Back on solid ground after pandemic
During the pandemic shutdown, the Garrison Art Center hit a few shoals on the way to its 60th anniversary, which the nonprofit is celebrating this year. But by thinking inside the box, it’s back on solid ground.
Executive Director Catherine Graham says that “engagements with the gallery and our education programs are up 30 percent from last year, and we’ve added staffing.”
In 2020, the galleries at Garrison’s Landing closed, classes went virtual and concerned constituents asked the community to lend support.
One of the most successful ideas during those days of isolation turned out to be Summer Art in a Box, recalled Jan Cucciarella, board president at the time. “We filled boxes with supplies and left them outside so students could pick them up, unpack them and jump on Zoom and create together.”
Post-pandemic, the organization kicked into high gear “by tightening up our bylaws, issuing an employee handbook and focusing on grant writing,” Cucciarella said during an Arty Martini fundraiser on Nov. 9. “We thought we might not survive, but the community came out to support the arts, and now we are 60 years strong.” Local artists founded the art center in 1964 with funds raised from an exhibit at the Garrison School.
At the Nov. 9 event, people schmoozing near the bar stood in the small gallery, which showcases pencil drawings and painted wall sculptures by upstate artist Brian Dickerson for an exhibit called Constructed Paintings & Drawings.
Dickerson buys material from the scrap piles at home improvement stores. His creations “Ravel” and “Myosotis” enticed visitors to crane their necks and peer into portals at the patterns inside. Exploring with the cellphone light reveals what might be an abstract owl or deer.
Texture is key. “Helderberg – Double Cross” looks like a weatherbeaten hunk of iron or a rusted piece of metallic roofing material. The raised slats of wood form a shape that could pass for a crude attempt to render a Chinese or Japanese letter. Scrapes and scratches abound: Dickerson uses a heat gun, paint scraper and palette knife to distress his work.
During the martini party, visitors decorated cone-shaped paper hats with markers and took in smallWORKS: 60 Years & 60 Artists, a biennial juried exhibition. “Spring Growth,” by Sandra Belitza-Vazquez, is a vivid scanned photograph set against a black background portraying a floral bouquet that pops. The shimmering surface of Amy Baglione’s “View From My Kitchen Window,” a paper collage on canvas, reflects trees, shadows and other subjects with an angular but realistic perspective. It focuses on a work crew in reflective vests taking a break.
“Delicate Beauty,” an oil painting by Beacon artist Melissa Small Cooper, depicts a hand holding a hibiscus flower, along with the large gray shadow it casts. The plant’s folds, a sparkling ring on one finger and oily leaves clinging to the vine are replicated with an intricate level of detail and reflection.
The Garrison Art Center, at 23 Garrison’s Landing, is open daily except Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Both exhibits continue through Nov. 24. See garrisonartcenter.org. Dickerson will discuss his work at the gallery at 3 p.m. on Nov. 16.
