The Historical Society of Woodstock will open its 2014 season 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, May 18 at its lower Comeau Drive location in Woodstock (directly across from the Woodstock Town Hall on Tinker St.) with a new exhibit titled, Artist Couples of Woodstock. The exhibit will feature paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures created by eight artist couples who lived, worked, and socialized in Woodstock, including: Milton Avery & Sally Avery, Edward Chavez & Eva van Rijn, Caroline Haeberlin & Reginald Wilson, Doris Lee & Arnold Blanch, Eugene Ludins & Hannah Small, Nan Mason & Wilna Hervey, Caroline Speare Rohland & Paul Rohland, and Andrée Ruellan & Jack Taylor. The works are from the permanent collection of the Historical Society of Woodstock, supplemented by generous loans from the Arthur A. Anderson Collection.
This exhibition includes works by sixteen Woodstock artists and was curated by eight students from a Bard College seminar about Woodstock art taught by art historian Tom Wolf. It offers a sense of the variety of styles and temperaments that flourished in the art colony through the unique perspective of artists who made their personal artistic statements while sharing their domestic lives.
Refreshments will be served and the public is invited as the event is free. The exhibit continues every Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. through July 6.
The public is also invited on Sunday May 25 at 2 p.m., as the Historical Society presents a “Conversation with artist Eva Van Rijn.” Taking a “step back in time,” Van Rijn will recall what life was like in the “Woodstock colony” when the artists featured in the exhibition were at the peak of their artistic careers. Born in Holland, Eva van Rijn emigrated to the U.S. with her parents during World War II. The family settled in Woodstock, where the vitality and creativity of the “Woodstock colony” influenced Eva’s early ambition to create art. Eva married painter-sculptor Edward Chavez. Born in New Mexico, Chavez was a vital part of the Woodstock art colony and taught at the Art Students League. Eva continues to live in Woodstock and is noted for her landscape and wildlife paintings.
Parking is available in either the upper or lower Comeau parking lots and, as always, admission is free. For more information on the exhibit and Woodstock history, visit www.historicalsocietyofwoodstock.org; follow HSW on Facebook at Historical Woodstock, or e-mail, woodstockhistory@hvc.rr.com.
Join the family! 
