Vote on the sale of old high school to be held March 4.

On March 4, Beacon residents will be asked to vote on whether or not to give the Beacon City School District permission to sell the old high school building - again. The building reverted back to the school district at the end of 2006 after the BCF filed for bankruptcy. An affirmative vote by the residents will allow the district to entertain any potential offers to purchase the property. Word has it that there have been parties interested in acquiring the building, but I don't know if there is a current offer on the table. Last week the Poughkeepsie Journal announced the upcoming vote and stated that proceeds from an eventual sale, after expenses, will be used to reduce the tax levy.

Residents can vote on the sale of the old Beacon High School from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. March 4. Polls will be at Beacon High School, Glenham Elementary School, Chelsea Firehouse and the district bus garage. The school district covers the City of Beacon and portions of the towns of Fishkill and Wappinger. Call 845-838-6900 ext. 2017.

In June 2002, voters approved the sale of the high school to Terminal Associates for the creation of the Decorative Arts and Design Institute. Plans for that project never came to fruition, and eventually, under the management of the Beacon Cultural Foundation, the building was opened as artist studios in 2003.

Update: On March 5th, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported the vote results: 496 to 41 to allow the BCSD to sell the building.

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.

Opening tonight: Grey Zeien, Bill Dane at Garrison Art Center

The Garrison Art Center will be hosting an opening reception for exhibits of paintings by Grey Zeien and photography by Bill Dane.

The reception runs tonight from 5-8pm.

True North Theatre Reading, Feb 15 & 16

True North Theatre will be presenting a reading of Adam Bok's play "The Typographer's Dream" directed by Chris Grabowski.
with:
Maia Guest, Lynn Hawley, John Plummer
"For anyone who's ever wondered where they begin and their work ends, The Typographer's Dream is a smart comedy in which a typographer, a geographer, and a stenographer obsess over their professions and identities--a story of borders, letters, fonts, and friendships."
Friday, February 15th @ 730
Saturday, February 16th @ 730
TrueNorth Theatre Project@
The Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries
199 Main Street
Beacon, NY

Suggested donation. No reservations

"News to Art" Panel Discussion at Fovea Exhibitions, Feb 16 4pm

Fovea Exhibitions Beacon Gallery will be hosting a panel discussion at 4pm on Saturday, February 16.

Robert Stevens, faculty from the School of Visual Arts and former Time
Magazine photo editor moderates a discussion contextualizing the journey of the
function of a photograph from news to art. Guests include media and photography
professionals including Danielle Jackson, Cultural projects director at Magnum
photo agency, magazine editors and curators.

Back to one

I imagine that Muddy Cup's sales will get a bump as Cthonic Clash Coffeehouse closed this week after five years.
I'm not a coffee drinker, and I didn't hang out there much, but I would stop in occasionally for a rootbeer and a cookie.

Design Dialogues Panel Discussion at Ulster CC., Feb 12, 7pm

Ulster Community College in Stone Ridge will be hosting a panel discussion tomorrow evening at 7pm at the Vanderlyn Hall, Rm 203. The panel is being held in conjunction with the exhibit Design Dialogues on view at the Muroff Kotler Visual Arts Gallery through Feb 23 and will discuss the influence of design on society.

The panel discussion, which will be hosted by the exhibition's curator, Sean Nixon, brings together designers from the fields of architecture, print media, furniture, exhibition and industrial design. The members of the panel include the architect Michael McDonough of Michael McDonough Architecture, Woody Pirtle, print and graphic designer and consultant of Woody Pirtle Design, Inc., Fred Spector,
industrial designer of furniture, lighting and tabletop ware representing Frederic Spector Design Studio, Serena Furman, an exhibition designer with Christopher Chadbourne & Associates and the industrial designers, Robert and Granger Moorhead, of Morrehead and Moorhead.

For more information about the Panel Discussion, contact Sean Nixon at nixons@sunyulster.edu.

Bring out your old magazines & illustrated books for the sake of art

Chris Jones, Bike, 2007, Images and glue,
97cm X 200cm X 67cm

photo from HVCCA.com

London based artist Chris Jones begins a three month residency at HVCCA this week. I met Jones this evening after the panel discussion held at the museum. He creates sculptural representations of animals, and objects using imagery from magazines, catalogues, illustrated books and the like and he needs to amass a great deal of such items to from which to build his pieces.

If you have any old magazines, or illustrated books you are looking to get rid of, instead of tossing them in the trash, let's see if we can some magic with them. Just email me (info(at)maykr.com) and we'll see if we can get a bunch of material down to him.

Feb 9, 2008: Second Saturday revisited in pictures

A definition of the deal at Hermitage.

Our Saturday evening started off when Todd Spire stopped by for dinner. We haven't seen Todd much lately and we had an enoyable time reminiscing about the bounty of rapscallions and eccentrics who have come and gone and come and stayed the recent history of the true life embodiment of Northern Exposure that is Beacon, NY.

We as usual, we weren't able to make it everywhere last night, and we called it a night well before the Next Step party, but I'm sure Open Space's blog will have images of the fete when they recover from it. Below are images of what we were able to get to.

Above and below: bau's group show of members and friends.


Erica Hauser has set up shop for one week and one week only to service all of your valentine's day needs with a selection of cookies, cupcakes and lovely art items by a bevy of friends. The temporary shop is in Go North's former space at 469 Main, and will be open 3-6pm, and bit later on VD eve.Jennifer Mackewiecz and Margaret McDuffy at Dan McCormack's exhibit at Go North.

The youngest of the Youngs at Go North.

Above and below: Matt Simone's work at Zahra Studio.Lights out at VanBrunt Gallery. Although you may not see it in this shot through the window, there was a sizeable crowd viewing David Rothenberg's "Why Birds Sing."

It was a night of moving pictures as VanBrunt, Open Space, and Hermitage all had film or video screenings.

Collabortive work by Jon Beacham and Kensee Duffy at Hermitage.

K. Duffy's typed manuscript of Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury."

Jon Beacham queing up the film for the screening of one of his silent shorts.

Above and below: awaiting the intimate screening at Hermitage. The ever dapper Robert Brush below.

Jeff Caramanga, who will be exhibiting at Go North in March, was out rehearsing for the Hat Parade coming up in May. Todd Spire is prancing about in the rear.

Second Saturday February 9

It's late and I just want to make a few notes on goings on in Beacon on Saturday, in case I'm not able to do so later in the week.

First of all, Dia:Beacon will be hosting its Dutchess County Community Free Day on Saturday. Residents of Dutchess County will be able to visit the musum for free by providing proof of residency.

Openings that I'm aware of:

Dan McCormack's photography at Go North 6-9pm
Matt Simone at Zahra's Studio 6-9pm
bCOOP - various artists and music 6-10
Next Step Second Saturday After Party at the Piggy Bank. Brought to all of us by Open Space (which will be closed for the month of Feb), Beacon Art Supply and the Piggy Bank.
VanBrunt Gallery will be holding an opening for an Abstract? group show in the back room.
Hermitage has an opening for "Kulan" a collaborative exhibit by Jon Beacham and K. Duffy.
bau is opening "With a little help from our friends" a group show of members and their friends.
River Winds is opening an exhibit of landscape paintings by Will Kefauver


More detailed information coming soon, if I can get to it.

The Long Un-winding Road

It had been a while since I last saw the phenomenon, but as I made a quick run to Key Food yesterday for some oil to fry up my Mama's Best Ever Onion Rings (tm) for the Super Bowl, I witnessed it again: A threesome of visitors, Italians by my estimation, had made their way up to Main St. from Dia and had gotten to that nearly-midway point in the street's considerable length where many, sensing nothing else worth seeing, turn back. (I consider this to be Beacon's version of the Horse Latitudes -the point where one's momentum lags after already walking for 20 minutes and it's not clear that you'll find anything else of interest along this path.) When I noticed them, their pace had already become visably slow and pointless. Even from behind you could see what they were thinking, as if illustrated by real life thought bubbles; "Is this all there is?"
I left the store and mailed some postcards behind the post office and on my way back I saw that the small group had indeed turned around, and at an increased pace were beatin' feet back to the train station never knowing of all the charms of Main Street's East End.

Perhaps it really is the expectation of a destination and not the love of the journey that drives the soul forward. Just keep in mind that when you finally get there, you may have a long way back to the train.

Beacon Art Salon Meets, Feb 7 7pm @ Chthonic Clash

The Beacon Art Salon meets every first Thursday from 7 to 8:30pm at Chthonic Clash Coffeehouse at 453 Main St.
Update 2/5: Venue Change. As Cthonic Clash will now only be open until 1pm on weekdays, BAS's Thursday meeting will be held at Muddy Cup, 129 Main St.
BAS's February meeting will feature an Artists Books/Sketchbook Workshop hosted by Audrey Chibbaro:

If you have any sketchbooks or journals that you'd like to share with the
group please bring them. As important I'd like everyone to bring anything
that inspires them, it can be words, pictures, an object, anything you'd
like to show and talk about.I'll be facilitating a group project using the
sketchbook as a spring board for creative inspiration.Supplies : sketchbooks
( or paper )pencils or drawing and writing toolscreative inspiration.
Poetry, photos, objects, etc.P.S. If you are interested in attending please
e-mail the group so I have an idea of how many are going to be there.
Thank You!!! Audrey Chibbaro (audrey524(at)earthlink .net)

BAS is incorporating an Artist Dialogue Series into every monthly meeting. The final hour of every meeting will focus on a particular topic that will be open for discussion, or additional hands on workshops like the one above. For more information on BAS and the monthly meetings, visit www.giraffeandturtle.com

Drawing Revealed in the Times and images

This weekend's NY Times Regional section ran Benjamin Gennochio's write up of the Drawing Revealed exhibit on view at the Garrison Art Center.
The exhibit runs through Feb 17.
Below are a few photos I took at the Jan 19 opening.

Stan Stroh's drawings in the background.

Thomas Huber discussing his installation of sketches, notes and photos.

Nancy Bauch's sketching table in the foreground with Jaq Belcher's cut paper work in the rear on the left and Craig Shannon to the right.

Go North's new website

Go North Gallery has a new website. The address is www.gonorthgallery.com.

bCOOP seeks submissions for evening of Feb 9

I spaced out posting this earlier. (It happens.) Below are a few more details. If you're interested in more information, contact Frank at the phone and email above, or visit the bCOOP website.

We are initiating a Co-Op art show in Beacon, N.Y. There will be a small hanging fee of approx. $25.00 per piece of art work which will go towards expenses of the Beacon COOP . A second piece could be exhibited for an additional $15.00

After January 15, 2008, the fee may be raised to $35. 00 or $40.00 per piece since space is limited. The Art Co-Op will get approximately a 30 per cent commission on sales, one half of which would be donated to a GREEN organization. The other seventy percent will go to the artist.
One piece could be very reasonably priced and the other could be an expensive piece to show ones style, expertise,etc. The theme could be GREEN or a favorite piece of art by the individual artist.

The date we are shooting for to open the Art Co-Op is the second Saturday in February. You do not have to be present to participate in the show but we encourage you to be there to network and enjoy the festivities.

Do you know of the Beacon art community? If not, it is the home of the internationally known DIA Gallery and many other shops and galleries. We might also be able to combine this event with a visit to DIA. At the event, we are planning a pot luck reception. For those that donate like to cook, a small donation towards some store bought goodies would be appreciated.

Would you or any of your friends be interested? For more information or to participate, give me a call or send an e mail. For those of you who have already decided to exhibit, please send a check payable to Frank Ritter and in the memo part of the check write Beacon Co-Op event.

If we find there is not enough interest in this event your payment will be refunded completely. If you know of other artists please forward this e mail and please feel free to give me their contact information.

Although we can not be held liable to any loss or damage of your art work on the premises or in transit, we will do our very best to make sure that it is properly handled. There also may be some weight restrictions and size restrictions for any art piece that is over two feet by four feet. The art work should be properly framed or mounted. All work accepted is done at the discretion of bCOOP. All art work must be picked up after the show or the following day unless other arrangements can be
made in advance. For New York City exhibitors art work may be dropped off
or picked up at 30 Waterside Plaza, 34G, New York, New York depending on their
size and space availability.

Thank you for your
time.

Frank Ritter
bCOOP + Friends

Compare/Contrast: Gallery Talks at Dia:Beacon

Luc Sante will be speaking on the work of An-My Lee at Dia:Beacon on Saturday, Jan 26 at 1pm.

As the subjects of the museum's monthly gallery talks are constrained to the limited number of artists whose work is on exhibit, there's an interesting opportunity to receive a deeper understanding of the artists, given the particular sensibilities each speaker brings to the subject.

In the most recent gallery talk in Dec 07, Barbara Schroeder spoke on Blinky Palermo. Miss Schroeder's talk differed in approach from a talk on Palermo given by Ivo Mesquita in late 2006. Mesquita's talk focused heavily on biographical information and Palermo's activity as an artist in relation to his peers and mentors, including Beuys and Knoebel, with more references made to illustrations in a monograph on the artist than to the artwork in the gallery. At one point during the talk, Mesquita led the group into another gallery to look at this Sol LeWitt. In terms of presentation, Mr. Mesquita's was challenging, as his Brazilian accent, and halting speech could be difficult to follow at times, and I know that there was some disappointment that the talk did little to engage the Palermo work on exhibit. However, having known very little about Palermo beforehand, my knowledge was enhanced by the information gleaned from the talk, giving me an overview of the man.

Barbara Schroeder's talk dealt more specifically, and at times meticulously, with the technical and conceptual details of the work on view in the two Palermo galleries. This more recent talk gave a much deeper understanding of the work on exhibit in a way that completely altered and enhanced my experience of it. (I imagine that some such relevant information is included in the gallery literature, but I'm loathe to read in a museum, and therefore, I've never looked the material. So let that be a lesson to you kids.)
Ultimately, these two talks complimented one another, and together they conveyed a more complete understanding of the artist and his work than either could do individually. This "accumulation factor" is the overriding effect of the talk series, and I find it's an analogy to experience of visiting a museum that almost requires extended and repeated interactions with the work presented. One can be either frustrated or enlightened from a talk, similarly to how one may react to the museum's collection, but with repeated engagement, the benefit grows.

Alison Moritsugu in Repostioning the Landscape in Westport, Ct.

Alison Moritsugu is among the artists participating in exhibit called Repositioning the Landscape, curated by Jennifer Mcgregor at the Wesport Arts Center in Westport, CT. The exhibit opened on Jan 11 and will run through February 24, 2008.
Other artists included in the exhibit are: Colin brant, Gregory Crane, Kevin Duggan, Peter Edlund, N.W. Gibbons, Cadence Giersbach, Jason Middlebrook, Jon Rappleye and Peter Seward.
A curator's talk will be held on Weds. Jan 23 at 7pm.
There will be an additional talk on the exhibit by Tom O'Connor on Feb 7 at 9:30 am.

Art-Yoga Retreat, Jan 26 at Howland Cultural Center

Carrie and Stacey Ward Kelley will be leading an all day Art-Yoga Retreat next Saturday at the Howland Cultural Center.

When: Saturday, January 26, 2008 9am-6pm
Where: The Howland Cultural Center, 477 Main Street, Beacon, New York
12508 (845) 831-4988, www.howlandculturalcenter.org
Cost: $135 Includes art materials.
Pre-registration is required and space is limited.
How: In order to register call Stacey at 845-401-8798 or email us at
cwkyoga@yahoo.com. For more information about this retreat and other
classes, workshops and retreats visit us online at www.giraffeandturtle.com

Who:
Giraffe and Turtle is the virtual yoga-art studio brainchild of Carrie and
Stacey Ward Kelly. The Ward Kelly’s offer classes and workshops to adults
and children in the visual arts and yoga as well as adult retreats in Yoga, Art
& Shamanic journeys in the Hudson Valley, NY area and the San Francisco Bay
area.

Citizens of Hyde Park, bring out your videos

Poughkeepsie base Matthew Slaats is embarking on a project that will cull together the home movies of past and present residents of Hyde Park, NY in order to create a visual history of the town. The gathered footage will be presented together in a video installation in Hyde Park this Spring.
Matt will be accepting donations to the project at the Hyde Park Free Library every Saturday from 10 am to noon. Every Saturday through March 2008. The Library is located at 2 Main St., in Hyde Park, NY. Inquiries can be directed to the artist at mbslaats@gmail.com or 845 889 8181.
Matt has started a blog to track the progress of the project. More information can be found on the blog including how the Hyde Park's drive in theater inspired the project and the technical aspects of how he plans on combining the donated footage.
The Hyde Park Video Project has received funds from the NY State Council on the Arts via the Dutchess County Arts Council. The Hyde Park Free Library sponsored the project's application for the grant.

HVCCA Events: Size Matters Image and Script, Jan 24, 27

In a collaboration between Peekskill's HVCCA, The Hudson Valley Writers Center and stage director Mara Mills, a series of short scripts inspired by paintings in the museum's current exhbit Size Matters XL will be performed in front of the respective paintings on two dates this month.
The 5-10 minute scripts will be performed on Thursday, Jan 24 at 8pm and Sunday, Jan 27 at 3pm.
Tickets are $15 and $12 for HVCCA members and members of the Hudson Valley Writers Center. For tickets, 914.788.0100 or email info@hvcca.org
Information on the program can be found here.

Other upcoming events at HVCCA:
Sunday, feb 10 4-6pm, Panel discussion: Artists entering the marketplace.
Sunday, March 2 2-6pm Art portfolio day