Art in Castleton-on-Hudson

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Art in big old spaces, here the Castleton Project and Event Space in the former Odd Fellows Hall on Main Street. (The sign is still hanging: IOOF, International Order of Odd Fellows, a masonic-like group)

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A few posts ago I talked about my trip to Hudson and showed you images of the Carriage House at the John Davis Gallery. Art in refurbished buildings seems to be a leitmotif of my reportage this summer, because today we travel farther up the Hudson to the veddy Shakespearean sounding Castleton-on-Hudson where we visit another great old edifice full of art.

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Welcome to the Castleton Project and Event Space, housed in the former Odd Fellows Hall on Main Street. It’s a big three-story building that retains much of its original charm (i.e. it’s old and brick and has sweeping views of the Hudson) while offering the features we expect in an exhibition and studio environment (tons of space and good light, lots wallspace and good lighting). I visited there in early August for the opening of Castleton Twelve, an exhibition to launch the space. I am one of the participating artists in a show curated by Lisa Mackie and Peter Mackie, siblings who live around the corner from one another in Manhattan and here in Castleton as well.

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What follows is a running commentary of the images that show you the exhibition and give you a sense of the space. So here let me just give you some particulars:

. Castleton is seven miles south of Albany

. The show is up through September 17

. Viewing is by appointment. If you’re in the area, plan on visiting

. Call John Stookey at 518-217-8369. Let him know I sent you

. You can see more on the Castleton Project and Event Space blog

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There’s much I haven’t shown you. My goal was not to document the entire event but to provide a sense of where I went and what I saw, by necessity an edited view—even before I edited the pictures. We'll stop in on ther first floor n the way out. For now let's climb up to the main hall.

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We approach the second floor. The assemblage in the window is by Peter Mackie. The wall installation, which you'll see better on the way back down is by Manhee Bak.
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Turning right on the second floor, we look into the large exhibition/performance space. The curators are in this picture: Peter at far left, Lisa at far right. Now let's walk in . . ..
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Looking to our right is a wall of prints by Marylyn Dintenfass. To give you a sense of scale, each unit of Dintenfass's installation is about 30 x 30 inches. The windows are about 10 feet high. The flowing print in the window is by Lisa Mackie, an artist and master printer. You can see more of her work . . .
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. . . here: the print in the window and a large unique book that's printed and collaged. Continuing around the room . . .

. . . we see an assemblage by Peter Mackie and a painting by the late Elba Damast. That's John Stookey at far left, looking at the camera; he's the one you'll call if you want to see the exhibition. At right is Meredith Butler, Albany-based maker of fabulous boxes.
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Now we're going to walk through the black curtain . . ..

. . . to view a video by Peter Mackie. What you're seeing here are snapshots from a 20-minute loop of kaleidoscopic images projected onto a faceted and highly reflective screen

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This is my Uttar 234, encaustic on panel, 18 x 18 inches
Below, on the wall with another painting from the same series. I should have sent more. A grid would have been nice . . .

. . . Now let's look into the doorway at left . . .
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. . . a video by Richard Jochum is running
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Back in the main exhibition space we see the Dintenfass prints. Let's now walk through the doorway at right . . ..
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. . . into a front room that contains two drawings by Jochum, two prints by Peter Mackie and the food.

Wait, there's more!

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Back on the landing we look up to the third floor--I love this architectural still life with half door--and glance down at an orphaned detail, below
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The third floor is raw workspace, here leavened with an installation by Sheila Manion Artz. I was seized with nostalgia for my back-to-the-land days of living in the open spaces of a large stone mill a bit farther upstate

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Third-floor still lifes, above and below

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Above, a view from the other side of Manion Artz's hanging; below, still life with fan and river view. (This is the area where the Hudson River School flourished.).
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We're back on the second floor, preparing to head down

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Above and below, you have better views of Bak's tape installation. It looks to me as if he pressed the clear tape to the floor, collecting dirt and bits of paint and wood, and then applied it to the wall--a lovely mashup of architecture in a repurposed building
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The first floor is a storefront. I don't have pics of the windows where Bak and Jeffrey Allen Price both have installations; the reflection didn't allow me to get good pics. You can see Price's work here.

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The view above is what you see when you walk in. Four prints by Nancy Baker are on the right wall (closer view below) and on her website here . Baker has been subverting corporate logos in her gouache and glitter prints and drawings.

A sculpture by Castleton native Matt Hart is in the corner, and that's Lisa Mackie's litho press, which you'll see closer up in a moment.

What you don't see are the gorgeous handbound books by Laurence Fayard. If you click here you can see not only her work but pics she took of the Castleton opening, including some of the storefront space in which her work was shown
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A closer view of Baker's gouache and glitter prints.


Lisa Mackie showing one of her unique printed books. Paintings and prints by Elba Damast are on the wall behind her , and a Damast painting is shown below..


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I love these last two images. Peter Mackie's digital print, above (it looks like a cosmic thumbprint, no?) mirrors--unintentionally, I'm sure--the life and use of the building, evidenced by the layers of paint on the floor