Ottaway Gift Documents Dorsky Museum exhibitions

NEW PALTZ — Select exhibitions featured at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at the State University of New York at New Paltz will now live well beyond their venues at the SDMA thanks to a donation from Jim and Mary Ottaway.

The $7,500 annual gift will fund the publication of scholarly catalogues for one-person exhibitions that feature the works of prominent artists who currently live and work in the Hudson Valley and Catskill regions.

“My wife, Mary, is an artist working in the Hudson Valley on the natural beauty of our landscapes, large and small. We are both lovers of the best Hudson River School painters, from the 19th and 20th Centuries,” said Jim Ottaway. “We both support the program led by museum director Neil Trager to exhibit the work of some of the most talented and creative artists living in the Hudson Valley.”

The first catalogue published through the Ottaways’ gift documents the Robert Morris exhibition that was one of two inaugural exhibitions featured at the museum’s grand opening in October 2001. The exhibition included drawings and re-staged performances on video by the artist created over a 30-year period, offering an insight into the numerous reasons Morris has remained one of the most engaging and pioneering artists of the last 40 years. The catalogue reproduces many of these drawings, and includes scholarly essays by Christophe Cherix, assistant curator at the Musee d’art et d’histoire of Geneva, and Nadine Wasserman, curator of exhibitions at the SDMA.

“Lesley Dill: A Ten Year Survey,” is the second exhibition to be documented in the series. This exhibition presented a comprehensive ten-year survey of Dill’s work, demonstrating her depth of subject matter, as well as her breadth of creativity. The catalogue includes essays by art critics Janet Koplos and Arlene Raven, and Susan Krane, a curator and director of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. The exhibition was on view at the SDMA from March 9 – April 21. “Lesley Dill: A Ten Year Survey” is traveling nationally and will be exhibited at museums and galleries in Chicago, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Boulder, Colo., and Honolulu. The catalogue will be available at all of the venues.

“The museum has a mission-based commitment to address the cultural heritage of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Regions. We do this a number of ways, but primarily through exhibitions and publications,” said Trager. “I am very pleased about this partnership, as it will ensure we are able to produce high-quality catalogues that, when compiled as a set, will provide an important record of both the artists’ work and the museum’s regional programs and services.”

Both catalogues are available for sale at the museum during its regular hours of operation. The museum is open Tuesday through Friday from 12-4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1-4 p.m. More information on the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art is available online at www.newpaltz.edu/museum.