Jim Holl, “Particle Point Collision 3.27.20.” Oil on board, 17” x 17”

The artist, Jim Holl, also an Associate Professor of Art at Marymount Manhattan College, has exhibited widely in venues as diverse as MOMA PS1 and Cross Contemporary in Saugerties; he is a published author of two books, The Landscape Painter, an autobiography 1974 through 1994, and All the Living Things, published in 2017. The title of the autobiography might appear at odds with the work on show at the Lockwood and that which is reproduced here, but it is, in fact, not. In the exhibition catalog, Holl tells of an episode from his earlier life as a landscape painter working on the shores of Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest. He documents his efforts to paint Blake Island across the sound from his studio there. His aim then was to paint what he saw and he evokes the ancient Greek idea of “Mimesis” wherein the artist’s job was “to replicate nature’s presence of beauty and truth.” But the capricious nature of that area’s weather, light, and atmosphere which refused to stay constant long enough for him to complete a painting, forced him to paint from memory and “to make it up.”

Jim Holl, “Particle Point Collision 5.1.20.” Oil on Shikishi Kochi handmade paper. 9.5 x 10.5”

The contemplation of this ephemeral weather that caused the world in front of his eyes to alter so radically from moment to moment led Holl on a journey from the macro to the micro, and to science, including “an inquiry into physics and ancient philosophies” – this quote from his new book All the Living Things. He became interested in how atoms interact with each other. From there he delved into the subatomic, the universe inside the atom, to the nucleus, its quarks, protons, neutrons, and the electrons that surround the nucleus, each particle tinier than the other – for scale, a mote in the sunlight that you can barely see is millions of atoms wide. This, in turn, led him to the investigations being conducted with the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland, and that observatory’s discovery of new particles and entities such as the Higgs Boson through speed-of-light accelerated collisions. Holl writes about how the collisions produce electromagnetic particle showers that create light: “The particles cannot be seen but the traces of their trajectories can be measured. These traces are the subject of my paintings.” So, Holl is still working from nature and the natural world or, at least, imagining it; he is still searching for that beauty and truth. I can’t speak for the truth in his paintings bereft as I am of a science education having been schooled by nuns for an Mrs., but I can speak for their beauty. Holl is a master colorist – there are no false notes in these paintings. The works have a lyricism to them that one can easily imagine are traces of light flying across their surfaces; they have a feeling of truth.

Installation shot: “From Energy, Matter Emerges 9.2.2020,” 84”w x 36”d x 57”h, and “The New Periodic Table 9.5.2020,” digital print on archival paper, 71.25” x 24.”

The eight sculptures, a single installation in fact, are small — about 6” high but on plinths that are part of the whole so each one is 14” x 14” x 57” high. They are imaginings of particle points, quarks, electrons and neutrons, the fundamental building blocks of nature, and are based on the “New Periodic Table” of the physicist David Tong. Collectively, the piece is entitled From Energy, Matter Emerges 9.2.2020, but each part has its own subtitle that corresponds to an entry on Tong’s New Periodic Table. The table itself is digitally printed in colored squares on paper behind the installation. The sculptures evoke Tong’s description of how all of the particle points are “fluid-like substances which are spread throughout the entire universe and ripple in strange and interesting ways.” These particle points are tiny, a millionth of billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a centimeter according to Holl’s essay. Therefore the sculptures, relative to the scale of the particles they represent, are gigantic – Holl says, “They are the most enormous art works an artist has ever created in the history of humankind!”

After the current exhibition, the gallery is hosting The Woodstock School of Art Instructors’ Exhibition with the artists’ reception on Thursday, November 12th, 5pm – 7pm. This show promises the diversity of style, technique, and subject matter that make up the instructor pool at the school. It runs through December 5; gallery hours for this show are Thursdays through Mondays 11am – 6pm.

The Lockwood Gallery, if you aren’t yet familiar with it, is a fairly new addition to the region; it opened just a year ago and is situated in a business complex on NY 28 near the Hickory BBQ & Smoke House restaurant. It shares space with its parent, Lockwood Architecture PLLC – full address and contact info below. 

A note on the Lockwood Gallery protocols for Covid-19: After a 2 month closure and virtual shows, the gallery has re-opened with outdoor receptions with reduced capacity and a door person to help limit the amount of visitors to six at any one time. Masks and Distancing are, of course, required at all times.

Featured image: Jim Holl, Particle Point Collision 6.10.20, Oil on Shikishi Kochi handmade paper. 9.5 x 10.5”

All images are courtesy of the artist.

Visits to the Jim Holl exhibition are by appointment; the booking calendar can be accessed via the website  THELOCKWOODGALLERY.COM. A direct link to the booking calendar can also be found in the gallery’s Instagram bio.

Lockwood Gallery, 747 Route 28, Kingston, NY 12401
Tel: 845–532-4936

Claire Lambe

Claire Lambe is an Irish born painter whose works have been exhibited on both sides of the Atlantic. Locally, she has been included in shows at the Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY New Paltz; The Muroff-Kotler Gallery, SUNY Ulster; and Cross Contemporary Art, Saugerties. She is also an instructor at the Woodstock School of Art. Claire is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and holds an MFA in painting from the City University of New York. Writing credits include contributing author to Teen Life in Europe (part of the Teen Life Around The World series), and articles and reviews for this publication. Claire Lambe’s artwork can be seen  HERE 

Curated by Hanna Maria Sawka and Dr. Frank Boyer
February 8 – July 12, 2020

James Beck, art critic, historian, and one-time head of the Columbia University Art Department, described Jan Sawka as a contemporary Renaissance artist. Jan Sawka, whose work is currently on show at the Dorsky’s Morgan Anderson Gallery and Howard Greenberg Family Gallery, at Suny New Paltz through July 12, is indeed as described by Beck: throughout his long career as an artist, he has made posters, illustrations, drawings, paintings, sculptures, every form of printmaking, installations, outdoor sculptures, and electronically guided images. His work has appeared in rock music festivals including astonishing sets for the Grateful Dead 1989–91 anniversary tour, in concert halls, and theaters all over Europe, and from the USA to Japan and Taiwan. He has created artworks for anti-nuclear fundraisers, Holocaust memorials, Human Rights Watch, and the Solidarity Movement. He described himself as a “multimedia man.”

The exhibition at the Dorsky, which includes a series of paintings and dry-point etchings, is titled “Jan Sawka: The Place of Memory (The Memory of Place).” The work in this show explores the clear and the obscure inherent in memory and draws on the landscape of his adopted home in the mid-Hudson Valley. Yet the images are primarily created from his interior world, mental images rather than studies from the landscape or photographs, although the faces and figures that he includes appear photographic. The exhibition showcases four monumental triptychs, Ashokan 1–4, actually conceived as one piece, depicting a vista of the Ashokan Reservoir framed by the Catskill Mountains, a landscape beloved by Sawka because it reminded him of a childhood holiday place in Poland, his homeland, from where he was exiled in 1976. Like so many immigrants before him, especially reluctant ones, when Sawka found a place in the mid-Hudson Valley that reminded him of home, he settled there – in the town of High Falls – and remained there until his death in 2012 at age 65.

Ashokan 1–4 is a land and waterscape rendered in the darkest of jewel tones. These works are as much drawing and writing as they are painting – he uses a mixed media of acrylic paint and ink – each work is covered in rows of roughly centimeter-long marks drawn or painted in alternate diagonals and within these are shapes that are reminiscent of hieroglyphics; many are abstract and others include figurative elements. It requires close inspection to see how highly detailed and painstakingly made these works are and according to the artist: “No easy tricks – everything done by hand.” The supports (Masonite) are completed at the top edge with an irregular border depicting the mountain skyline of the Catskills and, in the center, the rising and setting sun. Additionally, the works contain small architectural structures built into the canvas (Sawka was first a student of architecture). In a statement on his art, he wrote: “I see design, architecture, and art as one potent mixture of ideas, rules, and challenges…”

Jan Sawka, Post Card #19, (from the series “Post Cards”), 1987–89, printed 1990, drypoint etching on paper, collection Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, gift of the Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs

At the back of the gallery, the etchings from his folio Post-cards — luminous works on Arches paper — are not to be missed. Made using the dry-point etching technique on plexiglass, a material that doesn’t allow for mistakes and corrections, they feature places of importance to the artist. They are then painted by hand in watercolor or, in some cases it seems, the paint was perhaps applied prior to the printing. This method has been part of Sawka’s practice since his youth; while still in his twenties, he was the youngest recipient of France’s “Oscar de la Peinture” and the award of the President of the Republic of France – the President’s Award was for “Innovation in the Art of Painting” for his combination of engraving/intaglio print-making techniques together with traditional painting.

Although some of the works in the exhibition appear abstract, they are really not. They are rooted in imaginative representational imagery, including even the text aspects which tend to be invented. Others are unambiguously representational, such as Memory, 1887; this is among works whose treatment and colors are strongly reminiscent of Pop Art but retain a sense of mystery – the mystery that resides in snippets of dreams and memories half forgotten.

Jan Sawka, The Memory (or The Mirror), 1987, courtesy the Estate of Jan Sawka

Born in 1946 into post-war Europe, Sawka came from a highly cultured family at odds with the authoritarian socialism of Joseph Stalin; his father, an architect, was imprisoned by Stalin when Sawka was a boy. As a young man, Sawka was encouraged to choose architecture over other forms of art – the more sensible choice — but after university, he became a creator of under-ground posters. This and other oppositional activities eventually led to him being exiled from Poland. In 1976 and he and his wife, Hanka, and their new-born child were able to emigrate to France thanks to an invitation from the Georges Pompidou Center; Jan Sawka was one of the first artists-in-residence at the Pompidou Center shortly after its opening.  The following year, they emigrated to the USA eventually settling in High Falls. Initially, in the US, Sawka made a living by creating commentary illustrations for the Op-Ed page of the New York Times.  He soon began showing his work in galleries in New York, Los Angeles and other cities in the United States, and the bulk of his art career has been in this country. The exhibition at the Dorsky, is co-curated by Hanna Sawka, the artist’s daughter, and Dr. Frank Boyer.

Featured image: Jan Sawka, “Asbury Notebook,” 1981, courtesy Jan and Michael Solow

This Exhibition runs through July 12, 2020

Museum Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, holidays and intersessions. For more about The Dorsky Museum and its programs, visit http://www.newpaltz.edu/museum or call (845) 257‑3844.

About The Dorsky Museum
Through its collections, exhibitions and public programs, the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art supports and enriches the academic programs at the College and serves as a center for Hudson Valley arts and culture. With more than 9,000 square feet of exhibition space distributed over six galleries, The Dorsky Museum is one of the largest museums in the SUNY system. Since its official dedication in 2001, The Dorsky has presented more than 100 exhibitions, including commissions, collection-based projects, and in-depth studies of contemporary artists including Robert Morris, Alice Neel, Judy Pfaff, Carolee Schneemann and Ushio Shinohara.

Claire Lambe is an Irish born painter whose works have been exhibited on both sides of the Atlantic; she is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and holds an MFA in painting from the City University of New York. Writing credits include contributing author to Teen Life in Europe (part of the Teen Life Around The World series), and articles and reviews for this publication. Claire Lambe’s art work can be seen here: 

Leonard Contino, 1940 – 2016, was an extraordinary man who, despite being a quadriplegic, produced an enormous volume of art during his 50-year career as an artist. Some of this can be found at the Dorsky’s Alice and Horace Chandler Gallery and North Gallery – the exhibition runs through April 5, 2020. Brooklyn born, Contino turned his childhood interest in drawing into a  living “pin-stripping” cars and hot rods until, at age 19, a car accident resulted in a broken spine and paralyses from the shoulders down. While in rehabilitation, he became close to another young patient who was also recovering from a similarly terrible accident, the sculptor Mark di Suvero. They became life-long friends and, later, exhibited together. In the rehab Di Suvero encouraged Contino to return to drawing and eventually to paint; unlike most quadriplegics, Contino was fortunate to have retained some mobility in his arms and hands although required a brace for their function. Contino was also fortunate to have a mother dedicated in her belief in her son and who became his abettor in art-making; according to di Suvero, “she was a partner in his mission.”

Leonard Contino, Moon Year Majec, 1972, courtesy the Estate of Leonard Contino

Contino’s work at the Dorsky consists of abstract and semi-abstract paintings, and collages. The abstract works are geometric “hard-edge” pieces in which Contino uses three particular motifs: triangles,  squares and rectangles, and biomorphic shapes – often the shapes are fitted together in a pattern or tessellated. In some pieces, the shapes extend beyond the canvas. Contino worked in acrylic, applying the paint in thin layers to create a luminous effect as seen in Moon Year Majec from 1972 – although this particular piece has an op-art Vasarely-esque look, Contino has said his aim was to create paintings that are “like a field of energy.”

Another strand of Contino’s work was collage – these he made in the evenings after working all day on the paintings. They are reminiscent of both Hieronymus Bosch and the Monty Python’s Flying Circus graphics of the original TV series which first aired on the BBC in 1969. The collages combine images from advertisements, pop-culture, National Geographic magazines and pornography; they feature animal-machine hybrids, disembodied limbs, cars, birds, etc. They are curiously different from the day-time work of the paintings which he believed were spiritual in their inspiration. Don’t miss the very informative video presentation. This exhibition runs through April 5, 2020.

Leonard Contino, Untitled, n.d. Photograph by Claire Lambe

The museum’s Sara Bedrick Gallery is host to “Collecting Local: Twelve Years of the Hudson Valley Artists Annual Purchase Award.” Every year for the last twelve years, the Dorsky has sponsored and hosted the “Hudson Valley Artists” exhibitions – a series of open-call juried exhibitions for artists living and working in the Hudson Valley. Each year the museum purchases one or two pieces from the exhibition for its collection, and this exhibition showcases those purchases – this is the first time they have been exhibited together. For anyone who has been attending the annual exhibitions, it is a nice opportunity to revisit some of those works from over the years.

Richard Edelman, Rebekah Creshkoff in Search of Matilda, 2014, Archival Injet print on Rag Paper.

One of the works I was particularly pleased to see again is Richard Edelman’s remarkable photograph, Rebekah Creshkoff in Search of Matilda, from his Stolen Moments series – this from the 2015 exhibition (the Matilda of the title was, in fact, a cat). Richard, a long-time member of the Hudson Valley art community and proprietor of the Woodstock Graphic Studio, was among those lost to us in 2019. Olive Bridge’s Pat Kelley’s mesmerizing video, 175 Roman Churches, from the 2013 exhibition is worth spending time contemplating – in it, rendered in sepia tones, the churches slowly morph one into the other with occasional brilliance occurring from the appearance of stained-glass windows. Also worthy of note is Elisa Pritzker’s Zipped (tree) Trunk from the 2012 exhibition – a very incongruous and evocative piece. This exhibition continues through July 12, 2020. 

A thought-provoking exhibition on the subject of “War” is in the Seminar Room Gallery until July 12 and, as always, there is the joy of works on exhibit from the museum’s extensive permanent collection in the Corridor Gallery. This is an ever-changing but ongoing exhibition.

Featured image: Leonard Contino, LADY, 1967, courtesy the Estate of Leonard Contino

Museum Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, holidays and intersessions. For more information, visit www.newpaltz.edu/museum or call (845) 257‑3844

About The Dorsky Museum

Through its collections, exhibitions and public programs, the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art supports and enriches the academic programs at the College and serves as a center for Hudson Valley arts and culture. With more than 9,000 square feet of exhibition space distributed over six galleries, The Dorsky Museum is one of the largest museums in the SUNY system. Since its official dedication in 2001, The Dorsky has presented more than 100 exhibitions, including commissions, collection-based projects, and in-depth studies of contemporary artists including Robert Morris, Alice Neel, Judy Pfaff, Carolee Schneemann and Ushio Shinohara.

Claire Lambe is an Irish born painter whose works have been exhibited on both sides of the Atlantic; she is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and holds an MFA in painting from the City University of New York. Writing credits include contributing author to Teen Life in Europe (part of the Teen Life Around The World series), and articles and reviews for this publication. Claire Lambe’s art work can be seen here: 

The WSA Print Studio. Photograph by Dion Ogust

Over the course of the Monothon the artists, between them, created over 300 pieces of work. From these, one piece per artist was chosen for the exhibition—all the prints in the show are donated by the artists. The exhibition, which is a fund-raiser for the WSA, is a terrific opportunity to see samples of the work produced in the WSA’s state-of-the-art print studio and to pick up an original print or two for a modest sum; the monoprints, all 8 x 10 or 10 x 8 inches in size, are priced at $200.

Richard Segelman, “The Slip” 2019. Monoprint, 10” x 8”. Photograph by Dion Ogust

Four master printers—Anthony Kirk, Lisa Mackie, Kathy Caraccio, and Kate McGloughlin—spearheaded this year’s group and the proceeds from the event are earmarked for the WSA parking lot expansion project. Says WSA Executive Director, Nina Doyle, “Due to the high-quality of the programs offered at the school, we have experienced a rapid increase in our student population, as well as attendees to our public exhibitions over the past few years. This increase requires a closer look at our infrastructure. The expansion of our parking lot is one of many improvements we plan to make to our facilities.”

Kate McGloughlin, “Ashokan Light” 2019. Monoprint, 10” x 8”. Photograph by Dion Ogust

It’s fair to say that a good deal of credit goes to Kate McGloughlin for the annual Monothon event and exhibition, and for the development of the new print studio itself; it came to be under her leadership on the WSA board, and her passion for printmaking was inspirational. When asked “Why print?” McGloughlin responded: “I fell in love with printmaking the moment I started studying the form with Robert Angeloch at the Woodstock School of Art in 1991, each of the processes became another practical method to consider, each proved meditative to practice. When I came upon Monotype in 1992, everything changed—this spontaneous, explosive medium, so close to painting, so much a print process—it was the perfect medium to marry my two loves, painting and printmaking.  When we envisioned the new printmaking and works on paper studios at the school, I knew a ‘Monothon’ would be the perfect event to christen the new space and be the perfect event to get artists working together immediately…it’s been a terrific experience, every single year. The work that comes through is always powerful.”

Dion Ogust, “Untitled” 2019. Monoprint 8” x 10”. Photograph by Dion Ogust

In addition to the artists who donate their work and the buyers of the monoprints, this is a true community fundraising event for the school–contributors are made up of eight local restaurants and stores, and 11 community members, who supplied the lunch each day for the August Monothon Master Printers, artists, and volunteers. Among those contributors were Bistro-to-Go, Garden Café, Joshua Café, and Alebrijes Mexican Delicacies, also Hannaford Supermarkets and Adam’s Fairacre Farms. Three art supply stores including Woodstock’s Catskill Art Supply, and one bank, Prudential Benevity, also made contributions for the Monothon; individuals helped with the funding; and two creative collaborators also pitched in: Dion Ogust Photography and Susanna Ronner Graphic Design.

WSA’s mission is to offer high quality, affordable instruction in fine art, as well as maintain stewardship of its unique and historic buildings for continued use as an art school. It provides many opportunities to engage the community in allied arts activities and exhibitions, with the Monoprint Invitational being its poster child. Classes in fine art, including drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, and Portfolio Development are offered year-round in the School’s fully climate-controlled studios situated in historic bluestone and native timber buildings. Classes cater to all ages from teenaged art-college aspirants to those returning later in life to that road not taken; there are no entrance requirements or experience necessary.

Peter Bradley, “The Barn and the Turtle” 2019. Monoprint, 10” x 8”. Photograph by Dion Ogust

The Woodstock School of Art, Inc. is a not-for-profit, 501©3, educational institution chartered under the laws of the State of New York. It is located in New York’s famed artists’ colony of Woodstock, surrounded by the pristine woodlands of the Catskill Mountains, about 100 miles north of New York City.

Featured image: Mariella Bisson, monoprint 2019. 8” x 10”

Images courtesy of the artists, the Woodstock School of Art, and Dion Ogust Photography.

Claire Lambe is an Irish born painter whose works have been exhibited on both sides of the Atlantic; she is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and holds an MFA in painting from the City University of New York. Writing credits include contributing author to Teen Life in Europe (part of the Teen Life Around The World series), and articles and reviews for this publication. Claire Lambe’s art work can be seen here: 

Her father was a sculptor as was her maternal grandmother. British-born, she graduated from Pittsburg’s Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), and Andy Warhol gave her her first exhibition; she is best known for monumental sculptures honed from whole trees; for her upcoming exhibition at the John Davis Gallery in Hudson, New York, she is taking her sculpture in a new direction: she is octogenarian Gillian Jagger.

Gillian Jagger may be a formidable artist but she is not a formidable woman. She is passionate about art and its transformative possibilities but she eschews any and all artworld branding, categories, jargon, and overblown egos; to escape this was the primary reason she fled New York City for upstate tranquility in 1978. I visited her recently at her 20 acre farm between Accord and Kerhonkson, and was greeted on arrival by the small figures of the artist and her partner Consuelo (Connie) Mander waving gaily from the hill on which their home is perched. This delightful welcome was a harbinger of the rest of the afternoon. It doesn’t take long to discover that the love and respect for all nature’s creatures, including the bats with which the artist shares a barn/studio, are the code these women live by. Even as Jagger was showing me her enormous sculptures made from mostly fallen or dead trees – rescues – she regretted the need to fumigate them against wood-worm and other wood-munching bugs, but that is also nature’s way – to preserve the wood, the bugs have to go.

Studio Shot, Gillian Jagger. Photo by Donna Calcavecchio

Since the mid-eighties Jagger has been bringing trees into her studio and exploring their kinship to other elements in nature including animals and, also, how they may be reflections of us humans. The particular tree will most often suggest the direction of the work. Some pieces have had very little alteration having come to her already shaped by their own development and the forces of nature or, more accurately, the artist sees the expression inherent in the trees, and works to bring that expression to the fore. One such is Te (1992), a sculpture that exudes such pathos that Rodin might well have been happy to be associated with it. In another piece she “undressed” the tree by opening up the bark and in yet another, the tree itself was opened to reveal its age, texture, and color.

Shelter Tree, Gillian Jagger. Photo by Donna Calcavecchio

Jagger has a deep concern for the mistreatment of animals, the horrors of the factory farm and the cruelty of abattoirs. These concerns come together in many of her tree sculptures; pieces suspended by chains that have become part of their identity; it is hard not to draw an analogy between these trees as captives, or slaves, or meat – some are like cattle hung upside down prepared to be gutted in the abattoir. In another thread, she has pieces that are more installation than single sculptural piece but deal with the same or related themes. In the piece entitled Rift (1999), wooden stanchions designed to control and hold cattle in cow-sheds, barbed wire, bone, a mummified cat, and stone are combined into a fearsome dance or duel.

Rift, Gillian Jagger. Photo by Russell Panczenko

She often uses dead animals in her work; animals that died of natural causes and are preserved through natural mummification. Another example, the wonderful Matrice (1997–98), includes a deer found by the roadside – this deer is also the subject of a number of exquisite drawings. Since it would never occur to her to sacrifice an animal for art, she is appalled by artists such as Damien Hirst who use the corpses of slaughtered animals to illustrate an idea. Hirst claims to have only used animals already condemned to death – animals diverted from the food chain (although not true for the two tiger sharks that were fished to illustrate the title and concept, “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living”). Jagger’s way would be to take the animal home, feed and shelter it into old age and, eventually, when it died of natural causes, to commemorate its life in art. She is the anti-Damien Hirst.

Hanging Deer 1, Gillian Jagger

Hanging Deer 2, Gillian Jagger

Matrice, Gillian Jagger

Jagger studied painting at Carnegie Tech graduating in 1953 into the moment when Abstract Expressionism had become establishment. Inevitable the philosophy and art theory of the time influenced her work, particularly the emphasis on process and improvisation although, interestingly, her mentor at Carnegie Tech, Balcomb Greene (1904–1990), had rejected pure abstraction and was part of the New York Figurative Expressionism movement in the 1950s. Perhaps it is Greene’s early influence that has kept her attachment to expressive representational art alive – certainly where drawing is concerned. But soon after graduation Jagger found herself drawn to sculpture. Within a couple of years, to Jagger’s consternation, she found herself claimed by the emerging Pop Art movement, and hailed as a Pop Artist by the media. As she despised Pop Art’s love affair with consumer culture, this was a description at which she balked and, as a result, was accused of “running away from success.” Regardless of her enduring appreciation for her old friend and fellow Carnegie Tech alumnus, Andy Warhol, who enabled her first exhibition, being privy to this heartfelt dilemma of the wood versus the bugs makes unambiguous the extent to which this woman was not and could never be a Pop artist. She was placed among that cadre because of her interest in making plaster casts of manholes and truck tire prints in mud.

Cascade, Gillian Jagger. Photo by Donna Calcavecchio

As Jagger put it, “The Pop artists were interested in the new bright yellow paint on the truck whereas she was only interested in the impression – the literal impact – the truck made in the earth as it passed by.” Interested in much the same way our paleolithic ancestors were interested in the contours a glacier left behind in a cave and found in those natural shapes likenesses, or symbols, of the creatures with which they shared the forests and plains of their habitat. Her appropriation of manholes was neither based on an interest in the surface of the manhole for its own sake, nor for its ubiquity, nor for its connection to the expansion of our modern consumerist society. She was interested in its actual purpose: that of a portal into a hidden underworld to which few of us are privy.

Traffic-impressions,-1964 Mixed Media on Canvas, Gillian Jagger

Installation, Gillian Jagger. Photo by Donna Calcavecchio

Her work has much more in common with the late 1960’s generation of “Earth Artists.” It has been said that it is hard to imagine her later sculptures without the investigations of artists like Robert Smithson, but Jagger’s work foreshadowed Smithson by a number of years. Her natural affinity with what were also among the concerns of Feminist Art, emphasis on empathy with the earth and its broader populations, became the heart of her art and her inquiry. She continues to seek the connection between wood, stone, animal, and human. In her artist’s statement, she stresses that her work “tries to speak as part of something already existing, not as a product or something ‘I made up’.”

Following the Horses, Gillian Jagger, Photo by Donna Calcavecchio

Following the Horses, [detail] Gillian Jagger, Photo by Donna Calcavecchio

Following the Horses, [from the back] Gillian Jagger, Photo by Donna Calcavecchio

Poulnabrone Dolmen erected between 4200 and 2900 B.C.E.

A dolmen usually consists of between two and four standing stones topped with a capstone – the latter can weigh many tons. Originally they were covered with earth and are in fact the skeletons of cairns. Many of these ancient monuments, between 2,000 and 5,000 years old, align with the sun at key times of the year – two great examples are Brú na Bóinne (the Palace of the Boyne) in Ireland and, of course, Stonehenge in England. The most significant of the 40 cairns in the Brú na Bóinne complex is Newgrange. A small opening over the entrance to Newgrange is aligned with the rising sun at the winter solstice at which time light floods the interior chamber – Stonehenge, albeit a good deal younger, is aligned with the rising sun at the summer solstice. There is no agreement as to why the cairn at Newgrange was built, including whether it was or was not for a grave, but it is clear that these early designers had a very precise understanding of astronomy and, most likely, were sun worshippers. In 1993 Jagger created her own monument to the sun at Rockland County Community College, the piece is entitled Gnomon, which means “sundial” in Greek, and consists of four Paleozoic slabs of limestone which have been cut into two vertical, triangular shapes, 11 feet high by 5 feet wide. The placement of the stones forms an opening in the shape of a “V” and is perfectly aligned with the setting sun at the Winter Solstice.

Gnoman, Gillian Jagger.

At the time it was made, the artist said, “It’s like a connection through time, like touching one’s own mortality.” In this and other works she is trying to commune not just with nature but with those forebears of ours who first thought to harness the sun’s light to create art and, in more recent work, those even earlier art-makers who traced the shapes of bison and horses and, indeed, their own hands on the walls of caves such as Lascaux and Altamira millennia ago. The place that has had the deepest impact on Jagger is L’Abri de Cap Blanc in the Dordogne region of France, not far from Lascaux.

L’Abri de Cap Blanc is a limestone rock shelter —“abri” translates as shelter—and the site of one of the finest sculptured friezes to survive the last Ice Age, first unearthed in 1909, and currently the best that remains open to the public. The friezes, which are sculpted in both low and high relief, are of deer, bison, and horses. Also discovered in the rock shelter were the skeleton remains of a young woman thought to have been the creator, or one of the creators, of the sculptures. The bones are of the period of the artwork, between 15 and 17,000 thousand years ago, and were found purposely buried close to the central figure of a horse, so her connection to the work is undisputed. Coincidentally, the period in question is known as the Magdalenian — it refers to one of the later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic in Western Europe, so the skeleton is known as Magdalenian Woman. Incidentally, the skeleton in the shelter at Le Cap Blanc is a facsimile of the original; that is in the care of the Field Museum of Chicago.

L’Abri de Cap Blanc Frieze

So entranced was Jagger by what she found there, the power and the sensitivity with which these animals had been carved, that she remained in the Cap Blanc rock shelter for two days. For Jagger, Magdalenian Woman is a kind of spiritual forebear and, in fact, she may be the first female artist in history that we can identify; how interesting that, if so, she was a sculptor. Furthermore, she was a sculptor of horses, also a great love of Gillian Jagger’s. When she and Connie Mander relocated from New York City to their farm in the Hudson Valley, they also made it a refuge for a various beleaguered cows and horses, three of the latter are still there. One favorite horse was Faith, loved so much that when Faith died in 2000, Jagger made plaster casts of her that resulted in a wonderfully haunting installation piece entitled Absence of Faith.

The entry to the single room where Absence of Faith can be viewed from all sides. There is also a balcony where she can be viewed from above. Photo by Donna Calcavecchio

Absence of Faith, Gillian Jagger. Photo by Donna Calcavecchio

And Then, And Now. Gillian Jagger. Photo by Donna Calcavecchio

Of the Bull, Drawing by Gillian Jagger. Photo by Donna Calcavecchio

The Magdalenian sculptures at Cap Blanc, which Jagger visited last year, are the inspiration behind the new show of work, And Then, And Now: New Work From The Cave, that is about to open at the John Davis Gallery in Hudson (details below). The work includes enormous drawings of animals in the same yellow color that had been used at the shelter. She also wanted to make a sculpture but felt that her usual materials were not right – to make something from wood or lead (another material she has explored in her work) felt too heavy and corporeal, and neither did she feel that it was appropriate to emulate the technique used in the shelter. As her primary motivation was to commune, “to reach back 17,000 years in time and space,” to this prehistoric artist, she felt she needed to use a very light material. Her solution is the titular piece of the exhibition And Then, And Now – it is an extraordinary installation made from wires. Loosely working from one of the initial drawings she created on her return from France, a drawing of a fallen bull, she made some rudimentary frame works of various sections of the body from chicken wire. These she joined together and filled out using electrical wire in various colors: red, blue and green. The result is of a figure stripped of all flesh and bone, but held together by blood vessels, veins, and nerves – a drawing in air. She has kept the horns, indicating them with curves of copper pipe. Why copper? With its remarkable capacity for conducting electricity, was she thinking antennae? In the studio, where I saw it, the installation casts a wonderful shadow on the walls. The shadow fills out the form like the ghost of what was there. The whole piece contains enormous energy and gives a sense of joyous dance – the fallen beast arisen.

And Then, And Now. Gillian Jagger. Photo by Donna Calcavecchio

We live in an age where youth is worshipped and age often, at best, dismissed. Recently, due to cut-backs in education budgets, older school teachers were scapegoated as “dead wood” to be brushed aside to make way for their younger (and cheaper) counterparts; little or no quarter being given for the accumulation of experience or the deeper knowledge of subjects. The artworld is no less susceptible to the seduction—the urgency—of youth; it is no longer uncommon for particular art students to be hurled onto the main stage before the paint is dry on their thesis canvases. With her eighty-third birthday approaching, I could not but broach the subject of age. On the ride back from the “Big Barn” which houses some of the largest installations, I asked Jagger if she felt a waning of energy and inspiration. “The opposite,” was her response. If anything, she said, she felt more driven than ever. Possibly, she conceded, because she was conscious that time was limited — age has its own urgency. Yes, she does rely more on assistants but, she said, she lives by her winches and pulleys and so can still manage a lot of heavy lifting by herself. And in case anyone thinks that this most recent work—light and airy as it is—is a concession to age, the last thing Gillian Jagger confided to me that day as we careened along the twisty country road in her truck, was a plan she has for a large tree near the Saugerties light house. I left her musing over the logistics of getting it from there to here because, thirty years her junior or not, I needed a nap.

Gillian Jagger, standing in front of Quantum, 2010. Photo by Donna Calcavecchio

Unless otherwise noted, photographs are courtesy of the artist.
Featured image; And Then, And Now, Gillian Jagger.  Photo by Donna Calcavecchio

For more on Gillian Jagger, see her website: gillianjagger.com

Gillian Jagger: And Then, And Now: New Work From The Cave
October 12—November 3, 2013 at John Davis Gallery
362½ Warren St., Hudson, NY 12534
Opening Reception — October 12,  6—8 pm.
For more information: 518–832-5907 or johndavisgallery.com

Claire Lambe is an Irish born painter whose works have been exhibited on both sides of the Atlantic; she is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and holds an MFA in painting from the City University of New York. In addition to her art-​​​​making, she is also the company manager and designer for The Woodstock Players Theater Company  —as the company designer she is responsible for everything from the website to the set design. Writing credits include contributing author to Teen Life in Europe (part of the Teen Life Around The World series), and articles and reviews for this publication.
www​.clairelambe​-art​.com

And if you have time to see only one film screening at this year’s festival, let it be Bamboo Stories, a documentary film by acclaimed director/cinematographer Shaheen Dill-Riaz. Bamboo Stories is set in Bangladesh and is, per the title, the story of bamboo and the people who depend on it for their living, from cutting the 22 foot-long bamboo logs in the last great bamboo forest in the northeastern province of Sylhet to its arrival in the capital city, Dhaka, for sale. The film is a tour-de-force of story and cinematography accompanied by Eckart Gadow’s extraordinary and often haunting musical score.

A logger transports bamboo through a canal into the valley. Photographer: Shaheen Dill-Riaz © MAYALOK

I had the good fortune to discover Shaheen Dill-Riaz’s films during an extended sojourn in Berlin in 2016.  Dill-Riaz is from Bangladesh and many, but by no means all, of his films are set there. My first introduction to his work was Ironeaters; I assumed it would be a small film by a little-know independent film-maker – both assumptions were soon smashed. Dill-Riaz is highly acclaimed in the field of documentary film-making, and it was a huge film. Ironeaters is the story of farmers who, for months every year, must trade their idyllic but poverty-stricken home-lands in northern Bangladesh for the hell-on-earth of the beaches of Chittagong where the sea-faring detritus of the Western World goes to die – old cruise ships, vast container vessels, and massive oil tankers. There the erstwhile farmers work as ship-wreckers dismantling these behemoths without heavy machinery or protective clothing, risking their health and their lives for a pittance.  During that ten-month sojourn in Berlin, I saw a number of Dill-Riaz’s other films including Korankinder (Koran Children), a film set in the secretive world of the Madrassas, and none disappointed. So it was with great delight that I learned that he was bringing his latest documentary, Bamboo Stories, to Woodstock this year, 2019, which also celebrates the festivals 20th year in existence.

Foreman SHOHEED bundling the bamboo at the Kushiyara river. Photographer: Shaheen Dill-Riaz © MAYALOK

In Bamboo Stories, the film moves back and forth between a team of bamboo loggers in the forest led by foreman, Liakot, to the team of rafters led by Shoheed who ferry the cut bamboo on its month-long journey by river to be sold in the capital, stopping along the way at smaller port-towns in the hope of selling some of the logs ahead of arrival at the big market of Dhaka. Along the way we are introduced to the cast of characters for whom these men work: Mamun, the loggers’ boss, who worries that the bamboo isn’t being harvested fast enough; Juj-Mia the wholesaler to whom Shoheed answers; Ali, Ashraf and other retailers, who must drive a hard bargain in order to be competitive in the markets. The one thing all these men have in common is that they do not want their children to follow in their footsteps.

The raft anchors in the port town of Chatal Para to sell logs to retailers. Photographer: Shaheen Dill-Riaz © MAYALOK

Over the course of the film we also meet the families of our protagonists, their wives and children, and their stories are revealed. And our hearts break for them. Dill-Riaz’s films manage to combine pathos with laugh-out-loud moments and Bamboo Stories is no exception. The rafters, though away from their families for weeks at a time and burdened with the care of the cargo: 25,000 bamboo logs, the worries of their bosses, and their own fears of river pirates, retain a great sense of humor ribbing each other about their habits and lack of bathroom privacy. Shoheed points out the “amenities” of their floating home: here the bathroom; there the laundry room. We first meet Shoheed singing a sentimental love song as he and his team-mates, Nuru, Shiraz, and Hussain, make the bamboo raft (the raft and the cargo are one and the same). We might assume what he sings is a popular song from the radio; later we may have to revise that assumption. As the film progresses, we come to know these men and to be invested in them, and in their hopes for their children for whom they work so hard. And we learn that these are kind people, kind to each other.

Logger-Foreman LIAKOT at work in the forest . Photographer / © : Munem Wasif

Back in the forest where the work is unrelenting and back-breaking, where the bamboo loggers are plagued with mosquitos, leeches, and even the bamboo itself which is covered with fine filaments that irritate the skin, there is less to laugh about. The boss, Mamun, who holds a limited-time lease for this section of forest, arrives to see how the work is progressing and accuses Liakot of always taking the easy route. Then, paradoxically, speaking to the camera, he confides that cutting bamboo is so exhausting that “If I cut one stem of bamboo, I need to sleep for two days.”

Director and cinematographer SHAHEEN DILL-RIAZ films the loggers in the forest. Photographer / © : Munem Wasif

The genius of Dill-Riaz is the lightness of his touch. It is as though there is no camera nor any sense of an invisible hand directing the narrative. The protagonists appear to speak directly to us, the viewers, and their lack of self-consciousness is testimony to Dill-Riaz’s ability to put them at ease – how does he do it? A good question for the Q & A after one of October’s screenings (both Shaheen and his film-composer, Eckart Gadow, will accompany the film to Woodstock). In Bamboo Stories, having forgotten that there is a cameraman in the forest with the bamboo loggers, we suddenly become aware of him when Liakot comes racing towards us (the camera) through the woods shouting: “Shaheen, run, run!” A male elephant has appeared in the forest and being in musth (in “heat”) is aggressive and might charge. There follows camera chaos as the director/cinematographer hastily follows the instruction. Choosing to keep this chaotic shot in the final cut, despite its revelation of the camera, reminds us that this is real, and it works as the viewer is also behind the camera, also scrambling over roots to get out of the way, also in danger.

Bamboo Stories will be screened at Woodstock’s Bearsville Theater on Thursday, October 3th at noon, and at Rhinebeck Upstate Films II on Saturday, October 5th at 4:30pm.

Featured Image: “After the sale, the bundles are removed from the raft.” Photographer: Shaheen Dill-Riaz © MAYALOK

For more about Shaheen Dill-Riaz and his films, go HERE:

To book tickets for Bamboo Stories from the Woodstock Film Festival:
Go HERE: 

Claire Lambe is an Irish born painter whose works have been exhibited on both sides of the Atlantic; she is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and holds an MFA in painting from the City University of New York. Writing credits include contributing author to Teen Life in Europe (part of the Teen Life Around The World series), and articles and reviews for this publication. Claire Lambe’s art work can be seen here: 

Josepha Gutelius, “Partition Street” 2017. Acrylic on canvas, 44″ x 26″

As indicated by its name, Emerge Gallery focuses on emerging artists from the Hudson Valley region and beyond, and also gives exposure to many excellent but often under represented artists and, as such, is filling a significant gap in the Hudson Valley art scene. The gallery’s focus is on monthly group exhibitions, often with a theme and usually showing works in a variety of media – many of the shows are open submission. Langdon will occasionally stray from his emphasis on group shows with a solo show – this February (2018) the gallery hosted a mini retrospective of Loel Barr’s eclectic artwork.

Loel Barr, “Touch Me Here and Here and Here.” Mixed Media on paper, 31″ x 40″

Langdon’s mission for Emerge Gallery is two-fold: in addition to the above wish to create the space for artists, particularly local artists, to show their work, he is keen to reach out to the community and bring art to them at an affordable price. With the latter in mind, he offers works at a variety of price points to as low as $50, or even less. There is always a selection of affordable pieces on display in the gallery, but most are on the Emerge website. There you can find original works such as fine art prints, unique drawings and even paintings in water color and oil for as little as one might expect to pay for a mass-produced piece of schlock at a chain store. Langdon and I discussed this issue of getting the word out to the general public that art galleries and artworks are not just in the purview of the cultural cognoscenti, “I am very community centered,” Langdon said. “I have a background in working for nonprofits and community building is essential for me. One of my goals at the gallery is to make art accessible and affordable. Everyone who walks into my gallery is greeted and welcomed. Some folks are intimidated to walk into an art gallery, but I want people to know that my space open to everyone. I want them to know that you don’t need a background in art history to appreciate art and know what you like. Sure, it will inform your decisions, but it most likely won’t change that initial reaction one will have to a piece of art. It’s for everyone to enjoy.”

Linda Lynton, “Autumn Oak” 2016. Ink and natural dyes including onion, dragon’s blood and indigo, on paper. 8 x 6 inches.

Prior to opening Emerge Gallery, Robert was Director at Gallery U in Red Bank and Westfield, NJ, where he played an instrumental role in furthering the art scene in both communities.  In addition to exhibiting local artists, Galley U also acted as a vocational training program for adults with traumatic brain injuries. “As gallery director, I worked closely with the community in furthering the art scene by organizing events such as town wide art walks. It was a unique program.”  Here in Saugerties Langdon has, in the short time he’s been there, thoroughly immersed himself in this new community including participating in and spearheading annual events; he has become a significant supporter of Shout Out Saugerties working with co-founders Suzanne Bennett and Susana Meyer on planning a Village wide celebration of National Poetry Month in April. In April 2017, Emerge Gallery hosted an exhibition called Art & Words which was a collaboration between poets and artists – a concept exhibition that has now been incorporated into the gallery’s calendar as a recurring annual event; the 2018 dates are April 7th – 30th with an opening reception on the 7th from 5–8pm. The idea is that the participating artists and poets submit works which were then shared and, variously, people write new poems or make new paintings inspired by each other’s work. Among the poets is Mr. Langdon himself! Furthermore, as part of the celebration, there will be a reading of a new translation of the Odyssey at Cross Contemporary Art on Partition St. on April 22; a poetry slam on April 15 at Bella Luna Restaurant, also on Partition St.; a booze and poetry night where guests are asked to bring their favorite poem about alcohol or drinking on April 15 (location TBD). Langdon is also working with Village merchants to place poetry in the shop windows during that month.

Shelley Davis, “The Letter” 2017, Mixed media with love letters from Paris, 18″ x 24″ inspired by “Valentine,” a poem by Josepha Gutelius, as below.

Valentine by Josepha G 2017

Langdon is emerging (no pun intended) as a true contender in the locality in other ways too – he has become a member of the Saugerties Chamber of Commerce and now also serves on the board of Arts Mid-Hudson. In his new capacity as a board member of Arts Mid-Hudson he is actively working toward advancing the arts especially in Ulster County including through Emerge Gallery. On May 17, from 2 – 4 pm, the Gallery will host an important event, “Meet With Merritt,” where Arts Mid-Hudson Grants and Funding Manager Merritt Minnemeyer will provide valuable information for artists and organizations on all aspects of funding and financing, and professional development.

Charlotte Tusch, “Sensual Landscape” 2017. Latex, acrylic, metallic pigment on canvas. 40″ x 30″

People talk about “the art world,” and often they mean that blue-chip world up there in the stratosphere, but there are many art worlds and surviving in any of them, galleries and artists alike, is a challenge. Emerge has come to play a valuable role for many hard-working artists in the valley and beyond. But like all galleries it needs the support of the community at large, so be sure to look out for the openings at this and other galleries near where you live (best free entertainment in town), and drop in when passing to see what’s happening as exhibitions change every month. At Emerge this year there will be exhibitions that focus on collage and encaustics, and a special exhibition of work by art teachers in Ulster County in September. The Gallery will be hosting its annual small-works/affordable show, Petit, in November and red show, Primar[il]y Red, in December.  But before all of those, there are these great events, described above, coming up in April. In addition to April being Poetry Month it is, as also mentioned earlier, a month-long celebration of sculpture in Saugerties (International Sculpture Day or ISDay is on April 28th) and that brings an additional plethora of art happenings in which Cross Contemporary Art plays a major role — more on that soon in a follow up article.

Featured image: JD Weiss, “Emergence” 2017.
Photography. 20″ x 20″


Artworks in this article are a selection from various exhibitions at Emerge that took place since the gallery opened. They are reproduced here courtesy of the gallery and the artists.

Click on the links below for more information on
Emerge Gallery, Shout Out Saugerties, and ISDay Saugerties

Claire Lambe is an Irish born painter whose works have been exhibited on both sides of the Atlantic; she is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and holds an MFA in painting from the City University of New York. Writing credits include contributing author to Teen Life in Europe (part of the Teen Life Around The World series), and articles and reviews for this publication. Claire Lambe’s art work can be seen here:  

Creating something from nothing is the magic of art. Perhaps it begins with the germ of an idea or a feeling of wanting to make a particular shape with a stick in the sand – something that grows from a curved line that meets another curved line that in turn meets another curved line that sparks a thought which grows into a dance, a piece of music, a painting, a sculpture or a structure. And from that initial germ is born, through that process of discovery, a manifesto for how to live.

Steven Holl Architects. Study Model for Arrival Hall and Light Monitors, 2017. Resin impregnated plaster 3D print, white paint, colored acrylic. Taiwan Chinpaosan Necropolis, Taipei, Taiwan

While “Art for Art’s sake” is a familiar term, “Architecture for Architecture’s sake” is not – it is rare that an architect has the opportunity to take an abstract thought through to a completed structure for its own sake. For the most part, projects come in the form of commissions for a specific purpose and so must constitute a puzzle to be solved. A puzzle with rules such as: has to include bedrooms, a conference room, a hospital ward, a stage, an altar; has to fit into a particular topography, city, or existing structure. The exhibition at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, “Steven Holl: Making Architecture” – part of the Dorsky’s Hudson Valley Master’s Series – while overwhelmingly about grand commissions, gives us an insight into these two approaches, the experimental project and the commissioned project. The exhibition explores Holl’s process through eleven of his recently completed and current projects, but for this piece, I am going to discuss just two of those projects, the Ex of IN House and Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre, which is an addition to an existing building, St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.

“Subtractions & Additions” Ex of IN: Exhibition Table 4. Watercolor and pencil on paper, 5” x 14”

Holl, a dual resident of New York city and the Hudson Valley, is one of the world’s foremost architects with offices in New York and Beijing. He founded the firm, Steven Holl Architects, in 1977 and, since then, it has gained partners in Chris McVoy and Noah Yaffe, and grown into a 40-person concern that includes Holl’s wife, architect Dimitra Tsachrelia. The firm’s commissions run the gambit from private homes to museums, galleries, university buildings, libraries, performing arts centers, a chapel, and on four continents. Holl has authored numerous books on architecture and the list of prizes and awards garnered is too long to enumerate. In addition to his being the principle architect of the firm, he is also a tenured Professor of Architecture at Columbia GSAPP.

Ex of IN XII, 2015. CNC milled walnut. Image courtesy Steven Holl Architects & the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art.

Furthermore, since 2010 he is deeply involved in T Space, a non-profit initiative of the Steven Myron Holl Foundation that includes a Holl-designed gallery and performance space, and a summer residency program for 5 architecture and art students, or young practitioners. Its aim is to offer an educational fusion of the music, poetry, architecture and art of the 21st century. There are two T Spaces – the first is on 4 acres in Rhinebeck and the second, T2, is on a nearby 28-acre wooded reserve – a fairly new acquisition. It is here that the Ex of IN House is located.

“T” Space and T2 refer to the T-shaped gallery on the 4-acre parcel. Re the concept of “IN:” well, it may not be entirely true that Holl had nothing on his mind when he made those first marks that became the genesis of the Ex of IN House, but that day he didn’t know he was creating a house, and a dance, and a whole nature reserve. Nevertheless, since 2014 Steven Holl Architects were exploring the idea of “IN” and had made a seven-proposition manifesto on it: the first proposition is “To study architecture freed from the purely objective,” and the seventh is the riddle-like “The thing containing is not the thing contained” – one thing should not be detached from the other, perhaps. Regarding the title of the house, “Ex of IN,” while “Ex” refers to Explorations, it is could also refer to Ex(periment), and to be IN it is, of course, to Ex(perience) it. A quote by critic Bonnie Marranca on the Steven Holl Architects’ website tells us that it’s “the Ex(perience) of IN… intimate, infinite, intricate, intrinsic, internal, inter, into, inasmuch … In and around the trees light angles its way into T2 and through the Ex of IN like unexpected insights.” The quote ends with, “Knowledge is windowful!” This last sentence holds one of the fundamental keys to Holl’s way of thinking about interior space, that it should be flooded with enough natural daylight so, while there is light outside, it ought not to require any other light. The presence of water is the other ideal, preferably on the south side of the structure – water that will reflect the sky and also be reflected through windows to play and create patterns on the interior walls and ceilings.

“Ex of IN” section model of the residence, courtesy of Steven Holl Architects. Photo by Iwan Baan.

So the outside is also IN and the inside is connected to the outside. This is very much in concert with the thinking of the German philosopher, Peter Sloterdijk, much admired by Holl. Sloterdijk rejects the concept of Cartesian dualism: subject and object, culture and nature, mind and body, etc., as components separate from each other. Rather he seeks to integrate these components as Holl seeks to integrate the structure with its environment, and inside with outside which, in the 20th century, often became detached from each other in architecture through the creation of monster structures. In a recent interview with Lynn Woods for Hudson Valley One, Holl lamented how the advent of air conditioning has allowed buildings to be too deep for natural light to penetrate creating unhealthy, artificial environments. He is not interested in ideas such as form vs content or form following function, rather he is interested in “creating ‘spatial excitement’ and then you find how the functions work.”

Subtractions & Additions” Ex of IN: Exhibition Table 4. Watercolor and pencil on paper, 5” x 14

”

Holl begins every day in a small hut by Round Lake on the T Space property. He puts those first clear hours of the day into composing watercolor sketches in 5”x 7” sketchbooks. It is there that ideas are generated and honed. He has hundreds of notebooks that contain the thought process for each project. So, the Ex of IN House began its life there as drawing and watercolor paintings of Venn Diagrams. Circles and spheres are important to Holl, as they are to the philosopher Sloterdijk, for their symbolic echoes of the uterus in which we are first sheltered to our macro shelter, the globe that is our planet.

“Subtractions & Additions” Ex of IN: Exhibition Table 4. 3D printed models – the left figure is the negative of the right figure.

When the watercolor sketches have arrived at a certain stage of development, he sends them to an assistant who creates a computer model; this is then sent off to be made as an object in a 3D printer. In the case of the Ex of IN House, the 3D models, interconnected spheres, were brought through a variety of hybrid combinations and permutations, including a negative of one of the models, and began to look like a small house. It was at around this point in the exploration that Holl became aware of a 28-​​acre parcel of land near his T Space in Rhinebeck coming on the market – a parcel originally slated to be a five-​​house subdivision. It was the perfect location for this experimental structure to inhabit. He acquired the land and reunited the five plots as one rural preserve. Steven Holl Architects went to work on formalizing the plan and the house, a 918 ft2 guest house, was built. See the above video for a detailed account of this work from the architect.

Steven Holl Architects, Ex of IN House, T2 Rhinebeck. Photograph courtesy of Steven Holl Architects.

While the Ex of IN house could develop in this free-form way and be a stand-alone piece in the middle of the woods, Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre in London, England, had to fulfill a clear and important purpose. And, as the existing hospital building of St. Bartholomew’s – Bart’s as it is called locally – from which the structure would extend is a long-standing and much-revered Georgian landmark, and one of the oldest hospitals in Europe, it was bound to be a challenge. At the initial stage of the project, the City of London’s planning committee rejected the proposal, but the team and their commissioner, Maggie’s Cancer Care Centres, persevered.

St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, 19th Century view of the north wing from the hospital square.

The original Bart’s and nearby Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great, was founded in 1123 by Rahere, an Anglo-Norman priest of the Augustinian Order who, having fallen ill on a pilgrimage to Rome, had a vision of St. Bartholomew who directed him to establish a religious hospital for the poor in his name. Bart’s continues to occupy the same site it was originally built on, surviving Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries of 1539, the 1666 Great Fire of London and the 1940/41 WWII blitz. But it has gone through changes over time; most of the original medieval buildings were demolished in the 1700s when the hospital was redesigned by James Gibbs in the Georgian style of the period – Gibbs’ design comprised four blocks around a square of which three survive today. Other buildings were added over time as the needs of the hospital grew. The most recent addition is Steven Holl’s 3-story design for Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre which replaces a dilapidated 1960s brick structure, formerly offices.

Study Model for Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre, London, 2015. Resin impregnated plaster 3D print, plywood, acrylic. Image courtesy of Steven Holl Architects.

Holl is very committed to the value of architecture on the human psyche – he likens it to music rather than painting as, like music, architecture surrounds you. He has said, “Architecture can change the way you feel – like music.” This is also the point of these particular Cancer Care Centres that are inspired by co-founder, the late Maggie Keswick-Jenks, in her search to find a new approach to cancer care. Her mission was to provide free practical, emotional and social support to sufferers and, as importantly, to their families and friends. Maggie’s Barts, as it is called for short, is the latest of many such facilities that have been built since the first one in Edinburgh in 1996, and many have employed star architects. For Maggie’s Barts, Holl was very conscious of the twin needs of the building: to provide a safe and therapeutic environment for the visitors to the facility and to be sympathetic to the existing structures and honor the history of the place itself. Holl has said about this project: “To really respect the authenticity of the historic architecture, you must make an authentically new piece.” And this is what he has done.

Study for the glass design for Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre. Watercolor on paper, 5” x 7”. Image courtesy Steven Holl Architects.

His design makes no attempt to echo the existing architecture but to contrast it. The exterior is clad in two layers of matte white glass with squares and rectangles of colored glass sandwiched between them creating a diffused watercolor or alabaster effect. The composition of the colored glass fragments harks to 13th century neume (music) notation, such as that found in Gregorian chant, to songs that may once have been sung in the old Church of St. Bartholomew’s the Great.

Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre at St. Barts. Use of image courtesy Steven Holl Architects. Photograph by Iwan Baan.

There are eleven projects on display at the exhibition. If you go, and I hope you do, I recommend watching the video, which is at the back of the gallery, first. It is also possible to visit the T Spaces in Rhinebeck and schedule a tour. See Steven Holl Architects website – link below.

Featured Image: Steven Holl Architects. “Study Model for Arrival Hall and Light Monitors,” Detail — 2017. Resin impregnated plaster 3D print, white paint, colored acrylic. Taiwan Chinpaosan Necropolis, Taipei, Taiwan.

Use of images are courtesy of Steven Holl Architects. Except where it says otherwise, photographs are by the author.

To learn more about Steven Holl or make an appointment to visit T Space, go to: stevenholl.com

The Samuel Dorsky Museum is part of the State University of New York .
SUNY New Paltz, 1 Hawk Drive, New Paltz, NY 12561
For more information, call: 845.257.3844 or email: sdma@newpaltz.edu
Visit the website HERE:

Claire Lambe is an Irish born painter whose works have been exhibited on both sides of the Atlantic; she is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and holds an MFA in painting from the City University of New York. Writing credits include contributing author to Teen Life in Europe (part of the Teen Life Around The World series), and articles and reviews for this publication. Claire Lambe’s art work can be seen here: