Beacon Open Studios weekend; some images

The Mill's movie set-like exterior.

The Beacon Open Studios was pretty colossal this weekend.  I was only able to make it to a portion of the spaces.  Here are a few images of what I saw.

 

Above and below:  Stephan Spaccarelli's space at the Mill.

 

 

Above, Greg Slick's studio and below, Sara Corson's  portrait setup, both at the Mill.

 

 

 Alice Vaughn's Hudson River Bindery workspace at Beacon Studios - which is a name I've given up using.  Bulldog is what spills from most folk's lips still.

 

 

Jean-Marc Superville Sovak's stack in the library gallery of the old high school

 

 

Kirsten Kucer's drawings.

 

 

Theresa Gooby's napkin installation above, and her plastic bag works below.

 

 

Thomas Huber's work above and below.

 

 

Richard Bruce's studio.

 

Virtually everywhere I went, I encountered this baby stroller woman, let's call her "Kathy Feighery" and her adorable daughter whom we'll simply refer to as "Tess".  I swear she was intentionally following me.  She did it so well that her arrival in a location actually preceeded mine...very clever.  There was an episode of South Park where Ginger kids (a term I had never heard) run amok, led by the character Cartman.  Obviously, I was starting to get nervous.

Elia Gurna's work in her studio.

 

Outside Stephen Dickens' and Marsha Aliaga's Dirt Floor Studio.

 

Marsha's stair installation above and some of Stephen's paintings below.

 

The next several images are from my own open studio:

 

Below, some of the goodies provided by the Funky Baker.  I'm really trying to pimp her stuff. MMm, its good. These marble topped brownies that a surprisingly rich, Rich cocoa flavor.

 

 

 My now-upstair-neighbor, Marc Schreibman's photos on the front of the house.

 Above:  Elia Gurna's installation on our porch.  Below:  Inside the kitchen, Peter Iannarelli's work appropriated from byproducts of my studio labors.

 

 

 Stephen Dickens and friends krafting sound at the BOS after party at Spire Studios.

 

 Indeed.

Kudos to Theresa Gooby in pulling this off, with the assisstance of BACA, and other helpers.  My impression is that it was very successful over all.  Saturday seemed awash with visitors and Sunday featured a steady stream of people despite the threatening rain. 

A survey is being prepared to collect the feedback from artists which will shape the event next year.  And indeed, there will be an event next year, Theresa's already laying out her approach.

If anyone has any thoughts, any input from the weekend and what they saw, throw down some comments here.

I now have many more artist links to add to the sidebar.

Openings happening at Van Brunt Gallery and Hudson Beach gallery, Saturday Aug 1, 2009

Van Brunt Gallery is opening a pair of exhibits this coming Saturday.  The gallery's space at 130 Main will play host to an exhibit by Thomas Huber and Susan English.  Across the street, Hudson Beach Glass's second floor gallery will be hosting a group show called What's the Story featuring work by Emil Alzamora, Richard Deon, Deborah Davidowits, Louis Fatta, Karlos Carcamo, Stanford Kay, Kirsten Kucer, W. David Powell, Charlotte Schulz, Michael Sibilia, Carl Van Brunt and Zoe Van Brunt.

Receptions for both exhibits will be held from 6-9pm and they'll both run through August 31. 

Thomas Huber in Formation group exhibit at Dutchess Community College through April 24.

Thomas Huber is participating in a group exhibit called Formation at the Mildred I. Washington Gallery of Art at the Dutchess County Community College. The exhibit, subtitled "Stucture In Nature, Art & Design" opened on March 30 and will remain on exhibit through April 24. An opening reception was held on April 1. The exhibit also includes work by Lori Adams, Jon Isherwood, Rosalind Roberston, Claire Benyon and Sam Bowser.

Thomas Huber artist talk in Poughkeepsie, Nov 20, 8pm

Thomas Huber will be giving a talk about his work on Thursday, Nov. 20 at the Muddy Cup in Poughkeepsie as part of the Barrett Art Center's Artist's Salon series held on the last thursday of every month at the Muddy Cup in POK.
The talk takes place at 8pm. The Poughkeepsie Muddy Cup is located at 305 Main St.

Last weekend to see Huber, Smith and Zansky at Van Brunt Gallery

Monday March 31 is the final day to check out Van Brunt's current exhibits by Thomas Huber, Ed Smith and Michael Zansky.
Below is a review of Thomas Huber's work by Dawn-Michelle Baude.

Thomas Huber at Van Brunt Gallery in Beacon
Informed art-goers won't want to miss Thomas Huber's show at the Van Brunt Gallery in Beacon. Who, after all, would want to pass up a chance to experience work that testifies to an emergent cultural moment? It's not, after all, an easy time-either on the planet or in the art world. But as the agendas of postmodernism slip further and further into the background, some qualified form of optimism is literally taking shape in visual arts. We don't have any choice, really, except to go forward. And although the data isn't all in yet, it's clear that Thomas Huber is among the artists riding the new wave.
Huber's show features small-to-medium format mixed-media paintings. The picture planes of the major pieces are dense, but their warm, collaged surfaces are openly seductive. Huber wants texture, the matt and the rough, so that the physicality of the work moves more than the eye. Unschooled viewers might glance at the canvas, register an emotion, and move on. Pity. Huber's works open slowly, layer by layer-moving from abstract to representational, expressionistic to voyeuristic, beautiful to weird.
One of the most gripping pieces in the show, a medium-format diptych entitled "Orchard," appears almost decorative at first glance. Painted in creams and whites with some touches of Granny Smith, the surface layer is sensuous, inviting. Elliptical forms seem to loll on a floating plane, perhaps enacting a kind of lazy cell division. New worlds are forming-or morphing-in these paintings. And they are curious worlds, indeed. A lady's purse dangles from a missing arm. Some sort of urn pours liquid underneath a bubble. Is that a Petri dish inside the cloud? Is it a Petri dish? Is it a cloud? And what about all those pots and pans?
Huber is fascinated with receptacles of all kinds-they lodge in the various layers of his palimpsests, ready to catch and hold attention as liquids swirl over, under, around and through the image. These ready receptacles favor sexual interpretation-the cosmic soup that gave rise to life on our planet as well as to our more intimate and habitual transfer of liquids. The receptacle metaphor extends even to the writing, since the words on Huber's canvas are referential vehicles of content. In "Orchard," a little scribble of text is talking about… an orchard? The titles of Huber's paintings slyly recline within layers of transparency, a "Where's Waldo" of discovery.
To achieve suggestive viscosity, Huber uses various inks and oils, plaster and paints, waxes and varnishes, drawings and transfers, so that the layers flow into one another, and in and out of images. The figuration always seems on the verge of a potential announcement-of recognizable environments, of life itself. With all this liquidity of image and material, and commitment to life sciences and ecology, it's not surprising that Huber's work shuns slick and mechanistic, highly controlled surfaces in favor of something a little more gestural and messy. Like many of the works in the current 2008 Whitney Biennial, Huber's exhibition attests to a nascent creative moment that requires just that.

Images from March 1 opening at Van Brunt Gallery

Here are some images from last night's opening at Van Brunt Gallery.

Michael Zansky's photographs and rotating googley eyed Washington head.

Sculpture and prints by Ed Smith on left and Thomas Huber's hexagonal paintings.

Thomas Huber and Michael Zansky standing in front of Ed Smith's work.

March 1 opening @ VanBrunt Gallery

VanBrunt Gallery will be opening a new set of exhibits on Saturday, March 1. Work by Thomas Huber, Ed Smith and Michael Zansky will be on exhibit at the gallery through March 31. An opening reception will be held from 6-9pm.