A time to reflect

Maykr's previous posts act as a surrogate memory bank, as the one I was born with fades so easily these days.

So, this is the year kicked off with the Beacon School District having resumed management of the old Beacon High School, and in January held a community forum regarding future use and fate of the building. I understand it now, from passing words, there seem to be a couple of parties interested in the building.

As far as galleries in 2007 go, TenTents went dormant, although I believe it still retains the space at 502 Main. Of course a fresh crop of spaces opened up this year, beginning with Freshman Fine Art in January, which made it through October before expiring. Fovea Exhibitions Beacon Gallery opened in May; Open Space, MJ Art and Mount Beacon Fine Art in September, and Hermitage in December, adding a broader variety and depth to what we can see close to home.

Windows on Main St went off without any notable controveries in 2007, and Collaborative Concepts has settled into it's new niche with the annual Saunder's Farm exhibit in Garrison.

The best in-Beacon-exhibits on my list?
William Crow and Joel Holub at Go North in February.
Our War at Fovea Exhibitions, haunting and still in my mind.

Exhibitions that made an impact on me further afield in 2007:
Richard Tuttle at Sperone Westwater in NYC.
Bill Jensen at Cheim and Read, NYC.
Andrea Zittel at MOCA in LA.

I think the show I'd most like to forget was also at LA MOCA. Whack! Art and the Feminist Revolution was an endeavor of sappy nostalgia. The encyclopedic exhibition's organization, though edifying from a sociological standpoint, succeeded in degrading the potency some otherwise powerful work.

I invite you to comment on the most memorable exhibits and the real stinkers you saw this year. Really, I want to know.

When Santa Attacks II

A cluster of Santies rising from a chocomiasma.

So fond am I of last year's Christmas picture of Curry Mendes nearly being mauled by the Santa at the Yankee Clipper, I was going to post it again here. Instead, I've decided to embark on an annual series that explores the darker side of Santa in all its permutations.

Down in the West Village on Friday, we came across an operation churning out multitudes of chocolate Santas of all sizes.

The effect of the sight was some seemingly unholy production in preparation for a Santa clone war.

An infernal whirling mechanism that sets the process in motion.

This strain of Santa reproduces through a process of budding.

These elven entities, part Borg, part Terminator, all dark chocolate, rising out of the primordial soup to insinuate themselves into your season of peace, before shifting shape to reap a havoc on your holidaze from which you can't escape. No, you can't.

I dedicate the following yuletide message to Curry Mendes who is moving to LA this weekend. Have a Beary Christmas everyone!

Update: Ok, shortly after having written this post, I realized that that wonked out chocolate factory was Maccarone and what we were seeing was a Paul McCarthy installation.

Update II: Apparantly, them's ain't trees in Santa's arms.

Signs of Life

As I'm sure I mentioned before, I returned from my extended out in Denver late in the evening on Second Saturday, missing the openings, partially due to an unfortunate incident in Scranton involving the SUV in front of me and a beautiful collie. In all of my numerous cross country drives, if any in transit difficulties or headaches occur, they inevitably happen in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is the bane of my interstate life, and it always stands firmly between me and my destination. I hope the collie ended up ok; we loaded it into the back seat of a pizza delivery guy's car.

But that's not the point of this post.

Karlos emailed me a couple of days after my saying he had taken photos of the openings including the opening of Hermitage. I was like, what the hell is Hermitage? And he was like, like it's this great new space that opened on Saturday around the corner from the Howland Center. You should stop by. And I was like, yes, I will.

Jon and Christian in the bookstore.

So I did. This past Saturday, I went down and met the two people responsible for the joint, Christian Toscano and Jon Beacham, both artists and both recently relocated to Beacon. Upon entering the house in which Hermitage is housed, you step into a narrow wood panelled room that houses the book store portion of the space. As expressed in the statement below, the book store "focuses on small press publishing in America from the 1950's and 1970's."

Hermitage by night

The exhibition space occupies a good portion of the rest of the first floor and the second floor. Currently, on exhibit through January 1, "Overgrowth," mixed media drawings and paintings by Chris Oh.

Works by Chris Oh.

The place feels great. Clean in spirit and raw in energy, it's refreshing to see a new context for viewing art and experiencing creative intent here in town. I wish them well. Hermitage and Open Space, which sprung up suddenly several months back both have a focused, and unique program which I think will add wonderfully to what is available in Beacon's creative scene.

The view out of a 2nd flr window.
Hermitage is located at 12 Tioranda Ave., and it's open Thurs - Sun 12-6pm, Friday and Saturday til 8pm. The phone number is (845)765-1650.

Angelika Rinnhofer book signing in Katonah, NY, Dec 19

I'm tardy in passing this along. But that's nothing new.

Angelika Rinnhofer will be at the Katonah Museum of Art tomorrow, (Dec. 19) signing copies of her Contact Sheet monograph which has been produced to accompany her current exhibit, Sammelsurium, on view at Light Work in Syracuse NY through Dec 28.

Tomorrow's book signing event is being co-hosted by the Katonah Museum of Art, and The Harvey School, and will take place 6-7:30pm.

Copies of Contact Sheet will be available for purchase. More information here.

The Katonah Museum of Art is located at: Route 22 at Jay Street Katonah, New York 10536

Images: Second Saturday, Dec 2007

Karlos Carcamo sent along these images from last week's Second Saturday openings:

Gary Jacketti, Works on Paper at bau:

Evolve/Dissolve, group show at Go North:

The work of Chris Oh at the Inaugural opening at Hermitage:

Christian Toscano, and Jon Beacham of Hermitage.

Limited Run at Open Space:

There will be more of Karlos' Second Saturday photos on the maykr flickr page by mid week.

Images from Beacon Open Studios, Dec. 2007

Here are some images from last weekend's open studios. Photos courtesy of Stacy Ward Kelley

Grey Zeien's studio.

Mighty Richard Bruce in his studio.

Rick Price in orange, and Rick Price in green.

Stacey Ward Kelley in her studio.

Thomas Huber in his studio with Jen Bradford and Kathy Feighery.

On This Weekend

Van Brunt Gallery is opening a new exhibit of work by Win Zibeon and Norm Magnusson tonight with a reception from 6-9pm.


There is an artist talk scheduled for 2pm tomorrow, at the Ann Street Gallery in Newburgh, to coincide with the gallery's current exhibit "Handle with Care: Glass Works" The Ann Street Gallery is located at 1o4 Ann St in Newburgh. For more info, call (845) 562-6940 x 8 or (845) 656-1132.

Beacon Art Postcard Archive

Maykr.com, in cooperation with bau, is initiating the Beacon Art Postcard Archive.

The printing of postcards has long since become de rigeur in the process of putting together an exhibition, and in away represents a very simple form of self publishing. Taken as a whole, over a period of time these artifacts, which tend to linger in disheveled collections on coffee shop and gallery windowsills well beyond the exhibition dates, create a physical record of the temporal flow of creative activity in a community. The intent of the Art Postcard Archive is to gather these promotional pieces together and create an historical record of the artistic activities in Beacon and Surrounding Areas. The parameters of the archive are a bit fuzzy right now, allowing for flexibility. Essentially, the collection will focus on all art exhibitions and events that have taken place in Beacon, and in the immediate area as well as exhibitions and events in areas further afield that include local artists, and those involved in the creative community in and around Beacon, NY. In addition to postcards, the archive will accept small flyers or similar material.

If you have operated a gallery in Beacon, if you are an artist living, working, showing art in and around Beacon with postcards promoting shows you've had here and elsewhere concurrent to your connection to Beacon, we'd appreciate the donation of a single copy for the archive. The archive will take the form of a box that will initially be housed at the Beacon Artist Union at 161 Main St. with postcards arranged chronologically. We intend the archive to remain an open source record, that, eventually, will be donated to the Beacon Historical Society. Adding current material to the archive is obviously easier than gathering older materials so we are interested in collecting any postcards from previous years and would appreciate any assistance in gathering material from past exhibits. If you'd like more information or if you have questions, contact me at info(at)maykr.com.

If you have postcards to add to the archive, feel free to drop them off at bau, or contact me directly. Also, if you have any questions or would like more information shoot me an email.

"Calling Out" at Howland Center, Dec 15 7pm

The Howland Center will be hosting Calling Out 07: Visions and voices of Beacon. Described as a "a stirring “Intergenerational Evening of Drama, Poetry & Music," the performance includes performances by five women of different ages.

Calling Out cast members include Goldee Greene, with Hedina Cristiner, Dareshanie Graham, Sanaa Shabazz, Sarah-Elisabeth and Michelle Rhone-Collins.
Beacon High School teen performers are Pamela Gadsden and Tatiana Hunter. Gwenno James is production designer.
Most material is written/created by Ms. Greene, Ms. Christiner, Ms. Graham and Ms. Hunter. Additional material provided by Jack Sine, past staff writer of the Beacon Dispatch.
A Question & Answer session + refreshments will follow the show.
Donation: $5.00 Adults Children under 14 free.

Dia:Beacon Gallery Talk Dec 15 1pm

Another monthly Gallery Talk will be held this Saturday at 1pm at Dia:Beacon. Barbara Schroeder will be speaking on Blinky Palermo. Talks are free with admission, but reservations are recommended. To make reservations, call 845-440-0100 ext 44.

Settling in

I made it back home this weekend, and I am reacclimating myself after my extended stay out West.



Before I left town, I noticed a for rent sign in the window of Freshman Fine Art. Driving by there yesterday I saw the space is now empty.



Last Weekend's Enjoy section of the POJO included a feature on Open Space's "Limited Run" exhibit of prints and zines.



Alison Moritsugu's exhibit at The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center is the subject of a write up in the Honolulu Star Bulletin from Dec 9. The story includes several images of exhibition artworks.



If you're interested in hearing more about the recent news that the Dia Foundation is selling its building in Chelsea, Tyler Green of MAN had a brief conversation yesterday with Dia Director Jeffrey Weiss on the subject of the sale, and the fate of the Jorge Pardo piece.



Also, befitting the season of giving, Tyler has highlighted an organization called DonorsChoose.org which allows donors to choose and directly fund small projects posted by public school teachers. Everyday through Christmas, Tyler will feature one project on his blog. Yesterday's project came from a teacher in Fort Wayne, Indiana hoping to build an art book library for her students.

More on this weekend in Beacon and Peekskill

Here's some additional information on goings on this weekend:

Gary Jacketti is showing some works on paper at bau; opening will be held from 6-9pm. Gary is also taking part in the open house at Beacon Studios from 1-5pm on Saturday.

In addition to the Saturday evening opening at Go North, the gallery is presenting a short video work by David Grainger called "Microphone Check" at the Beacon Studios (opposite Rm #101 from) 1-5pm.

On Sunday, in Peekskill, HVCCA will be hosting a Slam poetry workshop and performance by Eric "Zork" Alan.

One-line review

Here is one blogger's one line review of Dia:Beacon:

We were not all that happy with what was on display, but that didn't ruin the trip for us.

Rakin' it in

December is here and along it comes the annual program of a multitude of small work group shows cooked up to serve art in buyit sized portions meant to tease some attention from your wallet.

It's a fanciful idea. It's an idea that entices one covet a little more that low hanging fruiart just within the reach of a little coin. And it's an idea whose ubiquitousness just softens my stool. Please, do go to a mall for crying out loud.
It's not a big deal, but each December, I'd really like to hear more about shows that may very well be unattainable or unaffordable and at the very least unpandering to one's panicky sense of purchasing before a deadline. That's why, at least on the face of it, this exhibit feels particularly refreshing and timely. I haven't seen it yet, but I will do so when I finally make it back home....Here's Jerry Saltz's giddy review of Urs Fischer at Gavin Brown's Enterprise.

So, anyway. Next weekend is Second Saturday, and I'll miss it as I expect to be somewhere in the Central Time Zone traveling in an easterly direction. But here is what I know now:


Ann Polashenksi, Japanese Interior Obliteration.
Go North will be having an opening for a group exhibit called Evolve/Dissolve. Although this is a group show, in December, the press release contains neither the word "gift" or "affordable." The press release does include the words "Fallujah, " "underpinnings" and "debris stream." Happy Holidays. The artists included in the exhibit are: Jonathan Allen, Aaron Sing Fox, Julie Anne Mann, Sarah Moran, Anne Polashenski and Stacy Seiler. Go North is located at 469 Main St. The reception will be happening from 6-9pm.

Jennifer Ruell-Huckell, Spellbound, mixed media.
Also opening on Saturday: The Cult of True Womanhood: Reliquaries, Rituals, and Remedies by Jennifer Ruell-Huckell at Zahra Studio, 496 Main St. Regarding the piece Spellbound:

This piece is a play on old wife's tales and witchcraft and the desperation felt to find a man and keep him. The largest box is filled with three vials containing, hair, fingernail clippings, and blood. It is to be
believed that an actual piece of a person's body is the most potent ingredient in spells of the heart. The four other containers have actual love spells written on them including, To Get A Man, To Keep A Man, Arousing His Lust, and To Make Him Come Back To You. The containers are filled with objects to aid in the casting of the spells.

In the event that you don't get what you want from Santa, you ladies, and some
men too, have another course open to you.

Dec 2007 Beacon Open Studio Map.

The Beacon Art Salon is sponsoring city wide Open Studios on Saturday and Sunday from 1-5pm. Beacon Studios (specifically the artist studios housed in the old high school, not to be confused with the general notion of artist studios located in Beacon) will be holding their Holiday Open House from 1-5pm on Saturday.

On Sunday from 1-2pm the Chthonic Clash (460 Main St.) will be hosting a booksigning/music event. Beacon illustrator and artist, Sharon Watts will be reading selections from her recently published book, "Miss You, Pat: Collected Memories of NY's Bravest of the Brave, Captain Patrick J. Brown," and Kathleen Pemble will sing songs from her CD, "Learning To Listen Again. " More information on the event can be found here.

By the way, I do have a selection of reasonably priced porn-based paintings in an array of festive colors well suited for the Season. What better way to experience the splendor of sharing by giving your loved one a bit of subliminal smut.