MIDDLETOWN - From main streets in villages and hamlets to dead-end mountaintop roads, more than 60 artists showed work in 39 different studios and six gallery settings from Andes and Bovina to Arkville, Denver, Fleischmanns, Margaretville and Roxbury July 26 - 28. After a gala opening party event at 1053 Gallery on Main Street in Fleischmanns July 25, artists showed their work and work spaces throughout the weekend, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.
The annual self-guided tour offered on both printed and digital maps revealed artists working in their home studios, in basements, garages, and lofts that heavily influence the vast array of artwork produced and sold here in the region, and at shows and galleries around the world. The works produced, from rocks etched or rocks wrapped, to painting, photographs, sculptures, fiber art, printmaking, ceramics, and collage reflected a dizzying array of creativity in a region with now bursting with creative people.
Tabitha Gilmore-Barnes, a spinner and weaver on a dead-end road tucked up in the Denver-Vega Valley, reveled in showing her looms, her wool and the process she has evolved over a journey of more than 50 years in the design and artistic production of tapestries, wearables and other decorative arts. Among those who started the AMR tour effort in 2012, Gilmore-Barnes has been working from her Denver studio since making the leap from New York City in the early 90s. In a basement studio with a walkout deck overlooking the Denver valley, Gilmore-Barnes managed her artistic career while working for Cornell Cooperative Extension and raising two daughters with her husband Henry.
Though claiming to be “retired” from all other professional pursuits so she can weave full time, the energetic artist was looking forward to teaching at a camp seminar for kids as she completes work on a series called “Bring Home the Colors of the Catskills” and at the same time a series called “Fall from Grace – Fall into Grace.”
With both themes, Gilmore-Barnes uses locally sourced wools she hand dyes and spins to the exact colors and textures she needs for each project.
As visitors marveled at the yarns, drawings and works, both finished and in process, the artist described how she uses her Mirrix Zeus 38 inch frame loom to turn her visions and drawings into finished wall hangings. The environment in which she works is evidenced in nearly every piece she creates. From the feelings her view creates in her to the visuals of streams and mountains that are features or backgrounds in her work, the veteran rarely misses an opportunity to make connections from her home to her community.
While Gilmore-Barnes has spent half a century in the region, many of her colleagues are relative newcomers. Practically “around the corner” in country terms, is the studio of Deborah Ruggerio.
The standalone studio adjacent to her home smells of new wood and paint and offers an incredible, inspiring view that takes the breath away from even the most well travelled visitors.
Ruggerio shares her large studio space with other artists and was joined for the weekend by painter Ron Macklin and photographer Becca Andre.
Ruggerio’s work is clearly a reflection of the place in which she makes her art. Paintings of barns, vistas and other local scenery adorn the walls.
“Capturing the beauty of nature that surrounds me inspires me to create art,” she said.
In addition to studio work, Ruggerio loves plein air painting throughout the region, trying to “use a variety of media and techniques to help viewers see nature’s beauty as it changes with the seasons.”
For decades Ruggerio taught art to middle and high school students and coordinated related experiences as well as adult workshops. She continues those efforts as the president of the AMR Artists Inc., volunteering time to assist with the Open Studios Tour and annual exhibition. Artists frequently gather in her studio to paint together and learn from each other. A born collaborator, Ruggerio is also a member of the Longyear Gallery in Margaretville.
Ron Macklin, who shared Ruggerio’s studio space for AMR weekend, is an artist who keeps one leg in the Catskills at a studio in Highmount and one leg in the “city” from a studio on Long Island. Also a member of the Longyear Gallery, Macklin’s bifurcated views are evident in his work. Stunning scenes of the city at night, usually in the rain, share the walls with vivid paintings of peppers in a farmstand bin and antique hinges on a church door.
“I love both worlds,” he said of his work in which he tries to provide joy and mystery as well as a sensitivity to places, people and objects. Though he sometimes paints from photos, much of his Catskills based work is plein air. A classic painting of a stone house on Crump Road in Highmount evokes both the beauty of the natural environment and the majesty of the man-made structure.
Among the artists who are newest to the scene and to the AMR tour weekend were Eddie Donoghue and Holly Cohen whose work helped to fill the shared space at the Galli Curci Theater in Margaretville. Photographer Cohen views the entire natural world around her as her studio. Her photos of everyday life, particularly animal life, are exquisite. From donkeys and cats to goats and chickens, Cohen captures the interaction of animals with their environments. Arriving in the Catskills was something of an escape for Cohen, and something of a mission to find a perfect place to live with her donkeys. Her love of the natural studio around her is reflected in awesome photos of scenery from the top of Giant Ledge to the bottom of a historic waterfall.
Donoghue, who moved to the Catskills from Long Island, recently rekindled a love of painting because of the natural beauty around him. The former journalist and poet who also works with 1053 Gallery in Fleischmanns, creates abstracts from inks and water on yupo to evoke both the natural and the man-made environment around him. Often working in black and white grid like formats, Donoghue’s color pieces draw in the beauty of flowers and mountains of the area. The inks and water blend on the yupo surface he uses, creating a seamless, uniformed look.
The AMR Open Studios Tour for 2024 is now history, but the more than 60 artists featured will go on.
In galleries from Andes to Roxbury, Margaretville to Fleischmanns and Pine Hill, in area restaurants and yoga studios, and in murals on local buildings, the artists of the Catskills draw on and enhance the beauty of the region to enrich the lives of all who reside here or visit.
