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Here is a quick summary of some of the unique exhibits on display in the northern Adirondacks right now. They would be great for a family “rainy day” outing or a good reason for a road trip when the black flies are too fierce to be outdoors. The descriptions are brief, but there are many hidden gems among these various offerings and they are well worth seeing.
BluSeed Studios, in Saranac Lake, is featuring the work of artist Dave Fadden. Indigenous Reflection is a powerful exhibit of mostly figurative paintings, in a unique contemporary mosaic style, that do reflect upon and address past and present issues impacting Native Americans. The Gallery is open 2-6 pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays and by appointment. Sponsored by the Adirondack Diversity Institute, there will be a closing reception and artist conversation on June 25, from 5 – 7 pm. BluSeedStudios.org, 518-891-3799, admin@bluseedstudios.org
Saranac Lake ArtWorks announces a convergence of Adirondack “arts” on Friday August 13th: Literary, Fine Art, & Music. BluSeed Studios starts the night with a book reading by Christopher Shaw at 6 pm. (
A year into this pandemic, and many small businesses are struggling with how to safely stay in business. Our area artists and galleries are no exception. Fortunately, we have the largest “canvas” in the world available to us – the internet!
The Adirondack Artists Guild, in partnership with the Adirondack Center for Writing, presents Responding II – 2020 as its featured exhibit in September, running from Sept. 4-29.
This is the tale of a good Adirondack story, which is all true, but I had to make up a picture to illustrate it! I am an artist who loves to paint wild Adirondack landscapes, and sometimes a few of the Rocky Mountains too. A man was referred to me, who wanted someone to do a painting of a special Adirondack location for him.
Saranac Lake ArtWorks has announced their 4th Annual “Paint-Out” at the Paul Smith’s VIC has been set to run from September 1st to 8th, 2018. Like the Adirondack Plein Air Festival, which just concluded, the “Paint-Out” focuses on painting the Adirondack environment, which includes people and buildings and activities and wildlife as well as the landscape itself.
Who organizes a major event, without ever having taken part in a similar one? An artist would…. we create new things on a blank canvas all the time! I heard about something called Plein Air Festivals over 10 years ago and one day had a brainstorm. It seemed that if you had a scenic location, you could set the dates, invite a bunch of artists, give them a couple days to paint and then hold an exhibit. So without ever having participated in one, I organized the first Adirondack Plein Air Fesitval in Saranac Lake in August 2009.
The first time I went up Azure Mountain, it was because I’d read about it in a trail guide – it was only a mile hike so I thought it would be pretty easy. The trail started out very gradually, passing a small clearing with an old stone fire place and a picnic table. (I would later learn that’s where the fire observer’s cabin was located.) But after that, the trail became steep. Only a few switchbacks, then practically straight up the mountain – a 900+ foot elevation gain in a pretty short distance. On one stretch there were even a couple of bare poles, leaning at rakish angles, with insulators on the top. (They once held the telephone wire that went up to the fire tower). 
I painted the eclipse of August 21, 2017. No, not a solid black background with an orange disk with a bite taken out of it. I went out to a favorite painting location and I painted the effects of the eclipse on the Adirondack landscape!
You’ve probably been to fund-raising events where artwork has been donated. This is a tradition that many artists feel is an important way to show their support for an organization or cause. Sometimes art is also used as a publicity tool, with pieces created specifically for a purpose or cause. Many historians have credited Frederick Church, and other 19th century artists, with helping promote the creation of the National Park system, through their paintings of places like Yellowstone and Yosemite. Hudson River School painters shared with the world the beauty of the Adirondack and Catskill regions.
Remember playing with chalk on the sidewalk? Well, if you want to see the very opposite of that, head over to the 
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Reflections on transitions, Eastern white pines, and fallen giants
“Transitions” is the title given to my featured artist exhibit at the Adirondack Artists Guild Gallery in Saranac Lake. It will be up for the month of July. I’d like to share the story behind 3 of my pieces in the show – and invite readers to come see them. As I get close to the end of my 8th decade, I find myself thinking about the changes I’ve lived through. Major changes in our world (the internet, hurricanes, insurrections) certainly happen and have positive and negative outcomes, but I find myself observing and thinking more about those changes, transitions, that occur in my own small sphere of existence.
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