With May around the corner, the South Fork has a sense of spring thaw, a warming up not only in the weather, but in and among the various arts organizations that have begun their pre-season events prior to launching their action-packed summer schedules.

One such institution, the Southampton Arts Center, is celebrating both spring and the longstanding South Fork artists community with a show called “East End Collected.” It was organized by Paton Miller, an artist who has lived in Southampton for over 40 years and done a lot of collecting, not only of artwork but of artist and collector friends. He has assembled more than 40 works by or belonging to them for this show, some of them unusual and unexpected.

He included collectors in his invitation, he said, to show what is hanging today on local walls, intending to pair artists and collectors. Not every pairing worked out, however, so some artists are showing their own unsold works. It is a broad range of styles and mediums that takes over the center, which has a bright and open feeling for this exhibition.

Michele Thompson, the director of the center for over a year, said some walls were taken out of the old Parrish Art Museum space to enhance that feeling. The light and the space complement these works, which are intensely hued in many cases and full of implied energy.

Many of the artists’ names will be familiar, as will their work, but there are some less regularly shown here and unexpected artwork from the ones who are. Standouts include Dave Zero’s multiple mediums, which use words as both visual objects and text, the surf-inspired woodcuts of John Pomianowski, Aya Miyatake’s honed alabaster orb, Tom Mathews’s stunning and functional wood sculptures, Kirby Grimes’s slightly abstracted exterior scenes, Jane Johnson’s Milton Avery-esque abstraction, Idoline Duke’s wavy and peaceful watercolor in an ocean of blue ribbons, and Brian O’Leary’s funky abstraction.

Joining them on the walls and floors are works by Sydney Albertini, Aaje Bjerring, Scott Bluedorn, Darlene Charneco, Jamie DePasquale, Terry Elkins, Eric Ernst, David Geiser, Jim Gingerich, Daniel Gonzalez, Mark Humphrey, Terri Hyland, Eva Iacono, Nathan Joseph, Ivan Kustura, Bruce Lieberman, Jerome Lucani, Matt Macdonald, Malcolm MacDougall, Steve Manino, Jane Martin, Steve Miller, Pat Moran, Jeff Muhs, Raun Norquist, Kryn Olson, Gines Pagan, Joel Perlman, Camille Perrottet, John Ross Rist, John Rist Jr., Dan Rizzie, Michael Rosch, Randall Rosenthal, Peter Spacek, Nick Tarr, Walter Us, Charles Wildbank, and Darius Yektai.

There’s a lot to see here and a lot of fun to have while seeing it. The show has been open to the public for a week, but a reception on Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m. is bound to be packed and celebratory, with close to 50 artists and their well-wishers in attendance. Those who wish to attend should reserve ahead of time by emailing events@southamptoncenter.org.

The center’s full season of film screenings, cabaret performances, art exhibitions, and children’s programming will be announced shortly.

The East Hampton Start