Women’s Studio Workshop (WSW) in Binnewater is one of Ulster County’s most amazing long-running success stories, providing a safe and nurturing space where thousands of women (and now men) have been able to show and share their art, and learn hands-on skills like papermaking, screenprinting, bookbinding and ceramics, since the 1970s. Many an amazing art career has been hatched there over the decades.
Keeping its courses and residencies affordable means that the not-for-profit organization has to throw a fundraising event every now and then, and the Gala & Auction coming up on Sunday, May 20 – the 11th of its kind – is WSW’s top-shelf annual affair. The venue for this year’s soirée is the elegant and contemporary Senate Garage in Kingston’s Uptown Stockade District. Cocktails and gourmet hors d’oeuvres will accompany the silent and live auctions that go on from 3 to 7 p.m.
Each year’s WSW Gala honors someone for their dedication to serving artists and the community. For 2018, the honorees will be Dani ReStack and Annie O’Neill. ReStack began WSW’s clay program following her studio internship in 1997. Pursuing a career in film and sculpture has led her to her work being shown at the 2017 Whitney Biennial and the Toronto Film Festival. She has been the recipient of the Wexner Center Film/Video Residency, the Kazuko Award and the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice Visual Arts Grant.
If you’ve ever attended WSW’s fabulous wintertime party, the Chili Bowl Fiesta, you know Annie O’Neill’s fun and festive ceramicware, typically sporting Mexican folk motifs. A longtime friend of the Workshop, Gardiner resident, painter, sculptor and potter O’Neill is also a community leader and environmentalist, working with such regional organizations as Unison Arts Center in New Paltz and Friends of the Shawangunks. She has dedicated countless hours to supporting WSW’s events and programs.
Tickets to the 2018 WSW Gala & Auction cost $125 per person. Tables for eight may be purchased for $800. For more information, call (845) 658-9133 or visit https://wsworkshop.org/support-us/gala18.
Join the family! 
