Upstate Art Weekend (UAW) is in its sixth year and thriving, and this is my third year covering the all-you-can-see art-overload for Chronogram. Given the number of UAW listings to visit this year—155 dynamic participants all over the glorious Hudson Valley—a destination in any direction affords an exciting encounter with every kind of art experience, from intimate studio visits in artists homes to major exhibitions at esteemed institutions and everything in between.
Logging hundreds of miles over my three-day UAW spree, I visited 10 (or more) locations daily and the UAW scene is as outrageous as ever, and here are some of the highlights.
FRIDAY
I started my UAW adventure in Kinderhook at Bill Arning Exhibitions to see Eventless, featuring curious three-dimensional paintings by Paul Lake Smith and provocative oil and inkjet images of hairy balls by David Mramor. Jack Shainman’s The School is a major player in the area (check out my review of the “General Conditions” show) but did not factor into my zip through town.
Landing in Catskill, I visited the recently opened RUTHANN Gallery, featuring the three-person show “Coated / Coded” with work by George Rodriguez, Richard Saja, Thomas Spoerndle. Smiley co-founder and artist Witts provided a warm welcome.
Next stop was the “Sky High Farm Biennial 2025” in Germantown, and this was among the most outstanding encounters of the entire weekend and a must see. This impressive presentation on two floors includes work by heavy hitters such as Caroll Dunham, Nan Goldin, Rikkrit Tiravanija and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, among other heroes. (Spoiler alert: the second floor is a mirrored installation like you have never experienced. The show is up through the fall.) Then it was on to see “Summer Rain,” and exhibition of paintings by Giangiacomo Rossetti at Mendes Wood DM in Germantown, a graceful show that includes large carved white rocks by Solange Pessoa in the yard that were featured at the Venice Biennale.
Also in Germantown was Mother-in-law’s hosting Field Projects and the sprawling exhibition “Muskeg” curated by Jacob Rhodes and Jessica Hargreaves, featuring 65 artworks all over the grounds including fun-loving works such as Paul Gagner’s Out to Lunch (2025) sculpture of a large head with a faux cockpit inside and Barry Hazard’s Inner Forest (2025), a sculpture of a tree inside a tree (as cute as can be).
New to UAW this year is Gatherwild Ranch in Germantown, a gorgeous property that hosts seasonal glamping. Presenting a special group show for UAW, there I met artist and co-founder Paul Jacobsen (who established the Gatherwild with his wife, Laura Sink) and LA-based artist Brett Cody Rogers, longtime friend of Jacobsen who is doing a studio residency on the property this month. We enjoyed a fun hang as Jacobsen wrangled his goat in the gallery space, a classic UAW moment!
As the day wound down, I jetted over to Kingston to check out some of the galleries, including a visit to 68 Prince Street Gallery to see “Elusive Thresholds,” a two-person show featuring futuristic paintings and sculptures that appear to magically vibrate and spin in their stational positions by Jeanette Fintz and Monika Zarzeczna. Throwing on my best party dress, I joined the ever-peachy UAW founder Helen Toomer and the lively crowd at Assembly for the Noisemakers Dance Party as a Benefit for Abortion Access, where we danced the night away with DJs who kept it moving and grooving.
SATURDAY
With a blazing summer sun infusing the day, I jumped in the car and drove nearly two-and-half hours from Troy to the charming town of Nyack to check out “Tomokazu Matsuyama: Morning Sun” at the Edward Hopper House , featuring several dreamy paintings in the ground floor gallery space of this special home-turned-museum, including Matsuyama’s glittery Morning Sun Dance (2025).
Next was my first ever visit to KinoSaito in Verplanck, another must-see institution if you have not been. “The Unknown and its Poetics” was one of several elegant shows on view, and it was a joy to linger in the gallery spaces and learn more about Kikuo Saito’s life story (1939-2016), moving from Tokyo to New York and later establishing this nonprofit center dedicated to the creation of abstract art.
The backroads of the Hudson Valley are utter inspiration and the drive to Manitoga and The Russel Wright Design Center in Garrison was ridiculously beautiful. I was late to attend the guided tour of this magnificent property and their current show “All The Light and Shadow” but the team graciously allowed me to fly through and catch a glimpse (shout-out to executive director Allison Cross for her kindness).
I made quick visits to Magazzino Italian Art Museum and Ligenza Moore Gallery in Cold Spring before driving down to Beacon to see the “Half the Sky” exhibition at KuBe, featuring works by 11 pioneering contemporary Chinese artists and a beautiful site-specific installation by Cui Fei.
Lingering in Beacon, I roamed the bustling main drag before visiting “All That She Builds She Must Destroy” at Distortion Society and there I had the pleasure of meeting co-founder and badass tattooed momma Michelle Silver, who was dressed to match her powerful paintings . With the sun going down at the end of an already wonderful day, I was utterly blown-away by the installation at Shigeko Kubota Video Art Foundation in Beacon, featuring bright video-landscapes and geometric sculpture-vessels by the late Shigeko Kubota, wife of the late Nam June Paik (another must-see show).
SUNDAY
After staying the evening in cozy Kinderhook, my early morning drive to Chatham landed me at PS21, where they presented the Groundtone Music Festival, a weekend of one-off immersive concerts and collaborations. Driving through town took me past the future home of the Shaker Museum (and perhaps a future participant of UAW) and over to Chatham Soccer, a former paper mill now hosting an rugged exhibition space in the basement and artist studios upstairs. There I saw the exhibition “Picker” by Ruby Jackson, featuring an installation made entirely of dried foods, and I enjoyed chatting with resident artists Amelia Toelke and Daniel Brody.
Zipping through Art Omi in Ghent (check out my review of “Harold Stevenson: Less Than My Routine Fantasy”), my next stop was The Campus in Hudson. Once again, the biennale-level artworks and atypical installations in and around this former high school will invigorate your soul with arty-energy for days (indeed The Campus is now one of the premier art destinations in the region). The various rooms around the building include bold works by leading artists including Lawrence Weiner, Huma Bhabha, Katherine Bradford, Vanessa German, Arlene Shechet, Richard Tuttle, and Nari Ward, among other artist luminaries. My favorite was Room 40, brimming with charming ceramic pieces by Ming Fay.
Jetting over to Hudson, I visited the outdoor installation at 257 State Street, “Interventions 5,” curated by Isidrio Blasco from Spain, featuring fun sculptures and Inside Out NASCAR by Dan Devine. Cruising down Columbia Street, I caught the mystically beautiful Gerard Wagner show “Through Color to Form” at Lightforms Art Center.
With the UAW weekend winding down but the art still going strong, I managed a “speed dating” style of visiting galleries up and down Warren Street, including stops to see exquisite paintings by Ken Ragsdale at Front Room Gallery, commissioned interdisciplinary works by choreographer and visual artist Jon Kinzel in his show “Hudson Terminus” at Hudson Hall , and a trifecta of shows at Turley Galley including bold swirling paintings by Adam Linn and gorgeous glitter-bomb-inspired works by Vickie Peirre before seeing the lovely Pamela Salisbury at her gallery and the swansong exhibitions there (the space will close this season).
My last UAW stop was to see the “Repair” exhibition at Shadow Walls in Purling, curated by Anne-Laure Lemaitre in collaboration with Anna Cone (artist and founder of Shadow Walls), featuring artworks installed throughout the various rooms and basement of this incredible aged relic of a home, a delightful “cherry-on-top” ending to a tremendously fantastic UAW 2025.
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This article appears in July 2025.
Dear TT,
You did a bang up job this year covering the UAW. You uncover some of the lesser known spaces and it is appreciated. Thanks, Franc Palaia