ArtBeat: What To See

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Winter Walk @ Warren Street, Hudson. Hudson’s largest arts walk of the year begins at 5pm on Saturday, when the carillon bells of the First Presbyterian Church will mark the start of the Santa Parade transporting Mr. and Mrs. Claus from the Hudson Opera House to City Hall, where free books will be distributed to children all evening. The holiday frolicking will continue throughout the evening, with activities and performances both inside shops and on the street. From jazz to classical, African drums to banjo, music will be everywhere. Children’s activities will include face painting, stilt walkers, animal balloons by Tots the Clown and Roger the Jester. At 8:00 pm, fireworks launched from Promenade Hill at the foot of Warren Street will light up the winter sky marking the conclusion of the festivities, but many businesses—especially restaurants–stay open long after the event. December 6, 5-8 pm. (Snow date: December 13)

Hope and Anger – The Civil Rights Movement and Beyond @ The Tang, Saratoga Springs. A student exhibition that explores the dominant narratives of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements and the shifting construction and understanding of those narratives over time through close examination of the work of such artists as Andy Warhol, Kara Walker, Rashid Johnson and Danny Lyon. Student presentations and reception: Wednesday, December 10, 5:30pm. (Through February 15)

Upstate Artists @ Laffer Gallery, Schuylerville. The gallery’s 3rd annual juried group show, featuring works by Abraham Ferraro, Andrea Hersh, Anne Francey, Ashley Wolff, Chad Smith, Cheryl Horning, Chris Duncan, Dan Greenfeld, David Francis, David Hill, Diane Golden, Dona Mara Friedman, Gail Nadeau, Gary Shankman, Hollyn Blair, Jill Fishon-Kovachick, JoAnn Axford, Judith Ellers, Kathryn Klompas, Linda Van Alstyne, Marina Petro, Marta Jaremko, Mary Ellen Riell, Matt Chinian, Maxine Tucker, Pat McEvoy, Randi Kish, Rebecca Kane, Robert Augstell, Robert Gullie, Robert Moylan, Russell Serrianne, Takeyce Walter, Terri Messinger and Wenda Habenicht. Opening reception: Saturday, December 6, 5-8pm. (Through January 11)

Sharpening the Edges @ 510 Warren Street Gallery, Hudson. New photography and video from Jonathan Pazer who, uses a process called “seed image collage” to transform original photographs into dream-like, abstract photographic collages. Opening reception: Saturday, December 6, 4-7pm. (Through December 28)

The Annual Members Show @ Saratoga Arts, Saratoga Springs. Original artworks including watercolor, oil, acrylic and pastel paintings, collage, ceramics, mixed media, sculpture, drawings and photographs by over 150 artists. Opening reception and holiday potluck dinner: Saturday, December 6, 6-8pm. (Through December 31 – First Night Saratoga)

Also Noted:

Art To Go and Unsilent Night @ MCLA Gallery 51, North Adams. Previously known as the “99 Cent!” show, this year’s holiday exhibit will feature affordable artwork created by Melanie Mowinski, Richard Harrington, Sarah Sutro, Julia Morgan Leamon, David Lachman, Michelle Daly, Mary Ellen Beattie, Jennifer Huberdeau, Amrita Lash, Ellen Joffe-Halprin and many more, with works priced between $.99 and $99.99. (The reception will be preceded by a participatory performance of Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night, a sound sculpture played through a roving swarm of boomboxes carried through city streets. This event is free, but reservations are required). Opening reception: Thursday, December 4, 5-8pm. (Through December 30)

Marketplace @ Upstate Artists Guild, Albany.The Upstate Artists Guild is proud to present its Annual Marketplace Show, featuring artists with tables selling their wares. Opens Friday, December 5. (Through December 21)

Gifted: 2nd Annual Small Works Exhibition @ Albany Barn, Albany. The 2nd annual small works exhibition & artisan fair will feature silk painting lessons with watercolorist Mary Frances Millet, works by Stacy Kennedy, Desolation Road Photography, Ahsoego Productions with drum/dance classes, an Ugly Sweater Photo Booth by Nicole Campon Photography, fork art by Matthew Bartik, paintings by Gary Maggio, limited edition paper prints by Caroline Morgan, paintings of locations around Albany by David Hinchen, jewelry and accessories made from vintage items by Nicole DeSantis, an a cappella performance at 6:00pm by Girls Next Door, and more. Friday, December 5 (Albany First Friday), 5-9pm. (Through December 5)

Small Gems Show@ CCCA Gallery, Hudson. The gallery’s annual fundraiser, featuring donated small works by CCCA member artists, all priced at $50. Gallery talk: Understanding Painting: A Free Art History : Saturday, December 6 (Hudson Winter Walk) 3pm. (Through January 10)

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Fine Arts and Digital Media Faculty Exhibition @ The Teaching Gallery, Troy. Works in a variety of media by Hudson Valley’s Fine Arts and Digital Media faculty: photography by Justin Baker, Milt Connors, Tara Fracalossi and William Jaeger; painting by Richard Garrison, Adam Daily and Gail Roberts; video by Kyra Garrigue and xerographic collages by Thomas Lail. Artist discussions: Wednesday, Nov. 19, 12-12:45pm. with Kyra Garrigue; Tuesday, Nov. 25, 12-12:45pm. with Justin Baker and Wednesday, Dec. 3, 12-12:45 with Thomas Lail. (Through December 6)

Bloody Dick Road in the Big Hole Valley: Files From the Girl in Room 10 @ Esther Massry Gallery, Albany. Daniella Dooling’s mixed media installation is a transgression of borders: sculpture/archive/adolescence/adulthood/sobriety/hallucinogenic/drugs/gender/sexuality. (Through December 7)

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Small Works Holiday Show @ Athens Cultural Center, Athens. Members’ works in oil, acrylics, watercolor, ceramics, book arts, photography and more. (Through December 13 – Athens Victorian Stroll)

Patricia Larsen: Harvest @ Hudson Opera House, Hudson. A solo exhibition of Patricia Larsen’slarge, Astract Expressionist paintings, as well as small works in clay and textiles. (Through December 14)

John Dilg: Paintings and Pete Schulte: Drawings @ Jeff Bailey Gallery, Hudson. Landscape paintings by John Dilg and abstract drawings by Pete Shulte, both of whom use subtle gradations of color and tone with sharp lines to create both tension and calm. Also on view are multi-layered paintings and works on paper by Jered Sprecher. (Through December 14)

Landscapes and Bodyscapes @ Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson. Recent Hudson Valley landscapes by Jane Bloodgood-Abrams, landscape paintings by Dan Rupe and figure paintings by Mark Beard. (Through December 14)

Structures @ Photography Center of the Capital District, Troy. Photographs by Ian Creitz and Robert Feero. (Through December 15)

Hotel Palenque is not in Yucatan @ CCS Bard/Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson. An exhibition and pavilion that takes its starting point from the narrative in Robert Smithson’s Hotel Palenque (1969-72), a slide projection taken from a lecture originally delivered by the artist at the University of Utah. The show is constructed through the work of A.L. Steiner & Robbinschilds, Adriana Lara, Alex Hubbard, Luc Tuymans, Pablo Sigg, Pedro&Juana, Tania Pérez Córdova, Ulla Von Brandenburg and a selection of Pre-Hispanic pieces from a private collection. (Through December 19)

Craft Matters @ Schick Art Gallery, Saratoga Springs. An exhibition of fine craftwork in fibers, metals, ceramics, wood and glass by 19 internationally renowned artists, including (grouped by media) ceramics: Wayne Higby, Rick Hirsch, Sergei Isupov, Toshiko Takaezu, Kurt Weiser and Betty Woodman; fibers: Lia Cook, Joan Livingstone, John McQueen, Warren Seelig and Anne Wilson; metals: Albert Paley, Gary Griffin, Myra Mimlitsch-Gray and Leonard Urso; jewelry: Sharon Church and Jamie Bennett; furniture: Wendell Castle; glassworks: Tom Patti. (Through December 19)

Spectres @ CCS Bard/Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson. Spectres, an ongoing project of Belgian artist Sven Augustijnen, revisits one of the most shameful events of European colonial history: the abduction, torture, and execution of Patrice Lumumba, the first elected Prime Minister of independent Congo. Augustijnen’s film follows Jacques Brassinne de La Buissière, a French-speaking Belgian who was a civil servant based in Katanga at the time of Lumumba’s assassination. Now a historian haunted by the “Congo crisis,” Brassinne serves as the film’s guide through locations in Belgium and the DR Congo, searching for the truth of these traumatic events through his own construction of historical narrative. Opens November 6 with daily screenings of the 103 minute film at 11:30am, 1:30pm, and 3:30pm. (Through December 19)

10,000 Days: New Work by Elizabeth Coyne @ Courthouse Gallery, Lake George. Elizabeth Coyne’s paintings employ a personal invented visual language of images and symbols based on the natural world, from sources as varied as plant structures, wind patterns, brain structures, cells, DNA and ocean life. (Through December 19)

Multum in Parvo @ BCB Art, Hudson. Multum in Parvo, Latin for “much in little” or “in brief,” is an exhibition of small bronze sculptures by renowned artist Ed Smith, developed while he was hospitalized for a back injury. Also on view: work by Antonio Alvarez, Garth Evans, Eric Fischl, Emily Gui, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, John Newman, Scott Reynolds and others. (Through December 21)

PHOTOBOOK 2014 @ Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson. This 5th annual international juried exhibition features 20 photo books and photographs by the four winners of the best in show award: Miki Hasegawa, Michael Hunold, Linda Morrow and Rebecca Sittlerbest. Artists’ reception: Saturday, November 15, 6-8pm (DINE/ART BeLo3rd Artswalk) (Through December 21)

Meander, Because You Can’t See Much While Marching @ Opalka Gallery, Albany. A career retrospective of Mike Glier, including 80 works from 1979 to 2013. Reception: Friday, November 7, 6-8pm. (Through December 21)

Chemistry @ Matteawan Gallery, Beacon. A group photography exhibition featuring works by Jill Enfield, Anne Arden McDonald, Amanda Means and S. Gayle Stevens. (Through December 21)

Abecedarius | 26 + 1 Recent Works by Colin Boyd + Michael Oatman@ The Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy. Colin Boyd and Michael Oatman have teamed up to present an exhibition and book that looks at the natural world and the roles humans have in misshaping it. Using the literary format of the Abecedarius (e.g., “A is for Apple”, “B is for Bear”, “C is for Crops Patented by Monsanto,” etc.), the two artists will turn the gallery into a walk-able cautionary tale – with a few nervous laughs for good measure. (Through December 23)

The Dying of the Light: Film as Medium and Metaphor @ MASS MoCA, North Adams. A mix of atmospheric, documentary and sculptural works, this exhibition features the work of 6 artists — Rosa Barba, Matthew Buckingham, Tacita Dean, Rodney Graham, Lisa Oppenheim and Simon Starling — who capitalize on film’s particular visual, material, aural and even metaphoric characteristics.

On Longing @ Burns Art Atrium Gallery, Schenectady. Works by photographer Frank Rapant that examine the grieving process and how a person might approach this from a faithless standpoint. (Through December 24)

Opener 26: Jeff Sonhouse @ Tang Teaching Museum and Gallery, Saratoga Springs. Over the past ten years, New York-based artist Jeff Sonhouse has created a powerful body of portrait paintings depicting often-masked black male figures that consistently defy and obscure classification. Adept at mixing pattern, color, and material, Sonhouse’s paintings feature a variety of unusual materials such as matchsticks, steel wool and cowry shells, and include references to art historical figures from Ed Paschke to Pablo Picasso. (Through January 4, 2015)

Absence / Presence: Richard Pousette-Dart as Photographer @ Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica. The first museum survey of noted Abstract Expressionist painter Richard Pousette-Dart’s photographic work. The exhibition draws together approximately 45 vintage photographs printed by the artist between the 1930s and 1980s, including unique examples with hand-applied pigments. (Through January 4)

I was a double @ The Tang Teaching Museum and Gallery, Saratoga Springs. Visual artists who are rule makers, across a wide variety of styles and disciplines; all of the artists in this show invent rules and then follow them; whether written or not: Suzanne Bocanegra, Regina Bogat, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, André Cadere, Sarah Cain, Karin Davie, Taylor Davis, David Dupuis, Tony Feher, Alfred Jensen. Chris Johanson and Johanna Jackson, Sol LeWitt, Chris Martin, Gabriel Orozco, Bruce Pearson, Ciara Phillips, Kay Rosen, Wolfgang Tillmans, Fred Tomaselli, Johannes VanDerBeek, Ruth Vollmer, Stanley Whitney and Christopher Wool. (Through January 4, 2015)

Opener 27: Beverly Semmes: FRP @ Tang Teaching Museum and Gallery, Saratoga Springs. The Feminist Responsibility Project (FRP) by New York-based artist Beverly Semmes includes drawings, video, ceramics, and illuminated glass forms that are suspended throughout the gallery. At the heart of the exhibition is a collection of works on paper that features rough gestural applications of ink and paint that conceal and reveal the body as depicted in pornographic magazines. (Through January 4)

In Company with Angels and Tiffany @ Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica. Opens October 25. An exhibition of stained glass angels created in 1902 in the renowned studios of one of the most illustrious designers of the early 20th century, Louis Comfort Tiffany. (Through January 4)

A Century of Olmsted: Utica and Beyond @ Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica. In the early 20th century, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. (1870-1957) and Thomas R. Proctor (1844-1920) led the way in the transformation of the Utica landscape, creating beautiful and naturalistic recreational spaces that provided escapes from the city and enhanced the quality of life for its inhabitants. This exhibition explores the creation of some of Utica’s most beautiful natural places, including contemporary photographs by Lee Friedlander. (Through January 4)

Picturing America @ The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls. From the 1758 Portrait of John Gardiner by John Singleton Copley to Milton Avery’s Arrangement with Plants of 1948, the exhibition presents 57 paintings and sculptures that describe the American experience from the Colonial period to early Modernism. Other renowned artists from the two hundred year span represented in this selection include Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, Susan MacDowell Eakins, Childe Hassam, Robert Henri, George Inness, Paul Manship, John Singer Sargent and Benjamin West as well as Charles Willson Peale and his children Rembrandt, Rubens and Mary Jane. (Through January 4)

Unlocking Whimsy @ Galerie BMG, Bearsville. A new series of encaustic and mixed media photographs by Leah Macdonald, whose sensuous narratives of women are the culmination of a personal exchange with her subjects, sharing stories and secrets and revealing the intimate aspects of their true selves. Artist’s talk/demonstration: Saturday, November 8, 4-7pm. (Through January 4)

Anne Diggory: Hybrid Visions @ The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls. Recent works by Anne Diggory that explore “hybrid media,” a multi-layered process combining sections of photography and painting. The exhibition will feature a selection of her dramatic landscapes that juxtapose moving water and changing skies against the seeming permanence of the land. (Through January 4)

Lions & Tigers & Bears @ Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield. An exhibition of compelling wildlife photography featuring 50 photos from three of National Geographic’s top photojournalists: Michael “Nick” Nichols, Steve Winter and Paul Nicklen. In addition to the photographs, the exhibition will include natural immersive vignettes featuring science specimens of animals critical to the ecosystems where these apex predators make their homes. Art and cultural objects from the Berkshire Museum’s collections, including ceramics, Chinese imperial lions, Roman bronze pieces, Native American jewelry and ceremonial instruments and 20th-century sculpture, will also demonstrate the impact that these animals have had on us. This show will be on view concurrently with Festival of Trees On Safari, Berkshire Museum’s annual holiday exhibition. (Through Sunday January 4)

EN MASSE @ Thompson Giroux Gallery, Chatham. A salon exhibition of small (6″x6″) works in a wide variety of media by more than 40 artists. (Through January 4)

Home Grown: Fellowship Recipients 2005-2014 @ The Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock. Works by Craig J. Barber, Karen Davis, Isaac Diggs, Tara Fracalossi, Danny Goodwin, Deb Hall, James Heil, Yumiko Izu, Chad Kleitsch, Kristina E. Knipe, Mark Lyon, Tanya Marcuse, Jennifer Lynn Morse, Harvey Osterhoudt and Phil Underdown. (Through January 11)

A Sum of Limited Views @ Yates Gallery. Works by Michael Van Winkle. (Through January 22)

Franz West @ Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown. Franz West (Austrian, 1947-2012) is known for willfully un-serious, non-ideological and sometimes mischievously erotic mixed-media drawings, sculptures and furniture. Intentionally crude collages combine awkwardly isolated figures from magazine ads with slapdash coats of thick paint and representations of the artist’s own sculptures. This exhibition is presented in conjunction with the Hall Art Foundation’s installation of West’s monumental outdoor sculpture Les Pommes d’Adam at MASS MoCA. (Through January 25)

Darren Waterston: Uncertain Beauty @ MASS MoCA, North Adams. Painter Darren Waterston’s installation Filthy Lucre — the centerpiece of Uncertain Beauty — is a contemporary re-imagining of James McNeill Whistler’s 1876 decorative masterpiece Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, reconstructed as a sumptuous ruin. Inside, viewers will find Waterston’s re-interpretations of Whistler’s paintings, along with stalactite-like ceiling fixtures and crumbling shelving replete with 250 hand-painted ceramic vessels. Glaze will appear to ooze down the wall, and the shimmering central peacock mural will partially melt into the floor in a puddle of gold. A soundscape featuring voice and cello composed by the New York-based trio BETTY will be heard intermittently through the space, punctuating the silence with hauntingly beautiful reverberations. The installation hints at parallels between the excesses and inequities of the Gilded Age and the social and economic disparities of our own time. At the same time, the work raises questions about patronage and the relationships between artists, collectors, and institutions. (Through February 1)

Norman Rockwell: Home for the Holidays @ Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge. A holiday installation of original artworks and objects including original drawings for Hallmark cards, paintings inspired by Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, a point-of-purchase Coca-Cola Santa, and costumes and props featured in Rockwell’s artwork will be on view. (Through February 8)

Monet | Kelly @ The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown. An exhibition that focuses on the significant role Claude Monet’s motifs and the sites that inspired his paintings have played in the work of American painter Ellsworth Kelly. (Through February 15)

Anne Morgan Spalter: Modern Renaissance @ Independent Art Projects, North Adams. Anne Morgan Spalter creates a unique spatial experience by integrating printed and moving imagery, using both traditional photography as well as computational tools. Continuing her exploration of modern and past landscapes, Spalter combines aerial urbanscapes with video works based on Renaissance painting and cathedral imagery. (Through February 22)

artKamp: indigo mass @ Independent Art Projects, North Adams. A collaborative group exhibition of selected ceramic works created during artKamp — a two-week international residency featuring eight artists working collaboratively to create a unified tablescape. artKamp artists include Ben Carter, Chase Gamblin, Alexandra Jelleberg, Frances Palmer, Bonnie Smith, Mara Superior, Vipoo Srivilasa and Elenor Wilson. (Through February 22)

Black @ Standish Atrium Gallery, Albany. This new series by Brian Cirmo studies the darker, depraved side of American life, as the bespectacled, bearded and slightly balding protagonist travels around the country to discover what it means to be American. (Through February 25)

Undercover: Revealing Design in Quilts, Coverlets and Bed Hangings @ Albany Institute of History & Art, Albany. An exhibition investigating the designs and patterns that decorate American bed covers of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. More than 30 bed covers and complementary objects such as illustrated books, paintings, ceramics and botanical specimens reveal a variety of design sources used by American women and men to decorate their beds. (Through March 8)

Along His Own Lines: A Retrospective of New York Realist Eugene Speicher @ New York State Museum. An exhibition of 39 paintings and 35 drawings and works on paper by the noted American realist and founding member of the Woodstock Artists Colony. (Through March 22)

Eclipse @ MASS MoCA, North Adams. An installation that combines video, sound, and text to create an immersive and contemplative exhibition that examines species extinction through the passenger pigeon, whose once-massive population disappeared 100 years ago. (Through March 31)

Fathi Hassan: Migration of Signs @ Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown. Fathi Hassan transforms Arabic script into illegible text to illustrate the uncertainty embedded in the experience of migration and displacement. His most recent works explore the idea of Nubia, Egypt and the Middle East as mythical and nostalgic space. They serve as allegories of the diasporic condition, spiritual journeys and key reform movements like the Arab Spring. (Through April 26)

Lee Boronson: Plastic Fantastic @ MASS MoCA, North Adams. Lee Boroson’s large-scale installations, using inflatables, fabric and glass, create a phenomenological and immersive audience experience based on the elemental forces in nature: air, fog, smoke, fire and the cosmos.

2014 Fall Exhibition @ Art Omi, Ghent. New works by Alexandre Arrechea, Jackie Ferrara, Guy Goldstein, Harrison Atelier, Paula Hayes, Catherine Lee and Joan Linder.