Wednesday, October 7, 2015

GOSTartists Block Party Opens Doors in Gardiner, NY


GARDINER GETS DOOR'ED in advance of the Gardiner Open Studio Tour


September 26th was a beautiful autumn day in the hamlet of Gardiner; people strolled the art-lined sidewalks, visiting with one another and patronized local establishments There were donkey rides and face painting. This village-wide collaboration between the artists of the Gardiner Open Studio Tour, local businesses and property owners on Main Street was an exciting moment to be part of.

 The installation of the doors had mostly taken place the days before the party, but GOSTdoors, tents and balloons were still going up all morning to make ready for this party.

Traffic slowed as drivers cruised past the 30 or so #GOSTdoors lining the village's Main street from Cafe Mio to the Gardiner Reformed Church and all around Bill Richards green lawn in the center of town.

It was the day of the GOSTartists’ block party on Main Street. As part of the festivities, local high school students from Wallkill HS joined in the spirit of the day, painting their own doors under the enthusiastic eyes of their teachers, parents, friends and GOSTartist, Lady Pink who coordinated the student project. Together they worked out on the green and painted their own doors live, for all to see. The capstone of the day was to offer visitors a chance to bid on the wonderful hand painted GOSTdoors created by the Gardiner Open Studio Tour artists.

The event was a great success.  The theme of the day was art and community. And the purpose was to bring art to the hamlet, and raise funds for the Gardiner Library. Thanks to donations from the artists and others and sales of several GOSTdoors to generous friends and neighbors, money was raised for the Gardiner Library.

The block party was also intended to raise awareness of the upcoming Gardiner Open Studio Tour. During this free event, local artists will be welcoming the public into their studios on Columbus weekend, October, 10, 11 and 12, 10am-5pm.


We would like to thank all of the GOSTartists whose art adorns our lovely town: Pam Booth, Stacie Flint, Keri Gould, Lynn Isaacson, Leonie Lacouette, Marsha Massih, Andrea McFarland, Meadow, Annie O'Neill, Jonathan Pazer, Marilyn Perry, Lady Pink, Roger Smith, Jean Tansey John A. Varriano and DM Weil.
We also had doors painted and contributed to the exhibition by friends of the Tour, including Ryan Cronin, Liz Glover Wilson, Julie Muck, and Bruce Pileggi.

We would like to thank all the following for their assistance and support in bringing the GOST-artists’ Block Party to life: Tracey Bartels, Bill Richards, Tuthilltown Spirits, Laurie Willow and Ophelia the donkey, Kay Churchill, Bill and Elaine Case, Emily Santos, Pasquale's Pizza, Docinha Sweet Shoppe, Andy Cimino, Horatio Geminiano, Carol Berman, Olivia Profaci, Francheska Geminiano, Dawn Correa, Tammy Grandolfo, Carl Zatz, Petey Hop, Debbie and Raffaela of Walden Savings Bank, Cathy Erenzo, Gable Erenzo and the art students of Wallkill HS.

The GOSTdoors of Gardiner will remain up until after the Gardiner Open Studio Tour, this weekend, Oct. 10, 11 & 12, 2015. 10am - 5pm all three days.

Artist Guide, and Tour Map available at many local businesses in Gardiner and New Paltz, NY. Also available for download on our website: www.GOSTartists.org

Finally a big thank you to visionary Gardinerite and project director for the GOSTartists' block party, Robin Hayes.

GOST Artiner

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Doors before Tours -- BLOCKPARTY -- the GOSTdoors return to Gardiner, NY en masse

Block Party - Main Street in the Villiage of Gardiner, NY. September 26th 2015, 3pm - 7pm.

Hosted by the GOSTartists, there will be live painting demonstrations, children's activities, live music, food from local vendors, and a silent auction of the #GOSTdoors. (A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Gardiner Library.)

Silent Auction of the #GOSTdoors
If you have seen the #GOSTdoors in their ones and twos as you drove around in our area this past Spring, you know how much fun they were. Well, now you can see them all up close, they're clustered on Main Street in Gardiner. Get out of the car and come by for a look. There are new works from the GOSTartists, and also by other local artists.  There are more doors still to come before the block party weekend so keep your eyes peeled for new ones.... Now you can even take one home with you! Bidding begins at 3pm and closes at 6:45pm. 

Fall 2015 GOST -- the Gardiner Open Studio Tour
This Block Party is a kickoff event for the Fall 2015 GOST -- the Gardiner Open Studio Tour which will be held, as always on the second weekend of October; 10/10 - 10/12 from 10am to 5pm all three days. 

At the block party there will be an ongoing slideshow about the Tour, you can pick up our free Fall GOST Tour Map/Artist Guide at our booth, meet some of the artists and also check out the three new building-sized murals painted right in the Villiage of Gardiner earlier this year by three members of the Tour. 

Put the Fall GOST on your Calendar
On the Tour this Fall there are new artists to meet, and new studios to visit, and everyone of our group always has new work to show. So even if you been somewhere before there is always more to see and enjoy.

More info, Map and Artist Guide downloads at: http://www.GOSTartists.org

We hope to see you at the party and then on the Tour!

Thanks to Robin Hayse for organizing this block party.



Thursday, April 30, 2015

Spring is here in earnest - so is the Gardiner Open Studio Tour

SPRING GOST 2015-May 2nd & 3rd

It's just one day till the Gardiner Open Studio Tour starts on May 2nd & 3rd. The towns of Gardiner NY and New Paltz NY have really woken up to the artistic exuberance of our #GOSTartists members through our #GOSTDOORS project, and with the help of the wonderful mural painted in Gardiner NY on Arch Street by Lady Pink, with help from Roger Smith, Annie O'Neill, Stacy Flint, and Jean Tansey who are all members of our group and showing work on this Spring's tour.


We are excited to have gotten coverage in the local paper, and the GOSTDOORS really were a great success for our group. We all found it to be a very rewarding group project and also we are so pleased that our towns' have enjoyed it too. We've all had many positive comments, including questions like, "hey how do 'we' get a door next time?"

 Read about the #GOSTDOORS Community Art Project in last week's New Paltz Times here:
GOSTDOORS show up all over town what does it mean


Our Artist Guide and Map brochures are literally almost "everywhere."


While it's possible to print the Artist Guide and Map off of our website at: www.GOSTartists.org that's not the best way to see them. Try to pick one up at one of the many places that have been hosting them for us. If you find them all gone, please call us and we'll send some over, but don't give up.

One sure-fire location to get the Artist Guide and Map is at the DM Weil Gallery. It's a stop on our tour and it's our Tour HQ. They will have maps and be able to answer any questions that you may have about the tour, the artists on the tour, directions etc.

Gardiner Open Studio Tour HQ
DM Weil Gallery
208 Bruynswick Rd
New Paltz, NY 12561
845-255-3336
info@GOSTartists.org
www.GOSTartists.org

In addition to the DM Weil Gallery, the Artist Guide and Map brochures are out all up and down Main Street in New Paltz. You can find them in Lower New Paltz at The Bakery, Manny's Art Supply, P&G's The Main Street Bistro, the Cafeteria, Krauses Chocolates, Enquiring Minds Bookstore, Barner Books, Rock and Snow, The Golden Otter, and in Waterstreet Market in the Mud Puddle Cafe, and the Cheese Plate.

In Mid-New Paltz there are maps at Rhinebeck Artist Shop at the mall at Rt. 32 & Main St. 299. They can also be found at other places in and around New Paltz including in no particular order: Exxon Gas Station at the Thruway exit, Wallkill Farm View Market on Rt. 299, Jenkin-Lukens Farm Stand on Rt. 299, the Mountain Brau Haus, Beeks Auto, and the Mountain Bistro all at Rts. 299 & 44-55, along with farm stands on Rt. 208.

In village of Gardiner NY you will find our brochure at the Gardiner Library at the end of Arch Street, don't miss the mural by Lady Pink right there, the Villiage Market, Cafe Mio and at Pasquales Pizza & Restaurant, all along Main St. in Gardiner which is also Rt. 44-55.  Other Gardiner locations include, Tuthilltown Distillery, Robibero Winery, Empire State Bank and the Natural Pet Center at Ireland Corners. They have also found their way to various hotels, B & B's, restaurants, etc., all over the immediate area and beyond. All together we have put out more than 7000 Artist Guide and Tour Map flyers for this tour.

Our thanks to all of these local businesses for hosting our flyers and in that way directly supporting the arts community of Gardiner.

Enjoy the Tour!

Jonathan Pazer
Chair - Gardiner Open Studio Tour

Recent article from Apr. 30th New Paltz Times, p 19.







Monday, April 13, 2015

Art, Doors and Community Action in New Paltz and Gardiner,NY. #GOSTDOORS Project


GOSTDOORS lined up for their group photo before we put them out on Saturday

GOSTS Artists mount our very first art happening in New Paltz and Gardiner. GOSTDOORS pop up like spring flowers.


Twice each year for the last several years the artists of the Gardiner Open Studio Tour have worked together to raise awareness in Gardiner / Newpaltz and surrounding towns of the richness and diversity of the local artist community right in Gardiner itself.

We have organized an artist tour exclusively for Gardiner's artists. We arranged for the artists to all be available on the same weekend, and for them all to open their doors to the public.

We have created and printed an Artist Guide and Tour Map showing who the Gardiner artists are and where our studios can be found. Those who pick up a map and follow it can visit artists' studios and they may get some insight into our work and be able to observe and appreciate our enthusiasm and energy for what we do. Many of our friends and neighbors and people from far and wide, from NYC, Connecticut, and New Jersey have participated in past Tours. 

Members of the Gardiner Open Studio Tour at the  Opening for the group's art show at the
Gardiner Villiage Library in Gardiner, NY.


But this just was not enough for us. We felt that we needed to put our work out into the public realm not hidden behind our studio doors.

The #GOSTDOORS Project was a big deal for us, it was a big fun project that required a lot of hands and a lot of coordination. Thanks to Lady Pink for doing the organizing and for the inspiration for this art happeing. We had to go out and find seventeen used doors, and seventeen artists committed to paint one door each. We reached out to many people in the community in order to find the seventeen sites that would agree to host a door. While some people declined to get involved, most were enthusiastic about the project. On a recent Saturday, three crews of artists, painters and photographers donned work boots, grabbed sledgehammers and post drivers and set off to install all of the artworks throughout our the Gardiner / New Paltz area. 


Immelda shaking hands with Art-too Green-too, on her lawn
in Gardiner, NY.
Annie O'Neill's door wrapped around a tree in New Paltz, NY.
People noticed.... They walked past as we worked, and looked at the art work and said, "Cool..." and "Wow!" We saw people taking selfies with doors. The cumulative impact of these multiple installations will draw questions.

A horizontal GOSTDOOR at STS in Gardiner, NY by Craig Booth. A cool feature
of this door is that the front wheel and exhaust pipe are actual separate metal and
wire sculptural pieces that were added to the door.
Why doors? Well I touched on that in my last blog post. They are usually barriers, now they are artworks, usually they keep people out, now they are an invitation to explore.

Our goals...to encourage engagement between the Gardiner artist community and the community at large. To enliven our environment with artwork and to display the energy that we as artists bring to our participation in the social life of our little corner of the Hudson Valley.


Jonathan Pazer
Chairman, Gardiner Open Studio Tour

More info:
Gardiner Open Studio TourSpring GOST 2015 - May 2 & 3
Saturday & Sunday 10am to 5pm


Web: http://www.GOSTartists.org
Email: info@GOSTartists.org
Tel.: (845) 255-3336

Thursday, April 9, 2015

#GOSTDOORS Project

Artist painting a door for inclusion in the GOSTDOOR Project
GOSTDOORS are being created in Gardiner, NY by Gardiner
Open Studio Tour members this week. Look out for them soon.

#GOSTDOORS in fields, on roadsides, hanging from trees, at corners, why are they here? Where did they come from? 


These #GOSTDOORS serve as an entrance to the artists' spirit realm.  Public art is different than wall art. It's goals are different. It combines the aesthetic with the conceptual aspects of art. Why "this," why "here"?

A painted door standing in a laundry area with faces animals and swirls.
It's hard to find a good spot to work on a door-sized piece
when it's still freezing cold outside, much less a warm place for
it be while it dries.
Sometimes the reasons are obvious and sometimes they are not. Artists create to express themselves and interact with the world.

Robot like figure painted on a door standing in a garage in Gardiner, NY
Doors let us in, and doors let us out, they separate us and protect
us. They are what we close when we want to hold ourselves appart
and they are what we open when we want to welcome people into
our  lives, our hearts, our homes and of course our studios.

The #GOSTDOORS project is a way for the Gardiner Open Studio Tour members to reach out into our local community to make our presence known, to say, "there are a lot of artists around here in our tiny town of Gardiner, this is special, the Shawangunks are special and it draws us here."

Artist couples.... There are several artist couples on the Tour. Their individual artistic
 voices are often startlingly divergent from each other. The GOSTDOORS as a series
reflects the wide variation in style and artistic influences of the members of the
Gardiner Open Studio Tour.

The #GOSTDOORS we are creating will soon find their way out of the garages and cellars and studios where they were made into the Gardiner/New Paltz area. We want to share with everyone our enthusiasm for art and our exuberance for creating it.

We hope you enjoy the results of the GOSTDOORS Project as much as we have had doing it.

Look for all the doors, photo them, Tweet them, Facebook them, they are meant to be shared. Pick up a Free Spring GOST 2015 Artist Guide and Tour Map at your local area stores and try matching the artist to the door. Some doors are sure to be easier to match with the artist than others.

Find them all. There will be 17.

Please feel free to hunt up our GARDINER OPEN STUDIO TOUR FaceBook page and leave us comments about the #GOSTDOORS Project.

We hope to see you all on the Tour.

    Jonathan Pazer

Chairman
Gardiner Open Studio Tour

Spring Tour - May 2nd & 3rd 2015. 
10am - 5pm
http://www.GOSTartists.org



Monday, March 30, 2015

SPRING 2015 - GOST GARDINER OPEN STUDIO TOUR


SPRING 2015 - GOST
GARDINER OPEN STUDIO TOUR


HUNDREDS OF WORKS OF ART ON VIEW

FOURTH OPEN STUDIO TOUR
GARDINER, NY

MAY 2-3, 2015


Artists Host Visits to Their Studios



Our event and the talented artists involved are getting better and better! The Gardiner Open Studio Tour (GOST) announces its fourth open studios tour, celebrating the arrival of Springtime in the Hudson Valley on the first weekend in May. Twenty painters, sculptors, photographers, ceramic artists, and a clockmaker in the Gardiner area will welcome visitors to their studios on Saturday & Sunday (10am to 5pm) May 2-3. Visits are free and the public is warmly invited to drop in and explore the adventure of creating art. 

Each May and October, the GOST arts weekend is a lively and successful event in the natural beauty of the mid-Hudson Valley. Less than two hours from New York City, the tranquil rural hamlet of Gardiner in the shadow of the Shawangunk Mountains is home to a diverse and talented group of artists who, by opening their studios, showcase the vital artistic life of the region.
Most of the Gardiner-based artists are full-time professionals, and many are represented in national and international collections. This is a chance to view new works before they reach the public, and to get to know the artist in his or her creative space. Several provide demonstrations of their techniques. Refreshments are offered. Daffodils and trees are blooming along the way.
The range of artistic production is impressive, from traditional realistic oil paintings – such as the landscapes by Ron Schaefer, the still lifes by Marsha Massih, and the portraits by John A. Varriano – to large abstracts by D M Weil and new visual inventions by Lady Pink, celebrated for her early work as a graffiti artist in New York. Jean Tansey focuses on social issues in her paintings, Stacie Flint creates vibrant images of people and animals, Meadow invents beaked characters from Brooklyn, Andrea McFarland captures local hiking scenes in pastels, Marilyn Perry paints semi-abstractions of nature in encaustic (molten beeswax). Jerry Teters, new this tour, works with interior designers to create unique abstract paintings for their clients. 

Photographers, ceramicists, and sculptors are similarly inventive. Jonathan Pazer’s abstract photographs create memorable images of shapes, forms, and color, while Robert Goldwitz finds brilliant and telling details in the world around him. Keri Gould creates textural photography using papyrus and other papers and also makes wearable fiber art. Annie O’Neill is inspired by Mexican folk art for lively designs on low-fire ceramic platters and plates, Lynn Isaacson experiments with new glazes on beautiful pots fired in her gas kiln, Leonie Lacouette designs unique clocks in copper, steel, and wood, Craig and Pam Booth sculpt automobiles (‘Car-Toons by Booth’) and their owners in clay. Noted tap dancer Brenda Bufalino makes fanciful ceramics; classically trained sculptor Gregory Glasson makes bronze statues on commission. 

How to get to the artists? There’s a free brochure – you can pick one up at any one of our sponsor's business locations and also look for it in various shops, restaurants, and B&B’s throughout the region – with notes about the artists, images of their work, and a map with their locations for the tour. (The new and larger map makes it even easier to plan a visit to several or all of the GOST open studios). 

Or go to our website: www.GOSTartists.org for all the information and sponsor locations. 

Join the Gardiner GOST artists for a weekend of wonderful visual stimulation and inspiration!
For further information on GOST artists and our tour please contact: (845) 255-3336

GOST - HQ
DM Weil Gallery
208 Bruynswick Rd.
New Paltz NY 12561


JP 3-30-15