Culturally Speaking
By Cornelia Seckel
ART TIMES February 16, 2019
 Cornelia Seckel receiving the Creative Hands Award from JoAnn Bishop, President of the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club (Photo: Kate Faust) |
I went to the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club's (CLWAC) 122nd annual awards dinner at the National Arts Club, NYC and was totally surprised when JoAnn Bishop, President of the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Club, announced my name as the recipient of the Creative Hands Award. The award is given to someone who has selflessly contributed to making possible the work of the Club and its exhibitions. Lucille C. Hampton, a long time member of CLWAC sculpted this award to recognize those who help bring life to creative work. It was in 1991 when the club was brought to my (ART TIMES) attention and since then we have been helping to promoting their annual and membership exhibits. It is truly the women who serve on the board for the CLWAC that deserve this honor; without them there would be no club or exhibitions. Of many fond memories I remember going to the dinner and for several years I'd end up spending time afterwards at Robert Henri's studio with Janet LeClair, niece of Robert Henri just a few doors away on Gramercy Park.
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On Saturday I went to the opening of Linda Mary Montano: The Art/ Life Hospital at the Samuel Dorsky Museum at SUNY New Paltz. Linda, a world-renowned performance artist has been a pioneer in performance art since the1960s. She explores her own art/life through shared experience, role adoption, and intricate life-altering ceremonies, some of which last for many years. This current piece focuses on Linda's interest and exploring of healing, aging and death. With her work she attempts to dissolve the boundaries between art and life. April 13 there will be a conversation with Linda on Death and Dying and on April 14 a performance by Linda during the exhibition closing.
Also at the Dorsky is the exhibition Just My Type: Angela Dufresne. Angela's intimate portraits of her friends, family and community are a study in the topology of the face. During the opening David Humphrey performed Work for Bowed Guitar and Electronics by Zach Layton. Angela's show will be up thru July 14, 2019.
Several programs including Nicola Tyson and Angela Dufresne in Conversation (Feb 23) and Kerry Downey reflects on the relationality of portraiture (Feb 24).
 The set of The Arsonists (photo: Jacquie Wolff) |
I'd met Harry Lipstein, founder and Producing Artistic Director of the DENIZEN Theater in New Paltz, NY on the bus from Port Authority in NYC to Kingston, NY. He was speaking with 2 women about acting and a new theater. Always on the lookout for new contacts for arttimesjournal I interrupted and introduced myself. It was a very fruitful conversation leading to my going to the DENIZEN several weeks later. I learned that in 1998 Harry designed and built Water Street Market in New Paltz, a little village with dozens of shops and eateries. I'd been going to Water Street Market since it opened as we distributed copies of ART TIMES up until June 2016 when we stopped printing and continued to publish online. In 2015, Harry built the Urbanite Theatre in Sarasota, Florida, a black box very similar to the DENIZEN, a black box theater he recently built in New Paltz in 2018. While in Sarasota Harry met Brittany Proia and Ben Williamson, DENIZEN's co-artistic directors. The three met while Proia and Williamson were acting in Sarasota, Florida in 2015, where Lipstein was establishing the Urbanite Theatre, a black box theater similar to DENIZEN.
I saw The Arsonists by Jacqueline Goldfinger. It will run thru Feb 24 and is the last play of this inaugural season. DENIZEN Theatre's year-round programming provides opportunities to artists from the Hudson Valley to New York City. See the website: https://www.denizentheatre.com for comments by Director Ben Williamson, to learn about the upcoming season and to applying for Designers, Interns, Volunteers and Play submissions.
I was very impressed by the small (50-70 seat) theatre. I found the play too dark for my enjoyment although I was totally engaged with the professional set, acting, directing, lighting and staging. I will not hesitate to see other plays.
Nina Doyle, Director of the Woodstock School of Art speaking
about the Thompson Family Foundation Scholarship show
I started the day in Woodstock, NY at the Woodstock School of Art's (WSA) exhibit of work by The Thompson Family Foundation Scholarship recipients. Students from Colleges, High Schools, and organizations take classes and workshops with the instructors at WSA at different times of the year. It began in 2010 when Saugerties High School reached out to WSA because they needed an advanced art class and there was no money in the budget. The Thompson Family Foundation of NY funded this class and students received academic credit. Subsequently other schools were informed about the program and from there it grew so that scholarships are available and this year over 222 students had a chance to study with professional artists at the Woodstock School of Art. Over the year, students can join regular classes or special workshops. Additionally the school offers work exchange and other scholarships. Savannah Baker was a scholarship student while in High School and today she is a teacher at the school. This program brings a new generation to the arts and to the school as well as bringing the fine work that the Woodstock School of Art does on behalf of artists and the community. This is surely a win-win for the current and future creative community.