The Arts

By Mary Fairchild and Sarah Taft

“Jane” at Galerie BMG

Galerie BMG is pleased to present “Jane”, an exhibition of cyanotype photograms by Mystic, CT artist, Regan Stacey. Initially inspired by the birth of her daughter Jane, named for her great-grandmother, Regan has spent the past 4 years exploring the passing of early childhood, using antique and vintage clothing. “The use of period clothing allows us to envision and imagine previous generations as children.” For Regan, it is about “bringing the past into the present as reminder of where we came from, who we came from, and where we are going.” Her work explores a kind of “handing down” of our childhood experiences to the next generation, while celebrating the spirit of a small child in each image. Her luminous images bring the spirit of that child to life again, if even for a moment…a moment as brief as childhood itself.

Regan believes that “as childhood passes, it leaves behind a wardrobe of ‘soft shells’; the only physical evidence of our small self.” By embracing the life cycle through the perspective of childhood, she is revealing the most vulnerable, delicate and moldable years of our lives. She records these “soft shells” using the cyanotype process. The process was chosen for its vibrant, yet tranquil, blue tone and for its historical significance. The cyanotype process was patented in 1842 by Sir John Herschel and was itself at the birth of photographic history. She hand-applies light-sensitive iron salt chemistry to paper, allows it to dry in the dark, then places an object of clothing on top and exposes it to light. When developed in water and allowed to oxidize to a cyan blue, the image leaves behind an almost ghostly impression. Each photogram is considered an original handmade print.

Regan studied photography at the Everett Community College in Everett, WA and attended several alternative photo workshops at the Photographic Center Northwest where she studied under the tutelage of Tom Harris. Her cyanotypes have been recognized with awards at local and national shows.

Jane will be on display at Galerie BMG from October 12 through November 19, with an artist’s reception scheduled on October 13 from 5 to 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 further information, please contact the gallery at 845 679 0027 or visit their Web site at www.galeriebmg.com.

Something Uncommon at The Commons in Margaretville

Longyear Gallery, the first of many renovations and innovations planned for The Commons Building in Margaretville, hosted a huge crowd of well wishers at its inaugural opening on September 2. The brainchild of the building’s new owners—construction management consultant and photographer Frank Manzo and his artist wife, Helene—the Longyear was formed as a cooperative operated by, and serving the needs of, a group of 20+ regional artists. This concept appears very attractive to the Longyear artist members, who pay monthly dues and tend to the gallery in exchange for the opportunity to show their work in a premium space without paying commissions on sales.

Yet “premium” is an understatement when describing this artist’s dream come true. It helps having a designer and construction consultant like Frank Manzo on board, the result here being a modern, yet warmly inviting, three-chambered gallery venue complete with top-of-the-line lighting and movable walls. Naturally, the art adorning this space is of primary importance. And the Longyear roster will not disappoint. Representing myriad styles and media, member artists currently include some of the region’s best artists.

The Gallery’s member exhibitions will change monthly and include work from each of the artists. Longyear Director Nat Thomas views this as the cooperative’s primary benefit: “Each artist now has this year-round representation. You always have a public showroom to send people to rather than having to wait for the occasional show.” He also foresees additional alternating individual and small group exhibitions of these artists beginning within the next few months.

On October 6 from 2 to 5 pm, the gallery will hold an opening reception for Changes, their second member show. And on October 13 from 10 am to 6 pm, Longyear will participate in the Delaware County Gallery Tour. Artists and refreshments will be on hand.

Visit the Longyear Gallery upstairs at The Commons Building on Main Street in Margaretville. Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday (plus holiday Mondays) from noon to 5:00 pm. For more information, call the gallery at 845 586 3270.

Abstracting the Natural World: Sarah Gilbert and Susan Phillips at the Roxbury Arts Group

Two artists with a similar approach to the abstracting of the natural world through collage, photography and paint will exhibit their work at the Old Bank Gallery of the Roxbury Arts Group from October 20 through December 2. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, October 20 from 4 to 6 pm.

Sarah Gilbert, who makes her home in Andes, NY, is a graduate of the Pratt Institute Fine Arts program, exhibits frequently and has won many awards. Her current work includes non-traditional botanical paintings in acrylic with collage on canvas. “I’m fascinated by flowers, mosses and small blossoms,” she said. “They are at once so fragile and yet so enduring—a reflection of the human condition. The orchid, for me, is especially evocative. Its seemingly endless forms suggest human values, often so different yet often so historically repeated. I work to express this complex biological reality in my acrylic-collages by juxtaposing realism, ornamentation and textural abstraction to create images that blend contemporary sensibilities with historical motifs and photographs, and incorporating modern versions of ancient materials and pigments.”

For over 30 years Susan Phillips has been an artist working in photography and, more recently, she has been showing mixed media collages. She resides in both New York City and Woodstock, NY. Her photographs have been exhibited at The Brooklyn Museum of Art and at the Bergen Museum of Art in Paramus, NJ, as well as in numerous solo and group shows, and held in many private and corporate collections. In 1999, Phillips began the study of collage and created a new body of work in that form. Since then she has had several solo and group exhibits. “As an artist, my self-expression manifests through the art forms of photography and mixed media collage, working differently within each medium,” she said. “When I photograph, I choose the elements that I wish to freeze in time. I respond to a whole. It is a conscious decision to arrange or capture natural lines, graphically appealing patterns, or the particular interplay of texture, light and shadow. I search for aesthetic possibilities in areas that the eye often overlooks. In the darkroom, the composition may then be altered or other changes made. This process is inverted in my collage work. I start with two or three components and proceed to manipulate them until an interesting unity begins to evolve. Creating something visually exciting from unrelated, preexisting objects, each with its own texture and dimensionality, is the challenge. The subconscious gently guides while the eye and hand freely play. Although the works are often abstract or seemingly without a subject, they may still reflect emotional states, suggest the passage of time, hint at landscape or even trigger the recall of forgotten dreams or memories. The process is not pre-defined but open and serendipitous.”

The Old Bank Gallery is located on Main Street in Roxbury. It is open from 10 am to 4 pm Monday through Friday, from 1 pm to 4 pm on Saturday, and on Sunday by appointment. For more information, call 607 326 7908.

Richard Merkin Retrospective at Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson

Carrie Haddad Gallery announces a very special exhibit of painter Richard Merkin’s work running through October 28.

Richard Merkin’s work conjures up scenes that evoke the raucous spirit of the 1920s, '30s and '40s. In his witty, often eccentric illustrations and paintings, Merkin depicts movie stars, jazz musicians, sports heroes and literary impresarios co-mingling with more personal references. In his highly stylized approach to the figure, Merkin privileges color relationships, balance and juxtaposition over strictly literal descriptions of his subjects. And humor; there’s always humor.

Merging his role as flaneur (connoisseur of city life) with his role as painter and social historian, Merkin retrieves lost cultural artifacts—a Turkish cigarette, a gangster, a bowler and generally “things most people don’t know about,” and reconstitutes their Jazz Age virtues on canvas in cubist, comic-laced landscapes of tropical color.

Carrie Haddad Gallery is located at 622 Warren Street in Hudson, NY. The gallery is open daily from 11 am to 5 pm. For driving instructions or other information call 518 828 1915, or visit their Web site at www.carriehaddadgallery.com.

Natalie MacMaster, Cape Breton Fiddle Virtuoso, to play UPAC in Kingston

The Bardavon is very pleased to present Natalie MacMaster on Friday, October 12 at 8 pm at UPAC in Kingston. Adding a very special local flavor to the concert, The Strawberry Hill Fiddlers, a local fiddle ensemble, will perform one tune with Natalie and her band.

Natalie MacMaster is not just a fiddle player. She’s a world-class dancer, internationally renowned concert performer and dynamic showman. With a talent that remains both raw and wondrously refined, and backed by a band any top musician would be proud of, Natalie MacMaster continues to stun crowds around the globe with her feverish fiddling and mesmerizing step dancing.

She’s won Eleven East Coast Music Awards, including 2002 Entertainer of the Year. She’s been named Fiddle Player of the Year the past five consecutive years by the Canadian Country Music Awards. She’s also won two Juno Awards (Canada’s Grammy).

Natalie’s live performances are renowned for their incandescent energy and toe-tapping, rhythmic intensity. She has shared the stage with Santana, The Chieftains, Paul Simon, Pavarotti, Faith Hill, Don Henley, Michael McDonald and dozens of distinguished symphony orchestras, and has appeared on national television programs such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, ABC’s New Year’s Eve special “ABC 2002” and Good Morning America.

Natalie’s latest album, Yours Truly, is her tenth. Co-produced by Natalie and her husband, fellow fiddle virtuoso Donnell Leahy of the famed Canadian band Leahy, Yours Truly finds her continuing to incorporate new sounds and concepts into her rich Cape Breton musical heritage, proudly claiming a place for the timeless strains of her native traditions in today’s musical universe.

Tickets are available at the Bardavon Box Office, 845 473 2072, 35 Market Street in Poughkeepsie, the UPAC Box Office, 845 339 6088, 601 Broadway in Kingston and through Ticketmaster, 845 454 3388 or www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets are $32.00 (Adult), $27.00 (Member). For further information, please visit www.bardavon.org or www.upac.org.

The American Symphony Orchestra Returns to Bard

On Friday and Saturday, October 26 and 27, at 8:00 pm, the American Symphony Orchestra returns to Bard College for the last weekend of its annual music festival, this year focusing on the life and work of English composer Sir Edward Elgar. The concert will include one of Elgar’s famous “Pomp and Circumstance” marches, the score from his one-act ballet The Sanguine Fan, and his first symphony. In addition, Shawn Moore will be the soloist for Charles Villiers Stanford’s violin concerto. Leon Botstein conducts, and the concert will be in the Fisher Center on the Bard College campus. There will be a pre-concert talk at 7:00 pm.

Also as part of the Bard Music Festival, on Saturday, October 27, at 3:00 pm, faculty and students of the Bard Conservatory will perform a recital of English chamber music in Olin Hall. That concert will include Elgar’s piano quintet in A minor, John Ireland’s cello sonata, the, String Quartet No. 1 by Frank Bridge, and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ pastoral song cycle “On Wenlock Edge” for tenor, string quartet, and piano. A pre-concert talk is at 2:30 pm.

Call 845 758 7900 or visit www.bard.edu for information about all Bard College events.

Irish Songstress Karan Casey at the West Kortright Centre

The West Kortright Center presents Irish songstress Karan Casey and her band on Sunday, October 14, at 4:00 pm. Since her days fronting the Celtic supergroup Solas, Irish and American folk music fans have come to know and love Casey’s voice, as pure and clear as the crystal from County Waterford, where she was born. Her new lineup features avant-garde cellist Kate Ellis and pianist Caoimh’n Vallely, with longtime accompanist Robbie Overson on guitar. The West Kortright Centre is in East Meredith. Phone 607 278 5454 or visit www.westkc.org for directions and information.

In Rhinebeck…

The Rhinebeck Chamber Music Society opens its 2007 season at the Church of the Messiah on Montgomery Street (Route 9) in Rhinebeck, on Saturday evening, October 6 at 8:00 pm. The award-winning Imani Winds will present a diverse program of music ranging from Astor Piazzola and Paquito D’Rivera to Terra Incognita and Valerie Coleman, Imani flutist and noted composer. There will be a pre-concert talk at 7:30 pm. Call 845 876 2870 for tickets and information.

Nineteenth century magician Alexander Herrmann was one of the greatest illusionists of all time. Upon his sudden death, his widow, Adelaide Herrmann, continued on with the show, performing in Vaudeville for nearly thirty years as The Queen of Magic. On the weekend of October 4, master magicians James Hamilton and Margaret Steele explore the lives and times of the Herrmanns in an evening filled with history, mystery and dazzling magic. The show is at the Center for the Performing Arts at Rhinebeck, with performances Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm.

Also at the Rhinebeck Center this month, three enthusiastic actors, and one dead playwright, 37 plays in 97 minutes. It’s The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). The mayhem runs from October 12 through October 21. Call 845 876 3088 for times, tickets and information.

Tennessee Williams’s drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof won him the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award. This classic will be performed at the Rhinebeck Center October 26 through November 4. Curtain times are at 8:00 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, with a Sunday matinee at 3:00 pm.

The Center for the Performing Arts is at 661 Route 308 in Rhinebeck.

Call 845 876 3088 for information.

Songs of the Civil War and Piano Classics in Hudson

The New York 77th Regimental Balladeers will perform patriotic and classic songs of the Civil War at Olana, the state historic site overlooking the river just south of the city of Hudson, on Saturday, October 6 at 1:00 pm.

The 77th New York Regimental Balladeers are dedicated to preserving the songs, history, and spirit of the sixties—the 1860s. The Balladeers use authentic Civil War music arrangements and lyrics to convey the thoughts, motives, loves and sorrows of the men and women who lived during one of the defining periods of our past. The songs are sung as they would have been in camp or the family parlor in the 19th century.

Named for a fortress treasure house in ancient Persia, Olana was the home of Frederic Edwin Church, one of America’s most important artists and a major figure in the Hudson River School of landscape painting. The Balladeers’ performance is included with $5 per-vehicle grounds fee. Olana is located just off Route 9G, near Hudson. Phone 518 828 0135 or visit www.olana.org for information.

Pianist Michael Collier will perform works by Beethoven, Gershwin, Chopin, and Rachmaninoff on a recital to benefit the Hudson Opera House on Saturday, October 20 at 8:00 pm. The Opera House is at 327 Warren Street in Hudson. Call 518 697 3365 or visit www.hudsonoperahouse.org for information.

Folk Legend Peter Yarrow Joins “Bethany & Rufus” for Historical PBS Taping

Peter Yarrow of Peter Paul & Mary is inviting folks in and around the Woodstock area to join him in making folk music history at Bearsville Theater at 6:30 pm on October 2 and 3. Peter has chosen to come to Woodstock to tape a new PBS Television Special that brings multi-generations together as he performs with his daughter, Bethany Yarrow and her musical partner, cellist Rufus Cappadocia.

Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary spent his summers in Woodstock as a child and teenager, painting at Art Students League under Sigmund Menkes, ushering at the Woodstock Playhouse, and later in the 1960s was part of the evolution of Woodstock into a center of music that helped to establish a new consciousness in America, a period sometimes called the “greening of America.”

The kind of music that made Peter and his two musical partners, icons of '60s folk music, takes on a new, fresh perspective when it unites with Bethany and Rufus, whose musical point of view combines contemporary jazz, world and blues with traditional folk.

Audiences from Woodstock will sing “old” songs together and feel the vigor of a music that never really left their hearts, or the hearts of most Americans.

The Bearsville Theater is located at 291 Tinker Street in Woodstock. For more information, call 845 679 4406 or visit www.bearsvilletheater.com.

Saugerties Pro Musica Celebrates its 11th Season

On Sunday, October 14 at 3 pm, Saugerties Pro Musica celebrates its 11th season with Jane Barsumian, and her friends Antoinette Lind and Lynn Peck performing classical works for violin, piano and flute in the United Methodist Church, at the corner of Washington Avenue and Post Street in the Village of Saugerties.

Pianist, violinist and singer, Jane Barsumian is a multi-talented musician who, after years fo performing with her various instruments throughout the world, brings them all to one local venue to open the eleventh concert season for Saugerties Pro Musica. Along with her friends Antoinette Lind and Lynn Peck, Jane will be performing selections by composers Brahms, Chopin and Kreisler, as well as her own flute and piano composition: Four Adventures.

Jane Barsumian has studied piano with Frank McConnell, Edgar Roberts, and recently continues with Antoinette Lind. She studied violin with Norman Black of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and in Holland with Henk Schram of the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. Jane has played violin with numerous community orchestras and professionally with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra where she was privileged to play under guest conductor Aaron Copland.

She has played violin with the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra. Jane has played piano for productions at the Rhinebeck Performing Arts Center, accompanied the Hudson Valley Youth Chorale on one of their trips to Vienna, and has been a featured performer for a concert sponsored by the AAUW in Kingston. She has been the organist for the premier of Robert Starer and Gail Godwin’s original work, “Magdalen in the Garden,” for the first Woodstock Cycle in 1998, and is also the organist on the CD. She composed the music and text for the Cantata, “Healing,” part of the 2002 Woodstock Cycle. Jane is the 2006 winner of the Hymn Competition, of the Eastern North Carolina Religious Arts Festival, and has written service music currently in use by St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, Woodstock, where she is organist.

Recently, she studied composition privately with Joan Tower. Jane sings with Ars Choralis, and is a performing member of the Musical Society of Kingston.

She is secretary of the Hudson-Catskill Chapter, American Guild of Organists. A past practitioner of family and child therapy, Jane currently teaches piano and violin at her home studio south of Saugerties.

Antoinette Lind received her Bachelor’s degree in music from Queens College and her Master’s degree from Columbia University. Some of her solo appearances in New York include performing in the Bay Ridge Festival of Arts and at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. She also performed as a member of the Richmond Trio and the Kingston Quartet.

Ms. Lind is presently an active performer in the Hudson Valley and has appeared as guest soloist in the “Concert Hall of Woodstock” on WDST radio. She has performed in numerous concerts of chamber music with members of the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra and as a member of the Chamber Arts Ensemble. As the pianist-in-residence at the Solway house in Saugerties, New York, she was a regular recitalist and accompanist from 1978 to 1988. Her latest appearances have been as a recitalist in the Rhinebeck Chamber Music Series and in the concert series, “Artist in Residence” of the Holy Cross Church in Kingston, New York. She was soloist in the Concerto No. 1 by Shostakovich with the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra and appeared as guest soloist with Ars Choralis. In addition to solo and chamber music performances, Ms. Lind's career has included accompanying, coaching, teaching, and choral conducting.

Her teachers include Karl Ulrich Schnabel, Edward Steuerman, Jacob Lateiner, and Todd Crow. She has recently been a student of Vladimir Feltsman at SUNY College at New Paltz.

Lynn Peck has Music Education degrees from the West Chester University (PA) and Ithaca College. She has taught Elementary music in the Onteora, Rhinebeck, and Ellenville School Districts. Lynn has performed with the Ulster County Community Band, Kingston Union Band, and Ars Choralis as well as weddings and church services. This past summer, she performed in the American Music Abroad Empire Tour throughout France, Germany and Austria.

Future Pro Musica concerts will be the Music Students Concert on October 28, featuring young Bard scholarship musicians from around the globe performing an exciting mix of classical and jazz compositions. All concerts are at 3 pm in the Saugerties United Methodist Church, on the corner of Washington Avenue and Post Street in Saugerties. A reception to meet the performers follows each concert. General admission is $12 for adults and $10 for seniors. Students and children are always free. For more information, see www.saugertiespromusica.org or call 845 246 5021.

Kun-Yang Lin Presents Contemporary Dance Works at Kaatsbaan

The Taiwanese choreographer, Kun-Yang Lin, now based in Philadelphia, offers some of his striking East-West mixes at the Kaatsbaan International Dance Center on October 13 and 14. In his groundbreaking contemporary dance works, Kun-Yang Lin has developed a personal movement language that is an unexpected hybrid between Eastern and Western cultures. Lin draws upon various influences from his native Taiwan, such as calligraphy, martial arts, tai chi and traditional Chinese dance movements, yet expresses these impulses in a thoroughly contemporary way, borne of his extensive performance experience in Asia,
Europe, New York and beyond.

KYL/D will present three original works, including a New York premiere, “Traces of Brush”, a work that explores the parallels between the art of dance and the ancient Chinese art of calligraphy; a revised company version of “Chi” and a tsunami/global warming-inspired piece entitled “Emptiness of Snow.” In addition, Mr. Lin will return to perform his signature 1994 solo piece, “Moon Dance,” which he had passed on to Company members to perform on tour since 2002.

Kaatsbaan International Dance Center is located at 120 Broadway in Tivoli. For more information, call 845 757 5107 or visit www.kaatsbaan.org.