fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Unison Arts unveils 17th annual Sculpture Exhibition

by Frances Marion Platt
April 14, 2016
in Art & Music, Entertainment
0
At Unison’s Sculpture Gardens, a detail of “Ghosts in the Woods” by Matt Pozorski. (photos by Lauren Thomas)
At Unison’s Sculpture Gardens, a detail of “Ghosts in the Woods” by Matt Pozorski. (photos by Lauren Thomas)

Back from the brink of having to give up its longtime home at 68 Mountain Rest Road in New Paltz, the Unison Arts & Learning Center is in a period of flux, with a fresh, committed Board of Directors and a new executive director, Heather Ohlson, who just this week went from a part-time employee to full-time. Talks are on for the not-for-profit that runs the operation to acquire the site for posterity. Day campers from the Wayfinder Experience — an important income stream in years past — will be back this August, thanks to the simple expedient of trucking in bottled water and a porta-potty until a new water purification system can be installed. All systems seem to be go.

So the mood was upbeat at the opening reception last Sunday for Unison’s 17th annual Sculpture Exhibition. “I think this sculpture garden looks a lot more interesting this year,” Gardiner-based artist and frequent Unison volunteer Annie O’Neill enthused on a tour of the outdoor exhibit. She estimated that about 65 percent of the pieces on view outdoors were new, while other, existing artworks were expanded or simply changed their aspect as a result of time and weathering. “Some people completely refurbished or switched pieces,” she said.

Joe and Debby Mainiero experience "3 Grace's" by Grace Knowlton at Unison's Sculpture Garden.
Joe and Debby Mainiero experience “3 Grace’s” by Grace Knowlton at Unison’s Sculpture Garden.

One of the brand-new sculptures is O’Neill’s own Osprey, a magnificent painted steel raptor poised in midair above a pond in quest of a fish. Volunteers had cleared away the pond’s “brambly covering,” she said, and Steve Spencer had invested considerable time and effort in constructing a canopy of tree limbs, resembling a giant spoked wagon wheel, from which her sculpture could be hung.

Along with fellow artist Kaete Brittin Shaw, O’Neill curated the indoor portion of the sculpture show, which will be up through August 9. The outdoor portion can be visited year-round from dawn to dusk, until it comes time to rotate out some of the works in another year.

Both parts of the exhibit showcase works of surprising diversity, especially in terms of materials. There are plenty of works in the familiar stone, cement, steel and wood, but also interesting applications of fabric, plastic, paper and a whole lot of ceramics, which look to be the up-and-coming material even for outdoor sculpture. Assemblages of found and repurposed materials abound. There’s even an eerie, evocative surround-sound sculpture by Kazuo Kawasumi, Mirage IV, that sounds like a mixture of dripping water and bouncing ping-pong balls.

Subject matter and tone of the works vary widely, from determinedly cool abstractions to humorous humanoid figures to kid-friendly kinetic sculptures. Around every bend in the trail one encounters something poignant, whimsical, unsettling. A great deal of the outdoor work has a site-specific feel, like Susan Togut’s Circle of Trees, in Time, which could easily be a bower for faeries when no humans are about. Even if you’ve been here a number of times before, it’s worth rediscovery.

Also taking the walkabout on Sunday, while other visitors snacked on a tasty spread of hors d’oeuvres provided by Gomen Kudasai and wine from Wine World Wide, was one of the new board members, Gardinerite Mark Rausher. “People don’t realize what would’ve been lost” if Unison had pulled up roots from its Mountain Rest Road home, he said, but he also expressed hope that the organization would seek ways to make it easier for young people to revitalize its greying core audience demographics. “I wish there were more student involvement. We need to be inclusive… People who come here [to attend SUNY New Paltz] are often arts-related. We should be a resource for them.”

In that respect, Rausher thought that Unison’s location on the outskirts of town has worked against diversification. “A lot of students don’t have transportation. It would be nice if we had some kind of shuttle,” or could persuade UCAT to provide bus service, he said.

A steady ramping up of programming since the beginning of the year, both in terms of workshops and concerts, seems to signal a new commitment to reach out to new audiences while remaining the educational community hub that Unison has long prided itself on providing. Volunteers are still needed, and of course donors and sponsors. Come on out and see the delightful array of sculptures; but also think about lending a hand however you can. For more information, call (845) 255-1559 or visit https://unisonarts.org.

 

Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

Our Country’s Good on stage at the newly renovated Byrdcliffe Theater

Next Post

Taiko Masala to perform in Rosendale’s Widow Jane Mine

Frances Marion Platt

Frances Marion Platt has been a feature writer (and copyeditor) for Ulster Publishing since 1994, under both her own name and the nom de plume Zhemyna Jurate. Her reporting beats include Gardiner and Rosendale, the arts and a bit of local history. In 2011 she took up Syd M’s mantle as film reviewer for Alm@nac Weekly, and she hopes to return to doing more of that as HV1 recovers from the shock of COVID-19. A Queens native, Platt moved to New Paltz in 1971 to earn a BA in English and minor in Linguistics at SUNY. Her first writing/editing gig was with the Ulster County Artist magazine. In the 1980s she was assistant editor of The Independent Film and Video Monthly for five years, attended Heartwood Owner/Builder School, designed and built a timberframe house in Gardiner. Her son Evan Pallor was born in 1995. Alternating with her journalism career, she spent many years doing development work – mainly grantwriting – for a variety of not-for-profit organizations, including six years at Scenic Hudson. She currently lives in Kingston.

Related Posts

Enormous collection of historic Woodstock art opens this Saturday in New Paltz
Art & Music

Enormous collection of historic Woodstock art opens this Saturday in New Paltz

February 2, 2023
All the music events in Ulster County, Feb. 1 – 7
Art & Music

All the music events in Ulster County, Feb. 1 – 7

February 1, 2023
Juliana Nash’s serendipitous musical journey from NYC to Kingston
Art & Music

Juliana Nash’s serendipitous musical journey from NYC to Kingston

January 26, 2023
Historical Society of Woodstock receives locally historic gift
Art & Music

Historical Society of Woodstock receives locally historic gift

January 29, 2023
Current art exhibitions in and around Ulster County: Jan. 25-31
Art & Music

Current art exhibitions in and around Ulster County: Jan. 25-31

January 25, 2023
All the games worth playing in Ulster County, Jan. 25-31
Entertainment

All the games worth playing in Ulster County, Jan. 25-31

January 24, 2023
Next Post

Taiko Masala to perform in Rosendale’s Widow Jane Mine

Trending News

  • One-man crime spree comes to end after Kingston man runs out of luck 3.7k views
  • Saugerties to host inaugural Snow Moon Festival February 3 to 5 2k views
  • Visit Kingston’s 12,240-square-foot squat, centrally located with wood-burning fireplace 1.6k views
  • The Bruynswyck Inn Oyster & Clam Bar offers fresh seafood and Shawangunk views 1.6k views
  • 20-foot, 10-wheel big rig overturns in Saugerties, injuring driver 1.2k views
  • Three-story, mixed-use building proposed for Agway property in New Paltz 1k views

Weather

Kingston
◉
39°
Sunny
7:04 am5:15 pm EST
Feels like: 34°F
Wind: 9mph S
Humidity: 42%
Pressure: 30.04"Hg
UV index: 1
MonTueWed
46/21°F
41/34°F
50/28°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing