The Dorsky opens new exhibition on June 25th

NEW PALTZ – On Saturday, June 25, 2011, from 5-7pm, the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art will hold an opening reception for a new exhibition: Hudson Valley Artists 2011: Exercises in Unnecessary Beauty. The exhibition, curated by museum curator Brian Wallace, will be on display in the Alice and Horace Chandler Gallery and North Gallery through November 13, 2011.

Hudson Valley Artists 2011: Exercises in Unnecessary Beauty features works by 24 artists who live and work in the mid-Hudson Valley who dare to address that most elusive of qualities—beauty. The exhibition includes work that employs beautiful images and craftsmanship as well as work that questions the idea and/or ideal of beauty. In the call to artists for this exhibition, curator Brian Wallace noted that, "Beauty is a theoretical construct, a know-it-when-you-see-it essence, a goal and a goad, an absolute, a relative and ineffable characteristic, an historical battle zone. For some, it sits, seldom used and heavy, yet still lending weight to the whole enterprise; for others, it’s like a pair of vise-grips—often used, but never acknowledged. For still others, beauty is an indistinguishable unit—both means and finished product." The exhibition celebrates the myriad ways in which artists working in the region address these issues through video installations, photography, painting, sculpture, and multi-media work that depicts and makes references to nature, to the process of artmaking, to the social and political setting in which art is made and encountered, and to the work of other artists.

Participating artists, selected from more than 250 artists who submitted their work for consideration, and the counties from which they hail include: Paul G. Stewart from Columbia County, Hannah Raine Brenner-Leonard, Charles Geiger, Lynn Itzkowitz, Tanya Marcuse, Bill Schuck, Charles Stein and Joy Taylor from Dutchess County; Jim Holl from Greene County; Timothy Englert from Rockland County; and Jane Bloodgood-Abrams, Karen Capobianco, Amy Cheng, Vincent Connelly, Dave Hebb, Sue Horowitz, Roman Hrab, Charise Isis, Michael Joyce, Iain Machell, Gilbert Plantinga, Susan Sammis, Scott Serrano and Harry Wilks from Ulster County.

ARTIST GALLERY TALKS

Gallery talks by artists participating in this exhibition will take place on the following dates:

Sunday, July 17, Saturday, September 24, and Saturday, October 15.
Talks begin at 2pm.

About The Hudson Valley Artists Exhibition Series

The Hudson Valley Artists exhibition series is open to artists from Columbia, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester Counties. This is the third year that a Hudson Valley Artists Annual Purchase Award of $3,000 will be used to acquire one or more artworks from the exhibition for the Dorsky Museum’s permanent collection. This Purchase Award is made possible through the Alice and Horace Chandler Art Acquisition Fund

ABOUT THE MUSEUM

The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, located at SUNY New Paltz, is fast gaining wide recognition as the premier public showplace for exhibition, education, and cultural scholarship about the Hudson Valley region’s art and artists from yesterday and today. With more than 9,000 square feet of exhibition space distributed over six galleries, the Dorsky Museum is one of the largest museums within the SUNY system.

This exhibition is one of a series of exhibitions and events celebrating the museum’s tenth anniversary year that highlight The Dorsky’s focus on the art and artists of the Hudson Valley, a unique region that has served as a source of inspiration and nourished artistic creation and innovation since the time of the Hudson River School painters.

For more information about The Dorsky Museum and its programs, visit http://www.newpaltz.edu/museum, or call (845) 257-3844.