Women’s Study(room) located on the second floor of the “Cottage” (2020) thought originally the CarriageHouse of plein air painter William Merritt Chase (Note 1). Resited to the Jane Borrowe Colt Estate (1891-1946, Note 1) as was the Carriage/Gatehouse on adjoining lands also owned now by Artist/Couple Hope Sandrow and Ulf Skogsbergh (1976). Included in the (1988)  Shinnecock Indian Contact Period Village Fort Critical Environmental Area; one mile west of Shinnecock Indian Nation Territory (2).

The “Cottage” was the summer studio/home (1948 until her death in 1993) of American artist Madeline Goodfriend Schonberger (born 1908). And her two daughters (Note 3) who sold the family property that included a selection of their Mother’s works of art and possessions (a few pictured left, Note 4) for Sandrow to display.

Goodfriend Schonberger’s trompe-l’oeil painted work cabinet to house books and catalogues by and about her, Sandrow, artist friends (Note 5). Along with documentation placed amongst the pages of trompe-l’oeil hard covered books Sandrow has assembled (pictured left, Love Tales American 1891), that relate to Borrowe Colt, Goodfriend Schonberger and (list in formation) women artists and arts professionals.

Collaborative projects with Colleagues have long played an important role in Sandrow’s art making. Her social practice includes Artist and Homeless Collaborative (1990 -1996 NYC) that she founded, directed with a NEA Special Projects Artist Grant sponsored by NYFA (Note 6). Other projects from last century: "Flag for the Nineties” commissioned by Vera List, curated by Kathleen Goncharov (1992); The Other Side of the Rainbow: Sexual Abuse with colleague Robin Tewes (1992); SECCA Artist in the Community Fragments Self History commissioned/curated by Susan Lubowsky Talbott (1995); Creative Time’s Art at the Anchorage Material Matters commissioned by Anne Pasternak (1995). This century: (Re)collecting an American’s Dream (2006); Platform: Genius Loci Parrish Art Museum curated/commissioned by Andrea Grover (2012- 2013); Summer of Love (2013); Sketches of Local History Shinnecock Canal Canoe Place (2015); open air studio Silangjana and Komodo The Fabric of Time and Space (2016 - ) commissioned by Art in Embassies Chief Curator Virginia Shore and Curator Claire D’Alba; Town of Southampton Arts and Culture Committee  founded with Supervisor Jay Schneiderman (2017). On site open air studio Shinnecock Hills: En Plein Air (2008);  Headstand with Geoff Hendricks (2008);  Free Advice with Sur Rodney Sur (2008); Enigma of a Litmus Test - coop d’etat with Caterina Verde (2008).

Matters that remain timely, urgent (Note 7) are subjects of discussion in the context of the Study(room).

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Note1: (2006) Sandrow named open air studio spacetime in homage to Chase’s art practice: (2020) she was informed “This structure moved to current location; 1891; may be carriage house to William Merritt Chase. This structure is purposed to be a ca. 1891 carriage house later converted to a residence.” Town of Southampton Historic Survey (April 2014 ): Shinnecock Hills Multiple Resource District) AND “The William Merritt Chase Homestead is listed on the State and National Registers. It is a shingle-clad gambrel-roofed building with a Doric- columned porch. Attached is a shorter, smaller shingle-clad gambrel- roofed structure. It is generally accepted that Stanford White, of the architectural firm, McKim, Mead, & White, made sketches of this structure (Schaffner and Zabar). (This property is potentially landmark eligible under Town Criteria B, C and D).

Note 2: The Sandrow/Skogsbergh property sitings is reason for Sandrow’s social practice in support of, advocating for Shinnecock Indian Nation Members including preserving their ancestral lands from desecration, development. Including the first graves protection resolution (September 8 2020 in NY State Town Board approves Shinnecock Hills Building Moratorium and Graves Protection Act. Actions advocated by Nation Members and supporters like Sandrow since they successfully lobbied the town to preserve the ten acres across the road (2007, (Re)Collecting an American’s Dream)

Note 3: Rosalind Schonberger Brezenoff and Valerie Burnshaw Razavi

Note 4: pictured in the pink floral (United Wallpaper Co circa 1948) room

Note 5:  including Trisha Brown, Geoff Hendricks, Candace Hill, David Kennedy-Cutler, Frank Moore, Dan Taulapapa McMullin, Sara Greenberger Rafferty, Aviva Rahmani, David Reed, Joan Semmel, Michelle Stuart, Deborah Willis, David Wojnarowicz, (Nina Felshin’s) The Spirit of Art as Activism.

Note 6:  The opening of the Cottage had been timed with the exhibit Art for Change: The Artist & Homeless Collaborative, curated by Associate Curator of Material CultureRebecca Klassen and Senior Research Associate Laura Mogulescu at the New York Historical Society (postponed June - Sept 2020 due to Covid19 rescheduled for October - February 2021 but dates now uncertain). And the digital publication of Nina Felshin’s  “But is it Art? The Spirit of Art as Activism” (Bay Press, 1995) that includes the chapter about A&HC  “Making Art, Reclaiming Lives” by Andrea Wolper.  Artist & Homeless Collaborative (A&HC, 1990-1996). Selected A&HC works created with Residents, such as those by Theo Sharps and Merriann Shortt formerly of the Park Avenue Armory Shelter for Women can be viewed: led by Juli Carson/Aaron Keppel, Juli D’Amario, Guerrilla Girls, Simon Leung, Whitfield Lovell, Kiki Smith.

Note 7: equal rights and gender discrimination , #metoo movement , violence against women, climate change and environmental sustainability, social and cultural history