This weekend in the Catskills: several opening receptions, an Ice Harvest Festival, poetry, and more.

Hanford Mills Museum

Hanford Mills Museum is hosting its traditional Ice Harvest Festival this Saturday, February 7 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors ride in horse-drawn sleighs and help with the removal of big blocks of ice from a frozen mill pond. Ice cleats are being lent to those willing to walk on the frozen pond. Skilled ice carvers using antique tools remove the ice that is then being kept in an ice house similar to those used before refrigeration. The ice is used to make ice cream on the Independence Day in July.

Hanford Mills Museum is located in East Meredith, Delaware County, between Oneonta and Stamford along County Route 10. East Meredith grew as a rural, agricultural community, in and around the mill. Hanford Mills operated as a business from the 1840s to the 1960s. It became a museum in 1973 chartered by the New York State. There are sixteen buildings on the site, and around 50,000 objects and exhibits hosted in twelve buildings. In addition to themed workshops and lectures, the museum hosts several festivals a year, including the Ice Harvest Festival, which traditionally takes place the first Saturday in February. For more information, visit https://artinthecatskills.com/2015/02/03/featured-destination-hanford-mills-museum/.

Delaware County Historical Association

Delaware County Historical Association, located at Frisbee House in Delhi, is hosting a Quilting Workshop this Saturday, February 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Adults and children are welcome. Various machine and hand piecing techniques will be taught. Leslie Gray, the workshop leader, an experienced quilter and teacher, was inducted in the Catskill Mountain Quilters Hall of Fame in 2007.

Delaware County Historical Association (DCHA) was founded in 1945. It purchased the Frisbee House in the 1960s. DCHA runs two exhibit galleries, the archives, the research library, as well as a bookstore and a gift shop. The galleries, the bookstore and the gift shop are open year round. Other historic buildings in the Frisbee complex, such as an old schoolhouse and an old blacksmith shop, are open from Memorial Day to mid-October. For more information, visit http://www.watershedpost.com/sponsored/2015/delaware-county-historical-association-offer-quilting-worksh.

Woodstock Artists Association and Museum

Woodstock Artists Association and Museum (WAAM) is hosting an opening reception this Saturday, February 7 from 4 to 6 p.m. showing new works completed by members over the past six months. The show is curated by Nancy Donskoj, owner of the Store Front Gallery in Kingston. Close to fifty artists are featured in this show, including Joan Barker, Nancy Campbell, Mary Katz, Anthony Margiotta, Wilma Miller, and many others.

Founded in 1919, Woodstock Artists Association and Museum (WAAM) supports and showcases the works of local artists. Since 1973 the museum has maintained a permanent collection of the most important paintings, sculptures, prints, photographs, and other decorative objects that were created in the area. Highlights from this collection can be seen online at the Hudson River Valley Heritage’s website http://www.hrvh.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/hvvacc.  Selected works are shown to the public through periodic exhibitions. A catalogue of over five hundred pieces called Woodstock’s Art Heritage: The Permanent Collection of the Woodstock Artists Association was published in 1987.

The museum is open year round. In addition to its main gallery, which hosts group exhibitions, and the middle gallery, for solo artists, the museum has space devoted to children and student artists. For more information visit http://myemail.constantcontact.com/New-Shows-Opening-this-Saturday–February-7.html?soid=1101793785598&aid=4zxUUePE8tg.

The Center for Photography at Woodstock

The Center for Photography at Woodstock is also hosting an opening reception this Saturday, February 7 from 5 to 7 p.m. Birds of a Feather exhibit features works by artist Claire Rosen portraying exotic birds captured outside their natural habitat. Various bird poses are used to mimic human gestures in an anthropomorphic attempt.

The Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW) was founded in 1977 to exhibit and support photographic art. CPW hosts exhibitions, and offers workshops and residencies to artists interested in photography. The center also publishes its own quarterly journal called Photography Quarterly (PQ), launched in 1979, and organizes a monthly salon for photographers. The salon is held on the second Tuesday of the month. Since 1980 CPW has maintained an extensive print collection, currently on loan to the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz.

For more information, visit http://www.cpw.org/upcoming/pr-claire-rosen/.

Glaring Omissions Writers’ Group

Glaring Omissions Writers’ Group in Woodstock is hosting an Evening of Art and Poetry this Sunday, February 8 at 4 p.m. at the Golden Notebook Bookstore on Tinker Street. Poet Nicole Cooley will read from her works, and from a book by Salem Lessons illustrated by artist Maureen Cummins.

The Glaring Omissions Writers’ Group was founded in 1990 by professional writers living in the Hudson Valley area. The group meets regularly, and provides critique and support for its members. Once a month it organizes public readings and other events.

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/589113721232058/?ref=3&ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular.

Enjoy a fabulous weekend in the Catskills!

© 2015 Simona David