Based on the number of artists represented, this year’s 20th annual Saugerties Artists’ Studio Tour has the second largest number of artists represented, said organizer Barbara Bravo.
The tour, spread across the entire Town of Saugerties, is set for the weekend of August 13-14; a preview, “Art in the Barn,” opened July 15 and will run through July 31 at Dutch Barn at Kiersted House, located at 119 Main Street. While it is difficult to estimate the number of people attending a shifting event like the art opening, the barn was full, and many people congregated on the lawn outside before or after viewing the art inside. Bravo said the usual attendance at previous tours has been estimated at about 200 people; this year’s attendance seemed a lot greater.
Art on the tour, a small sample of which was on display, runs the gamut from painting and photography to sculpture, including some that would not fit into an indoor exhibit, like Michael Ciccone’s large outdoor sculptures. Ciccone also creates smaller works, one of which is included in the display in the Dutch Barn.
Interest in the arts in Saugerties has been growing, with many new residents from New York City moving to the Hudson Valley to escape Covid. Among the new residents are also new artists, who hoped to join the tour, Bravo said. “We had to put four artists on the list for next year,” she said. During the past 20 years, the tour has gained a reputation for attracting excellent artists.
Ana Bergen described her painting, “After the Storm” as a dreamscape based on the scene of real storms. Bergen also had photography in the collection at the barn; the photos looked as much like paintings as the paintings around them. “Cityscape” buildings look abstract, but the work is a photograph. “When you look up at these water towers, you never know what you’ll find,” Bergen said. Reflected glare from the lights showed up in the picture; “I don’t really like glass,” she said.
Joan Reinmuth, who has been on the tour in the past, but was not displaying her work this year, said “this was the year to be in it.”
The question of how to define art came up later, when Reinmuth said she has a coffee cup from the tour that she has used for years. Is it art, if it’s used every day? “You are broaching on a topic that comes to blows,” Bravo said. Gus Pedersen gave as an example the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Find me a room that does not have a piece of furniture in it,” he said. He noted that “some people say that if you can use it, it’s craft. If you can’t use it, it’s art,” a formulation he does not agree with. “It’s an interesting discussion and unanswerable.”
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