“Jeffrey Gibson: To Feel Myself Beloved on the Earth” at Art Omi
Jeffrey Gibson, a Choctaw-Cherokee artist who lives in Hudson, is best known for his abstract painting, sculpture, and prints, which carry an autobiographical cultural inflection. Gibson’s influences range from 19th-century beadwork and Native American iconography to contemporary street art. “To Feel Myself Beloved on the Earth” is an exhibition of quilts, garments, drums, prints, and video on view at Art Omi’s Newmark gallery through January 3.
Kikuo Saito at KinoSaito | Through November 15
KinoSaito is a new nonprofit arts center in Verplanck honoring the work of Japanese painter and theatrical designer Kikuo Saito, who died in 2016. Throughout the fall, the center’s in-house theater will host live performances of “Toy Garden Reprise,” a sequel to Saito’s production “Toy Garden,” which was first performed at La MaMa Experimental Theater Club in 1996. Two exhibitions curated from Saito’s 50-year artistic output will also be on view through November 15: “Painting as Performance/Performance as Painting: The Theater Paintings of Kikuo Saito,” and “Kikuo Saito: Cloud Paintings.”
“Jonathan Demme: Collecting with Abandon” at Garner Arts Center | Through October 31
Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme—the auteur behind The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, and other cinematic gems who died in 2017—was an avid collector of self-taught, Haitian, and island art. Over 100 works from Demme’s collection will be exhibited through the month of October at Garner Arts Center in Garnerville. October 1-31.
“Well/Being” at University Art Museum at the University at Albany | Through December 11
This exhibition at the University Art Museum features heavy hitters like Carrie Mae Weems, Sanford Biggers, and Jeffrey Gibson, who pose questions about being and well-being. How do people—queer bodies, Indigenous groups, Black and Brown bodies, bodies in pain, threatened bodies, vulnerable populations, students—interact with America’s cultural landscape and find space to thrive? How do artists resist cultural amnesia and engage with the past and create work needed to move forward and heal? Through December 11.
“Ghost in the Machine” at Garage Gallery | October 9-31
This show of photographs by Traer Scott and Jon Wollenhaupt is the second exhibition at one of the region’s newest galleries, located just off Main Street in Beacon, in an actual garage. The subjects of Scott’s otherworldly images are museumgoers bathed in the warm tones of evening. Visitors’ reflections merge with the dioramas themselves in evocative and sometimes startling ways, creating powerful images of lost worlds and lost souls. Wollenhaupt’s street scenes are also haunted, the blurs of movement specters of modern life. Opening reception October 9, 3 to 6pm October 9-31.
“Collaborative Concepts Farm Project 2021” at Tilly Foster Farm | Through October 31
The 16th annual Collaborative Concepts sculpture show features work from 40 regional artists temporarily installed across the 200 acres of rolling fields at Tilly Foster Farm in Brewster. Participating artists include Naomi Teppich, Philippe Halaburda, Herman Roggeman, and Kaete Brittin Shaw. Through October 31.
“Fragments of Time and Space” at Carrie Haddad Gallery | October 2-31
This exhibit at Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson brings together four regional painters—Anthony Finta, Ginny Fox, Carl Grauer, and Joseph Maresca—and pairs their work with abstract wall structures by Dai Ban. A show standout is Grauer’s Coniferous Sky, a five-foot-tall painting documenting a pine tree between November 2020 and March 2021. The trunk and its branches stand unchanged, dominating a sky that has been segmented to track shifting clouds and changing light. Opening reception October 2, 5 to 7pm. Through November 29.
Open Studio Hudson | October 9-10
The city of Hudson might just have more artists per capita than any other town in the Hudson Valley. This bold conjecture is supported by the 50-plus creatives participating in this year’s Open Studio Hudson event. The artists, who work in a variety of disciplines, will open their studios on October 9 and 10, from 11am to 5pm, enabling casual art enthusiasts and serious collectors to explore and experience the artistic process at their own pace. Most of the studios are located near the center of Hudson. Maps of the studio locations are available in local businesses and also downloadable from the OSH website. Open Studio Hudson is presented by artist Jane Ehrlich.
This article appears in October 2021.
