Opportunities...

Here are a couple local call for entries:

Deadline: Dec 8, 2007
GAS small works juried show, Pougkeepsie.
You can find a prospectus on the gallery's website.

Deadline: Jan 15, 2008
WELCOME MURAL - BEACON, NY
The Beacon Arts Community Association (BACA) seeks proposals for wall art to serve as a
Welcome Gateway to Beacon’s Main Street to be sited on the side of a highly visible building located at the corner of Main Street and Route 9D.

The wall art will be located on the brick wall directly above the outdoor terrace of the Muddy Cup Coffeehouse, 129 Main Street. The wall art will be created as a digital print on vinyl from an image provided by the selected artist. It will be mounted on the wall for at least one year and no longer than 3. The final dimensions of the wall art will be 16 feet wide x 26 feet high. The selected wall art will be installed by art installers working for BACA.

Mural project details can be found at BACA's website.

Philipstown Depot Theatre presents Not God, Dec 1, 8pm

The Philipstown Depot Theatre in Garrison will be presenting a staged reading of Not God - A Play in Verse written by HVCCA co-founder Marc Straus. The production will be directed by Nancy Robillard and actors Jennifer Dorr White and Peter Van Wagner will be reading the parts of the patient and the doctor.

Marc Straus, author of three books of poetry, is a distinguished medical oncologist, art curator and award-winning poet whose literary work has been performed in venues throughout the country. The poems in his latest book Not God -A Play in Verse document one woman's encounter with cancer, a journey through illness whose end, while inevitable, is also unknown. Alternating with the words of her doctor, these poems form a remarkable dialogue of the flesh becoming word, and of the body inventorying --and finally transcending- its limitations. His poems peer into the soul, grasping the hearts of the audience. Straus brings vision to his profession through powerfully reflective themes, revealing the hopes, fears, victories, and defeats in the face of devastating chronic disease.

The reading is scheduled for Dec. 1 at 8pm. The Depot Theatre is located at Garrison Landing, Lower Station Road, Garrison New York.
For information and directions, call 845 424 3900 or log onto www.philipstowndepottheatre.org or e-mail membership@philipstowndepottheatre.org

Ticket prices are: $15.00 adults: $12.00 Students

Catching up and things i missed

Daniel Spitzer, Diorama #2, 2007, Sculpted glass, wood, paper, charcoal.

Jill Reynolds and Dan Spitzer are among the NY glass artists included in the Ann St. Gallery's current exhibit "Handle with Care: Glass Works." The other artists featured in the exhibit are: Glenn Able, Suzan Etkin, Brenden Fitzgerald, Nick London and Michiko Sakano.

Jill Reynolds, Revision, 2005, Blown and flameworked glass, brick, water, corks, monofilament.

The exhibit opened this past Saturday. On December 16 at 2pm, the gallery will host an illustrated talk where the artists will discuss their work and processes.

The Ann Street Gallery is located at 104 Ann Street in Newburgh, and it's open Thurs-Sat, from 11-5pm and by appt. For more info, call (845) 562-6940 x 8 or (845) 656-1132.

Albert Shahinian Fine Art in Poughkeepsie is exhibiting work by photographer Billy Name and painter Margaret Crensen. This show also opened on Saturday. Kathleen interviewed Name for her write up in last weekend's Enjoy section. The gallery is located at 196 Main St. in Poughkeepsie.

Finally, back in Beacon at Zahra Studio, Jennifer Ruell-Huckle is exhibiting what sounds like a multitude of items in various media for her show, "The Cult of True Womanhood , Reliquaries, Rituals, and Remedies." The exhibit will be on view through January 30.

Michael Zansky at Sandy Carson Gallery in Denver.

Almost finally, I'm in Denver still for another two weeks. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that Michael Zansky, from the Hudson's other shore, is currently exhibiting at the Sandy Carson Gallery in Denver. Here is a write up on Zansky's show by Michael Paglia in Westword.

Absolutely finally, another recent NY in Denver item; Michele Mosko, who I met via our mutual activities at HVCCA in Peekskill, is a fellow Denver native. She just recently moved back out here, opening her gallery, Michele Mosko Fine Art, around the corner from my old pad. This weekend's Denver Post featured a write up of Michele's space by Kyle MacMillan.

I'm a bit behind right now, but I have been posting on things that I've been seeing over at my personal blog.

transience opening tonight at Caberet Voltaire in Poughkeepsie

Cabaret Voltaire at 358 Main St, Poughkeepsie, will be hosting an exhibit of 2 multimedia installations and three outdoor performances.

Participating Artists are:
Sukran Aziz, Karen Dolmanisth,Kirtland Snyder, Matt Slaats, and Fuat Yalin.

The opening will be happening today from 4-8pm. The exhibit runs through December 23.

Cabaret Voltaire
358 MAIN STREET POUGHKEEPSIE NY 12601 TEL/ FAX: 845-473-1181 sukranaziz@aol.com

The moment I wake up. Before I put on my makeup, I say a little prayer for you....

Tomorrow morning you can awaken to the dulcet tones of Steven Evans, Mayor Gould, Mayor-Elect Steve Gold and several other of your neighbors as WAMC will be broadcasting the Morning Roundtable program from Dia:Beacon. The program airs from 9 am to noon 103.9 fm in Beacon, or you can listen live online.

In other Dia related goings on, The NY Sun reports on the Dia Foundation's recent Gala and talk of the foundation's approaching some form of permanent home in the NYC.

looking back

In case you missed it, Open Space's blog has many pics of their gallery opening and the Next Step Party from Saturday.

Also, you can find images from Angelika's exhibit opening in Syracuse last Thursday on her blog.

And I have posted images from my exhibit with Marc Willhite in Colorado, which opened the Saturday before last, on my blog.

Feighery in the POJO

Kathy Feighery's work is highlighted today in Kathleen Murray's column in the POJO's Enjoy section.
Kathy's latest paintings will be on view at VanBrunt Gallery along with the work of Ilse Schreiber-Noll and Valerie Bogdan. The opening reception will take place tomorrow from 6-9pm.

Second Saturday, November 10, 2007

Here's what I know about this upcoming Second Saturday: (links can be found in the side bar. Help yourself.)

Opening this week @ Fovea Exhibitions Beacon Gallery, Ziyah Gafic, "Love Thy Neighbor: Bosnian Diaries." There will be a reception, Nov 10 from 4-8pm.

@ Go North: Celeste Fichter, "Northern Light" Reception from 6-9pm.
@ Vanbrunt Gallery: Well, I know Kathy Feighery will be showing at VanBrunt, but I'm not sure who else will be there, so consider it something to look forward to-like easter.
@ Open Space: "Feeling it Out," work by Andy Rementer, Alex Purdy, Mike Perry and Garrett Morin.
@ bau: I believe Franc Palia will be showing work this month.
@ RiverWinds, the Holiday Group Show

Although I'm sure more is going on, that's about all the info I have at the moment from my current remote location.
Don't forget, The Next Step After Party at the Piggy Bank @ 10pm with Paul Nice and El Jef(f)e.

The Aldrich Revisited

Meticulously rendered is how one can describes a majority of the exhibits on view currently at the Aldrich. We headed out to see Charlotte Schulz's exhibit during the opening reception on September 15.
I believe there are five separate exhibits at the Museum right now.
On the first floor, Marti Cormand's work consists of highly photo realistic works of rugged, remote landscapes rendered in oil or watercolor, many with monochromatic scenes highlighted with the components of a highly colored, fantastical infrastructure. My favorite works were the black and white watercolor pieces with the additions of these cartoon structures. The larger oils had less substance and seemed to exist more for the demonstration of technical prowess than any other purpose, and another series of oil on paper pieces, though wonderfully rendered began to feel gimmicky.
As I walked into in the gallery of James Prosek's exhibit "Life and Death-A Visual Taxonomy," something struck a note of familiarity within me. Later, I recalled having read and clipped out an Inc. magazine article from 1999 about a brand and mini-merchandising industry being created around a precocious 23 year old angler and illustrator. That brand in the making was James Prosek.
This current exhibit follows the meme of the naturalist as artist, a la James Audubon. This exhibit is very much like a contemporized Audubon redux, except, I don't see anything being either added to the vernacular or exploiting it for conceptual purposes as others have done . I don't mean to take anything away from him, but to equate the addition of decorative, colored contour lines emanating from the extremities of Prosek's illustrated birds with "his increasing conceptual approach to his work" is a stretch. These colored arcs of 'conceptualism' feel more akin to what I'd expect to find on a throw pillow on the Golden Girls' sofa. The truly engrossing part of this exhibit is the collection of taxidermied birds laid out on either their backs and bellies on small platforms floating about three or four feet off the ground. The elegance and sensitivity conveyed by these specimens in the manner in which they've been prepared, by the artist himself, could almost stand alone as an exhibit - minus the clever arcs of red decorating the platforms on which they sit. The exhibition literature invokes the names of Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman as Shazia Sikhander and Nusra Latif Qureshi as sharing qualities with Prosek's work. But Prosek is not Mark Dion, and framing his work in such terms feels as if Martha Stewart were allowed to claim jump on Andrea Zittel's territory.

Next was Charlotte's show, "A Insufficiency in our screens," and by far, it's the one I enjoyed most. I know I sound like a major hometown booster, but that is my assessment. I enjoy her work, although there is so much imagery blending together that it's really hard to digest in one short sitting, and with so many pieces together, it's a lot to take in. But the show is installed well, the pieces work well on the rust colored walls, which we learned from Charlotte's' husband is the color in their bedroom(sort or an insider's tip.) I was pleased to see the added element of applying her drawing to bent and folded paper. I'm intrigued by the quality it brings to the work. It's the physical manifestation to what she's been creating pictorially for some time; bending moment and reality in and out of view. I find the spacial dimension really appealing, and I see exciting possibilities with this direction of the work.
Outside the museum is a piece by Michael Somoroff called "Illumination". It looks like a miniature iceberg/band shell. The sculpture, which when seen from inside the museum where it is viewed from the rear(I think) portends an ominous, but graceful discovery around its bend. However, walking around the piece was utterly disappointing, and it took on the semblance of a piece of playground equipment lacking the fun. I don't intend to be overly cheeky, but as I'm writing this, I'm thinking of the Lyle Lovett Lyrics:

Now I crept up from behind her/She looked so fine to me/But when I stepped around her man/My eyes could plainly see/She was ugly from the front/She was ugly from the front/...And I said ugly-ugly-ugly-ugly-ugly.....

Of course, let's remember, lest the critic gets to be too big in own heady sense of self, the song reminds him: "But you ugly too."
The effectiveness of the piece is enhanced by the accompanying literature that explains that the form is basically a physical manifestation of a volume of illumination as light enters through the window of a virtually created mosque.
In any case, this is of those instances where the concept of a piece is far more satisfying and interesting than its execution.

A plea for state funding of the Fulton-Hudson 400th Anniv.

I'm very late in posting Joe Bertolozzi's email with a link to Governor Spitzer's office urging folks to write and voice their support for funding for events celebrating The Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial.

Joe's been working on securing funding and corporate sponsorship for his ambitious project, and as far I know, there's been little response from the corporations he's contacted. His Bridge Music project has been featured in news reports in several countries. If you haven't seen it, here is the feature the NYTimes did on the project, including video.
This project will be a technical and physical feat. Some 22 musicians will be positioned high and low on the bridge playing structure as an instrument in a live performance.

To sit down an speak with Joe is to understand that he is wildly passionate and committed to this project and he has done his homework. It's taken him years to get to this point, and this project has all of the markings of the signature event of this major historical anniversary. It seems to me that the cache of being linked with such a project during such a visible region-wide celebration would make a lot of sense in portraying the area as an enclave of creative, and innovative activity. Let's not forget the potentially marketable poetry that the image of a singing bridge and all of the metaphorical fodder that could be expoited by a progressive company. If a Verizon or a Central Hudson can't be bothered to be involved, I'd hope that an AT&T, TMobile, or some other communication or tech company from outside the area would sweep in and put their brand on this event pointing out that pioneering creative spirit knows no boundary.
But that's a separate matter. Here's Joe's email:

The Governor's office is reviewing budget 08-09 funding for among other things, the Hudson Quadricentnnial.

If you'd like to help, click
here http://161.11.121.121/govemail or http://www.ny.gov/governor/contact/index.html
to send him an e-mail, and an say that:

Please consider generous funding of the
Hudson-Fulton Quadricentennial. It would benefit NYS
economically by drawing thousands of tourism dollars. Millions have already seen the articles in NY Times, AP, Reuters, NPR, AOL, BBC, Japanese TV, etc. about Joseph Bertolozzi's "Bridge Music" a monumental artistic endeavor worthy of the Empire State that
celebrates the Mid Hudson Bridge, the Hudson River and the valley. Slated for 2009, Bridge Music is seeking official Quadricentennial endorsement and there would be a mutual benefit to the collaboration between Bridge Music and NYS.

You may cut and paste the above paragraph if you like or use your own words. I appreciate your consideration in helping to bring 'Bridge Music' to fruition.
My very best,
Joe

Angelika Rinnhofer at Light Work in Syracuse NY.

Angelika Rinnhofer's exhibit Sammelsurium will be opening on Nov 5 at Light Work in Syracuse, NY. A reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, Nov. 8. The exhibit will be on view through Dec 28.

Continental divide

I had a delightful drive cross country this week and made it into Denver last night. Next week I'll be preparing for an exhibit I'm doing with Marc Willhite at the Curtis Arts and Humanities Center in Greenwood Village, CO. The Center is located just south of Denver, and the exhibit opens on Saturday Nov, 3. Marc and I will be giving a gallery talk on Thursday Nov, 15 at 5:30. I'll be posting more informatin and images from the show at christopheralbert.com and my personal blog. The exhibit will be a selection of paintings sculpture and installation work that investigates the Six Memos for the Next Millenium by Italo Calvino.

Also in Denver next week: Michael Zansky, from Rockland County will be exhibiting work from his Supreme Court Series at the Sandy Carson Gallery in Denver beginning on Nov, 2.

Jazz standards in POK by Margaret McDuffie

In continuing the thread from the previous post of performance this weekend, Margaret McDuffie has been performing jazz standards as on the last Friday of every month at The Dubliner Irish Pub in Poughkeepsie.

And so shall she be doing so this evening with her trio partners. The line up is:

Margaret McDuffie - vocals
Eddie Diehl - guitar
Lew Scott - bass

Showtime is 7-10pm

The Dubliner Irish Pub
796 Main Street (just east of Raymond Ave.)
Poughkeepsie, NY(845) 454-7322
They are dressing up the sidewalk, so you will need to enter the Dubliner's parking lot from an alley off of Raymond Ave.

Flying Swine: Poe's Mask of the Red Death. This weekend only.

Beginning tonight, Flying Swine will be performing Edgar Allen Poe's Mask of the Red Death in the theatre at Beacon Studios. Poe's The Raven will also be presented.

Performances will be held at:

8pm Friday, Oct 26

7pm &10pm Saturday, Oct 27

7pm Sunday, Oct 28

Admission: Adults, $10. Students, seniors, and groups of 15 or more, $7

For information and reservations, call the Swineline: 845-230-7010.

I could be wrong, but I believe that these performances will be the first to be held in the old high school's theater since the students moved in 2002. At one point, here were big plans for the use of the theater under the direction of The Beacon Cultural Foundation, but other than a few community meetings, I think the theater has remained dormant for years. If someone knows otherwise, please let me know.

On the lay of the land and the remote survey

America Sive India Novaby Michael Mercator, first printed in 1595.
From a catalogue entry by Andre Guimand "Sixteenth-Century Renaissance Cartography"
appearing on a website for the Art history 110 course at Cornell University.
Ulster Publishing, the publisher of the Weekly Almanac, and the recently emergent Dutchess Beat has produced a special publication this month heralding all things Fall here in the Hudson Valley. The resident art writer Paul Smart has written a 'cliff notes' description of the character of art activity in the towns and areas around the Valley.

In the past, Paul Smart has written about art in Beacon in terms of two anchors of art on Main St.- bau and VanBrunt Gallery, one very special lady, one touted renaissance that hasn't yet turned the corner, and not much else. In this recent fall overview, Smart does allude to other spaces beside the the two aforementioned bastions of Beacon Art. The Concentric and Backroom gallery are mentioned as two of a number of galleries to open recently near Van Brunt (Backroom has been open since 2002 in the backroom until last year when it spread into the store front.) I'm guessing that Smart was referring to Go North when he mentioned Concentric since Concentric Gallery was located at the other end of Main St (near bau.) and has not recently opened, but recently closed after three years of doin bidnizz.

Visitors spurred on by Smart to trek to Fovea, "a worldclass space for documentary photographers" might be a little disoriented as he placed the gallery "above the firehouse" near bau when it's on the ground floor of single story building across the street and around the bend from the firehouse. On the upside, these folks will be treated to a glass blowing demonstration and gently put back on track by the fine folks at Hudson Beach Glass.

I know Mr Smart has been to Beacon at least once. I've seen him. I just wonder if he's getting his intelligence from scurvy-afflicted culture pirates that, along with doggie bags from the Piggy Bank, have brought back tales from the distant southern reaches of Dutchess County. *

Alas dear reader, lest you thinkst I sit here before my computer fuming at the indignancy that this misrepresentation of location has wrought upon my fair ville, let it be known that I realize that mere facts are fungible and snark can be a rewarding hobby. An thank goodness somebody is writing about art.

On another note, in the realm of opens and closures, I've heard that Freshman Fine Art will be closing, and I noticed a for rent sign in the gallery's window.

For your navigation pleasure, here is a google map highlighting art venues in Beacon, NY.

* Please note that I am not implying in any way that the food at the Piggy Bank promotes the development of scurvy in its customers. There are indeed salads and other sources of Vitamin C on the menu, I'm sure. Just not in the pulled pork sandwich.

Goings on at Dia:Beacon, Oct 27

Dia is currently operating under the first phase of its winter hour schedule. Between now and Nov 12, the museum is open from Thurs to Mon, 11am to 4 pm.
From Nov. 16 to April 14 the museum will be open from 11 to 4, Fri. to Mon.

There are several events scheduled for this coming Saturday:
1pm, Gallery Talk: Tim Rollins on Robert Ryman.
2pm, Conversation: Lynn Cooke will be speaking with An-My Le
4-6pm, Reception: Public opening of George Trakas' Beacon Point.

Unfortunately, I'll miss these events as I'm currently in South Dakota, en route to Denver.

I'm waiting for Dia to offer podcasts of audio from gallery talks and other events. I have been present for some really good talks...and a few eh talks, but an online resource is something I would certainly appreciate.
I'm interested in hearing how Rollins approaches Ryman in his talk.
I'm also interested in hearing An-My Le discuss her suite of Trap Rock photos commissioned by Dia . I find the group of works to be a real yawner and I'd like to try to understand what she intended with this work. It could be said that the photos allude to the legacy of the Dia Foundation's relationship with the earthwork activities of Heizer and Smithson. It's possible that, within these photos, one could attribute a linkage between the invasive scuptural language of those far flung projects and the use of landscape as object/subject by artists of another time in this art-historically laden Hudson River Valley, and by framing the violence of man's exertion on the land, An-My Le creates a locally ocurring visual rhyme tying the cultural footprint of this museum to the efforts of those artists of the 19th Century who worked in this same place.
But it just doesn't roll with me. Looking at these, I keep thinking that I'd rather be looking at Burtynsky.

I came across a blog originating from a class at Vassar that has some recent photos of George Trakas' ongoing project at the waterfront.
Additionally, Matthew Coolidge will be speaking about the Hudson River School as part of Dia's Artist on Artists series down in NYC. Coolidge's talk will take place at 6:30 on Oct 29. More info on this and other stuff can be had at www.diaart.org

News from the Pumpkin Patch: Job opportunity

As an addendum from the previous post, more pumpkin carvers are needed for the Great Pumpkin Blaze:

wanted: artists to carve foam pumpkins (funkins) using pre determined templates....
start: asap until ? pay: $15.00/hr. contact: michael natiello, 914-217-8981, x18 or khamaidesign@yahoo.com.

Michael Natiello to brandish his knife on The Martha Stewart Show on Oct 25

A view of the undersea aquarium at The Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze at Van Cortlandt Manor.
Photo by Matt Gillis.

Michael Natiello, local artist and overall crafty guy will be appearing on the Martha Stewart Show tomorrow, (Oct 25, 2007) demonstrating pumpkin carving techniques. Check your local listings.

Since it's inception, Michael has over seen the creative preparations for The Great Pumpkin Blaze held every year at Van Cortlandt Manor.

Three years ago, I was among the phalanx of carvers assembled to make short order of thousands of gourds while braving nonstop monsoon rains. Matt Kinney, Alexis Elton, Sara Mussen, Peter Iannarelli, and Jeff Caramagna were my carpool buddies and fellow carvers that year. I believe Sara was among the carvers last year too.

Matthew Kinney was not invited to appear with Martha.

Brown Bag tour: Charlotte Schulz at the Aldrich, Oct. 24 11-1pm

Charlotte Schulz at her opening at the Aldrich on Sept 16, 2007

Charlotte Schulz will be on hand for a discussion of her work as part of the series of Brown Bag Tours & Discussions at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT.

The discussion will be held on Weds. Oct 24 from 11am to 1pm. Visitors bring their lunch and the museum provides coffee tea and dessert.

For registration or other information, click on the link above.

Zahra Studio in the news and the news according to Zahra Studio

photo by Keith Zahra

Retrogression, the exhibit on view at the Gallery at Zahra Studio was featured in Kathleen Murray's column in POJO's Friday, October 19 edition.

Keith Zahra has recently added to his website his account of his drawn out and personally expensive fight with the City of Beacon to secure his ability to lawfully operate his tatoo studio on Main St.

In his narrative, Keith mentions a law passed in December 2000 that was intended to do an end run around his business' grandfathered status for a previous regulation limiting the approved locations for tattoo parlors to industrial areas. The cited law is from Chapter 223, Article III relating to General Regulations regarding zoning in the City's code.

Below is the text of the regulation:

K. Discontinuance of existing tattoo and body-piercing
parlors. [Added 12-4-2000 by L.L. No. 18-2000]
(1) Legislative intent. The
City Council hereby finds that certain business activities, in this case tattoo and body-piercing parlors, by their nature have seriously objectionable operational characteristics which can lead to significant impacts on the surrounding community. The City Council further finds that the establishment of such uses would be inconsistent with the existing development and future plans for the City of Beacon in that such uses often result in influences on the community which undermine its economic, physical and social welfare. Further, such uses have been found to contribute to the blighting of surrounding residential and commercial areas as a result of the deterring of investment in and improvement of surrounding properties. For these reasons, such uses can adversely impact the general health, safety and economic well-being of the entire community. In addition, the location of these uses may be in areas where youth may regularly assemble, and the general atmosphere encompassing their operation is of great concern to the City Council.
Prohibiting the establishment of tattoo and body-piercing parlors in the City will eliminate their potential accessibility to children and ensure that the effects of such businesses will not adversely affect the health, safety and economic well-being of the community. Further, it has been the experience of other municipalities, including the City of New York, that tattooing has led to increased cases of serum hepatitis. It has also been their experience that regulatory measures have proved ineffective in eliminating this health risk because of the inability to supervise tattooing establishments at all times. The City of Beacon also lacks the resources and personnel to supervise tattooing establishments on an ongoing basis. Accordingly, the City Council finds that in this City, as in other communities, a ban on tattooing
establishments under the City Code, except for medical purposes, is the only
feasible means of protecting the public against disease from this source.

(2) Discontinuance. The following provisions pertain to tattoo and body-piercing parlors which are in existence on the effective date of this section. Said tattoo and body-piercing parlors shall be discontinued for the reasons stated in Subsection K(1) above, in accordance with the following schedule which is based upon the amount of
capital investment involved in the conversion of a subject premises into a tattoo and/or body-piercing parlor. The owner of each building or the operator of each establishment to which this section pertains shall provide capital investment information, which has been certified by a registered architect or engineer, to the Building Department, and the Building Department shall have the authority to make the final determination as to the amount of capital investment which has occurred.
Capital Investment as of Effective Date of this Section
Date on or Before Which Use Shall Terminate
$0 to 25,000 June 30, 2001
$25,001 to $50,000 June 30, 2002
More than $50,000 June 30, 2003

The section I highlighted in red sounds more indicative of the kind of activity you're likely to find outside of our Main St. gas stations than what you'd ever see happening at Zahra's.

Keith has been touting October 15 of this year as the Lucky 7 Year Anniversary of when his struggle began.

It seems like this issue is still very much open, and so is Zahra Studio, but Keith wants this regulation stricken from the books so that he can operate lawfully and without fear of any capricious action of enforcement.