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2009 Press |
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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. |
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JuneAhoy! Where Lies Henry Hudson?Byrdcliffe Outdoor Sculpture Show 2009Exhibition Dates: June 13 – October 12, 2009
The Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild kicks off a season-long series of events celebrating the 400th anniversary of the exploration of the Hudson River with an opening reception for “Ahoy! Where Lies Henry Hudson?” a major outdoor exhibition of Henry Hudson memorials designed by area architects, on Saturday, June 13, 4-7 pm at The Villetta Inn, 3 Upper Byrdcliffe Way. Curated by Linda Weintraub, the exhibition is an original and thought-provoking contribution to the state-wide Quadricentennial of Hudson’s explorations of the river that bears his name. The site-specific memorials have been installed outdoors on the grounds of the historic Byrdcliffe Arts Colony in Woodstock, NY and will be on view from June 13 – October 12, 2009. The multi-faceted opening reception will feature favorite area performers in a sea shanty marathon and sing-along. T.G. Vanini, Julie Parisi, Bob Lusk, Rich Bala and Mikhail Horowitz and Gilles Malkine will sing traditional and more contemporary songs about the river, including a hip-hop version of Washington Irving’s classic tale “Rip van Winkle” by Horowitz & Malkine. Visitors will be invited to explore the memorial installations, meet the architects, nibble on sea biscuits and sing along with the spirits of Henry Hudson and his sailors. The exhibition continues through October 12, during which time, the WBG will feature a monthly events to commemorate the Quadricentennial.
Byron Bell and Les Walker, "The Magnificent Adventure of Henry Hudson" Exhibition curator, Linda Weintraub is a writer, curator, educator and artist. She is the author of a series of college textbooks entitled: Avant-Guardians: Textlets in Art and Ecology. She has curated over fifty-five exhibitions nationally and internationally. She received her Masters of Fine Arts degree from Rutgers University. Weintraub comments that the project is unique, imaginative and local, “…never before have regional architects been featured in a major exhibition. The installations take their inspiration from the site and the historic occasion. The results utilize unusual materials, original designs, and unconventional construction methods. As residents of the Hudson Valley, the participants are responding to this historic occasion in manners that are personal as well as accomplished and informed.” Henry Hudson is celebrated as a hero, but his life ended in failure. His crew mutinied and set him adrift to die in the icy waters of Hudson Bay. As a result, he never received a formal burial. The memorials in this exhibition are designed and constructed by distinguished regional architects. They interpret the significance of Hudson’s historic journey within the context of 400 years of European occupation.
Matt Bua, "The Henry Hudson Mutiny Memorial Drive–thru Kiosk" Participating architects are Tobias Armborst, Byron Bell, Matt Bialecki, Matt Bua, John Cetra, Solange Fabiao, Randy Gerner, Nicholas Goldsmith, Michael McDonough, Barry Price, Todd Rader and Amy Crews, Nancy Ruddy, Evan Stoller, Gisela Stromeyer and Les Walker Woodstock Guild Director: Carla Smith. Architectural coordinator: Alan Baer. Check out the AHOY website or download a PDF of the events!! intimate visionExhibition Dates: June 20 – July 26, 2009 intimate vision includes the work of five artists who share similar relationships to their environment. On a camera zoom, they would be at a mid&ndashclose distance ––not clinical magnification, not the grand view, but what one sees in a room, garden or a harbor. Even more than the special closeness between artist and subject, “intimate” refers to an emotional state. It is a slow look, quiet, with a sense of incipient magic&ndash&ndashan enhanced awareness of the “beingness” of the objects of vision, and thus of oneself. Jamie Bennett makes jewelry (enamels), watercolors and drawings. He is more interested in the human interpretation of nature than in a direct relationship with nature itself. His style has evolved from the use of the vocabulary of the history of ornamentation into a freer, more personally expressive one. Jamie Bennett is a Professor of Art in the Metal Program at the State University at New Paltz. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is in the permanent collections of over twenty museums, among them the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. He currently has a traveling retrospective of his work, Jamie Bennett, Edge of the Sublime, which will be exhibited in six museums around the country through 2010.
Jamie Bennett Katherine Bradford's paintings are poetic and oddly subversive works done from her imagination. They hint at a story, but never literally reveal it. Done in a loose buildup of dabs and veils of paint, Bradford’s work has a child&ndashlike directness. For many years an abstract painter, she now uses figuration, often nautical subject matter. She shows at Edward Thorp Gallery in New York City and nationally.
Katherine Bradford Lynn Dreese Breslin connects past and present in her work. She paints from old photographs of childhood rooms. Simple points of view and focus on essential, distilled elements creates an emotionally charged space, resonant with a sense of absent persons. The work is imbued with a feeling of loss and longing. Lynn Dreese Breslin has shown widely in the Hudson Valley.
Lynn Dreese Breslin Allen Bryan's photographs in this show are part of a series titled "Comforts of Home" in which the viewer can walk voyeuristically through disquieting panoramas. Space is altered; interiors intrude into exteriors through windows or doors left carelessly ajar. A phantom occupant and actions are implied. These places are digitally constructed from Bryan’s own slides and digital images. Mixed lenses and lighting contribute to a questioning of reality. Allen Bryan has shown throughout New York State. His work is in the collection of the Samuel Dorsky Museum in New Paltz.
Allen Bryan Ruth Leonard’s paintings are a hybrid of observation, interpretation and discovery. She draws from the landscape, bits of nature, (usually her own garden), man&ndashmade trinkets and still life settings. The drawings then become the basis for paintings which have an unearthly beauty. In a muted, foggy background garden plants seem to grow and twist before one’s eyes&ndash&ndashtheir colors glowing eerily in an atmospheric greyness. By eliminating any deep space, this fog creates an intimate world which is inhabited only by plants and viewer. Ruth Leonard has exhibited in New york city, the Hudson Valley and will have a solo exhibition in July at Nicole Fiacco Gallery, Hudson, NY.
Ruth Leonard Curated by Stella Chasteen and Carol March. JulyGuided Walking Tour of Byrdcliffe Arts ColonyA Second Saturdays Event!Date: Saturday, July 11, 2009
Join Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild Executive Director, Carla T. Smith, for a guided walking tour of America’s oldest continuing Arts & Crafts Colony. The Byrdcliffe Arts Colony sits on 300 wooded acres on Mount Guardian just outside the hamlet of Woodstock, NY and is comprised of 30 unique, picturesque buildings on country pathways. The highlight of the tour is White Pines, the 7,000 square foot Arts & Crafts style 1903 home of the Whitehead family, founders of the colony. White Pines is the quintessential example of the Byrdcliffe Arts and Crafts Style based on the value of hand craftsmanship living in harmony with nature. White Pines is only open to the public on special occasions and for the guided walking tour. 18th Annual Woodstock Beat with The Paul Winter ConsortBenefit for the Woodstock Byrdcliffe GuildDate: Saturday, July 11, 2009 "The Paul Winter Consort's profound involvement with environmental issues has given its music an almost Emersonian aura and purity of purpose." - Jazz Time The Woodstock Chimes Fund is proud to present the 18th Annual Woodstock Beat – “A Celebration of the Earth”, with the six time Grammy Award winning Paul Winter Consort. The concert is a benefit for the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild and will be held at The Maverick Concert Hall, 120 Maverick Road, Woodstock, NY, Saturday, July 11 at 8 pm. Ticket prices are: $100 – includes front row seating and pre-private party with Paul Winter; $70/$50 reserved seating; $30 outside under tent. Grammy Award-winning saxophonist, bandleader, and composer Paul Winter will be joined by an array of outstanding musicians from different musical backgrounds including, Eugene Friesen, cello; Jeffrey Holmes, piano; Steve Gorn, bansuri (Indian flute); and Satoshi Takeishi, percussion. The theme of the show is “A Celebration of the Earth”. Paul Winter’s unique "Earth Music" has developed over the past thirty-eight years, as the Consort performed in over 2,000 concerts in major concert halls of the Americas, Europe, and Asia, as well as cathedrals such as Washington's National Cathedral, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, and New York's St. John the Divine, where they are artists in residence. Winter has also performed in such places as the White House, the Grand Canyon, the Negev Desert in Israel, and the palace of the Crown Prince of Japan.
Explorer of the world's musical traditions, Paul Winter has created an award-winning body of work that transcends categories, reflecting his wide-ranging experiences in the musical traditions and natural environments of the earth. Winter's musical realm has long embraced the traditions of many world cultures, interweaving widely diverse instruments and elements with the extraordinary voices from what he refers to as "the greater symphony of the earth," including wolves, whales, eagles, and several dozen other species of 'wilderness musicians.' Winter is the winner of six Grammy Awards; his concert tours and recording expeditions have taken him to thirty-seven countries and to wilderness areas on six continents, into which he has traveled on rafts, mules, dog sleds, horses, kayaks, sailboats, steamers, tugboats, and Land Rovers. Eugene Friesen has been the cellist with the Paul Winter Consort for 29 years. A graduate of the Yale School of Music, Eugene has produced two recent albums: In the Shade of Angels and Sono Miho. Since 1992, he has also been a member of Trio Globo, which he founded with Glen Velez and Howard Levy. Eugene is on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music. Jeffrey W. Holmes, Professor of Music and Director of Jazz and African-American studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. A nationally published and commissioned composer/arranger, he held the position of Visiting Professor of Music/Jazz Studies at Hunter College in New York City from 1994-1996, during which time he led his own New York big band. Mr. Holmes is a member of the 11 piece Solid Brass ensemble, and has performed on trumpet and/or piano with a vast array of top jazz and popular and classical artists. He still leads his big band and plays drums in the Amherst Jazz Orchestra. Recent recording projects include CD’s with Solid Brass and the New England Jazz Ensemble as trumpeter/arranger. Steve Gorn is a flautist and saxophone player. Gorn has performed Indian classical music, jazz and new American music on the bansuri bamboo flute and soprano saxophone in concerts and festivals throughout the world. A disciple of the late bansuri master, Sri Gour Goswami of Calcutta, he has been praised by critics and leading Indian musicians as one of the few westerners recognized to have captured the subtlety and beauty of Indian music. He has also composed numerous works for theater, dance and television and has recorded and performed with a wide range of artists including Paul Simon, Tony Levin, Jack DeJohnette, Glen Velez, Karl Berger, Alessandra Belloni, Layne Redmond, Simon Shaheen and Mike Karn. Satoshi Takeishi, drummer, percussionist, and arranger is a native of Mito, Japan. In 1981 he came to the U.S. to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He later moved to Colombia, South America to study Latin-American music and worked with Francisco Zumaque and the Bogota Symphony Orchestra while in South America. Subsequently, Satoshi moved to New York City and began his sideman career working as a drummer and percussionist. Satoshi’s Latin-American studies have proved fruitful and he has been drumming for some of the best Latin musicians including Nestor Torres and Ray Barretto. The 18th Annual Woodstock Beat is sponsored by: Woodstock Chimes, established in 1979 by Garry and Diane Kvistad, Woodstock Chimes offers a unique variety of high quality, affordable musical gifts from around the world that inspire, entertain and bring pleasure to people of all ages; Markertek.com, "America’s #1 supply house for broadcast and pro-audio technology;" with additional support from Precision Flow Technologies. Major Sponsors:
Additional Support:
Byrdcliffe Afternoons at White Pines, Lecture TwoHeidi Nasstraum Evans, “Live in the Country with Faith: Jane and Ralph Whitehead and the Simple Life”Date: Sunday, July 12, 2009 Tickets for Members:Tickets for Non-Members:The second event in the three-part Byrdcliffe Afternoons Series will be held on Sunday, July 12 at 2 pm in White Pines, the 1903 Arts & Crafts style home of Byrdcliffe Arts Colony Founders, Jane and Ralph Whitehead. Byrdcliffe Afternoons at White Pines is funded by a generous grant from the New York Council for the Humanities. General admission is $15 and $10 for WBG members. Call 845-679-2079 for reservations and directions. Guest lecturer, Heidi Nasstrom Evans will present, “Live in the Country with Faith: Jane and Ralph Whitehead and the Simple Life”. This talk traces Jane Whitehead’s life from her early days in high society through her marriage to Ralph Whitehead and their ongoing commitment to the simple life from 1891–1930.
Jane Byrd McCall Whitehead, 1878 Heidi Nasstrom Evans moved to the Woodstock area in 1971, when her family went “Back to Nature,” as the cultural moment is remembered. Determined to stay connected to the place after relocating to Washington, DC, Nasstrom Evans decided to write her doctoral dissertation on a Woodstock related topic. Her choice of Jane Byrd McCall Whitehead proved auspicious. In addition to satisfying her wish to write about the Woodstock area, it helped explain her childhood. The “Back to Nature” movement that brought her parents to the Catskills in the 1970’s was the direct descendent of the Simple Life Movement, which inspired Jane and Ralph Whitehead to build Byrdcliffe in 1903. Nasstrom Evans earned a Ph.D. in 2008 after completing her dissertation “’Live in the Country with Faith’: Jane and Ralph Whitehead, the Simple Life Movement, and Arts and Crafts in the United States, England and on the Continent, 1870-1930.” Her essay “Jane Byrd McCall Whitehead: Cofounder of the Byrdcliffe Art School,” was featured in the award winning exhibition catalog Byrdcliffe: An American Arts and Crafts Colony organized by the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University. At the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens, Nasstrom Evans curated an exhibition titled “Jane Byrd McCall Whitehead’s Idealized Visions about Simple Living and Arts and Crafts.” Byrdcliffe Afternoons, originally conceived as a scholarly lecture and discussion series in the 1930’s at the Byrdcliffe Theater, has returned to White Pines. Byrdcliffe Afternoons began in the summer of 1938, long after the death of Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead, whose vision it was to found a spot dedicated to the life of the spirit and appreciation of things of beauty. Many of the original lectures were published and today, one can still find copies of Byrdcliffe Afternoons on eBay and in used book stores. Byrdcliffe Afternoons is funded with a generous grant from the:
Byrdcliffe Master Artist, Gregory AmenoffSlide Lecture at Kleinert/JamesDate: Saturday, July 18, 2009 The Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild is pleased to announce that painter, Gregory Amenoff, will present a lecture in conjunction with his role as the 2009 Pollock-Krasner Byrdcliffe Master Artist at the Byrdcliffe Artist-in-Residence (AIR) Program. This event is made possible with a generous grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. As the Byrdcliffe Master Artist, Mr. Amenoff is working with five Pollock-Krasner Byrdcliffe Visual Artist Fellows who were juried by a special pool. Gregory Amenoff (b. 1948) is a painter who lives in New York City and Ulster County, New York. He is the recipient of numerous awards from organizations including the American Academy of Arts and Letters, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts and Tiffany Foundation. He has had over fifty one-person exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the United States and Europe. His work is in the permanent collections of more than thirty museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He served as President of the National Academy of Design from 2001-2005. He serves on the Board of Directors of the CUE Art Foundation and as the CUE Art Foundation's Curator Governor. Amenoff has taught at Columbia for the last fifteen years, where he holds the Eve and Herman Gelman Chair of Visual Arts and is currently the Chair of the Visual Arts Division.
Solstice, 2002-2004, Oil on canvas, 104 1/2" x 87 1/2" 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. VariousByrdcliffe Artist-in-Residence Program receives Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation GrantThe 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. 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 website at www.woodstockguild.org. 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. |
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