The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz invites artists working in all media to submit proposals for its annual Hudson Valley Artists exhibition of work from around the region.
The title of the 2019 edition of the series is “Madness in Vegetables: Hudson Valley Artists 2019,” referencing a poem by the French writer Francis Jammes.
This exhibition invites artists and artisans to address the enticing beauty and repellent brutality of nature; the political and civic implications of choosing a rural life; our ever-changing climate; the wild character of plants, gardens, forests, and fauna; the relevance, power and forms of anthropomorphic mythmaking; and poetic and fantastical interpretations of the woodlands.
The deadline for artist submissions to “Madness in Vegetables: Hudson Valley Artists 2019” is Sunday, March 24, at 12 midnight. All submissions must be made online using this link: https://dorskymuseum.submittable.com/submit/134477/madness-in-vegetableshudson-valley-artists-2019. Submissions will be juried by Alyson Baker and Candice Madey of the newly-formed River Valley Arts Collective.
Madness in Vegetables will run from June 15 – Nov. 10, 2019 in the Dorsky Museum’s Alice and Horace Chandler Gallery and North Gallery.
About the Exhibition
“I am dreaming of the trees that devote themselves to an unending search for aerial balance … Such is the life of a fig tree, like a poet’s: the search for light and the difficulty of remaining in it. There are apple trees that prefer the beauty of their fruit to the maintenance of their balance and so they break. They are mad.” – Francis Jammes, “Pensées des Jardins”
Jammes (1868 – 1938) is best known for poetry that turns towards a more direct expression of the natural world, drawing inspiration from rustic themes far removed from the decadent center of Parisian literary life.
He locates the vertical nature of the tree as a site for the imagination, connecting us to the mystery of the subterranean earth where roots converge and pulse with energy, and the determined ascent towards air and light.
“Madness in Vegetables: Hudson Valley Artists 2019” shares Jammes’ interest in our otherworldly entanglements with vegetal life, and the endless potential for imagination that is found in the darkness of the underbrush and lightness of the overstory.
Submission Guidelines
The Hudson Valley Artists exhibition is open to all emerging and mid-career artists and artisans with a permanent mailing address and active art practice in Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester Counties who have not had a major one-person museum exhibition and do not currently have representation with a large commercial gallery. Students are not eligible. There is no application fee.
Artists are invited to submit a maximum of six images or files of work created in 2015 or later. In addition to traditional fine art and craft—in particular those made from locally sourced materials—audio, video, film, and performance works are eligible for this exhibition.
Brief proposals for new works to be created for this exhibition, including installation or performance works, may also be submitted.
Submit online using this link by the deadline, Sunday, March 24, 2019.
Exhibited works will be eligible for acquisition into the museum’s permanent collection, thanks to the Hudson Valley Artists Annual Purchase Award supported by the Alice and Horace Chandler Art Acquisition Fund. Artists whose work has been purchased in the past include Amy Talluto, Nestor Madalengoita, Richard Edelman, Deb Lucke, Holly Hughes, Stephen Niccolls, Patrick Kelley, Adie Russell, Elisa Pritzker, Charles Geiger, Curt Belshe, Lise Prown, and Mollie McKinley, among others.
About the Jurors
Jurist Alyson Baker served as the Executive Director of The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum from 2011 through December 2017, and as Executive Director of Socrates Sculpture Park from 2000 through 2011.
Jurist Candice Madey founded and directed the pioneering Lower East Side gallery On Stellar Rays, which garnered international recognition for a dynamic roster of artists working in painting, photography, sculpture, performance, sound and video between 2008 and 2017.
About The Dorsky Museum
Through its collections, exhibitions and public programs, the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz supports and enriches the academic programs at the College, presents a broad range of world art for study and enjoyment and serves as a center for Hudson Valley arts and culture. The museum is widely recognized 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 in the SUNY system. Since its official dedication on Oct. 20, 2001, The Dorsky has presented more than 100 exhibitions, including commissions, collection-based projects and in-depth studies of contemporary artists including Robert Morris, Alice Neel, Judy Pfaff, Carolee Schneemann and Ushio Shinohara.
Museum Hours:
Wednesday–Sunday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, Holidays, and Intersessions.
For more information about The Dorsky Museum and its programs, visit http://www.newpaltz.edu/museum, or call (845) 257-3844.
