree in Art and Art Education from Columbia University’s
Teacher College for research conducted in collaboration with the Whitney Museum of American Art. Prior
to joining the Parrish in October 2012, he served as Associate Director at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn and as
Director of Education and Public Programs at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia. Other
professional experience includes managing arts education and afterschool programs at the Heritage
School in East Harlem.
Brain Food: Deputy Director Scott Howe on Parrish Art Museum Landscape
Thursday, April 9, 12pm
$10, free for Members, children and students
Brain Food attendees, who are invited to visit the galleries before or after the talk, may bring their own
lunch, or they can purchase lunch at the Golden Pear Café at the Parrish. The program is included with
Museum admission.
In 2015, the Brain Food: Lunchtime Lecture Series is offered free-of-charge to Southampton Town residents
through support from a Town of Southampton Cultural Arts and Recreation Grant. The Museum's programs are made
possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the
New York State Legislature, and the property taxpayers from the Southampton School District and the Tuckahoe
Common School District.
About the Parrish Art Museum
Inspired by the natural setting and artistic life of Long Island’s East End, the Parrish Art Museum
illuminates the creative process and how art and artists transform our experiences and understanding of
the world and how we live in it. The Museum fosters connections among individuals, art, and artists
through care and interpretation of the collection, presentation of exhibitions, publications, educational
initiatives, programs, and artists-in residence. The Parrish is a center for cultural engagement, an
inspiration and destination for the region, the nation, and the world.
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