Eastern Standard–Hudson River School Update
Over 150 years since Thomas Cole’s lifetime, Masters on Main Street presents Eastern Standard: Indirect lines to the Hudson River School, a storefront exhibition in the 300 and 400 blocks of Main Street, Catskill, of works by contemporary artists who draw upon the landscapes of the Hudson River School painters. Curated by Kate Menconeri, Exhibitions and Collections Manager at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, this series of storefront exhibits includes paintings, photographs, and site-specific works. Eastern Standard, Indirect Lines to the Hudson River School opens on Saturday, July 20 from 12-4 PM, and remains on view 24/7 through September 20. Eat and stroll with food to go for the opening reception. For details about the exhibitors, a tour map and links for out-of-town guests, check out greenearts.org or stop by the Greene County Council on the Arts, 398 Main Street, Catskill.
Artists include Tim Davis, Sandy Gellis, Joel Griffith, Ruth Hardinger, Kysa Johnson, Chad Kleitsch, David La Spina, Carolyn Marks Blackwood, Alex McKay, Jason Middlebrook, Ben Ruggiero, Lisa Sanditz, Lauren Sansaricq, Anne-Katrin Spiess, Nadja Verena Marks, Linda Weintraub, and Susan Wides. Artists respond to the 19th century painters’ subjects and techniques by studying their brush strokes and light, following in their literal footsteps and re-viewing perspectives using 21st century technology. Eco artists bring nature’s wisdom, science and beauty to bear in their work, sometimes in the service of activist environmental concerns. Site works invite viewers to sit in quiet contemplation of this place, echoing the intellectual and spiritual function of the Hudson River School Painters and the Transcendentalist writers from the same era. Exhibitors also consider the Catskill Mountains’ and Hudson River’s connection to pre-colonial history, religion and Native American life.
This is the 7th round of Masters on Main Street (MOMS). Masters on Main Street (MOMS) launched in January of 2011 by the Catskill Arts Initiative to help attract creative community and new investment to Catskill’s Main Street. This storefront exhibition series, MOMS, has collaborated with nationwide artists from the Occupy Movement presenting Wall Street to Main Street, a groundbreaking expo with over 75 exhibits, performances, workshops and lectures. A partnership exhibition with the New York Foundation for the Arts and its upstate MARK fellowship winners offered a free portfolio review for mid-career artists to meet gallerists and museum professionals.
