The Arts

New Works by Woodstock artists Mariella Bisson and Meredith Rosier at Chace Randall Gallery, Andes
Chace Randall Gallery in Andes is pleased to present new works by Woodstock artists Mariella Bisson and Meredith Rosier from August 21 through September 27. The exhibition is comprised of waterfall imagery in watercolor by Bisson and drawings in conte, pastel, gouache and ink by Rosier. A reception for the Artists is Saturday, August 22, from 5 to 7 pm.

In the tradition of the Barbizon and Hudson River painters, Mariella Bisson believes there is no substitute for direct personal experience with nature, painting onsite. Her paintings are of Catskill Mountain waterfall sites, those in Peekamoose Ravine, the Neversink Gorge and in both Platte and Kaaterskill Cloves. Drawing is always at the heart of her work. “My subject is the ever-changing play of light and shape as water falls across rock. There, four elements are poised in dynamic tension: earth is the rock and ground; air implies distance and space; fire is in the sunlight; water changes everything. Together, in my paintings, they symbolize energy, time and transformation,” says Bisson.

Working with less concrete imagery, Meredith Rosier tenders only hints of landscape and figure. “The gaze of this series offers a domain of visual illumination where presence and trace govern an alphabet of pastel, conté crayon, gouache and ink. Their confluence forms a trail of images that continually metamorphose into one another. At once presence and trace hence guardian to elaborate sight and echoed retreat,” says the artist.

Chace-Randall Gallery is located at 49 Main Street in Andes, NY. Summer gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday and Holiday Mondays from 11 am to 5 pm and by appointment. For more information, please visit www.chacerandallgallery.com or call 845 676 4901.

East Meets West at Albert Shahinian Fine Art in Hudson
Albert Shahinian Fine Art is pleased to present a remarkable exhibition several years in the making: Inscriptions II: The Eloquent Brush. Running through August 16 (call gallery for any extended dates), this major showing of new paintings by Woodstock artists Yale Epstein features works that explore the gestural nuances and linear beauty of Oriental, Southeast Asian and Himalayan manuscripts. Epstein has integrated those discoveries into the context of his own contemporary Western painterly aesthetic and the forms and processes he has been creating over the many decades of his career.

Communal, religious and poetic traditions in these societies have produced authentic, magnificent-yet-subtle visual works that—over the centuries—still emanate energy and meaning in ways that we are capable of responding to, irrespective of our understanding their calligraphy or of our having an awareness of the contextual and historical significance of these objects. The visual sophistication of these inscriptions are such that they can somehow speak to the core of our emotional experience through time and over great distances.

The nearly 50 paintings and works on paper presented in this exhibition are the latest in this series, which were first shown at the Watermark/Cargo gallery in Epstein’s 2003 exhibition, Inscriptions I—Fragments of Lost Memories. Epstein is an artist with an international reputation, and several of these paintings have gone into significant public and private collections.

A concert by the overtone singing group, PRANA, will take place at the gallery on Saturday, August 1 at 8 pm. Admission is $20.

Catalogs of both of these shows are available at Albert Shahinian Fine Art. The gallery is located at 415 Warren Street in Hudson, NY. Summer hours are Thursday through Saturday from 12 to 6 pm, Sunday from 12 to 5 pm and by appointment and chance. For more information, call 518 828 4346 or visit www.ShahinianFineArt.com.

William Ropp at Galerie BMG
French photographer William Ropp is well-known for the unique style in which he captures the mysterious aspects of human nature. Placing his subjects in absolute darkness during extended exposures, he uses a flashlight to “paint” a magical effect of illumination and shadow in what he calls “the dance of light.”

His outstanding series entitled “Children,” depicts children at the beginning of their journey in life, gazing directly at the viewer, thoughtful, bold, ageless, open and aware of the world. As is his intent, Ropp seems to capture their souls in his images. Speaking of the series, he says “If I had to frame my own childhood in one single picture, I would say, without the slightest hesitation, that this image would be full of seriousness; it would be as serious as the future full of hopes and doubts, fears and questions, that I sensed looming toward me from off in the distance”

“Children” will be on display from August 7 through September 7, 2009 with an artist’s reception scheduled on Saturday, August 8 from 5-7 pm.

Galerie BMG is located at 12 Tannery Brook Road in Woodstock. Regular gallery hours are Friday through Monday from 11 am to 6 pm, or other times by appointment. For more information, please call 845 679 0027.

The Great Catskill Mountain Quilt Show: Special South of the Border Quilts!
13 Years of Showcasing Catskill Mountain Women’s Fine Craft
The hallmark showcase of Catskill Mountain quilting will be held on August 22 and 23 from 10 am to 5 pm at the Red Barn on Main Street (Route 23A) in Hunter. Quiltmakers from five counties will show the best of their art during this event in celebration of over 200 years of the art of quilting in the Catskills. Enjoy a full weekend of quilts, quiltmakers & the beauty and bounty of summer in the historic village of Hunter, surrounded by the high peaks of the northern Catskills.

This year’s theme is Mexico and be prepared for a feast of color for the eyes in the special exhibit room! Mexico’s 32 states are a blending of pre-Hispanic civilizations and Spain. Known as “the land of sunshine,” its fine quilts are distinctly bright colorful with uniquely dynamic design elements.

The show will be a stunning display of talent, featuring the best of the quilted arts from all over the Region. This thirteenth-annual show will be a summer celebration of the work of the women of the Catskills (and Mexico). Then, on Monday, August 24 from 10 am until mid-afternoon there will be a Reverse Appliqué Workshop with instructor Dagmar Yaddow. Call 518 589 7182 for registration information. There is a registration fee of $35 for this workshop.

Against the panoramic backdrop of the visual feast of the bright green summer season in the northern Catskills, the Quilt Show is one of the region’s premier events. So come join the “Quilteneers”—Betty Verhoeven, Francis Archibald and Ann Casey—for this wonderful show.

The inspiration for the show came from the Catskill Mountain Quilters Hall of Fame, an organization begun in 1982 to recognize the achievements of outstanding quiltmakers in the five-county region of New York’s Catskill Mountains. Over 70 women have been inducted since the organization’s inception—some were born in the late-1800s, some in the early-1900s or during the Depression, a few are baby-boomers. Their life stories and their quilting careers illustrate the history of quiltmaking in the 20th-century Catskill Mountains.

The Catskill Mountain Foundation (map) Red Barn is located on Main Street in Hunter. Entry to the Quilt Show is $5 per person. For further information, call 518 589 7182.

Bard Music Festival Celebrates its 20th Year with Wagner and His World
The “uniquely stimulating” (Los Angeles Times) Bard Music Festival celebrates its 20th year by presenting “Wagner and His World”—a far-reaching and illuminating program of orchestral, chamber and choral concerts, as well as lectures, films and symposia, devoted to exploring the life and times of a composer who remains as controversial as he is revered.

The numerous offerings that make up the comprehensive festival take place during the weekends of August 14-16 and August 21-23. The Bard Music Festival takes stock of the pathbreaking composer with orchestral concerts, as well as chamber and choral performances, panel discussions, symposia and other events that reveal and explore his life and times. These include, most significantly, performances of excerpts from all of Wagner’s operas—from Die Feen (The Fairies, 1834) to Parsifal (1882). “Wagner and His World” encompasses many composers who were his contemporaries, as well as many who came after, for he influenced everyone in the business of music—whether positively or negatively—throughout his creative lifetime and long afterward.

The 12 musical programs built thematically and spaced over the two weekends range from Wagner’s inauspicious beginnings (“Genius Unanticipated,” August 14) to his virtual apotheosis (“Music and German National Identity,” August 23), and feature the three orchestral giants of the day—Wagner, Bruckner and Brahms. Three panel discussions and a symposium are augmented by an informative talk before each concert, addressing the concert’s theme, that is free to ticket holders.

Bard Music Festival performances are held in the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, on the campus of Bard College. For more information, call 845 758 7900 or visit fishercenter.bard.edu.

Scenes of Country Life in Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya: Scenes of Country Life by Anton Chekhov and adapted by the Irish playwright Brian Friel will be performed this summer by the Schoharie Creek Players (SCP) at the Doctorow Center for the Arts (map) on Main Street in Hunter, NY. Performances of this classic Russian play will be on Saturday, August 15 at 8 pm and Sunday, August 16 at 5 pm. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. This particular adaptation was first performed by the Gate Theatre in Dublin in 1998 and at the Lincoln Center Festival in July 1999. Una Ni Dhubhghaill provided the literal translation on which this version of Uncle Vanya is based. Brian Friel is best known for his award winning plays Dancing at Lughnasa and Philadelphia, Here I Come.

After ten years in operation SCP is continuing in its mission to bring the best of classical theater to mountaintop audiences. In 1999 SCP produced John Millington Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World. Ten years later in the same vein SCP honors its commitment to producing quality theater with an Irish version of a brilliant Russian play. SCP casts both professional and amateur actors in its productions. This year Frank Craven will be playing the title role after his current portrayal of the Professor in the NYC production of Mario Fratti’s new play The Academy. Haila Van Hentenryck, who has appeared in several SCP productions, most memorably as Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker, will be returning from Emerson College in Boston where she is currently majoring in the theater. Haila will be playing Elena who is the object of everyone’s attention in the play. Barbara Sturman will be directing this production.

Anton Chekhov, himself a country doctor, uses the voice of the character Astrov, the doctor in the play. Astrov extols the need for the conservation and preservation of the precious flora and fauna that are slowly disappearing to the needs of Russian estate farming. These musings are echoes of similar concerns for our precious forests worldwide. Uncle Vanya is a time honored play, and Brian Friel has breathed a new vibrancy into this adaptation. Vladimir Pleshakov will be providing some of his own recordings of piano music from the period in which the play takes place for the interludes, as well as a tour of the Pleshakov Museum during the intermission.

Please join the Schoharie Creek Players for a delightful evening of fine entertainment with a gifted cast of professional and local talent. This event is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Decentralization Program of the NYS Council on the Arts through the Twin Counties Cultural Fund in Greene County by the Greene County Council on the Arts. Uncle Vanya will be performed at the Doctorow Center for the Arts (map) on August 15 at 8 pm and August 16 at 5 pm. There will be a preview on August 14 at 8 pm. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. Call 518 989 6802 for reservations.

Arm-of-the-Sea Theater Chronicles Hudson’s Encounter with the New World in its 2009 Esopus Creek Puppet Suite
Arm-of-the-Sea Theater will present its annual outdoor performance spectacle, The Esopus Creek Puppet Suite, in Saugerties on August 14 and 15. Drawing from literature, history, ecology and contemporary events, the Puppet Suite fuses visual enchantment with live music in an original form of mask and puppet theater. This year’s suite, entitled Mutual Strangers: Henry Hudson & the River That Discovered Him, is part of the statewide celebration of the Hudson Quadricentennial.

Preceding the show on Friday night will be a special performance by the Vanaver Caravan’s Summer Dance on Tour.

Mutual Strangers is a fictional drama inspired by the events surrounding the 1609 voyage of the Halve Maen (Half Moon), under the command of Henry Hudson. It is a coming-of-age tale of two boys, one the grandson of a Mohican sachem and the other the son of Henry Hudson. “We try to convey something of the time period and the complex interactions of the first contact between two peoples through the eyes of these two boys,” notes playwright and director Patrick Wadden. “… I think the show will offer a different perspective on the Quadricentennial.”

The Esopus Creek Puppet Suite will begin at 8 pm at the Tina Chorvas Waterfront Park, on East Bridge Street in the village of Saugerties. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children, and $25 for whole families. Tickets are available at the park entrance on the evenings of the event. Audience members are encouraged to arrive early and to bring lawn seating. If one of the evenings is rained out, the performance will be rescheduled for Sunday evening, August 16. For more information go to www.ArmoftheSea.org or call 845 246 7873.