Angus Macaulay's Southampton Fine Arts Show Debuts June 9–11

In September 2022, Angus Macaulay debuted his first-ever art event, the Southampton Art Festival, a show created by an artist for the sole purpose of promoting his fellow artists, many of whom are like family to him. This experiment proved to be a success, so he took what he learned and expanded the idea into two summer Southampton Fine Arts Shows, the first of which is on view at Agawam Park from June 9–11.

“I’m not trying to make money from the show. I’m just trying to have a show that’s for artists, where everybody does well. That’s all I care about,” Macaulay says.

The inaugural show exceeded his expectations in that regard. “A lot of the artists did well, and some of them said it was their best show of the summer, which was amazing to me because shows take a while — maybe three years — before people start putting it on their calendar. A lot of artists won’t do a first-year show because it doesn’t have any sort of reputation,” he explains.

Macaulay has exhibited in numerous art shows in the Hamptons summer circuit, but he felt that the schedule needed more intimate events to balance out the rising number of massive art fairs. “I just wanted to add another one or two shows to the art circuit schedule that could feel like a small family meeting,” he says. “We’re all artists that do it, all friends, but we don’t see each other at all the shows.”

Thanks to the good will Macaulay built with the 2022 Southampton Art Festival, getting approval for the 2023 shows in Southampton Village was a breeze. “The board approved me for two shows because they thought I was a genuine person,” Macaulay shares, noting that in that proposal, he felt it necessary to rebrand his annual event under a new name. “Other organizers have called their shows something very similar, so we decided to change the name and make it more specific because it’s a Southampton Fine Arts Show, it’s not really a festival.”

So far, the June 9–11 show looks to be the smaller of the two events, with the August 25–27 show already receiving more signups. “I wanted to have a show a little bit separated from the height of the season … and one in the height of the season when all the tourists and the New York City crowd come out,” he explains.

While Macaulay tries to include any fine artist who wants to be in the show, he does have two rules: artists can only submit art that they themselves made, and the art must be fine art, not “granny craft.”

Some of the featured 2023 artists include John van Orsouw, Mark Mackinnon, Kathy Maher, Jeff Green, Jonathan Spector, Veronika Sviatetska, Anne Knife, Dan and Melissa Callister, Richard Speedy, Brianna D’Amato, Fred Brandes, Sean Strafford, Bruce Reinfeld, Barbe VanCaeseele Kardon, Evan Reinheimer and Macaulay. They represent a variety of media from traditional and aerial photography to paintings and mixed-media works.

Macaulay admits that he’s had some health issues recently and was unable to proceed with the event planning alone. Thankfully, his art circuit family rushed to his aid. Reinfeld and VanCaeseele Kardon handle most of the organizing logistics now, with other friends pitching in where they can, such as with flier design and distribution, or with the event’s social media, which Reinheimer kindly took over.

“I’m really grateful to Bruce and Barbe. I mean, they’ve done this out of the goodness of their hearts,” says Macaulay, who is still directing the organization efforts but is thrilled to have volunteers splitting the workload.

“I felt like I needed to delegate, and everybody was really happy to be a part of organizing the show,” he adds, emphasizing how different the spirit of his “small family meeting” is compared to larger, juried art shows. “We have artists who all pitch in, and they all ask if they can do anything. … They never do that at other shows. Never, never, never.”

Macaulay may not be able to attend the June show in-person, but his paintings and his fellow artists will be there to show visitors the strength and beauty of their art family. And if all goes according to plan, he’ll be greeting art lovers himself at the August show.

The Southampton Fine Arts Show takes place at Agawam Park on Pond Lane in Southampton Village. Show hours are Friday, June 9, noon–6 p.m.; Saturday, June 10, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; and Sunday, June 11, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. To learn more about this free-admission event and participating June and August artists, visit southamptonartfest.com.

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