The Woodstock School of Art instructors are currently showing their work at the Lockwood Gallery on Route 28A; this is a special exhibition to benefit the school and is on view through December 30th, 2021. The Woodstock School of Art (WSA) is a not-for-profit, 501©3, largely dependent on student fees for its survival and it, like so many other organizations, has suffered from being closed during the Pandemic – 25% of the proceeds from the paintings in the exhibition will go to the school. And it is, of course, an opportunity to see artworks by some of Ulster County’s preeminent artists and art educators.
From left: Lois Woolley: “Study for a Portrait;” Malgorzata Oakes: “Unceasing Birkenstocks” and “Unceasing;” Melanie Delgado: “Coyote Calm.”
Included in the show are Karen O’Neil’s still life August Late Afternoon Light; the bravura of Kate McGloughlin in A Heart at Sea II; Patty Mooney’s elegant wood sculpture Staff. There are some fine landscapes by, among others, Bruce Bundock, ES DeSanna, Christie Scheele, Hongnian Zhang, and John A. Varriano. The figure is represented by Lois Woolley and Claire Lambe – Woolley’s in a suite of oil sketches of three young people, each work deftly capturing a different aspect of the human condition of youth. Also there are some excellent abstracts including from Jenne M. Currie, Donald Elder, Jenny Nelson, and Meredith Rosiér. Last but not least, work from the print studio includes an extraordinary lithograph inked in green by Ron Netsky, a striking Karen Whitman linoleum cut, experimental silkscreen by Malgorzata Oakes, and more. All of this curator, Alan Goolman, must – as I write — knit together into a coherent exhibition.
John A. Varriano, “Evening Light,” oil on canvas. 18” x 30”
WSA is part of the fabric of Woodstock – dating back to 1906, it has its roots in the Art Students League of New York (ASL). Attracted by the fresh current of artistic innovation at the newly founded Byrdcliffe Artists’ Colony for which Woodstock was gaining a reputation, the ASL established a summer school that year in the building on Tinker Street that now serves as the Christian Science Reading Room – ASL held classes there through 1922. The lovely stone buildings at 2470 Route 212 with which many of us are familiar today were begun in 1939. They were commissioned as a school for arts and crafts under the National Youth Administration (NYA), one of the programs in FDR’s New Deal. The NYA program ended after World War II, and the ASL returned to Woodstock in 1947 and leased the campus to once again host their summer school.
Karen Whitman, “Rooftop Rhythms.” Linoleum Cut. 18.5” x 23.5”
In 1968, four artists affiliated with the League — Franklin Alexander, Robert Angeloch, Lon Clark, and Wallace (Jerry) Jerominek — established the Woodstock School of Art (WSA) and, in 1980, incorporated as a not-for-profit.
Bruce Bundock, “Octaparagon Nature Preserve.” 12” x 12”
Today, the WSA holds classes throughout the year in newly renovated and climate-controlled studios, including a new state-of-the-art print studio overseen by the always intrepid Kate McLoughlin. The print studio is particularly deserving of a mention as among those early teachers at the school was Bolton Brown, a master lithographer; Brown was also the person responsible for the Byrdcliffe Artists’ Colony being located in the Catskills instead of the Carolinas, the first choice of founders Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead and Jane Byrd McCall and, consequently, the WSA being established in Woodstock too. In 1900 Brown, a keen hiker and mountaineer, spied Woodstock from Overlook Mountain and persuaded Whitehead and Byrd McCall that this valley was the perfect location for the Arts & Crafts colony they planned to create. How Bolton Brown would have enjoyed making lithographs in the beautiful airy print studio that is, arguably, his legacy!
Patty Mooney, “Staff.” Mahogany and plaster, 90” x 4” x 5”
Christie Scheele, “Sundrenched.” Oil on canvas, 40” x 40”
The exhibition will be open from November 20, 2021 through December 30, 2021 and will be available for viewing both online on the gallery website, and in person. For in-person visits, the Lockwood Gallery is open Thurs-Sun 11am-6pm. It is located at 747 NY-28, Kingston, NY 12401.
The exhibiting artists are Bruce Bundock, Peter Clapper, Jenne M. Currie, Melanie Delgado, ES Desanna, Staats Fastold, Joan Ffolliott, Mary Anna Goetz, Tor Gudmundsen, Wendy Hollender, Claire Lambe, Polly M. Law, Lisa Mackie, Kate McGloughlin, Wayne Montecalvo, Patty Mooney, Jenny Nelson, Ron Netsky, Malgorzata Oakes, Karen O’Neil, Jeanne Bouza Rose, Meredith Rosiér, Christie Scheele, Murial Stallworth, John A. Varriano, Karen Whitman, Marlene Wiedenbaum, Lois Woolley, Hongnian Zhang.
Featured Image: Karen O’Neil. “August Late Afternoon Light.” Oil on canvas, 16” x 16”