'Our Town' Brings Pierson Views of Sag Harbor to Bay Street

Street photography of Sag Harbor is being displayed at Bay Street Theater by artists who walk the village’s roads each day — Pierson High School students.

The show is titled “Our Town” and young artists, ranging from sophomores to seniors in both advanced photography and digital photography classes taught by art teacher Elizabeth Cataletto at Pierson, will have their works on display in the Bay Street Theater lobby throughout the month of February.

From the docks along the waterfront and the façade of Sag Harbor Liquor Store, to the windmill across the street from the theater, the elementary school most of the photographers once attended to the iconic Sag Harbor Cinema, each student aimed to capture the essence of a hometown from his or her own perspective. Along the way, they followed the works of classic photographers, such as Vivian Maier, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Joel Meyer, Allan Schaller, Steve McCurry and Annie Leibovitz. The students were also taught — and expected to follow — the rules of what makes a good photograph, such as symmetry and repetition, along with more advanced techniques like the rule of thirds, which dictates photographers place their subjects within a third of the frame precisely.

Allen O’Reilly, Bay Street Theater’s director of education and community outreach, said he had been wanting to give the lobby, which has long held production photos of the theater’s shows since its founding, a new look. In December, the theater featured photographs by Shinnecock Nation artist Jeremy Dennis of Ma’s House in Southampton, and space for a show featuring work by artists who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color. Once those works were removed, O’Reilly began looking for new artwork to showcase and thought of the students of Pierson.

In December, the theater reached out to Cataletto with the idea and she managed to pull the show together quickly. Normally, she explained, these types of programs are embedded into the curriculum and planned for the entire year. While the theater wanted to originally commemorate Black History Month through student artwork, Cataletto said there wasn’t enough time to give the topic the attention it deserves. So instead, she suggested student photography for timesaving purposes, and it happened to work out that she was in the process of teaching a street photography unit at the time.

Working alongside her students, Cataletto compiled the Pierson photographers best works from their lessons to showcase at Bay Street.

“We reached out to them and within two weeks they just delivered this photography exhibit, which is really fabulous and quite vibrant and quite varied in its depiction of Sag Harbor,” said Reilly.

“It came together as, ‘Let’s focus some of their photos around the essence of Sag Harbor and what Sag Harbor means to them,’” added Cataletto. “So we filed through all of our pictures that we’ve been taking throughout the school year and we came up with this collection.”

In finding scenes of Sag Harbor to document in their work, the students frequently go out for walks with their class around the village, discussing its history and possible places to highlight.

“We always think about the history of Sag Harbor,” said Cataletto. “What is truly important, and also to think about 50 years from now, what, if it’s not there, is important to you now?”

The First Presbyterian (Old Whalers’) Church on Union Street, the Sag Harbor Variety Store and the cinema on Main Street, are just a few of the iconic places that often come up as important structures for the students.

Cataletto said she was impressed at the “diversity” in the style of the students’ work, despite the fact that all of them photographed places around the village. She has been teaching the students how to edit the photos in Adobe Lightroom, a popular tool for professional photographers, and they have applied what they learned to their work, she said

“Every student has kind of found their own way,” said Cataletto. “And that’s really beautiful, that they have been given the same kind of topic, but they’ve come up with something, where each photo is very unique.”

In addition to filling the space, the exhibition gives students hands on experience on how to handle their work being on exhibit, in preparation for college and life as a working artist.

“This is the kind of thing, in my experience that helps students get into colleges,” said O’Reilly. “It’s always the intangibles. It’s not the usual curriculum-based things, but other extracurriculars that really make a big difference sometimes.”

Senior Zoey Richardson, a student in the class, was with her friends when she happened to capture a simple sunset, perfect for her photograph.

“It was a really special moment,” she said.

Junior Ava Garabedian, another student with work in the show, is interested in film and photography, with hopes of attending college in California or at New York University.

“I am very honored to have this opportunity,” she said.

An opening reception for “Our Town” will be held over HarborFrost Weekend, Saturday, February 4, from 4 to 5 p.m. at Bay Street Theater on Long Wharf in Sag Harbor. The photographs will remain on display until March 2, and on display during box office hours, Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sundays when there are shows. The next show at Bay Street will be “Women’s Art of the Hamptons,” which will run March 11 through May 7, and is curated by Wendy Van Deusen.