Community Notebook > Virtual Tour

Recycling High School
By Bob Lomicky . Photos by Tom DiMauro

On a sunny afternoon in mid-September, it looked like a high school in Anytown, USA. But that was from the outside. Inside, the halls and classrooms were deserted except for a day care center operating somewhere in the northwest side of the building. The desks and chairs were gone, but the smell remained. It was that aroma of musty books, floor polish, and pencils that takes one back in time. The wood shop smelled vaguely like sawdust and the art room still smelled like an art room, with a kiln quietly at rest in a corner. It was enough to conjure memories of hope and excitement, even of long-forgotten dread.

When Beacon Cultural Foundation executive director Sara Pasti walks the halls of the former Beacon High School, however, she sees the future, not the past. She sees Bulldog Studios, a vibrant community arts center that will serve as an artist’s mecca in what was once a gritty industrial city.

“We’re very excited,” Pasti said. “Bulldog Studios will be a vibrant arts center with working artists, exhibitions, lecture series, performances, and more. We’re looking to find partners in the community.”

Since it was formed in November of last year, the Beacon Cultural Foundation (BCF) has purchased the school, successfully navigated the path to city planning board site approval, and started the process of renting out 70 studio and storage spaces. By late September, 30 of the spaces were already rented, leaving Pasti optimistic about the projected November 1 opening.

Anyone who has spent five minutes in Beacon knows that Pasti’s plans are not unrealistic. The city is literally teeming with artists and even restaurants serve as art galleries. A visit to Angelo’s Seafood & Steakhouse on East Main Street leads to a chance encounter with a sculptor who once worked with Frank Stella at Beacon’s Tallix Foundry. The sculptor was preparing his work for Second Saturday, a monthly event during which galleries, stores, and restaurants extend their hours to 9PM and plan special events to attract visitors.

The use of a former high school enables the BCF to offer customized workspaces of all sizes. The cost ranges from 65 cents to $1 per square foot, depending upon the type of space. Included are a kiln, a darkroom, science labs, wood shop rooms, and art rooms. Pasti said someone looking to practice the culinary arts could utilize the kitchen next to the cafeteria.
“It’s a perfect opportunity for a caterer to take advantage of an existing Health Department-certified kitchen to do local catering, catering for events within the building, and establish a concession for the resident tenants,” Pasti said.

The spaces are roughly divided into four categories:

> customized studios for visual artists, artisans, performing artists, and writers who may use the space for painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, woodworking, fine cabinetry, jewelry, ceramics, music, theater, and dance.

> classrooms for educational organizations, including the Beacon School District’s Alternative Education program, which has rented 13 rooms in the building.

> multi-purpose rooms like the gym, auxiliary gym, and library, which will serve as gathering spaces for such events as exhibitions, performances, film presentations, lectures, meetings, and other activities. These rooms are intended for short-term rentals and special events.

> studios and offices for commercial design and nonprofit organizations involved in arts-related activities, including graphic design, computer and Web software design, architecture, and desktop publishing.

A key element of Bulldog Studios’s mission is to integrate the artists into community life. In fact, all artists in residence and participating arts and educational organizations will be required to provide a minimum of four hours of direct community service each month. The community service could consist of internships/apprenticeships for children or adults; educational classes and workshops; participation in monthly “open studio” programs; presentation of slide shows, lectures, and/or demonstrations; presentation of exhibitions or performances; or other forms of service approved by the Beacon Cultural Foundation.

According to Pasti, the community involvement is one of the major attractions for artists, who are often isolated.

“Most artists are thrilled to have an opportunity to be a part of a community, where they get to interact with children and other artists of diverse backgrounds and skills,” Pasti said. “Artists are usually ghettoized, but here they’ll be right in the center of the city, in a place where so many people have a positive association because they went to school here.”

Pasti noted that another part of Beacon’s attraction for artists is its affordability. “Artists were priced out of Manhattan and went to Brooklyn. When they were priced out of Brooklyn, they went to Queens, then off to Hoboken and Weehawken, which are all very expensive places to live now,” Pasti said. “In Beacon, they can still live in a vibrant city, and with the train station right here Manhattan is still accessible. It’s also a great place to raise a family.”

For visual artist Harald Plochberger, the trip to Bulldog Studios started in his native Vienna, Austria, where he was a high school art teacher before becoming a full-time artist. During a 1999 visit to see the Jackson Pollock retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he met his future wife, Nora, a native New Yorker. While living and working in Ossining for the past four years, he has become “infected by the pioneer spirit of other artists and gallery owners in and around Beacon.”

Plochberger is looking forward to establishing camaraderie with other artists at Bulldog Studios and sharing his work with art lovers of all ages.

“Bringing together visual arts, crafts, performing arts, and music in one building will provide a most fertile ground for every one of us,” Plochberger said. “Projected workshops with children, students, and adults in the community are also attractive aspects for me.”

Plochberger envisions a permanent collaboration with art teachers in the Beacon School District, who will have a standing invitation to bring their students to meet the artists.

Plochberger was educated at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna. His works are held by public and private collections in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, South Africa, and the United States. His recent show, “Analog/Digital,” took place at Van Brunt Gallery in Beacon. He applies mathematical structures to the design process of objects and images by combining traditional methods and materials like tempera and acrylic paints, gesso, color pencils, paper, and wood with new technologies and techniques, including computer software, inkjet printing on transparencies, photo paper, Plexiglas, and aluminum.

With the recent addition of the Dia:Beacon Museum to the Tallix Foundry, Howland Cultural Center, and the thriving gallery constellation scene in Beacon, Plochberger sees the Bulldog Studios as yet another reason for art lovers and dealers to visit Beacon.

“Now they don’t have to take the long drive into Manhattan to see and experience exciting contemporary art. It’s right around the corner,” Plochberger said.

Alison Moritsugu, whose idyllic, highly rendered landscape paintings were on display at Beacon Project Space from September 13 through October 26, will also be a tenant artist at Bulldog Studios. In her work, “the juxtaposition of log and painted landscape shows how we must now come to terms with false views of nature and how we must deal with the very real problems now plaguing our environment,” Moritsugu said.

The idea of turning a school into a community arts center is not new. Pasti noted that similar projects at PS1 in Long Island City, PS122 in Manhattan, and Niagara Falls have served as models for this program. Many of the artists who have rented spaces heard about the program through word of mouth. Some attended the public hearings concerning the project.

Aside from Beacon, the artists are from such locations as Woodstock, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, Peekskill, Garrison, and Cold Spring. Once they meet the basic requirements for tenancy, which include proof that they may not otherwise be able to afford a studio in the Beacon area, the artists are subject to an additional selection process that involves a review of previous work by a panel that includes arts professionals and, after the first year of the program, current participants. The panel will also weigh how the applicant’s work fits in with the artists and artisans already in residence to ensure a balance of uses. Applicants will also have to show how they will provide a benefit to the Beacon community and participate actively in the community.

A September visit to the high school reveals the site’s enormous potential and also the hard work ahead to get the building ready to use. Pasti was confident that the work would be completed in time for the planned November 1 opening. An orientation for prospective artist tenants will be held on Saturday, November 8 from noon to 6PM. The orientation coincides with Beacon’s monthly Second Saturday event.

For information call (845) 831-1277 or e-mail info@beaconprojectspace.com. The Web site address is www.beaconprojectspace.org/hs/.