April Art Highlights

4/12 through 5/4- WOODSTOCK BYRDCLIFFE GUILD Annual Members Show: “NEW,” at Kleinert/James Arts Center, Woodstock—It’s a brand new season for the Byrdcliffe folks at the newly-remodeled Kleinert/James Arts Center, and the new year’s theme is “New,” with the participation of at least seventy-two WBG members, and featuring painting, sculpture, prints, and photography. This years opener is curated by Christine Varga, of VARGA Gallery, one of the area’s best known galleries for established, self-taught and “outsider” artists. An innovative and unique artist in her own right, we can expect Varga to push the envelope. Kleinert/James Arts Center, 34 Tinker St., Woodstock, www.woodstockguild.org, 845.679.2079. Opening reception: Sa 4/12, 5-7 PM

4/12 through 5/5- “EDGES OF LIGHT,” photographs by ROBERT RODRIGUEZ, JR. at RiverWinds Gallery, Beacon—Trained as a musician, Robert Rodriguez Jr. earned a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music, and was a successful musical arranger and producer, working for many record labels including Sony Music, Disney and Warner Brothers. He established his own media production facility, recording and mixing hundreds of arrangements, some of which achieved national recognition and awards, before turning his focus to photography, where he is “driven to create photographic images that capture the feeling of experiencing something that is unique and wondrous in nature.” RiverWinds Gallery, 172 Main St., Beacon, www.riverwindsgallery.com, 845.838.2880. Opening reception: Sa 4/12, 5-8 PM

4/13 through 4/27- “SECOND THOUGHTS” at the Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson— “Second Thoughts” presents exhibition as revision. Curated by 14 first-year graduate students at the Center for Curatorial Studies, it is a direct response to the recent “Exhibitionism” (October ‘07 through February ‘08), a series of micro-exhibitions curated by Matthew Higgs for each of the 16 galleries in the Hessel Museum of Art. Unfolding over the duration of “Second Thoughts,” nearly all of the galleries will present new configurations of works from the Hessel Collection, with fresh series of exhibitions turning over and updating the galleries with revisions ranging from the subtle to the wholesale. Check out the website at www.bard.edu/ccs/secondthoughts for more info about this curatorial work-in-progress. Hessel Museum or Art, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, www.bard.edu, www.bard.edu/ccs, 845.758.7598.

Sa 5/3- “FEAST OF THE ARTS” Fine Art Benefit Auction, and “ART IN THE HUDSON VALLEY: From the 19th Century to the Present,” at the Crawford House, Newburgh—The Historical Society of Newburgh has been working hard to make possible the restoration of the 1830 Captain David Crawford House, and has managed to obtain some grant money for that purpose from the state, but only if there were matching donations, so a series of events have been planned. Through the months of April and May, the “Art in the Hudson Valley” will be exhibited, featuring the Society’s wonderful collection of Hudson River School paintings and portraits. The May benefit auction starts at 3 PM with an art preview and tapas dinner prepared by award-winning local chefs Bruce Middleton and Dan Brown, followed by the auction, with James Cox of the James Cox Gallery as auctioneer. Crawford House, 189 Montgomery St., Newburgh,
www.newburghhistoricalsociety.com, 845.561.2585. Dinner: 3 PM, Auction: 5 PM

Through 6/8- “OUT OF SHAPE: Stylistic Distortions of the Human Form in Art from the Logan Collection” at Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie— From the collection of Vicki (class of 1968) and Kent Logan, who have amassed one of the most important private collections of international contemporary art in the United States, this exhibition focuses on the work of artists who have used the portrait to explore issues of psychological identity as well as to reinvent figuration as a conceptual tool. In the work of such artists as Lisa Yuskavage, George Condo, Marc Quinn, Nicola Tyson, and Francesco Clemente, the human form takes on a radically expressive shape, while other artists such as Laylah Ali, Chris Ofili, John Currin, and Cecily Brown portray their human subjects with distinctive stylistic distortions. An exhibition lecture from a selected artist will be on Fr 4/25, 5 PM. Also in conjunction is a free film series on Thursday evenings on the lawn alongside the art center, featuring films in a similar vein of the exhibit: Freaks, Un Chien d' Andalou, Seconds, Pumping Iron, Dead Ringers, Being John Malkovich, and Talk to Her. Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie, fllac.vassar.edu, 845.437.7404. Tu/We/Fr/Sa: 10 AM- 5 PM, Th: 10 AM- 9 PM, Su: 1-5 PM.