BLINK GALLERY, 454 Lower Main Street, Andes, New York 13731
Author Simona David will talk about her latest book How Art Is Made: In the Catskills (2017), and provide insights into a long-standing tradition that dates back to the days of Thomas Cole and Frederic Edwin Church.
How Art Is Made: In the Catskills pays homage to the place where American art was born through a series of conversations with creatives who live and work in the Catskills.
The book explores various artistic choices, what inspires and moves the artists, what draws them to their discipline, what materials they use, how they approach a new artistic project, how they deal with setbacks, and how they celebrate success.
Artists featured in the book include sculptor Brian Tolle, known for The Irish Hunger Memorial in Battery Park City (2002), and more recently for Miss Brooklyn and Miss Manhattan, two replicas of Daniel Chester French originals that sit on the façade of the Brooklyn Museum – Tolle’s replicas were installed on Flatbush Avenue by the Manhattan Bridge in December 2016. Like many contemporary artists, Tolle maintains a studio and works in the Catskill Mountains.
BLINK GALLERY celebrates the creative spirit that resides within all artists with a focus on women artists. Learn more about the gallery’s mission at http://blinkandes.com/.
Launched in 2012, AMR Open Studios Tour has grown into a major art destination, forging new and unexpected connections between artists, and their patrons from near and far. Given its success in previous years, in 2017 AMR – Artists Making aRt ™ – Open Studios Tours is expanding to include some 41 artists on a map that spreads from Margaretville and Roxbury to Stamford and Delhi. The tours take place on two different weekends: Saturday and Sunday, July 8 – 9 in Stamford-Delhi art community, and Saturday and Sunday, July 29-30 in Margaretville-Roxbury art community.
This weekend, Saturday and Sunday, July 8–9, from 11 am to 5 pm 18 artists in Stamford, Hobart, South Kortright, and Delhi will open their studios to the public, and show their working spaces, as well as demonstrate some of their techniques. Located in a bucolic scenery, all these studios provide a unique experience for visitors to witness the creation of new works of art, and ask questions that only an intimate space like an artist studio would allow for.
Participating artists include ceramicist Solveig Comer, painters Susan Goetz, Robert Schneider, and Tracy Jacknow, stained glass artist Barry Jacknow, woodwork artist John Virga, as well as Tim Touhey, owner of The Gallery on Main Street in Stamford.
Ceramic Bowls by Solveig Comer. Contributed Photo.
Ceramicist Solveig Comer took art as a minor in college while majoring in mathematics. Her first pieces were more cerebral, and experimental objects rather than functional, but that changed over time. Asked about how mathematics might have influenced her work as a ceramicist, Solveig explained that mathematics does help her think things through and solve visual problems, and also figure out proportions when mixing glaze, and making choices on new decorative pieces. But overall mathematics plays a role more on the business rather than the creative side of her profession. Although Solveig has made all sorts of ceramics throughout her career, in recent years she has chosen to gravitate towards mugs, hence utilitarian art, which sells well. Every year the artist introduces new patterns, and explores new color palettes that enrich her collection.
Solveig’s studio is located at 10986 County Route 18 in South Kortright. This weekend she will be showing side by side earlier, less functional pieces, some of which have never been seen before, and more recent pieces which illustrate the transition towards utilitarian art. It will be interesting to see the artist’s evolution over time, and how her style and interests as a ceramicist have changed. Also at Solveig’s studio visitors will be seeing works by multi-media artist John Virga; John works in woodwork and graphic design, and in his own words “provides classic form and functional goods for the 21st century.” To learn more about Solveig’s studio, visit https://www.mostpreciouspottery.com.
Painter Tracy Jacknow was born in Brooklyn, and raised in Long Island in an artistic family. Growing up in a community of artists, actors, and retired vaudeville performers, she took art at an early age: “It was a childhood of inspiration and creativity,” she remembers. “My early experiences gave me exposure to a world of creative minds and alternative lifestyles.” In college Tracy spent some time in Siena, Italy, and later in life she and her husband Barry Jacknow, who is a stained glass artist, lived in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Their time in Mexico left a strong mark on both their artistic careers. Tracy works in various media: watercolor, oil, acrylic, and collage. But in all of them nature is a constant presence – her travels around the world with her family, the colors of the Catskill Mountains, and her own moods have all influenced her work. Although Tracy is in essence an abstract painter, her brushstroke and the use of light are reminiscent of Impressionism. Her website is http://www.tracy-art.com/.
Summer in Sweden by Tracy Jacknow. Contributed Photo.
Painter June Lanigan, Tracy’s mother, founded MURAL Gallery in Stamford in the 1980s; the family has had a long connection with the area – June went to school in Stamford, and later on moved to Long Island. Primarily a landscape painter, June continues to produce works at the age of 91. This weekend she will be showing alongside her daughter Tracy.
Watercolor by June Lanigan. Contributed Photo.
Barry Jacknow, Tracy’s husband, has been working in stained glass since the 1960s. His inspiration comes from the Art Deco movement, and the works of architect and designer Frank Lloyd Wright. In fact, this year marks the 150th anniversary of Wright’s birth – events are scheduled throughout the year to honor Wright’s legacy. Barry learned the stained glass art technique in New York City, but refined his style while living in Mexico. He has come to master the technique, but sometimes struggles with his design choices; that’s when his wife Tracy gets involved and helps with the process. Barry will be demonstrating some of his techniques this weekend during the open studios tour. He sums up humorously “I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like,” as the saying goes.
Art Deco Inspired Stained Glass by Barry Jacknow. Contributed Photo.
Tracy and Barry’s studios are located at 138 Layden Lane in Stamford.
For maps and more information, visit http://www.amropenstudios.org or www.facebook.com/amropenstudios/. As you drive around this weekend, look for the “OPEN STUDIO” signs and brochures with maps available for pick up at various business sponsors and community supporters.
The AMR – Artists Making aRt ™ – Open Studios Tour 2017, sponsored by MURAL Gallery in Stamford and participating artists, is made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) Decentralization Grant Program, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, administered in Delaware County by the Roxbury Arts Group (RAG), and additional funding from The A. Lindsay & Olive B. O’Connor Foundation.
The University at Albany’s Art Museum celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The Museum opened in October 1967 with an exhibition titled Painting and Sculpture from the Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection, which featured over fifty works by some of the most prominent artists of the 20th century: Picasso, Miro, Braque, Klee, de Kooning, and Calder, among others.
In 2015 the Museum hosted a retrospective show titled Bordering Utopia: Sculptures by Brian Tolle, dedicated to alumnus Brian Tolle, an internationally acclaimed sculptor known for The Irish Hunger Memorial in Battery Park City (2002), and more recently for Miss Brooklyn and Miss Manhattan, two replicas of Daniel Chester French originals that sit on the façade of the Brooklyn Museum – Tolle’s replicas were installed on Flatbush Avenue by the Manhattan Bridge in December last year. He is one of the artists featured in our book How Art Is Made: In the Catskills.
