Arts Alive!

‘Learning through the Arts’ to benefit Hudson students made possible by grants

Concerted Effort, an arts organization located in North Chatham, Columbia County, has received funding from the New York State Council on the Arts, the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation (Fund for Columbia County), and the Rheinstrom Hill Community Foundation to bring arts Christian Hammonds-Foster – 1st grade, Spring 07 - dancing The Great Blueness by Arnold Lobel. Used by permission.

Christian Hammonds-Foster – 1st grade, Spring 07 - dancing The Great Blueness by Arnold Lobel. Used by permission.

in education to children and teachers at John L. Edwards Elementary School in Hudson. This multiyear project, “Beyond Paper and Pencil: Bringing Literacy to Life through the Arts,” demonstrates how teachers and artists can work together to increase literacy while expanding students' creative horizons. The project combines a series of staff development workshops for teachers held at the Hudson Opera House, and an artist-in-residence program involving the K-2 students at the school. Master teaching artists Susan Griss and Julie Kabat lead the workshops.

The planning grant from the New York State Council on the Arts is part of the prestigious Empire State Partnerships program, which supports model arts in education projects throughout New York State. John L. Edwards Principal Carol Gans and teachers have responded enthusiastically to this endeavor, offering comments such as: "I'll never just read a book the same way again." "Students are using the books more in their free time, and they are more animated." “The strong kinesthetic modality enables the students to integrate and internalize the lesson…It’s energetic and motivating and often leads to GREAT higher-order thinking…” "Lessons last over a much longer time as we delve into the stories. The children are getting so much more out of each book." Families and community members are encouraged to participate by attending Family Literacy Nights and other events, dates to be announced, at the school.

For more information, contact Julie Kabat, Executive Director, Concerted Effort, Inc.
Phone: 518-766-4276. E-mail: jukawawa@fairpoint.net

Omi International Arts Center is pleased to announce the appointment of Amy Lipton as the Director of the Fields Sculpture Park. Lipton brings a vast array of experience to her new position as the primary facilitator of artists’ outdoor projects for The Fields. Works created for The Fields include both permanent and temporary contemporary sculpture, much of which is site specific and designed to illuminate natural aspects of the 90-acre sculpture park.

Omi International Arts Center is a not-for-profit residency program for international visual artists, writers, musicians and dancers as well as the site for The Fields Sculpture Park, a year round public exhibition venue for contemporary sculpture founded in 1998. Located in Ghent, New York, The Fields encompasses approximately 300 acres of farmland of which 90 acres are dotted with internationally recognized contemporary sculpture. Slightly west of Albany, The Fields is about an hour’s drive from other art destinations such as Mass MOCA, The Tang Teaching Museum in Saratoga Springs, and Dia:Beacon. There are over 80 sculptures on view at The Fields from internationally known artists such as Carl Andre, Jackie Ferrara, Robert Grovesnor, Charles Ginnever, Donald Lipski, Beverly Pepper, Jene Highstein, Grace Knowlton, Bernar Venet and many others.

Lipton, who decided a decade ago to switch her focus from dealing art to championing eco-art, must be considered a prime mover in the sensibility of green consciousness. Since 1999 she has been the co-director of Ecoartspace with San Francisco based founder, Patricia Watts. This nonprofit publicizes projects of artists internationally, working to raise ecological awareness; presents innovative exhibitions in galleries and museums, and co-published Ecovention: Current Art to Transform Ecologies (2002). Lipton’s recent museum exhibitions include Ecovention at The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, and Imaging the River at The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY. She has worked regularly with pioneer ecological artists such as Mel Chin, Peter Fend/Ocean Earth, Helen and Newton Harrison, Buster Simpson, Alan Sonfist and Mierle Ukeles, and is a member of the Ecoart Network online dialogue, whose 60 artist, writer and curator members conduct a daily worldwide conversation regarding art and ecology.
Lipton regularly organizes and moderates panel discussions. Her recent programs include the Human/Nature series with Ecoartspace, New York City Audubon and The Nature Conservancy at locations including the NYC Department of Parks Arsenal Gallery (2007), the International Center of Photography, NYC (2006) and the Carriage House for Global Issues, NYC (2005).

For the past three years Lipton has been Curator at Abington Art Center and Sculpture Park in suburban Philadelphia. There she produced gallery exhibitions including Trouble in Paradise (2005) with Alexis Rockman, Steve Mumford and Julie Heffernan; Out of the Blue (2006) including Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Frank Moore and Zoe Leonard; HandMaking (2007) including Nick Cave, Jim Isermann and Andrea Zittel; and outdoor installations with artists including Brandon Ballengee, Elizabeth Demaray, Jason Middlebrook, Austin Thomas, Steve Tobin, Robert Lobe and others.

Lipton’s background includes being the owner/director of three contemporary art galleries: Lipton/Owens Co. and Amy Lipton Gallery in Soho, NYC (1989-1996) and Loughelton Gallery with artist Barbara Broughel in the East Village, NYC (1986-1989). Internationally known artists with such diverse practices as Polly Apfelbaum, Mel Chin, Kate Ericson/Mel Ziegler, Karen Finley, Bill Jacobson, Amy Sillman, Carol Szymanski, Sue Williams and Bing Wright first held solo exhibitions at her gallery.

As your New York State Senator and the Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, I would like to invite your students to submit entries for my 2nd annual contest to provide artwork for the cover of the 2007 New York State Senate Committee on Education Annual Report.

Since the primary focus of my committee is the education of our children, last year I thought it would be appropriate for a child’s artwork to grace the cover of the report as well as be included inside the report. I received hundreds of entries last year and the judges certainly had a difficult task in choosing the winner and the three runners-up from all the wonderful artwork submitted by the students. To view a copy of last year’s report, with the children’s artwork, please visit my website at www.senatorsaland.com. The rules for this year’s contest are as follows:

Reports produced by Senate Committees are widely distributed and are used by many schools and universities and local governments as well as numerous interest groups to learn about proposed and enacted legislation and how it will affect their various constituencies. The childrens’ artwork will be seen and appreciated by many people.

If you have any questions, please call Marianne in my Albany office at 518-455-2411 or e-mail her at lofrumen@senate.state.ny.us. I look forward to seeing some beautiful artwork again this year and meeting the artists and their families. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Stephen M. Saland, Senator

The Nicole Fiacco Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of photographs by the artist Laura Gail Tyler (American b. 1976). Tyler was a 2006 fellow in photography from the New York Foundation for the Arts and has received fellowships from the Houston Center for Photography (2005) and the Woodstock Center for Photography (2004). The exhibition will include black and white silver gelatin prints from the Houses and Castles series. An opening reception will take place on Saturday, November 3 from 6-8 PM as part of Hudson’s First Saturdays. The exhibition will be on display through December 17.

Tyler’s staged photographs address associations we have with architectural icons such as houses, towers, castles and bridges. Tyler photographs model structures made from unlikely materials which have included pumpkins, gingerbread, sand, playing cards and paper. The artist introduces water, fire and natural decomposition to create tension between these idealized structures and the impermanent materials from which they are constructed.

The artist states, “I am not interested in describing another world, and I do not simply wish viewers to enter into the spaces I have created. Instead, I want the pictures to offer some degree of resistance and to question limitations. ” Pumpkin Houses – Laura Gail Tyler

Laura Gail Tyler received her B.A. in Sculpture and Photography from Bard College and her M.F.A. in photography from Yale University. She has exhibited her work at prestigious institutions such as the Society of Contemporary Photography in Kansas City, MO, the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art in New Paltz, NY and The Houston Center for Photography, among others. In 2005, Tyler was included in Radius: Emerging Artists, a juried exhibition by the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and the Ridgefield Guild of Artists. Tyler was recently selected for publication in Witness No. One by Stephen Shore. Laura Gail Tyler is represented by the Nicole Fiacco Gallery.

NICOLE FIACCO GALLERY
506 WARREN STREET HUDSON, NY 12534 T: 518.828.5090 F: 866.900.0549

The New York Foundation for the Arts will hold an information session in Hudson for NYFA MARK, a new program for visual artists, on Saturday November 3 at 4 PM at Columbia County Council on the Arts, 209 Warren Street. For information: 518 671 6213

Looking to expand your visibility and focus a little more on the business side of your art practice? Interested in getting to know more artists throughout New York State?

MARK is the New York Foundation for the Arts’ new six-month professional growth program for 80-100 visual artists throughout NY State. The MARK program focuses on giving artists the opportunity to expand their visibility through learning and then applying concrete professional practice skills.

MARK starts in late January 2008 and runs until June with four monthly seminars and a weekend retreat for all participating artists in New York City. Monthly seminars will be held at nine partnering regional arts organization throughout New York State. The program focuses on goal setting and strategies for expanding your visibility as visual artists. Individual sessions will cover topics such as portfolio development, grant applications/ project proposals, speaking about your work, and public presentations. Monthly assignments will apply practical knowledge acquired in the class and include email interaction with other participating artists across the state. The program will culminate in June with a retreat for all MARK artists in New York City.

Applications to the program are due at 5 PM December 1st. Session dates currently available are on the NYFA MARK website. Cost to participate in the program is $150 which covers all seminars as well as room and board for the weekend in New York City.

Join us for an info session at Columbia County Council on the Arts, MARK’s Hudson Valley Region partner. The MARK info session will outline the program, go over the application and provide additional information about NYFA’s other programs for artists.

For more information or to download an application visit nyfa.org/mark. Join us, make your mark!

STUDIO/OFFICE SPACE 900 sqft. w/lots of light on a busy road by a quiet stream in Ghent. Toilet, sink, shower, private entrance. $500. mo. or possible share with other artists. Ground floor also available. Clarke Olsen 518 392 4640.

The Pantoloons: At It Again! At The Ghent Playhouse

The Pantoloons will present a new production “Hair Loom! Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin in DisTress” at The Ghent Playhouse. A Pantoloons’ production at Thanksgiving has now become a Holiday tradition in Columbia County. “Hair Loom!” is the Pantoloons’ eighth British-American Panto in Columbia County. The production will open on the Friday following Thanksgiving, November 23 and play three performances each weekend for three weeks closing on December 9.

British Pantomime has long been a Christmas holiday family tradition in England. When transplanted Briton Judy Staber was director of the Spencertown Academy, she was approached by another Brit to put on a Panto. She wrote her first script for “Cinderella,” to appeal to a local, American audience, and to fit the particular talents of the group of zany local actors who had wanted to be in it. Most of those actors are still Pantoloons. The show was a hit and the Pantoloons were born. Thanksgiving, being THE American holiday, was chosen as the best time of year. In 2004, the Pantoloons were invited to The Ghent Playhouse. The Playhouse’s accessibility, better equipment and larger stage, as well as the permanent and comfortable seating were a big plus.

This year the Pantoloons were voted a winner in Hudson Valley Magazine's Annual Best of Hudson Valley Editorial Pick as "The Best Place to see Men in Drag," and we are very pleased with this award.

The scripts Staber writes for the Pantoloons do not strictly adhere to traditional British Pantomime, the illegitimate grandchild of Commedia del Arte and British Music Hall. She writes to suit the talents of her fellow Loonies, but adds all the best parts of traditional Pantos that will fit into under an hour and a half.They are: men playing women and women playing men; bad jokes; crazy lyrics; the chase; the good versus the bad and the ugly; the walk-down, "It's Behind You" and of course, the colorful costumes, sets and lighting, -- are all there in a small and lively company of eleven men and women. The Pantoloons are Tom Detwiler, who also directs, Ron Harrington, Music Director Paul Leyden, Joanne Maurer doubling as costume designer, Sally McCarthy, Paul Murphy, Johnna Murray, Rick Rowsell the set designer, Judy Staber, and Cathy Lee Visscher. Ian Gulliver is the company’s technical wizard. Everyone has a hand in writing lyrics and adding jokes and ideas. It is a true community effort.

This year’s production presented a new challenge. Wanting to put on a completely new production and, as always, with her company in mind, Staber has taken two of the Grimms’ well-known stories, Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin, and merged them into a tale of babies separated from their birth mothers, families reunited and, of course, redemption. As with all Pantos, everything works out for the good in the end. The Pantoloons’ productions are for children from 3 to 103 years. Audience participation is encouraged.

“Hair Loom! Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin in DisTress” will open Friday November 23 at 8 PM and run through Sunday, December 9. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 PM and Sundays at 2 PM. Tickets are $15 general admission, $12 for members of The Ghent Playhouse. Children under 12, accompanied by an adult, are $8. For reservations, which are strongly recommended, call 518-392-6264. For more information about the Ghent Playhouse go to www.ghentplayhouse.org. The Playhouse is located just off Route 66, south of Ghent, immediately before the firehouse. Parking is across Route 66.

For information, contact Judy Staber at 518-794-9091 or pantoloon@fairpoint.net.

HUDSON VALLEY ARTS IN EDUCATION CONFERENCE AT THE FISHER CENTER, BARD COLLEGE

On Thursday, January 10, 2008 (snow date January 11th) the NYS Alliance for Arts Education (NYSAAE), in collaboration with Columbia County Council on the Arts and the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, will present a regional, day-long conference to provide educators from Columbia, Greene, Dutchess, and Ulster Counties with practical ideas for using the arts to engage all students while meeting curriculum goals in all the New York State Learning Standards. This will be a day of professional development for Hudson Valley educators themed: Using the Arts to Energize Core Curriculum. The Frank O. Gehry designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. Photographer: Peter Aaron/Esto

The Frank O. Gehry designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. Photographer: Peter Aaron/Esto

The conference will run from 8:30 to 3:30 at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. The day’s workshops will teach how music, dance, theater, literary, visual and media arts bring different ways of exploring other curriculum areas, transforming lesson plans into stimulating curricula. Experts in the arts education field will offer proven and practical strategies for integrating the arts into math, science, English, and social studies to inspire, enrich, and motivate students. This conference is designed for educators, administrators, parents, teaching artists, and cultural organizations.

One past participant from a regional NYSAAE conference said, “As an educator, I was thrilled to learn so much about bringing new dimensions to my classroom. I look forward to using what I’ve learned here to develop curricula that will be engaging and edifying for my students, as well as collaborative with other teachers, local artists, and cultural organizations. There was so much enthusiasm and support for student and teacher success here.”

Attendees’ schools will be eligible to win a free arts-in-education residency worth $2000! This opportunity comes courtesy of the New York State Council on the Arts. Additionally, teachers who attend may be eligible for up six hours of professional development credit.

Those who offer arts-in-education programs for schools are also invited to attend and exhibit their offerings in a showcase area. This is a prime opportunity for teaching artists and cultural organizations to market their programs to teachers, school administrators and representatives from parent organizations.

Conference registration costs $90 and includes networking opportunities, workshops, a full breakfast and lunch, and one complimentary copy each of the Dana Press' Planning an Arts Centered School, Partnering Arts Education: A Working Model from ArtsConnection, and an issue of Arts Education in the News. Participants will also be given a guided behind-the-scenes tour of the spectacular new Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Center. For registration information, contact Lainy Slyder at (518) 473-0823 or at lainy@nysaae.org.

Learn more about the conference sponsors online! Visit the New York State Alliance for Arts Education at www.nysaae.org, the Columbia County Council on the Arts at www.artscolumbia.org, and the Fisher Center at www.fishercenter.bard.edu.

NYSAAE is a non-profit organization funded in part by the New York State Council on the Arts and its membership. NYSAAE is a member of the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network. Columbia County Council on the Arts has been designated by New York State Council on the Arts as the Hudson Valley Roundtable, the Arts in Education resource center for seven counties in the Hudson Valley.