December Art Hilights
Ongoing- ART ALONG THE HUDSON: open studio tours in Beacon, Catskill, Kingston, New Paltz, Newburgh, Peekskill, and Poughkeepsie—Most art lovers in the Mid Hudson Valley need hardly be reminded about the region-wide Saturday celebrations of the arts that happen every month, the whole year round. But what the hey, let’s do it anyway! Here’s the deal: Saturday afternoons are for strolling through one (or two) of these seven towns/cities, and sampling the local art through local openings and exhibitions, enjoying the unique flavors of the town—including cuisine, shopping, and entertainment—and thus being a part of the area’s fertile arts environment. More information about participating galleries, associations, and businesses can be found at www.artalongthehudson.com.
First Saturdays—KINGSTON
Second Saturdays—BEACON
Third Saturdays—CATSKILL, NEW PALTZ
Last Saturdays—NEWBURGH
Throughout the month—PEEKSKILL, POUGHKEEPSIE
12/13 through 1/30- TRACY LEAVITT solo exhibition at Stone Window Gallery, Accord—This little gallery on Main St. in Accord—of the speedway fame—is home to master stoneware artist Brinton P. Baker, whose ceramic and porcelain dinner sets are worth making the trip out Rte. 209 anytime. This month the gallery also features artist Tracy Leavitt, whose drawings and small paintings are made of graphite, charcoal, encaustic and oil paints with dammar and wax medium finishes on commercial and handmade paper, in abstract and semi-abstract styles. This exhibition, from her “Emerging Surfaces” series, “presents the viewer with a rich variety of shape, line and texture that in conjunction with its subtle color calls forth ideas of buildings or structures on land/ rock, or sometimes a figure is suggested reaching from the earth or sea.” Stone Window Gallery, 17 Main St., Accord, www.potterytrail.com, 845.626.4932. Sa/Su 10 AM- 5 PM, weekdays by appt.
Through 1/1- TRADITIONAL/POST-MODERN, paintings and mixed-media works by JANE BLOODGOOD-ABRAMS, RAGELLAH ROURKE, TONY THOMPSON, and RUSSELL DEYOUNG, at Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson—One thing you will always find at Carrie Haddad Gallery other than fine art: interesting juxtapositions of artists. The self-contained landscapes of Jane Bloodgood-Abrams (“traditional”) trace a definite aesthetic line from the Hudson River School painters, suffused with a warm haziness and morning glow over the Catskills. Ragellah Rourke’s paintings take a step toward a more abstract, almost inaccessible vision, informed by the work of Paul Klee. Then, the paintings of Russell DeYoung take the show over to “post-modern,” with obscure yet somehow familiar shapes demanding your attention, though with muted colors. The unusual combination of flat fragments of rug material held in position with globs of hardened acrylic paint defines these works by Tony Thompson, the delicate with the primitive. Carrie Haddad Gallery, 318 Warren St., Hudson, www.carriehaddadgallery.com, 518.828.1915. Th-Mo 11 AM- 5 PM
1/2 through 1/30- LONG REACH ARTS (18 DIVERSE ARTISTS) group show at ASK Arts Center, Kingston—There’s a whole lot shaking down at Kingston’s ASK Arts Center, with films and musical/theatrical performances as well as regional artists: “An Evening of Song and Comedy” with Joe Veillette, Jerry Mitnick, and Kimberly Kay (12/12, 8 PM), 2nd Friday Film Series, and the ASK Playwrights Lab every Tuesday. For art there’s the “Little Gems” show through December—curated by Vindora Wixom—that feature works by ASK members in a 12” X 12” format. But the main course to check out in January is the group exhibition by Dutchess/Ulster artist cooperative Long Reach Arts, formerly Summergroup.
This group of professional visual artists—represented in public and private collections in the U.S., Europe, and Israel—includes Mildred Cohen, Staats Fasoldt, Stacie Flint, Susan Fowler-Gallagher, Jose Gomez, Claudia Gorman, Trina Greene, Robert Hastings, Carol Loizides, Ellen Metzger O'Shea, Sherrill Meyers-Nilson, Carol Pepper-Cooper, Nancy Scott, Elayne Seaman, Michelle Squires, Elisa Pritzker, and Marlene Wiedenbaum. ASK Arts Center, 97 Broadway, Kingston, www.askforarts.org, 845.338.0331. See website for opening reception info.
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