Exhibit at Howland Center honors two Beacon institutions
At its annual gala on May 15, the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon will honor Phil Ciganer, owner of the Towne Crier Cafe on Main Street, and Neil Caplan, founder of the Bannerman Castle Trust. Plenty of tales will be told, but to get an early jump on the festivities, an exhibit titled Visionaries has been mounted at the center through Feb. 23.
Although the show honors “two of Beacon’s longest running and renowned cultural arts and music organizations and venues,” according to organizers, the castle gets the lion’s share of the space because the island on which it sits is an inspiring setting for artists and photographers. The namesake Bannerman family appreciated art, and two playful watercolors by Jane Bannerman, who married one of the scions, are on view.
The Towne Crier, which has long specialized in rootsy, acoustic-based musical acts, moved to Beacon from Pawling in 2013. An eye-drawing photo on the wall opposite the entrance portrays Pete Seeger smiling onstage.
Judging from the 20 or so posters from the mid-1970s, Leon Redbone, Jay Ungar, Chris Smithers and the Wretched Refuse String Band performed often. In 1976, they charged $3 admission, or $3.50 for “special shows” (the equivalent of $17 to $19 today). The calendars contain groovy graphics and the modest display evokes the post-hippie years.
Most of the more serious works depict some aspect of Pollepel Island, used by the Bannerman family as a storage facility for their military surplus business. Several photos and paintings captured the castle before a series of collapses in 2009 and 2010 claimed a significant portion of the building.
Laurie Clark at the Bannerman Trust put out an open call to artists for the exhibit and received a broad response. Some items, like the Jane Bannerman paintings, come from the Trust’s collection. Founded in 1993, it brings artists to the island so they can comb for inspiration, helping to build a trove of work throughout the Hudson Valley.
The exhibit is almost split between painters and photographers, some of whom rendered their subjects with an impressionistic lens, including oils by Cynthia Dill, watercolors from Susan Hennelly and pastels by Susan Story and Beacon-based Andre Junget.
Some paintings look like photos, including Patricia Collins Broun’s “Bannerman Tower” and “Looking South from Bannerman,” by Kristen Lowe. In contrast, many of Alec Halstead’s large photos resemble manual works, in part because they’re printed on canvas. In a stark piece on aluminum that contrasts with his more colorful photos, swirls of lightning add a creepy effect.
Thom Johnson’s two black-and-white pictures look like mirror images. Sandra Belitza-Vazquez took advantage of light in her three works and manipulated photos by Mary Ann Glass convey ethereal skies as the buildings seem to lean and strike off-kilter poses.
The singular work in the show is a white 3-D printed portion of the castle’s portcullis, the first piece in a planned re-creation of the entire island and its buildings rendered in what Beacon artist Brandyn Yeoman calls a “mixed-media model.”
The Howland Cultural Center, at 477 Main St. in Beacon, is open from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. See howlandculturalcenter.org.
Bannerman is located in the Town of Fishkill, as is Mount Beacon and Dutchess Stadium.
Albra is the Town of Fishkill supervisor.
It is wonderful that Neil and Phil will be honored at The Howland Cultural Center’s gala. They are two gentlemen who have done a lot for Beacon, as well as for the arts and culture, in their respective businesses. Kudos to you both!