Random Roundup

• Beacon Art Supply will be hosting a closing party on Wednesday, Feb 11 from 6-8pm. Details are at beaconite.ning.com. A silent auction will be held for a selection of items, and there are deals a plenty on the remaining inventory, as the party will mark the beginning of 60% markdowns on art supplies an remaining items from Burlock.
• Erica Hauser is opening up shop again at 469 Main. From Feb 9-14, you can stop into the Valentine Cupcake shop for handmade goodies, edible and not- for that special cupcake in your life. The approximate hours for the shop are: Feb 9-13, 2-6 pm. Feb 14, 1-8 pm.
• Daniel Weise of Open Space has been named one of the Greater Souther Dutchess Chamber of Commerce's Top Under 40 for 2009 as part of the organization's 4th Annual Shaker Awards. We're not talking about this kind of Shaker. The Shaker awards recognize folks under the age of 40 who are committed to shaping the region in a positive manner. A reception for which will be held on March 9th.
  
• Be sure to stop into Van Brunt Gallery to chew a bit of gum. Steve Rossi is casting other people's ABC gum as part of the endeavors taking place at the HFA Goes Inside at the Gallery.
  
• Harry Shearer's Silent Echo Chamber on view through today at the Aldrich Art Museum in Ridgefield CT was included as a feature on CNN last week. The piece was also featured on a segment on NPR's Talk of the Nation program in January.
• Via the Artful Manager, a compilation of content on the renewed debate of Federal funding of arts an culture vis a vis the economic stimulus plan.
• Because I'm lazy and I usually have more than enough on my plate already, I can't always hunt down new information, and things fall away from my attention. The Ann Street Gallery in Newburgh represents such an instance. The website for the gallery points to a static business card type placeholder with location and phone number, and emails from the gallery have either stopped coming to me, or they've been swallowed by my spam filter. But I've found a better portal through which to get news of the gallery which is the gallery's parent organization, safe-harbors.org Currently, the gallery is showing Art Brut, an exhibit of work by Bob Justin, Bill Marlieb, Dickie Peterson, Matt Sesow, Susan Ward and William Yost.
• In a similar vein, for anyone who's been frustrated in learning too late about upcoming art related lectures and events at Vassar, the college has a new online calendar that should prove more effective (definitely not perfect, but it's an improvement).
• Last week when I posted info on the Newburgh Art Supply, I neglected to include information on the store's custom picture framing services provided by Eric Jarmann. Jarmann's presence at the art supply store is by appointment only, so contact him at 845 238 7640 or by email at eric[dot]jarmann[at]gmail[dot]com.
• Ty Marshal of Floor One Gallery posits the concept of an arts covenant.
  
• Finally, it's becoming exceedingly evident that Facebook is reaching a critical mass here in our fair community, potentially causing ideological rifts between those who FB and those who FB not. Evidence of the sweeping phenomena could be found in a conversation had this weekend between five unnamed artists regarding the true implications of getting poked and the most effective way to evade the attention of a possible grade school stalker emerging from the fog of one's past.
  Below is a glimpse into Facebook's ethos transposed into real life. (I found it on Peter Iannarelli's profile.)

Tids & Bits

This afternoon at 6pm, Marc and Livia Straus are giving a gallery talk at HVCCA in Peekskill called "The Art Market: Making Art and Collecting Art in a New Globalized Economy"
Admission to the talk is: $5 Adults, $4 Seniors/Educators, $2 Students/Children, Free to HVCCA Members. This is also the last chance to see Size Matters: XXL – recent large-scale paintings which is closing on July 27th. There's a Caroll Dunham piece in that show that I really dig.

Via a new Beacon community website, the Beacon Citizens Network, I learned that the Beacon Art Supply is for sale, and it is currently having a close out sale going on. If the business does not find a buyer it and it's conjoined neighbor, Burlock is scheduled to close; Burlock on Aug. 31 and BAS on Sept. 30. Good luck to Jeff and Nicole on their future endeavors.

A post on Yorktown photographer Rob Penner's blog says that he is planning on open a photo gallery in Beacon in September. Details forthcoming. Here's a link to Rob's main website.

Electric Windows on Cool Hunting.com

Cool Hunting.com is a site that culls together all that is cool in the realms of art, design architecture, cuisine and more. In the form of blog posts and short nicely produced videos, Cool Hunting shares work being created by many visionary folks. I have long subscribed to the video podcast feed via itunes, and consider it a treat when the new weekly installment arrives. The most recent video posted today highlights the Electric Windows event from this past May. I've embedded the video here, but I definitely suggest visiting the site, and subscribing to the videos. It's a nugget of goodness delivered straight to your computer. I don't doubt that I'll be pulling some Eye Candy Friday material from Cool Hunting at some point.

On another Electric Windows note, I spent a little time over at Beacon High School this past semester, speaking with some of the art students about the other windows based art project in Beacon, Windows on Main St. Two of the windows in the WOMS project in August will be created by two teams of students. On one of my visits shortly after the Electric Windows ocurred, I was informed by the art teacher, Diane Mikula, that the students were abuzz about the event and that of all the different art events that have taken place around town, this one more than any other really resonated with the students.
So, congratulations to Jeff and Nicole at Beacon Art Supply and Dan and Kalene at Open Space as well as Bill Erlich and Beacon Terminals Associates for making this happen.