ART SCENE TV
Each month, filmmaker Stephen Blauweiss produces "ArtScene," a monthly video web series with short segments on artists, galleries, and museums in the Hudson Valley. Check it out at Chronogram.com/TV.
"It's a Big World in There"
This is a very different piece for me—it documented one work, an installation piece, at the CHRCH space in Cottekill. Kate Hamilton created these giant clothing items out of massive bolts of cloth in this church space. The visitors were invited to participate by moving the pieces with rigging—ropes and pulleys swung the garments around, which interacted with a video projection designed by artist Tona Wilson onto and behind the pieces as an ongoing spontaneous performance. Jonathan Elliott, a composer, collaborated with the two other artists by creating an ambient soundtrack to emphasize both the pieces and the mood.
Beacon Art Galleries
Each town has a little ArtScene, and in my opinion, Beacon is the most happening one. I'm covering two galleries in this segment: Marion Royael Gallery and Catalyst Gallery. Steven and Barbara Riddle run Marion Royael, a fabulously unique gallery with a wonderful energy. A variety of artists submit work under a particular theme, and they present the pieces in this incredible collage-like fashion. Catalyst is a really lovely, intimate gallery—it has cooperative qualities, but it's run by Erica Hauser and her partner. While she's a skillful curator, Hauser's painting style is incredibly thought-provoking—she captures early to mid-20th century local Americana in a compelling way.
Staats Fasoldt—Master Watercolor Painter
So this is another unusual piece for me, in that it documents this master painter creating a single work. Having taught at the Woodstock School of Art for several decades, Fasoldt has recreated this painting of a tugboat and the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor dozens of times to demonstrate watercolor techniques for his students. I basically made a film of him starting from scratch, preparing the paper, and taking it through to a completed work. What's really amazing are his tactical strategies—how he lifts the whole page up and tilts it to let the water run down to create different effects, using large brushes and small brushes interchangeably. It was wonderful to watch his various techniques culminating in this one piece that's taught so many aspiring artists what goes into master watercolor work.
On the Cover—Eric Forstmann
The fascinating part of Forstmann's work is how he takes these plain, inane objects that you wouldn't give a second glance, and paints them in an incredibly compelling way. As a photorealist painter, he doesn't work from photographs but from real-time sets he organizes himself, or landscapes he travels to and works from in person. He calls the technique "eyeball realism," and his final works show a thorough understanding of how these objects are emphasized by light and shadow in a given setting.
As told to Kelly Seiz.
