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.

Homecoming: Beacon Open Studios this weekend.

I was struck by a strange sensation shortly after entering the Beacon Open Studios kickoff party/opening reception tonight.  I suddenly had the sense that for the first time in a very long time, I was seeing a whole bunch of familiar faces all together in one place.  This isn't a great accomplishment seeing as I simply don't make it out like I used to, but it was a crazy vibe and it felt different somehow.  I then realized that part of that vibe came from standing in a crowded Van Brunt Gallery of another time.  With the same intense power a familiar scent has to thrust one back into the past, being in that space with a crowd had the effect of taking me back to VBG openings of yore,   What a heavy retro feel and a good one too.  I wasn't the only one; this same feeling was commented on by several of the other old farts I spoke to.  It was refreshing, and I got a little buzzed from it

I've been feeling indifferent to heading out to openings around town over the past year. Not to knock the efforts of any of the joints that are exhibiting in town recently, but I'm just burnt out.  I'm just not feeling it that much anymore.  I've been wondering if time has come to pack up this blog.  I haven't fully resolved that question for myself, but I've begun pulling back and trying to devote more time to offline studio endeavors, and perhaps shift the focus of what I write about here, when I write.  Everything must run its course, and change is mighty fine, even as it makes you pang for what you miss.  I'm loathe to admit my vulnerability for nostalgia, and I'm sure what I felt tonight was unadulterated nostalgia (I'm cringing as I'm writing this), but what I think is great about this is that the group show on the walls in this space and the opening itself teased out that sense of a gathered community which isn't as easy to achieve now as just a couple of years back when this community was much smaller. 

It was pretty cool.  I think I'm ready for Carl to move back into his old space.

Where Carl used to sit.

Anyway, I'm very interested to see how this open studio weekend shapes up.  Theresa Gooby's strategy of splitting the event up over two days definitely has its pros and cons but it's an assertive approach to tackling the specific challenges of such an event, and one that hasn't been tried yet, and I like that.  While this structure could prove problematic for visitors from out of town who will have only a portion of the studios available to them on a single day trip, I respect the benefit of giving resident artists a chance to visit at least some of their neighbors studios.  It's good to give the dancing monkeys a little entertainment for themselves whilst taking a break from mugging for the tourists.   Kudos to Theresa for pulling this together in the manner she has, and also to BACA and the Newburgh Art Supply and ZUZU's for sponsoring the event. Now comes the real test.

Visit the Beacon Open Studios blog for the full overview.  Tomorrow from 10-4 pm, studios on the East end of town will be open, and the West enders will be open on Sunday from 11-4 (Today's Poughkeepsie Journal article had the schedule reversed.)  BOS HQ will be open all weekend long at 460 Main St.

Spire Studios will be hosting the BOS closing party on Sunday beginning at 5pm.  

For those coming into town on Sunday, take note that the Spirit of Beacon Parade will be happening that day (weather allowing) and traffic patterns will be affected on 9D and along Main St. until late afternoon.

Eye Candy Friday: Sour Apple Slushie

This week's selection comes from Vernissage TV.  Vernissage TV is your proxy at openings and exhibitions from around Europe and the US. Occasionally, the videos feature interviews with curators and artists, but generally, it simply presents you with the sites and sounds of a given moment in time. This footage of Thomas Feuerstein's exhibit Planet Paradies at 401contemporary in Berlin is rare in that the nature of the work makes this video more eyecandiesh than most of the others.
I couldn't embed the video, so here's a link.

Steven Evans participating in Public Art and Alternative Space Panel discussion tonight in NYC

Steven Evans will be participating in a panel discussion called Public Art and Alternative Spaces Reconsidered tonight at No Longer Empty.

The discussion is taking place tonigt at 6:30 pm at the Caledonia Retail Space at 447 W 16 St at 10 Ave, which is the site of NLE's current exhibition "Reflecting Transformation".

The full list of panel participants are:

Tom Finkelpearl, Director, Queen's Museum of Art
Lauren Ross, Curator, High Line
Anita Durst, Founder, Chashama
Steven Evans, Dia Art Foundation Assistant Director for Beacon
Peter Marcuse, Professor Urban Planning Emeritus, Columbia University
Sean Slemon, Featured Artist, Reflecting Transformation
Asher Remy-Toledo, Curator, No Longer Empty
Moderator Manon Slome, No Longer Empty

T is for Thursday. T is for Talking.

If you like talking, and if you like listening to talking, then Thursday is your day. 

The habitat at Old Main Circle on the SUNY New Paltz Campus.

The Dorsky Museum will be hosting a Habitat for Artists round table panel discussion which will relate to the ongoing HFA project that has located several mini artist residencies in structures around the city of New Paltz.  The discussion will be moderated by Wall Street Journal writer Wendy Bounds and will include artists Simon Draper, Mercedes Cecilla, Sarah Haviland, Todd Sargood, curators Brian Wallace of the Dorsky Museum and Amy Lipton of ecoartspace, Shari Osborne, Trustee, Village of New Paltz and Richard Heyl de Ortiz, Director Historic Huguenot Street, New Paltz. 

This discussion will kick of at 7pm in the museum.

Also on Thursday night, I'll be among six Beacon artists who will be discussing various aspects of our work at the Barrett Art Center's monthly Artist Salon series which takes place the final Thursday of every month.  I'll be discussing the kork project space.  Also speaking on Thursday are Steve Rossi, Peter Iannarelli, Jim Zellinger, Kirsten Kucer and Lee Price.  The salon starts at 7pm.  The Barrett Art Center is located at 55 Noxon Ave in Poughkeepsie.

Woodstock artist Peter Barrett exhibiting at Dorsch Gallery in Miami, and a call for artists from FLA.

I received a note last week from Tyler Emerson-Dorsch.  Tyler is co-owner with her husband Brook of the Dorsch Gallery in Miami.  One of the three exhibits currently on view at the gallery features the work of Woodstock artist Peter Barrett.  Tyler's note was my introduction to the broad and trippy work of Barrett. 

Coincidentally, on the same day and from a different source, I received a call for entries for an exhibit that Tyler is jurying at the art gallery at Broward College in Davie Fl.  This is a national call, open to artists 18 and over, for artwork interpreting the theme Vertigo.

Submission fee is $35 and the submission deadline has been extended to OCT 2. 

For your convenience, I've saved the information/submission form as a google document here.

Dutch Artists on Panel talk tonight in Peekskill.

Nine of the some sixteen artists featured in HVCCA's exhibit Double Dutch will be speaking tonight at the museum in Peekskill from 6 - 7:30 pm tonight.  HVCCA is located at 1701 Main St. in Peekskill.  The artists participating tonight are;  Martha Colburn, Fendry Ekel, Job Koelewijn, Maartje Korstanje, Alon Levin, Serge Onnen, Daan Padmos, Jennifer Tee and Rob Voerman.

In other Dutch artist news, the Muroff Kotler Gallery at the SUNY Ulster Community College is hosting an exhibit through Sept 25 called Verbindingen featuring work by Willem Bergert, Greta Cune, Marit Kik, Janus Eijnden, Helma Kujper, Pe Okx and Marja Vieugel..

Eye Candy Friday: Master of his domain

Attention 'round here at Kamp Maykr has been focused* on getting ready for the upcoming Beacon Open Studios.  I'm participating in the BOS on Sunday the 27 and I'll have a couple of guest artists creating special work around this here joint, like Peter Iannarelli, Peter Acheson, Elia Gurna, Marc Schriebman and perhaps one or two others.

In honor of opening one's inner sanctum to the public, this week's ECF gives us a brief peek into Richard Tuttle's studio as seen through the lens of Art 21.

Tuttle was featured in Season 3 of Art 21 from 2005.  

On a related note, Season 5 of Art 21 will be broadcast this October.  I've arranged for preview screenings of two of the four episodes (Episode 1:  Compassion, and Episode 2: Fantasy) at the Beacon Community Center.  The screenings are scheduled for Saturday Oct 3 and Saturday Oct 10 at 2pm.  There's a possibility that there might be an additional viewing opportunity or two at the BCC....so stay tuned. for more info.

*Focused is an overstatement given my various obligations and work and such.  Obligations which have prevented me from posting in a timely manner, upcoming events in town, like tonight's openings at the Garrison Art Center, and tomorrow's Second Saturday openings like Peter Bynum at Van Brunt, Dan Weise at Open Space, Sara Mussen at Gallery G, and the grand opening of the Daniel Aubry Gallery.  Also, the closing reception and artist talk for WOMS, and I believe there is a Next Step going on at The Piggy Bank.  Then, of course, there's the opening reception Sunday of Double Dutch at HVCCA in Peekskill.  I'll be lending a hand down ther on Sunday.  Admission to the museum is free all weekend.  The opening reception is from 4-7pm.

Lawrence Weschler talk on Irwin and Hockney streamed live from Marfa, 8:30pm

For those of you interested, The Chinati Foundation is hosting a lecture tonight by Lawrence Weschler on Robert Irwin and David Hockney.  Tonight's talk, taking place at the Crowley Theater in Marfa, TX. is being streamed live beginning at 8:30 pm Eastern.
Weschler has written biographies on both artists.  I've read his book on Irwin, Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: Expanded Edition
twice (most recently, the recently published and expanded 20th Anniv. edition for our book club) and it's given me a buzz each time. 
A promotional graphic announcing the lecture mimicks boxing poster and includes the frase "WHEN FOUNTAINHEADS COLLIDE"  which is ironic given our current book club title is The Argument Culture: Stopping America's War of Words by Deborah Tannen.  I've only just begun reading the book in which Tannen enumerates and critiques the development of the confrontational and inflammatory way in which debate is framed in America, degrading any potential for informed and sensible discourse into the polarized point-counterpoint contest with which we're constantly being presented.
That Weschler's book on Hockney, True to Life: Twenty-Five Years of Conversations with David Hockney
was born from the artist reaching out to the writer to dispute virtually all the assertions made by Irwin in the first book, one could imagine how such a conflict of sensibilities could easily be transformed by a CNN or FOX News into a true clashing ideology.  I imagine, however, all of this is conveyed in a civil manner by the writer.  I have not read the Hockney book, but I'm interested to see how Weschler handles Hockney's counters to Irwin.  I got a sense from the Irwin book, particularly in the new edition, which includes the very real fray the artist had with Richard Meier in the creation of the gardens of the Getty Center,that Weschler is firmly in Irwin's camp. 
Take note fellow bookclubbers, the Hockney book is on my list for possible upcoming reads.  This all came to my attention by way of Tyler Green's twitter feed.
Anyway, I'm going to go ahead and stream the Weschler talk right here tonight:
Live video by Ustream

Things happening tomorrow.....How's that for a lazy headline.

Hang on, here's a lightening round post for a few things  that are going on tomorrow.

Collaborative Concepts is opening the 2009 version of Saunders Farm sculpture exhibit.  This is the project's fourth year.  All of the pertinent details are on the group's 2009 blog. Opening reception is happening from 2-6pm and the show will run thorugh Halloween.

Van Brunt Gallery is opening an exhibit of Peter Bynum's paintings on glass.

Up in Poughkeepsie, at G.A.S, Franc Palaia has curated an exhibit of work that examines the bridges of the Hudson River.  The exhibit, Bridges and the Span of Time includes the work of 50 artists.  The opening reception will be happening from  2-9pm.

Eye Candy Friday: Sweet sweet candy.

Nothing is more sweet to the eye than the video works of Jeremy Blake.  Just a little over two years ago Blake walked into the ocean and didn't walk out. 

The work below (via ubu.com) is Liquid Villa from 2000.

Blake also created the video for Beck's song Round the Bend, which is mighty purdy.


For some bonus viewing on this long weekend, check out the Tate: Remix videos on the Tate Modern's website.  The museum teamed up with B3 Media to commission four spoken word artists and filmmakers to create short films based on their experience of three exhibits. Definitely worth a peek.

Meet yer Maykr: Peter Acheson

I wandered on up to Ghent, NY yesterday to make a studio visit with Peter Acheson.  When I arrived, carpenters were putting siding on the building he's had constructed to store his work.  The new building sits next to the small barn in which he paints.   This new building holds 20+ years of resolved work, each section of the racks is ordered according to size, material, or vein of work.  

There are hundreds of completely different exhibits that could be culled from those sorted racks. 

Here are some images from the visit:

 

  

  

  

  

A very early owl totem work.

  

  

  

  

  

a group of small framed works of various vintage

 

  

two spray paint works from the last year or so.

one of Peter's recent vibratory paintings

Going South with Karlos Carcamo

Karlos Carcamo packed his bags and headed down to his homeland, sunny El Salvador three days ago.  He's participating in an exhibit at the Marte Museo Arte De El Salvador in San Salvador.  The exhibit Zonas de Trueque, curated by Jose Ruiz of the Bronx River Arts Center and which also features the work of Experanza Mayobre, Diego Medina and Irvin Morazan, is part of a series of interventions in specific locations throughout the museum by invited artists.  This PDF chronicles some past interventions in the series.

Karlos is also currently in the midst of a residency at the Lower East Side Print Studio shop.  One of the projects he's working on during the residency is a series of postcards featuring many of the fine correctional facilities here in our area.

This Summer of Kork

 Mark Creegan, Untitled, 2009.

Summer is a time of hiatus for many an art space, but not so for kork, the everpumping, everchurning cultural juggernaut in an accounting office in Poughkeepsie, NY.

The post Labor day gearing up of labor came early this season. For the months of May and June, Mark Creegan of Jacksonville FL, labored daily, and made labor daily for the accounting office staff, enlisting them in the creation of artwork with daily requests via email create and post photocopies of various subjects. There's a slide show of the collaboration's results on the kork blog.

Since the beginning of July and still up through Aug 31, Denver based artist Lauri Lynnxe Murphy presaged the weirdly wet Summer we've experienced by imagining the outcome of a clash between the forces of nature clashes and the manufactured atmosphere of the office space environment. What she's come up with is a bio/botanical form that look like animated shrooms sporting a margarita's salted rim.

Lauri Lynnxe Murphy, Untitled, 2009.

Christopher Patch and Bridget Mullen, both artists based in Brooklyn are teaming up to take the Sept/Oct shift on the board.

Eye Candy Friday: surely I'm not the person you were, but. surely I'm not the person you were, but.

I find my impulse in posting is halted at times out of a percieved need to make posts fit in with a context, and that includes the ECF posts.  Well, this is all I have to say about that, via c-monster. I pledge to you dear reader/viewer to try to not overthink these things.

So appropos of nothing, I present to you for your viewing pleasure, Holding Your Breath (Taking the Long Way), a performance from 2008 by Mika Tajima/ New Humans along with Vito Acconci and Howie Chen at the Elizabeth Dee Gallery. via ubu.com, once again.

Open the door: Open studios at both ends of Dutchess county in September

23 artists in Northern Dutchess County will open their studios to visitors on Labor Day weekend (Sept 5,6) for the 2009 Annual Art Studio Views.  The bulk of the studios are centered in the vicinity around Rhinebeck and Red Hook (there's a map on the event website and a list of participating artists).

If you're an artist in Beacon, and you're considering participating in the Beacon Open Studios on Sept, 26 & 27, you have through Aug. 31 to register for the lowlow price of $20.  After the 31st, the registration fee jumps to $30, but you'll still have until Sept. 10 until registration closes.  I am participating, and if you're on the fence, let me vouch for the potential wonderfulness that participating may just bring....

A BOS Kickoff party will be held on Friday, Sept 25 from 7-10pm at 460 Main St.  (Van Brunt Gallery's old home).  Each participating artist will have a piece in a group show on view during the party.

Autumn exhibits and workshops at Pelham Art Center, Pelham NY.

The Pelham Art Center, in Pelham has kindly sent me information on their upcoming programs.

First, and update:  Back in December of '08, I posted a notice about the PAC's 2009 Alexander Rutsch Painting Award.  This year's prize was awarded to Tracy Miller.   Miller's paintings are psychadelic dreams of beer, cigs and sweets, but what really caught my interest when looking at her website are her cakemaking endeavors.

In September, PAC will be hosting two concurrent exhibits of abstract works in painting and drawing.  The first is a solo show; Squared Off- Workds on Paper by Elizabeth Goldman:

This is a solo exhibition of abstract artworks that are a hybrid of painting and drawing. It is also the first exhibit to take place in the Art Center's renovated gallery. In her most recent works, Ms. Goldman introduces quasi-geometric forms superimposed onto a gestural surface. By working in layers, Ms. Goldman allows the work to evolve, creating an almost invisible history with marks and materials. The tension on the canvas comes not from what is seen but what is not seen.

The second exhibit is a group show featuring the paintings of three artists.  Same River Twice includes the work of Josh Willis, Lauren Portada and Bradley Fesmire:

Josh Willis’s miniature paintings can be viewed as either discrete works or part of a larger series of paintings. Developed from the outside-in, the artist first establishes how many canvases, and what size and shape they will take. Imagery is characterized by an impression of a figure in the landscape, as a reference to the “figure in a landscape” as represented in landscape painting and as a connection to the artist’s place of origin. Lauren Portada describes her paintings as recordings focused on the intimacy of the landscape. Inspired by travel, observation, and nature photography, they reflect her concern with the natural world and the expansion of historical landscape painting, deciphering the connection between the landscape and history, viewer and object, chronicled events and time. Bradley Fesmire’s process involves wooden panels that are carved, most often with a router, to allow for a direct relation with the material and experience. The router acts as paintbrush, eraser and in the artist’s words, a metaphor for time, engraining his ideas into the surface of the work, with a tinge of melancholy.

 

Lauren Portada: “Mountain Top,” 2008. Oil and wax on linen, 91.44 cm x 121.92 cm

Both exhibits open on September 11 and run through October 31.

On September 19th, the PAC will be hosting a Korean Folk Arts Day highlighting traditional Korean music and dance featuring performances by Minji Kim and Jung Hee Ho.  The program is will take place from 1:30 - 3:30 and is free to the general public.

The PAC will also be collaborating with the Hudson Valley Writers Center on a series of writing workshops for and a reading for adults in October and January.  Registration for thoseworkshops is open now.  Information can be found at the HV Writer's center website , and on the PAC website, along with information on the center's other art education programs.

COTA seeking artist submissions. Deadline Sept 10

COTA - Celabration of the Arts is a one day festival that fills areas of New Paltz will be happening this year on Saturday, October 10 from 11 to 5pm. 

Artists who would like to participate this year are invited to submit their work for consideration.  Deadline for submissions is Sept. 10, 2009.  Here's the skinny:

COTA(Celebration of the Arts), a fine and performing art event in New Paltz, NY, now in its third year is seeking proposals for site-specific installations that explore the rich history of Historic Huguenot Street and its relationship to the Hudson Valley. COTA is also seeking  proposals for artists to construct stations for a mini-golf course. Artists must construct a station that can be played as a mini-golf hole. These installations/sculptures will be installed on the street, which is the main thoroughfare that connects either lawn where the exhibition and activities tents will be located. The installations/sculptures must be weather tolerant and be able to be installed and taken down the day of the event.  Application are available by contacting Melanie Cronin @ cronartusa@gmail.com or 845.430.8470, Applications must be postmarked by September 10, 2009.

Artist Talks & Performance today at the Dorsky Museum in New Paltz starting at 5:30pm

The Dorsky Museum at SUNY New Paltz will be hosting a gallery talk today featuring some artists involved in the Ecotones and Transition Zones on exhibit through September 6. The artists participating in the talk include Robert Capozzi, Lorrie Fredette, Dylan McManus, Laura Moriarty and Jill Parisi, Dana Duke, Susan Miller, Itty Neuhaus and J. Gilbert Plantinga.

The talks will take place from 5:30-6:45 in the Alice and Horace Chandler Gallery and the North Gallery.

Ryder Cooley in her tree, playing a saw.

At 7 pm, Ryder Cooley will be presenting an interactive tree serenade. Visitors are encouraged to participate by bringing musical instruments.

It's highly unlikely that I'll be able to make it to the talks.....I can only hope that someone might videotape it. I'm particularly interested hearing more about the collaborative project created by Capozzi, Fredette, McManus, Moriarty and Parisi.