The Arts

Twilight Park Artists Hold 62nd Annual Art Exhibition
August 8 and 9, 2009

On August 8th the 62nd Annual Art Exhibition sponsored by Twilight Park Artists at the Twilight Park Clubhouse in Haines Falls, NY will open to the public for a small admission charge. The Exhibition is open to artists and photographers on the Mountain Top, surrounding areas, and invited guests. Entry forms for the show can be obtained at the Haines Falls Free Library; Twilight Park’s gatehouse, by calling Gracia Dayton 518 589 5119 or by visiting the first page of the Twilight Web site: www. twilightpark.com and clicking on “Art Show,” just above the log in. Entries are due by Wednesday, July 8.

A special feature of this year’s show is a “Guided Gallery Walk” at 4 pm Saturday, August 8, when the show chairman, Gracia Dayton, Immediate Past President of the New England Watercolor Society, will discuss the judges choice for the prizes awarded.

In addition, on Sunday, August 9 at 3 pm, Phillip DePoala of Saugerties, NY, currently enrolled at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY will demonstrate his approach to collage. DePoala was a Merit Award winner for his collage in the Twilight Art Show in 2008 just after completing a mixed media instillation at Munson-William-Proctor Art Institute in Utica, NY. A mixed media installation placed on the Pratt Campus in Brooklyn during November and December of 2008 included metal, wood, painting and neon lights constructions averaging eight feet in height.

The Twilight exhibition last year featured artists and photographers from the Mountain Top and surrounding area, with over 200 pieces of art on exhibit.

The first art exhibit hosted by Twilight Park, a community established in 1888, was held August 16-23, 1947. Started as an experiment, it was then exclusively for Twilight Park residents and featured 13 artists and 60 works of art. It was strictly an amateur show with no professional judges or prizes. According to Rev. Bradford Burnham, a member of the 1947 Exhibition Committee, the paintings were rather casually leaned against the walls and center columns of the Park’s Clubhouse for viewing.

In 1948 outsiders were invited to exhibit as well and in 1949 the Woodstock Artists Association provided a three-person Jury of Awards. Since that time a number of well known art and photography judges, including Museum Directors from Williams College and Skidmore College’s Tang Museum of Art, have evaluated the show’s entries and currently prizes are awarded for the judges’ selection of Best in Show, and other Awards of Excellence and Honorable Mention.

A Children’s Art Show for children 14 years of age or younger is also part of this 62nd Show. In 2008 twenty six children participated as “Emerging Artists.”

Additional works, framed and unframed as well as a selection of crafts will be for sale at the “Corner Store” of the Twilight Park Clubhouse.

For more information, visit www.twilightpark.com, and click on “Art Show.”

A River Runs Through It: 5th Annual Plein Air Event at Windham Fine Arts

Summertime is practically here, so let’s kick it off with a terrific selection of fresh paintings by some of the area’s best painters! This year is the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s sail up the eponymous river and Windham Fine Arts intends to jump right in the celebrations and have a good time. Painting on the mountaintop is moving into the Valley and taking in the majestic Hudson as its subject for Windham Fine Arts’ 5th annual plein air celebration! With a history as vivid as their painters’ palettes, the river has inspired generations of creative individuals. Called Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk, or the Great Mohegan by the Iroquois, this 315-mile river has a little something for everyone, from its cold, quick moving mountain waters all the way to its slow moving tidal salt waters in the southern estuary. From its source high in the Adirondack Mountains to the New York Harbor sandwiched between Manhattan Island and the New Jersey Palisades, the artists of Windham Fine Arts will follow the twists and turns of the water with the flicks and strokes of their brushes.

Some of the painters will be viewing the Hudson from Brooklyn and Manhattan: Elissa Gore, Ella Yang and Susan Cottle will be celebrating the past with a view of the present, exploring the Hudson River through the urban landscape that has cropped up during the last 400 years of human expansion. Some will stay further upstream. Gallery familiars Kim Do and James Coe, with a few surprise contributors, will venture forth brush in hand to recreate those familiar scenes mid-Hudson residents are so familiar with. And a few adventurous artists will trek northward, exploring the upper reaches of the Hudson as it travels south from the Adirondacks. A River Runs Through It is on view through August 9.

Windham Fine Arts is located at 5380 Main Street in Windham. Gallery hours are Friday, Sunday and Monday from 12 to 5 pm, and Saturday from 12 to 7 pm. For more information, call the gallery at 518 734 6850 or visit www.windhamfinearts.com.

Explore a New World of Art: Shandaken Arts Festival and Studio Tour, July 17-19

A good way to celebrate the Quadricentennial of Henry Hudson’s discovery is to undertake some exploration of your own. One undiscovered gem, located amid the high peaks and rushing waters of the Catskill Mountains, is the Town of Shandaken. Small though it is, the town has attracted an extraordinary number of artists, from nearby Woodstock, the New York City art scene, and all over the world. In order to entice visitors off the beaten path, the artists have organized the Shandaken Arts Festival and Studio Tour, beginning Friday, July 17 and running through Sunday, July 19.

The highlight of the festival is an open studio tour on Saturday and Sunday, with over 30 artists and artisans opening their homes or studios for visitors to see their artwork and even watch it created before their eyes. The art ranges from landscape paintings in oil to electronic media, and nearly everything in between. Surreal and abstract styles are represented. Sculptures are created out of rusty metal or lovingly smoothed natural wood, or may be a musical ensemble in disguise. Collage, assemblage, digital and natural photography, textiles, glass blowing, and ceramics add to the rich mix of media.

Writers, musicians, actors and dancers have also located here, and in this, its second year, the Shandaken Arts Festival will showcase these talents as well. The weekend begins on Friday evening at Mt. Tremper Arts with a performance of “Liz Sargent Installations,” in which performers play in an installation accompanied by live music, and “Revealing,” performed in the beauty of the woods. Local musicians will play on the streets of Phoenicia, and readings are being organized as well.

Saturday night, join artists and fellow art lovers for wine and snacks at the opening of the “Exploring New Worlds” show at The Arts Upstairs and the reception at Cabane Studios, both on Main Street in Phoenicia.

The festival is almost entirely free (though the artists do hope you will buy some art). Maps, directions to the festival locations, a schedule of events and a list of participating artists are provided on brochures available in many locations around the area and on their Web site, www.shandakenart.com.

Music at Grazhda

Now in its 27th year, the Music at Grazhda series at the Music and Arts Center of Greene County—founded in 1983 by Ukrainian-American composer and musicologist Ihor Sonevytsky—has become a highly-anticipated summer tradition for local and vacationing culture aficionados. The ongoing series features intimate concerts set in the architecturally distinctive and acoustically stunning wooden Grazhda Hall, part of a complex of buildings on the grounds of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church that are all built in a traditional style native to Ukraine’s Carpathian region.

This July brings three concerts of note, part of an overall season which continues through August 29. The first, on Saturday, July 4 at 8 pm, is a Jubilee Celebration of heralded contemporary Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk’s 70th birthday. Skoryk—whose diverse, often jazz-inflected oeuvre is contemporary in its vocabulary and means of expression, but often draws from the rich well of Ukrainian folklore—will perform alongside friends and fellow acclaimed musicians including violinists Yuri Kharenko and Aleksander Avayev, violist Borys Deviatov, cellist Natalia Khoma, and pianist Volodymyr Vynnytsky, Artistic Director of the Music at Grazhda series.

On Saturday, July 11 at 8 pm, world-renowned violinist Eugene Fodor (accompanied by Vynnytsky on piano) will grace the Grazhda stage, with a dramatic program featuring works by Brahms, Lalo, Paganini, Ravel, Sonevytsky, and Wieniavsky. Praised by The Washington Post and The New York Times, Fodor’s distinguished career has seen him perform in many of the world’s most prominent recital halls and for two American Presidents.

Finally (for the month, but not for the season!), a Benefit Concert on Saturday, July 25 at 8 pm promises to be a festive evening in support of the unique artistry and charm of the Music at Grazhda concert series. Attendees will be treated to three world-class musicians—Alexander Brussilovsky (violin), Natalia Khoma (cello) and Volodymyr Vynnytsky (piano)—performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio and Paul Schoenfield’s Café Music, as well as a post-performance reception. It’s sure to be a night to remember, for a very worthy cause.

The Grazhda Hall is located on Ukraine Road (off 23A) in Jewett. For more information, visit www.grazhdamusicandart.org, e-mail info@grazhdamusicandart.org, or call 518 989 6479 (July 1-September 4). Tickets (except for the Benefit Concert on July 25) are $15 general admission, $12 members and seniors. Tickets for the Benefit Concert are $25 and include a post-performance reception.

Group Show at the B. Sharp Gallery, Oneonta

The B. Sharp Gallery, Oneonta, is pleased to present a new group show through July 12. Featured artists will include New Traditionalist John Baryk, Figurative Sculptor Nathan Banks, Rita Schwab and Salvatore Scalisi of Earth Elements, physics-inspired paintings by Roshan Houshmand and eclectic images by Linda Drake.

The B. Sharp Gallery is located at 736 State Highway 28 South, Oneonta, NY. Gallery hours are Thursday from 11 am to 6 pm, Friday from 11 am to 7 pm, Saturday from 8 am to 7 pm, Sunday from 12 pm to 3 pm, and by appointment Monday through Wednesday. For more information, visit www.bsharpstudio.net, or call 607 432 2322.

Leah Macdonald: Female Fairytale at Galerie BMG

Female Fairytale is a new series of photographic and mixed media images by Philadelphia-based artist Leah Macdonald. Leah’s sensuous narratives of women are a personal exchange with her subjects, sharing stories and secrets and revealing intimate aspects. Starting with silver gelatin and Hahnemuhle fine art prints, the black and white images are adorned with beeswax, scratched, painted, sometimes torn and reconstructed, resulting in a strong, moody, feminine narrative.

In this new series, Leah uses her traditional subjects, women, in a more narrative and autobiographical manner to describe her life’s journey and inner thoughts through metaphors. The images were created using twenty-nine different women, posing in the same Victorian wedding dress, with each representing a different chapter in Leah’s life as a woman, artist, wife and mother.

Using a diverse collection of film cameras and photographic tools, Leah’s work merges nostalgic photographic methods with modern technology, along with an eclectic array of encaustic mixed media and various paper surfaces. The resulting images are both graceful and haunting and highlight Leah’s unique vision and mastery of the craft of handmade art.

Female Fairytale will be on display from July 3 to August 3 with an artist’s reception scheduled on Saturday, July 11 from 5 to 7 pm. Galerie BMG is located at 12 Tannery Brook Rd. in Woodstock. Gallery hours are Friday through Monday, 11 am to 6 pm, or other times by appointment. For more information, please call 845 679 0027 or visit www.galeriebmg.com.

Maverick Concerts: America’s Oldest Continuous Summer Chamber Music Festival

Maverick Concerts, America’s oldest continuous summer chamber music festival and winner of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, thrives on the love of great music and the spirit of its unique site in the unspoiled woods. The rustic 1916 concert hall, with its perfect acoustics, is ideally suited to chamber music and the intimacy of live performance.

On Saturday, July 4, the Tokyo String Quartet performs “Mendelssohn & Friends I,” featuring works by Beethoven, Janacek and Mendelssohn.

On Sunday, July 5 it’s “Mendelssohn and Friends II” with the Shanghai Quartet. The performance will include works by Mendelssohn and Debussy, plus the area premiere of a Shanghai Quartet commission by Penderecki.

On Saturday, July 11, the Paul Winter Consort will perform a benefit for the Woodstock-Byrdcliffe Guild. For tickets, contact the Guild at 845 679 2079.

On Sunday, July 12, the Rossetti String Quartet will perform works by Mozart, Gounod and Ravel.

On Saturday, July 18, trombonist Roswell Rudd will appear in two concerts: a solo Young People’s Concert at 11 am, then at 8 pm the Roswell Rudd Trombone Tribe will perform “An Evening of Jazz Explorations.”

On Sunday, July 19, violinist Tim Fain will perform “Bach to Bartók,” featuring three works by these composers.

On Saturday, July 25 it’s an Evening with Mike Seeger, “Master of American Folk.”

On Sunday, July 26 at 4 pm, the Janaki String Trio will perform “Magyar Journeys, featuring the work of Beethoven, Kurtág and Dohnányi.

The Maverick Concert Hall is located at 120 Maverick Road in Woodstock. For more information, visit www.maverickconcerts.org.

The Amish Project at the Roxbury Arts Group

Todd Mountain Theater Project (TMTP) celebrates its 11th Season at Roxbury Arts Group with The Amish Project, written and performed by Jessica Dickey and directed by Sarah Cameron Sund.

Carefully researched and brilliantly written, this is a complex fictionalized picture of the Amish community and its response to the 2006 Nickel Mines schoolhouse shootings. It is heart-rending, thought-provoking, humorous, informative and uplifting. The play garnered rave reviews at last year’s NYC Fringe Festival. Yahoo! Broadway called Dickey “exquisitely talented” and www.nytheatre.com spoke of “Dickey’s fabulous performance.” In addition to TMTP’s production it will have a June outing at the acclaimed Rattlestick Playwrights’ Theater in New York City. Award winning director Sarah Cameron Sunde, who has worked closely with Jessica Dickey on the development of the play, brings her dynamic conception to TMTP’s August production of The Amish Project.

The Amish Project will be presented August 6-9 and August 13-16. Performances are at 8 pm Thursday through Saturday, and at 2 pm on Sunday. Tickets are $15 for evening performances, and the Sunday matinee is free (although donations are welcome).

All performances will take place at The Roxbury Arts Group, Vega Mountain Road, Roxbury. For more information and reservations, call 607 326 7908.