‘Women in Art’ show, featuring works from five generations of the same family, opens Friday

“Women in Art,” an exhibit of work by five generations of artists from the same family, will open at Cutchogue New Suffolk Free Library with a reception Friday, Oct. 1, at 6 p.m. 

The show features work by 12 different artists spanning five generations and encompasses a range of artistic mediums, including painting, hand embroidery, photography, film and music.

The family of artists are all descended from Jane Sector (1901-74), a multitalented painter, seamstress and mosaic artist. They include Ms. Sector’s daughter, Martha Jane Paul; granddaughters Jennifer Forstell, Mary Jane Paul and Ann Paul; great-granddaughters Kathryn Hunt, Rachel Burger, Jessica Paul, Rebecca Jane Paul and Emily Paul; and great-great-granddaughters Sienna Jane Burger and Lucy Jane Marvin. 

The idea for the exhibition originated last October with Ann Paul, a Cutchogue songwriter and recording artist. She was cleaning her grandmother’s house in Nassau Point and discovered paintings and sketches there that she had never seen.

“This exhibition is going to start with older pieces and … then become more modern as you go around,” she said.

There will be a historical section also, featuring paintings and family films of New Suffolk and Mattituck from the 1940s and 1950s, also found by Ms. Paul.

A large part of putting this exhibit together has been framing and reframing old paintings, a task Ms. Paul said she worked with local professionals to accomplish.

Ms. Paul said she grew up surrounded by art and that environment has been passed on in the family throughout the generations. 

“I mean, that’s what you did. You just got up and you just created and made things,” she said. 

Jessica Paul, Ms. Paul’s niece, who helped her with naming the paintings and putting together a film called “Faded Pictures” that will accompany the exhibit, said a creative environment has been great to grow up in. 

“It’s been really cool having a family where pursuing the arts is so enthusiastically encouraged and allowed to flourish and I think that’s been really positive for me,” she said. “I think that really allows artists to grow having that nurturing environment — so we’re lucky to have that in our family.”

Kathryn Hunt, Ann Paul’s daughter, who has been helping to design the display and hang the work,, said this exhibition was done to honor both Ms. Sector and Martha Jane Paul for passing on the importance of art. 

“It was really kind of a tribute for her and her mother and the work that they have done in cultivating the arts within our family,” Ms. Hunt said.

The exhibition will run through the month of October.