View, a multi-arts center located in Old Forge, will host an opening reception for seven new exhibitions, including For the Birds, a national avian-themed exhibition, and six solo exhibitions. The reception, which is free and open to the public, will take place on Saturday, June 27, 2015 from 5 pm to 7 pm at View. Refreshments and light fare will be served.
The exhibitions include: » Continue Reading.
After our first trip in June 2001 to try to locate the painting location of Alexander Helwig Wyant’s “Flume of the Opalescent,” Catherine Minnery and I returned in July with more success.
We had the help of Steve Langdon, who at the time was the caretaker of the Interior Outpost at nearby Lake Colden, and who had been to the flume before.
We were also better prepared with rope to aid the descent into the flume and with fuller sets of art supplies for an entire day of drawing and painting. » Continue Reading.
There is a remarkable experiment on display in the gallery space of the Paul Smith’s College Visitors Interpretive Center (VIC). Twelve area photographers were invited to come out to the VIC between April 17 and 21 to capture images of the property. Then they had a couple of days to review their efforts, print, mat and frame them for this exhibit, which was hung on April 25.
The experiment was actually my idea. I absolutely love the challenges of plein air painting – hauling my paints and easel out to a view I like and spending a day creating a painting. I find it’s a wonderful way to totally immerse myself in that specific environment and put the rest of my life out of my mind for those enjoyable hours, not to mention the fresh air and (hopefully) sunshine. It’s like the difference between an impromptu talk and a rehearsed speech; you have to produce – right there – on the spot. » Continue Reading.
In my ongoing search for painting locations used by nineteenth-century artists in the Adirondacks, I have had some notable successes that have taught me about artistic choices made in the past as well as in my own work.
In one adventure, the title of the painting listed a geographic feature and I assumed that the location would be fairly easy to pinpoint. Instead I got my first lesson in the difference between what I could see on a large scale hiking map and what was there on the ground in the finer details. And so the “simple” search took two separate trips. » Continue Reading.
Stephanie Berube is a local artist, living in Thurman who studied art and art history at Hartwick College in Oneonta which happens to be near the Golden acrylic paint factory. Stephanie loves working with acrylic paints and as a student she took advantage of the Golden’s “Seconds Program” which offers paint that does not meet company standards at little or no cost to local artists.
While studying art, she became very excited about the ways in which new acrylics could be applied to her work. In particular Stephanie was fascinated with flow release, a concentrated surface-active liquid that allows her to control how the paint drips down the painting, pulling color along to create a look reminiscent of tie-dye. » Continue Reading.
This was going to be a post that announced some changes in the Adirondack Plein Air Festival and the fact that registration for the 2015 event opened on March 1. However, by noon on March 2, we had 50 artists registered and had reached our pre-determined limit. The 2015 Adirondack Plein Air Festival will be Aug 17 – 22 in Saranac Lake. Four days of outdoor painting and then a one day Show & Sale of the work produced over those four days.
I am amazed by this phenomenon. We all know the Adirondack Park is a scenic place. Artists in the past, like those of the Hudson River School in the mid 1800’s also recognized that. Six years ago I started the Adirondack Plein Air Festival in Saranac Lake for rather selfish reasons. » Continue Reading.
barVino on Main Street in North Creek will be showing original watercolors, pastels and oil paintings by Frances Gaffney during the month of March. A reception to meet the artist will be held on Friday, February 27, from 5 to 7 pm. Jeffrey Schanzer will be improvising on classical guitar.
During the summer of 2014, Frances served as Artist-in-Residence at the Adirondack Interpretive Center in Newcomb. The works displayed at barVino are a selection of pieces from the series about the nature of consciousness that were created during the residency. » Continue Reading.
If The Hyde Collection had ever hoped to mount an exhibition of the art of the Adirondacks, the result could not have been more comprehensive than the show that the Glens Falls museum is presenting through April 12th.
“Wild Nature: Masterworks from the Adirondack Museum,” as the title signifies, is composed solely of works within the permanent collection of the Adirondack Museum.
For those who have never visited the museum in Blue Mountain Lake, “Wild Nature” is an introduction both to master works of American art depicting the landscape of the Adirondacks and to the museum itself, which is closed in the off-season. » Continue Reading.
Strikingly beautiful photographs, expressive but realistic paintings of dinosaurs in lush green landscapes, a “Touch Table”, live music Sunday afternoons from 1 – 3, and 25 miles of groomed ski trails….. this is the Paul Smith’s College VIC.
It’s really pretty cool to be able to come to a place that offers so much. The current New Moon Art Exhibit consists of photographs by Jim Bullard, of Potsdam, and paintings by Meg Bernstein of Saranac Lake, where she is a member of the Adirondack Artists Guild Gallery. Both artists have a lifetime of experience behind them, but continue to explore, invent, and create new things. » Continue Reading.
I have been making art inspired by the Adirondacks since the early 1980s, shortly after moving to just outside the park in Saratoga Springs. Initially my subject matter arose out of family camping and hiking trips, an invitation from a friend, or just wandering by car or canoe as I looked for a vista or close-up scene with an interesting set of juxtapositions and a compelling light.
More recently I have taken another approach on some painting trips as I look for the locations used by nineteenth century artists who depicted the Adirondacks. When I look at the actual motifs that inspired another generation of artists I have a better understanding of the choices they made to enhance or alter details. And when I paint at their locations I understand how my choices differ from theirs. The explorations are a stimulus to my own creativity in new settings. » Continue Reading.
Three exhibits are coming up in the Saranac Lake area that will provide lots of visual enjoyment.
My own “What the Rocks Remember” and photographs by Karla Brieant, is the exhibit currently on display in the gallery space at the Paul Smith’s College VIC. There will be a “Meet the Artists” reception on Sunday, Nov 2, from 2 – 5 and the exhibit will be up through Nov 21.
I first met Karla nearly twenty years ago. We both were volunteering at the Paul Smith’s College VIC, working with area art teachers and taking students out on the trails to do nature observation and sketching. I didn’t really know her very well, but when I saw her photographs, I could tell we felt the same reverence for the Adirondack landscape. Flash forward to 2014. I contacted Karla and asked if she would like to do a month long exhibit with me at the VIC and she agreed. When asked if we should have some kind of theme, I don’t remember which one of us suggested “rocks”, but the other eagerly agreed. » Continue Reading.
Beginning on Thursday, August 28th, artists will be found creating their works at View’s Plein Air Paint Out along the Fulton Chain, the Moose River, at the Farmer’s Market or in Old Forge. Visitors to View during regular hours on Saturday, August 30th can see the Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors, preview the Annual Art Auction items and peruse the consignments works on sale.
At 5:30pm on August 30th, the View will hold its annual art auction. Over eighty original works of art, by the likes of Judy Soprano, Martha Deming, Catherine O’Neill, Stephen Fletcher and more, will be available. In addition to the auction there will be a raffle of a basket filled with over $1,400 worth of prizes, including an original painting by Joyce Hanson. » Continue Reading.
August 21st through the 24th nearly 80 artists from Washington, DC to Maine, Quebec and Ontario, will be converging on Saranac Lake for the 6th Annual Adirondack Plein Air Festival.
Beautiful August weather (fingers crossed) and all the aspects of our region: mountains, lakes, bogs, waterfalls, woodland trails, panoramic views, rivers, farm land, “Great Camps”, historic sites and our small communities are all part of the attraction.
The other, if you haven’t noticed, is the growing popularity of plein air painting. The Festival concludes with a fantastic Show & Sale on Sunday, Aug 24th, in the Town Hall in Saranac Lake from 12 – 3 pm. Over 200 wet paintings will be on display and available for purchase. » Continue Reading.
This is the tale of how we came to welcome an accidental artist in residence into our home, why you might want to do it, and how much the Adirondacks stands to gain.
Last summer, my husband and I impulsively pulled into View, the new art gallery in in Old Forge, and stumbled onto a one-woman show by Montreal artist Holly Friesen. We fell in love with her signature piece, “Weaving Roots of Time,” an arresting 30 x 60 triptych depicting a mysterious grove of old trees which had grown moodily on and around boulders.
Both of us were struck by how closely the painting of a scene in Canada’s Laurentian Mountains resembled hundreds of similar scenes we have hiked past in the Adirondacks. In fact, all the paintings in Holly’s show looked like scenes in the Adirondacks. Then it struck me: the huge boulders strewn all over the Adirondacks some 10,000 years ago by retreating glaciers are sisters to the very rocks in Holly’s paintings, torn from those mountains and deposited in ours. » Continue Reading.
The opening reception for the 33rd annual Adirondacks Exhibition of American Watercolors will be on Friday, August 8 from 5 to 7 pm. The event is free and open to the public. There will be a special performance by guitarist Andrew Barrett from Detroit, Michigan. Hors d’oevres will be prepared by Executive Sous Chef Justin Connerty of Naples, FL (formally Inlet N.Y.).
The watercolor exhibition will run from August 8 to October 5, 2014. This year’s juried exhibit features over 70 artists from all stretches of the continental United States and Canada. The jurors for 2014 are William Vrscak, AWS, and Judi Betts AWS, NWS. » Continue Reading.
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