2009 Press

Information and downloadable images related to upcoming events and Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild classes and programs. Media are invited to download text and/or images for use in print and electronic publications. For past press information: 2009 Press Archive, 2008 Press Archive, 2007 Press Archive or 2006 Press Archive. For more information, contact Carla T. Smith Executive Director, carlasmith[at]hvc.rr.com or call, [845] 679-2079.

Press for 2010

Press information for upcoming events will be added soon!

Various 2008

The Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild announces an endowed fellowship funded by the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation for a visual artist. The first Avery Fellowship will be awarded for the 2009 Byrdcliffe Artist-in-Residence Program at the Villetta Inn in the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony.

The Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation Fellowship join a growing list of fellowship opportunities at Byrdcliffe. The first Fellowship in the name of William R. Ginsberg, a former member of our Board, was awarded in 2008. For the past two summers, the Byrdcliffe Artist in Residence Program has been the proud recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Fellowships and the special Byrdcliffe Master Artist Program. In 2007 the first Bernard and Shirley Handel Playwright Fellowship was awarded. March 2, 2009 is the application deadline for the Byrdcliffe AIR Program. For more information please log onto www.woodstockguild.org/artist_in_residence/.

The Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, has been a long-time donor for our education programs and, more recently, the Byrdcliffe Arts in Residency Program. Executive Director, Carla Smith, upon learning of the Fellowship stated, "To have the recognition of the Avery name for a Fellowship for the Byrdcliffe Artists in Residence Program is a dream come true." She continued, "In the 1950's, the Avery family spent time in Byrdcliffe at our Eastover Cottage so I'm very pleased to welcome the Avery family back to Byrdcliffe!”

The Byrdcliffe Artist-in-Residence Program, over twenty years old, offers writers, visual artists and composers one-month residencies from June through September. Our goal is to provide solitude in community and undisturbed time in which to concentrate on independent, creative work in company of follow artists. Artists stay at the Villetta Inn, a 1903 Arts and Crafts building, originally opened in 1903 to house students at the Byrdcliffe Art Colony's Art School.

Milton Avery’s (1893-1965) work is seminal to American abstract painting. Avery was often thought of as an American Matisse, especially because of his colorful and innovative landscape paintings. His poetic, bold and creative use of drawing and color set him apart from more conventional painting of his era. In 1924, Milton Avery met Sally Michel, a young art student, and in 1926 they married.

For several years in the late 1920s through the late 1930s Avery practiced painting and drawing at the Art Students League of New York. Roy Neuberger saw his work and thought he deserved recognition. Determined to get the world to know and respect Avery's work, Neuberger bought over 100 of his paintings, starting with Gaspé Landscape, and lent or donated them to museums all over the world. With the work of Milton Avery rotating through high-profile museums, he came to be a highly respected and successful painter. In the 1930s he was befriended by Adolph Gottlieb and Mark Rothko among many other artists living in New York City in the 1930s-40s. Avery was a man of few words. "Why talk when you can paint?" he often quipped to his wife. Their daughter, March Avery, is also a painter. After his death in 1965, his widow, Sally Avery, donated the artist's personal papers to the Archives of American Art, a research center of the Smithsonian Institution. In 2007, the Archives optically scanned these papers and made them available to researchers as the Milton Avery Papers Online. Milton and Sally Avery are buried in Artists Cemetery in Woodstock

In 2008, the $14,000 Pollock/Krasner Foundation grant funded five visual artists, the Byrdcliffe Master Artist, painter Jake Berthot and his accompanying public lecture. Jake Berthot, teaches at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and lives upstate (see: www.bettycuninghamgallery.com). During the 2008 AIR Program he worked with the “Pollock-Krasner Fellows” during their July residency giving them advice, guidance and critiques. The Byrdcliffe Master Program was created during the summer of 2007, with a $10,000 grant from The Pollock-Krasner Foundation for four visual arts fellowship recipients. Recipients worked with our first Byrdcliffe Master, former Byrdcliffe resident and current Woodstock resident, Devorah Sperber. Devorah is recognized worldwide for her innovative thread installations. The K/J Arts Center presented “Devorah Sperber: Flashback“, from August 2 through September 7, 2008.

The Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild also recently received a bequest from former Board member and environmental lawyer, William R. Ginsberg (1930 - 2006). Part of his bequest established the William R. Ginsberg Byrdcliffe Visual Artist Fellowship and was awarded this past summer. Establishing this Fellowship reflected Bill’s undergraduate interest as an artist which was little known. As a member of the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, he proudly entered his work in one of our annual Members' Exhibitions. The Board is deeply pleased to honor Bill’s contributions and legacy to the WBG with this named Byrdcliffe Fellowship.

Continuing its third year, the Bernard and Shirley Handel Playwrighting Fellowship will be awarded to a playwright selected by a panel of peers. Playwrights are obliged to fill out a separate application available on our Artist in Residence website.

The Byrdcliffe Art Colony, a National Register Site, was founded by Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead to establish an environment in which artists could return to making works by hand while inspired by their natural surroundings. Over 30 buildings still remain of the original 40. Today, Byrdcliffe cottages, its Barn and Theatre (originally the Byrdcliffe School of Art) are a haven for artists and their work. The founder's home, White Pines, an exquisite example of Arts and Craft architecture, serves an interpretation center for the history of Byrdcliffe and is open May - October on Second Saturdays from 1-4pm. Byrdcliffe is open to the public for walking tours from sunrise to sunset throughout the year.

The Byrdcliffe Artist in Residence Program offers writers, visual artists and composers one-month residencies from June through September. The goal of the program is to provide solitude and undisturbed time for artists and writers to concentrate on independent, creative work while at the same time providing access to the company of fellow artists. Residents stay at the Villetta Inn, a 1903 Arts and Crafts building, originally opened in 1903 to house students at the Byrdcliffe Art Colony's Art School. The AIR began in 1991 and has served over 700 artists. The deadline annually is March 1.

The Byrdcliffe Master Artist Program was launched in 2007 with a generous grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation to enrich and enhance the arts experience of AIR residents. Each summer, a visual artist is selected based on his/her artistic credentials, ability to interact with colleagues in a casual setting and enjoy sharing their talent and expertise with the public. The Master Visual Artist conducts critique sessions sharing insights, offering guidance and professional expertise to each of the participating visual artist residents.

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