Community Participation

Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors is responsible for fiduciary oversight and organizational guidance. They ensure the organization operates in accordance with its tax-exempt purpose and remains aligned with its stated mission and values while setting policies that adhere to the highest standards of legal and ethical behavior.

Current Members:

Cliff Baldwin (Director of Special Projects) is a North Fork artist who has been active locally for 35 years. He started Save Open Space, recognized by governor Pataki, in the late 90’s and helped legislate the Community Preservation Fund (the local law that provides billions for open space preservation) on the East End. He served as a member of the Riverhead Landmarks Commission for 6 years. He is on the board of the Jamesport Meeting House and helps curate programming there. He founded Aqui Editions, a source for multiples and curated artists’ publishing projects in 1983. His own work, as well as collaborations with numerous composers, and artists is in the collection of MoMA, The Brooklyn Museum, The Whitney Museum, The Walker art Center, The Chicago Art Institute, The Clark Museum, The Parrish Museum, UCLA Library, and many other university collections. His passion for all things North Fork is of primary importance in both life and work.

Barbara Sokobin Horowitz (Director of Programming) is a celebrated interior designer, founder of Barbara Horowitz Design, whose principal professional focus is the design of residential properties, schools, synagogues, and other public spaces. She is an avid follower of developments in the worlds of contemporary art and architecture, which she has often drawn upon as inspiration for her design practice. Barbara is native New Yorker who has spent half of every year since she was fourteen years old on the North Fork, and currently divides her time living and working between NYC and Jamesport. Her two adult children – who spent much of their childhood in Orient – share her love for both the North Fork and the arts.

Seung Lee (Board Member) is a Korean American contemporary artist and a Professor of Art at Long Island University Post. His paintings, drawings, and large-scale installations have been exhibited extensively in the US and internationally: Turkey, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, China, and Korea. He has received numerous reviews in the New York Times, Newsday, Radio Interview with RTHK (HONG KONG), WLIW-FM, Kyoto Times, Korea Daily News, Busan Daily, Art Word magazine, Art Price magazine, Art in Culture magazine, Art Price magazine, Art and People magazine, and selected for Woori Bank of Korea’s 2018 VIP Calendar. Lee has received numerous awards, including New York State Governor, Nassau County Supervisor, Suffolk County Supervisor, New Jersey City Mayor, and the Best Artist of the Year Award from the Korean American Professors Association in 2022. In 2011, Seung was awarded the title of “Best International Korean Artist” by the Korean Art Association. Seung has been an invited panelist at the National Endowment for the Arts, the Maine Fellowship, the Decentralization Grants for New York Artists, the International Documentary Film Festival, the Berkshire Museum, the Long Island Museum, the Heckscher Art Museum, the Islip Art Museum, the Long Island Art League, and the International Nature Art Biennial, among others.

Mary Goldman (Board Member) has over 25 years of professional experience as an appraiser, art dealer, curator and gallery owner of Mary Goldman Gallery, Los Angeles. She is an Accredited Member of the International Society of Appraisers and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Art History from Vassar College and a Masters of Arts for Visual Arts Administration from New York University. She currently resides in Cutchogue where she is a freelance fine art appraiser and co-curator of the Upstairs Gallery at the Cutchogue New Suffolk Free Library.

Rainer Gross (Board Member) is an internationally renowned German American artist. Born in Cologne, Germany in 1951, he has worked in New York City since 1973 until moving his art studio to Cutchogue in 2017. His paintings have been widely exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States, Europe and Asia including solo exhibitions at the Ludwig Museum Koblenz in Germany, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland, Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, Illinois US, Kunsthalle Emden, Germany and many others. Gross’ paintings are in numerous public and private collections. His work has been reviewed by The New York Times, Art in America, The Boston Globe, ArtNews, Arts magazine, The Brooklyn Rail, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Germany, El Pais, Spain and others.

Our Volunteer Advisory Councils

We’ve created Advisory Councils whose members contribute time, expertise, and support for North Fork Contemporary.

Our Founder’s Council is comprised of artists, art writers, curators, and arts administrators who have provided programming suggestions and structural advice for North Fork Contemporary since it’s inception and who continue to be invaluable resources for the organization. Members: Hideaki Ariizumi – Architect/Designer, Joyce Beckenstein – Art Historian/Writer/Curator, Peter Treiber – Artist/Farmer, Amei Wallach – Filmmaker/Art Critic/Writer

The Communications & Development Council is made up of professionals in public relations, marketing and development who help the organization find the best ways to develop new audiences, effectively communicate our goals and programming information to the public, while also seeking to provide material support for North Fork Contemporary through grants, individual philanthropy, corporate and individual donations, and events.  Members: Monika Condrea – Founder mCPR communications, serving clients in the visual arts, publishing, fashion, design, and architecture communities. Monica is also the Business Development/ Communications Director for STEIDL publishing, Jane Hershcopf-Schreck – Freelance Events Coordinator (NYC),  Nicole Straus – Founder Nicole Straus Public Relations, a boutique agency providing high profile public relations and marketing solutions for leaders in art, culture, design, and architecture.

Members of the Artists’ Council are respected and influential regional and nationally acclaimed creative artists, designers and architects. Members: Hideaki Ariizumi, David Bers, Kang Chang, Joanne Greenbaum, Rainer Gross, Glen Hansen, Skuta Helgason, Karine Laval, Randy Polumbo, Yvonne Puffer, Agathe Snow, Adam Straus, Allen Wexler, Ellen Wexler, Sam Van Aken, Ellen Wiener,

Our Arts Professionals Council are experienced arts professionals who are or have been leaders of artist service or presenting organizations, funders, art writers, curators, gallerists, and museum directors. Members: Frayda Feldman – Gallerist, Feldman Gallery, Alex Ferrone – Director, Alex Ferrone Gallery,  Sharon Gallagher – Founding Director, Artbook | D.A.P., Anne Hargrave – Vice President / Senior Appraiser, Christie’s, Ruby Lerner – Arts Administrator, Founder/former Executive Director, Creative Capital Foundation, Randy Polumbo – Founder, Designer – Plum Gut Lighthouse artist residency, Charles Riley – Director, Nassau County Art Museum, Jonathan Weiskopf – Gallerist, VSOP Gallery (Greenport), Martha Wilson – Artist/Founder of Franklin Furnace.

The Territorial Resources Council includes influential community leaders from the North Fork – people who have influenced the region from the fields of business, agriculture, government, environmental protection, historic preservation, philanthropy, and as community activists. Members: Cathy Demeroto, CAST, (Center for Advocacy, Support, and Transformation), James Farley, Lawyer/Accountant, Louisa Hargrave, wine consultant, writer, preservationist, and co-founder of Long Island’s first commercial vineyard and winery.