When artist/educator Marcy Bernstein was first inspired to create Roost Studios and Cooperative Art Gallery in downtown New Paltz, it was still the Obama administration. On hiatus from her teaching job in Newburgh, she spent a long recuperation from a serious bicycle accident daydreaming and planning a place where artists could pay membership dues to have access to a shared space where they could make art, exhibit it and hold classes.
The loft she eventually found at 69 Main Street, a former yoga studio with a big brick-walled central gallery and numerous smaller rooms, soon became a thriving hub for the arts and a venue for well-attended exhibitions and events (https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2016/02/25/roost-studios-and-cooperative-art-gallery-seeks-founding-members-to-rent-downtown-loft-space-in-new-paltz). Classes in a variety of artforms and weekly drawing sessions with live models were popular draws. Besides access to studio workspace, each founding member was entitled to one solo show every two years, plus inclusion in group shows. The organization also initiated an annual program of Roost Boost scholarships, giving a cash award and gallery show each May to promising local art students.
But then COVID came along, and like many other indoor arts spaces, Roost Studios could no longer provide a safe place for creators, students and audiences to congregate. By the summer of 2020, Bernstein and her Board of Directors came to the decision to shut down the physical Studios, stop charging for membership and concentrate on pop-up events and virtual exhibits and classes. “We held on for about six months and then closed, and hibernated like everybody else,” she recalls.
To sustain a sense of community, Roost organized a series of “Art along the Trails” plein-air paint-outs near Mohonk’s Testimonial Gateway. “That was a huge success. We’re still doing it every year,” says Bernstein. SUNY New Paltz interns were recruited to teach a series of free Zoom workshops to middle-schoolers, called SmartArts, and the organization’s enhanced online presence expanded its reach. The Roost Boost scholarship program continued, minus the gallery exhibitions.
With a small grant from Arts Mid-Hudson, in 2022 the organization hired a design artist to create Tiny Roost, a solar-powered outdoor showcase to be installed by the entrance to the Gardiner Library. “Every quarter we do a new artist,” Bernstein notes. More recently, Roost has been doing an eight-month series of art talks and pop-up shows, including the annual group show for members, at Studio 89 in Highland.
But, says Bernstein, “We’ve been looking to get back in New Paltz, because it’s our home.” So, this year, she and the board got serious about finding a new brick-and-mortar space downtown. With the 2023 decision by the principals of One Epic Place to call it quits on their co-working space project at 122 Main Street in New Paltz, a new opportunity presented itself. Roost has now found itself a promising creative partner in the building’s owner, Gordon Pine, who has been renovating the space room-by-room with an eye toward having it serve as a hub for the local arts community.
A landscape and hardscape designer by profession, responsible for much of the structure’s surrounding gardens, walkways and general curb appeal, “Gordy is really happy to have art in that building,” says Linda Engler, Roost’s marketing director. “He was quite a sports guy, a football star at New Paltz High School in his youth. But every time a new artist comes in, if he has any time, he sits down with them and asks them about their art.”
Built in the 1840s, the historic building at 122 Main was the Pine family home for generations, built next door to their funeral home business. “Gordon’s grandmother, Marion Pine, lived there all her life, and she lived to be 105,” Bernstein relates. “She was a painter. There’s a worn spot on the floor in one of the front rooms where she used to sit and paint.”
Roost’s principals came to an agreement with their new landlord in September, in which Roost would move into two large adjoining ground-floor rooms in time for Halloween, while Pine continues upgrading the rest of the spaces. Two rooms currently used as chiropractic offices will be vacated by the first of the year and transformed into a gift shop featuring Roost artists, to be rented by Bernstein and a partner as a separate for-profit business enterprise.
Upstairs are “five beautiful rooms waiting to be renovated. They could be classrooms, workshops or mini-galleries,” Bernstein explains. Each will be refurbished by Pine, with the tenant paying for materials, including new lighting fixtures tailored to the type of use planned. “Our vision was that this will be a center for the arts. Gordon is only looking at arts-related businesses as potential tenants. Our not-for-profit is the anchor, and across the hall will be the artisan gift shop.” The central hallway, still in need of new carpeting, will eventually display educational materials pertinent to the building’s history.
The big gallery space that has become Roost’s new home — now rebranded as Roost Arts Hudson Valley — spans the building’s 36-foot depth, divided in half by a handsome wooden archway, with windows on three sides and a large non-working fireplace on one side. The organizers have been hard at work constructing shelves and displays for artworks, with a retail counter set up at one end. Everything is modular and movable to accommodate receptions and other events. The first of these were a Halloween Arts Bash on October 31 and an Opening Celebration for “Golden Jubilee Revelation,” an exhibit of works by Tyson Goldfisch, on November 1.
Several more events are being readied for the weeks to come, beginning with a Holiday Gift Sale on November 30 and December 1, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Each of the two days will feature creations by 11 different vendors, mostly member artists. Admission is free.
Next comes the sixth annual Holiday Art Gala Extravaganza on Saturday, December 7 from 6 to 9 p.m. A fundraiser for the Roost Boost scholarship program, this one is a terrific opportunity to acquire affordable original artworks in a tiny format for a donation of $25 each, as well as art postcards. Each of the 200 or so “petite paintings” comes with its own miniature easel. Entry costs $15 in advance, $20 at the door and is free for artists who donate their works to sell. There will be snacks, glasses of prosecco and live music.
The next day, December 8 from 1 to 3 p.m., you can attend a craft workshop where you will learn to make a mosaic holiday ornament. On December 13 from 6 to 8 p.m., Bernstein herself will revive her old Roost tradition of Paint & Sip events. Admission for either class, including materials and refreshments, costs $40 for non-members, $35 for members.
In the new year, many more events are being planned, including a resumption of regular exhibitions. A fine art photography exhibit by Dan McCormack will be followed by a Valentine’s Day show called “Art as a Love Language.” “We were approached by two SUNY New Paltz students who want to do short film screenings. The first one will be in February,” says Bernstein. “People are showing up and want to run these things. They miss it.”
Interest in membership is also growing, she reports, now that Roost has a physical space once more. Membership rates have been reduced from the original $125 per month to a scale of $80 to $300 per year, depending on the desired level of participation.
Noting that the new home of Roost Arts Hudson Valley is situated directly across Main Street from no fewer than six restaurants, Bernstein says that her ultimate goal is a “gallery crawl” event occurring in the building and the neighborhood on at least a monthly basis, helping to reinforce New Paltz’s image as a center for arts tourism. “My dream is to light that up at night. There’s always going to be interesting things going on there.”
For updates on Roost Arts activities, visit www.roostarts.org. For inquiries about renting one of the upstairs gallery/workshop spaces, contact Marcy Bernstein at marcy@roostcoop.org or call (845) 568-7540.
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