Arts Alive!

THE COLUMBIA COUNTY COUNCIL ON THE ARTS Kentucky State Fair – 1972 by Walter Rutter

WALTER RUTTER MEMORIAL FUND FOR PHOTOGRAPHY

Walter Rutter, a distinguished photographer, died at Columbia Memorial Hospital on December 24 after a long illness. Mr. Rutter lived in Ancram, with his wife, Nancy. He was 73. After graduating from Syracuse University and serving in the United States Army, Mr. Rutter began his career in the advertising business. He worked at McCann Erickson in the art department and honed his skills as a photographer. He attended the highly acclaimed and innovative Alex Brodivitch Photography Workshops.

The social turbulence of the 1960s was a subject that captivated Mr. Rutter. His approach to documenting the street life of these times and the distinctive portraits of the people he encountered helped launch his career and reputation.

As a fashion photographer, Mr. Rutter was a frequent contributor to major magazines, including Vogue, Mademoiselle, Town and Country, and Harper’s Bazaar. Later he pursued industrial and aerospace photography and also taught at The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.

The Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, NY and The Laurence Miller Gallery in New York City have had one-man shows of Mr. Rutter’s work.

Mr. Rutter and his wife Nancy, also an artist, lived and worked for some years in Ireland and France. They returned to the United States in 1995 and ultimately settled in Columbia County with their son Ian, who is also a photographer. In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Rutter is survived by two brothers, and his two beloved wire haired dachshunds Bunky and Angel.

Street Protest NYC - 1972 by Walter Rutter

In his memory, because of the importance in his life of CCCA – as it is to his wife Nancy - an account has been set up at the CCCA to receive donations, which may be sent to The Walter Rutter Fund for Photography, care of The Columbia County Council on the Arts, 209 Warren St. Hudson, NY 12534. All of the donations will be used to offer prizes for excellence in photography. The first award will be presented at the CCCA 13th Annual Juried Art Show in Hudson on Saturday, March 1. The First Prize in Photography will be a $250 cash award. A memorial service to celebrate Mr. Rutter’s life and work is planned for the early spring.

The Columbia Berkshire Craft Guild is going on hiatus. Since its inception in 2002, the Guild has been an artist run organization seeking to create opportunities for artists and crafts people to show and sell their work. Guild members have striven to contribute to the local economy by creating fine arts and crafts in small, environmentally sensitive studios. The guild’s mission has been to provide networking opportunities for artists, access to the arts for the general public and the education and mentoring of young people.

I first heard about the Guild through Marlene Vidibor, the tireless Membership Director. Marlene and I were participating in the Hudson River Academy Craft Fair. She signed me up and I have so enjoyed my time in the group. Marlene said of the Guild,” Mary Anne Davis, the initial and continuing force behind the Guild, must be given kudos for her fortitude and conscientiousness. Without her there would not have been a Guild and we would not have had the experiences we have had, nor the relationships we've fostered among each other. She is due a tribute and I lift a toast to her and all of us, to our continued successes in our individual endeavors.”

Columbia County Craft Guild members, L-R are: 1st row: Liz McIlvaine, Marlene Vidibor, Christa Niver and Katharine Houk. Second row Allison Blake Schofield, Grace Bischoff, Mary Anne Davis, Linda Hartka-Reiss and Joanna Greenfield. Back row: Glenn Tunstull, Helen Burton, Michael Tong, Rabia McIlvaine, Wali McIlvaine, Trudi Roth and Cris Winters. Photo by Fran Heaney

Photographer Steven Dansky said it well: “The CBCG has been very important to me. When I moved to Columbia County, I didn’t know where my creativity would be nurtured. I was a new photographer and CBCG gave me venues that I never expected. It gave me the opportunity to grow and to explore my art. I thank the CBCG for years of wonderful experiences. And I extend my appreciation to the Board that worked tirelessly for the artists in our community.”

Beverly Ruth Bader commented on the Guild member’s feelings with this: “I have immensely enjoyed sharing and partaking in our art functions as a community. I particularly enjoyed our open studio tours, and I just can imagine all the work that went into its organization. So, thank you Board members for all your hard work and for giving each of us a chance to show our art work! It has been an absolute pleasure and a delight!”

President Liz McIlvaine wrote to the members: “The Columbia Berkshire Craft Guild has had some wonderful years, triumphs and struggles. The main events of the past several years have included organizing a craft fair, participating in ArtsWalk, Welcome to Summer in Spencertown, the Celtic Festival, the Chamber of Commerce Buy Local as well as Chamber membership, weekly gatherings at the Chocolate Moose, the Red Shed, and of course, the yearly Studio Tour. The Columbia County Council of the Arts is doing a brilliant job running the arts in our region and might be an apt redirection for our membership. Of course the most valuable resource we feel we have is the association with other artists - well cultivated in our years of working together.”

The Columbia Berkshire Craft Guild was a big magical tent that enabled weavers, beaders, painters, photographers, quilters and just fun people who like to make things with their hands to come together. We still will!

Designer David Dew Bruner is converting approximately one third of his eclectic shop at 621 Warren Street into a new art gallery. He has to date already organized several shows, but these were mostly focused on works he had collected as an antique dealer. He is a nationally exhibited artist himself, so there has always been an emphasis on art in his shop, an interest which with this opening he is now formally pursuing. One of his main interests is to exhibit art in a setting which is richer than the classic pure white walls of the traditional gallery. He will work with each artist to create an environment for the art to exist in.

Sculptural Assemblages by Hudson artist Lee Musselman will be his first show, opening Saturday March 8, with a reception from 6 to 8 PM. The show will run through Saturday April 12. Sculptural Assemblages will be followed by the David Roth show, opening Saturday April 19. The subsequent show – dates to be determined – will be co-curated by Bruner and a colleague, and will be called Corpus - Art Pertaining to Images of the Body. Farther down the road will be shows on Egypt, and on prison art, such as cut and folded cigarette packs.

Dew Bruner sums up his curatorial view as follows: “I don't know if I have a pure vision for the gallery, but I almost always respond to extremely well made art and conceptual art.”

Artist Lee Musselman describes his work as follows: “The mixed media sculptures, mostly figures, are wearing handwoven wire clothing and have mosaic bodies. The abstract sculptures, with vintage doll heads and using shovels, axes, and pitchforks for arms and legs, are seen as whimsical and appear awkward and haunting. I consider this body of work as angels and spirit guides.”

The new David Dew Bruner Gallery at David Dew Bruner Design is located at 621 Warren Street, Hudson NY 12534. Mr. Dew Bruner may be contacted at 914 466 4857 or daviddewbruner@msn.com. For more information visit www.daviddewbruner.com

Last October there was a wonderful convergence of music and dance energy when Hudson ArtsWalk presented African drumming and belly dancing together in an evening that still has people talking. This spring offers a second chance to catch the spirit and join the movement on Sunday afternoon, April 27 when Hudson Valley Academy of Performing Arts presents its first Belly Dance Party, featuring live drumming by the Percussion Ensemble of Diata Diata International Folkloric Theatre.

The afternoon will showcase a mix of performances by Hudson Valley belly dancers, with plenty of open dance opportunities for guests to try out their own moves to world rhythms in the large professional dance studio at Hudson Valley Academy of Performing Arts in West Taghkanic. Doors open at 1 PM and the first live-drumming performance for open dancing begins at 1:30, followed by a mini-belly dance lesson for guests who want to try out their own shimmies and snake arms. Sets of belly dance performances alternate with more open dancing to Diata Diata drumming throughout the afternoon. Everyone is encouraged to bring a floor pillow for comfortable seating during performances and quick clearing for open dancing. Light refreshments will be served. Tickets are $10; reservations can be made at 518-851-5501 or info@hvapa.com.

Drawing of drummers and dancer by André Badila

The Belly Dance Party is co-hosted by Donna, who teaches cabaret improvisational belly dance at Hudson Valley Academy of Performing Arts, and Naima, leader of Catskill Bellydance, an American tribal troupe. In addition to ArtsWalk, their recent performances of belly dance events, known as haflas, include Stella’s in Catskill and Kingston, New Paltz and Florida, NY. Donna co-hosted last year’s Summer Solstice Goddess Gathering in New Lebanon, while Naima produced September’s hafla at Hudson’s Space 360, attended by 150 belly dance fans.

The Percussion Ensemble of Diata Diata International Folkloric Theatre is led by husband and wife team André and Pamela Badila, accompanied by their children, who were raised on the stage in New York and France. Founded in 1985, Diata Diata presents folkloric dance of ancestral Africa as international theatre, including wildly popular performances at Hudson schools. In addition to drumming performances at April’s Belly Dance Party, André will create original drawings of African tribal dancers, available for purchase. Hudson Valley Academy of Performing Arts

Hudson Valley Academy of Performing Arts, located in West Taghkanic at 957 Route 82, just west of the Taconic Parkway, is dedicated to offering the finest training in dance, music and the dramatic arts in a positive and supportive environment. All dance, acting, voice, and instrumental classes there are taught by professionals who are active in the entertainment business; all fitness classes are taught by certified professionals.

Columbia County’s own Badila family and Diata Diata International Folkloric Theatre will open for New York State First Lady Silda Spitzer on Friday, April 11 as part of CommonGround. CommonGround is the annual New York State arts-in-education conference, this year themed Mindful Innovations, that brings over 200 administrators, teachers, teaching artists, and community members together for three days of policy setting, planning, exchange of skills and inspirational speakers. This gathering contributes to fresh curriculum design, school reform, and new models for classroom learning. The conference, organized by the Partners for Arts Education in Syracuse, on whose Board of Directors CCCA Executive Director Jan Hanvik sits, coordinates the conference for the state through collaboration with the New York State Council on the Arts, the Association of Teaching Artists, Empire State Partnerships, New York Foundation for the Arts, NYS Alliance for Arts Education, and the NYS Education Department.

Columbia County’s own Badila family and Diata Diata International Folkloric Theatre

The Essential Question of this year’s conference is: How does creativity engage mindfulness to generate nuanced perspectives, skills of focus, balance, and compassion, and capacity for innovation?

For information on the conference, which takes place at the Albany Crowne Plaza Wednesday – Friday April 9 – 11, please visit www.arts4ed.org. The event with the Badila family and First Lady Silda Spitzer takes place Friday April 11 from 12:30 – 2 PM.

Pamela Badila arrived in Paris to join Les Grands Ballets d'Afrique Noires, after touring the Ivory Coast with Les Guirivoires, an ensemble of traditional Ivory Coast and contemporary American dance. With her husband and co-founder of Diata Diata International Folkloric Theater, Andre Badila of the National Congolese Ballet, and most of their ten children, they produce an annual original play at the Hudson Middle School. This event is made possible with public funds from the Decentralization Program of the NYS Council on the Arts, administered in Columbia County by the Columbia County Council on the Arts through the Twin Counties Cultural Fund. Their unique ability to unite children, parents, and teachers of all races and levels of artistic access and experience, and to link their original stage productions with world music, dance, literary, and spiritual values and traditions, combined with the Columbia County Council on the Arts’ mentorship of their in-school and community-wide arts-based character-building projects, will be shared with CommonGround participants.

Silda Wall Spitzer is honored and privileged to serve as the First Lady of the State of New York. In her role as First Lady, she works to advance the Governor's vision for building One New York, undertaking initiatives to complement the revitalization of New York and the building of a sustainable economy and secure future for us and for our next generation.

She is Founding Chair (emeritus) of Children for Children, a New York not-for-profit that creates opportunities for young people from all backgrounds to Grow Involved through volunteering and service starting at an early age. Children for Children has placed over $2 million in resources in underserved schools and collected hundreds of thousands of books to build classroom libraries.

In addition, she is a founding Co-Chair of Project Cicero, the annual NYC book drive that builds classroom libraries in underserved schools. She has served on the Advisory Board of NYCharities.org, on the NY Blue Ribbon Commission on Youth Leadership, and as a trustee for her children's school. She was a Board member of The Children's Museum of Manhattan from 1995-98, where she sat on its Executive Committee and chaired its Program Committee.

To her role as First Lady, Silda brings her life experience as a mother, lawyer, not-for-profit founder, wife, daughter, sister, advocate for youth volunteering and service, as well as her passions for art, literature and history. She has a J.D. law degree from Harvard Law School and a B.A. summa cum laude from Meredith College.