Upstate Arts Weekend (UPAW) returns for its fourth edition July 21-24, with events and exhibits in New York’s Hudson Valley, from Kino Saito in Westchester for Ellsworth Kelly’s studiojust south of Albany.
“It’s impossible to do everything,” said founder Helen Toomer. “This event was created to shine a light on the incredible organizations in the region and to solidify lasting bonds with those who visit to return.”
UPAW debuted with just 23 participants in 2020. This year, 60 new galleries, collectives and institutions joined the event, bringing the total number of participants to 130.
Chris Bogia, “Candle, 2022 installed outside of Foreland in Catskill, NY, where NADA will host its third annual Upstate Art Weekend event this weekend. Courtesy of UPSTATE ART WEEKEND
The latest edition of this year’s lineup is Archipelago, in Germantown. An “art and research institute dedicated to spirituality, thought and healing,” Mendes Wood DM soft launched Archipelago last fall with an exhibition curated with the help of Los-based Blum & Poe. Angeles.
“It is non-commercial and operates on a planned but informal vision of a dispersed network of small centers of artistic thought and practice,” said Matthew Wood, founding partner of Medes Wood DM. Argentinian painter Santiago de Paoli’s “Cheese Moon Nights” exhibition opened at Archipelago on June 24 and will run until August 27. UPAW is the tough space launch, and it will be open all weekend.
Italian Art Magazine will host UPAW’s private launch party on Friday evening in conjunction with their new show celebrating the 90th birthday of Michelangelo Pistoletto. But by then, the festivities will be well underway. Kathy Ruttenberg – the painter-turned-ceramic sculptor who transformed Lyles & King’s backyard into a fantasy land with her work, through September 23 – will open the church-turned-gallery on her Bearsville property for the afternoon visits all weekend, starting on Friday. Attendees can honor the original custodians of the upstate’s natural beauty at Art Omi’s free Hudson Valley Intertribal Noise Symposium and Book Release tonight.
Kite and Nathan Young for the Hudson Intertribal Noise Symposium. Courtesy of UPSTATE ART WEEKEND. 2023 © Steve Boyle
On Saturday, Art Omi also presents functional sculpture by Pippa Garner Haulin’ AssWho go conduct crazy first on their home turf as part of Garner’s biggest show.
Meanwhile, UPAW revelers can only catch Michael Snow’s performance at Jack Shainman’s The School in Kinderhook on Saturday. They are screening of a Snow film, after which gallery staff will lead a tour. Elsewhere on Saturday, SUNY New Paltz’s Dorsky Museum will be assemble a time capsulemulti-city gallery Good Naked will unveil its one-day pop-up show”FEEDER” in Catskill, and MOTHER will host the “Almost closing” party for their group show playing at Beacon.
Paul Anagnostopoulos, ‘Follow You to the Sun’, 2022. On view at Geary. Courtesy of UPSTATE ART WEEKEND
Most events, however, will take place throughout the weekend. Geary will close his sprawling group show around consciousness, curated by Tara Foley of the Wassaic Project. It’s also the last weekend for international artist Katharina Arndt first american exhibition at Mott Projects. The Barn on Berme will present a four-day site-specific exhibition featuring sound baths, drawings and more. NADA Foreland will return, ticketed this time, with 40 exhibitors. They will also host a concert by Catskill-based band Camp Saint Helene on Saturday night, followed by a set by Swiss singer DJ Bobo.
Unlike the rest of the art world, arriving on time is too late for UPAW. Although billed through Monday, UPAW begins closing on Sunday, when attendees can browse open studios at Toomer’s Stoneleaf Retreat in the afternoon, attend a workshop of Fern T. Apfel around his show at the Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, and catch a concert by Amanda Palmer and Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear to support access to abortion. Luckily, from galleries in Kinderhook to institutions like Dia and Storm King down the valley, upstate’s greatest treasures are open all summer. Good planning.
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