When you are a muralist, it takes a village!

Muralists always need something to paint on.

The #GOSTartists were drawn together by a desire to express ourselves in our community. When we got started thinking about the diverse array of talented and creative folks who lived unobtrusively here among us, we began to realize that there really were a lot of artists here in Gardiner. Wouldnt it be great if we could just draw them out. We first began meeting in 2012 and considering what we could do to promote the arts in our town. Back then, before the first tour, before the first #GOSTdoors were painted and displayed, before our first group show, we had no inkling of our future impact.

Over the years our efforts have been embraced by many residents in the village and throughout our area. This is particularly noticeable in that there are now four large murals painted by members of the GOSTartists right in Gardiner, NY.

The murals mentioned in the attached article from the Gardiner Gazette were painted by Lady Pink, and Annie O'Neill in the Spring of 2015, and they are on Arch Street opposite Pasquales Pizza in the very center of town.

Mural by Stacie Flint, Gardiner, NY Fall 2015

Stacie Flint's mural in Gardiner was not mentioned in this article from last summer because it had not yet been painted, early Fall of 2015. It was painted in anticipation of the Fall 2015 GOST on the side of a tool shed facing Main Street  (Rte. 44-55) a few streets North of Arch Street. All three of these works are quite different in style and in expression and yet they all convey a fresh and lively feel which is adding pizzaz to our town as it develops and grows more art and visitor friendly.

More recently another mural was painted at the Gardiner Recycling Center at the very end of Steve's Lane, by Roger Smith, another member of the GOSTartists.

These works are a direct result of the work of members of the GOSTartists to engage the community and put art out in the world. That is a very important part of the mission of the Gardiner Open Studio Tour. To bring people to art and to bring art to people.

Which is also why the #GOSTdoors will be back in town this year. Keep an eye out. Lady Pink Queen of Doors is working hard to see that we have lots of new doors this year to share with one and all.

EDITOR'S NOTE:  In the Gardiner Gazette Article, it is mentioned that The Gardiner Open Studio Tour is held each Spring and Fall. While that was correct at the time of the writing of the article, it is no longer the case. There will only be one Open Studio event each year, so don't miss it. The GOST will be held each Spring on the First Weekend in May. However, the GOSTartists will be doing other things throughout the year.

JP

www.GOSTartists.org


[Thanks to the Gardiner Gazette for permission to reprint their articles.]

ARTIST PROFILE: Meadow - Mixed-media, multi-talented, Meadow is nothing if not a bold and fearless art-maker, teacher, and charmer.

Wild flowers of ideas, bees buzzing among them make the honey of art.

Yes, 'Meadow' is the only name she has ever given me. I must say it seems fitting because she has always reminded me of a meadow in bloom, filled with ideas and energy made of wild flowers and the bees that buzz among them. Meadow has been a community oriented artist and arts organizer all of her life, from teaching at a college level in several disciplines, to running an artist loft community in NYC and lots else in between. Like many members of the #GOSTartists she has added her experience and enthusiasm for bringing art out of the studio and into the world through her participation with the #GOSTdoors, numerous other group exhibitions put on by the Gardiner Open Studio Tour, and by running an Artist Salon at the Pine Bush Library for several years. The Salon has provided a forum for the community to meet with area artists and hear about their work, their medium and what makes being an artist so interesting both for the artist and for the art appreciating public. -- JP

Keeping Up With Meadow!

By: Mike Bingham

Lucille from Meadow's Boid series.

It’s my privilege to provide a brief GOST artist narrative for Meadow, as a representative of Kiss My Face (a GOST sponsor), sharing what I’ve come to know of Meadow’s artistic history & prowess as a tenant of 3 1/2 years at her Woodrock Studios complex.

.....Mike Bingham

Meadow is one of those unique artists who is always great at any art media she touches! Which is a good thing since, as a mixed-media artist, she switches gears often! She is frequently found working on multiple two-dimensional and three-dimensional projects at the same time. Claiming to get bored or stale if she stays with one medium to long, she relishes in the challenge of something new. She says, “It keeps me excited and my blood flowing... I love the angst of a blank slate.”

Meadow usually produces her art in a series. She’ll work a particular idea through within one medium, constructing anywhere from 6-20 pieces before she feels like she’s producing a product or just repeating herself. For Meadow, switching mediums or being asked to participate in a new themed show is like stepping up to the batter’s plate... “You never know what will come at you or what the results will be!”

Meadow does sometimes return to explore past series to create a new work. However, the new work always has a little different slant and tone... be that an updated version, or an extension of the precious thematic work. Clay is a medium within which Meadow has worked for almost 60 years. Her work ranges significantly from eight-foot sculptures to two inch “Little Littles” and everything in between. She always seems to return to it as she finds it to be very grounding and forgiving... “You can make almost anything with clay.”

A recent revival from the past is her production of two large Wood Spirit Series installations for the Samuel Dorsky Museum “Hudson Valley Artist’s Show.” For this artistic endeavor, Meadow used the wood from a black walnut tree she had to take down, as it was too close to her house. She was able to use up most of the tiny limbs, small branches and logs that would normally just become firewood. In her reincarnation of the tree, she was honoring her passionate feelings and connection to trees... and particularly that tree that has graced the grounds of Woodrock for over 25 years.

Meadow has lots of “next batter-up artistic activities planned and underway. First up will be using her Boid Series to create a painted door, that will be displayed in Gardiner, as part of the live-advertising for the upcoming Gardiner Open Studio Tour, (GOST)... followed by new pieces from her Heritage Ceramics Series, also for the GOST event coming up at the end of April.

And right after that, she’ll be installing a large piece from the Written Word Series for the Hebrew Museum, as a featured artist in their new exhibition “Numbers”. In between all this she is mounting a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to self-publish the children’s books she has been writing for years. There seems to be no end to the creative ability and stamina that Meadow is able to sustain. It’s pretty amazing! You go Girl!!

Artist Profile: Annie O'Neill - whether in clay, grasping a paint brush or cutting metal for a sculpture, Annie O, leaves her mark!

While Annie was not born in Gardiner, she appears to know everyone, just ask around! 

As a member of the #GOSTartists she has proven over and over that she has the inside track around here. As an artist there is variety in her work, though her love of Mexican folk motifs appears no matter the medium she's working in. This folk art flavoring gives her painting and pottery a delightful playfulness that is the perfect antidote for people who feel intimidated by more formal styles of artistic expression.

Annie herself can also be vigorously irreverent which also serves her well in her work. If you see any of her #GOSTdoors you will recognize them right away.

Annie with of of her #GOSTdoors from the Fall 2015

Join the Gardiner Open Studio Tour, this April 30th & May 1st, and don't miss Annie's work on the tour.

Special Thanks to the Gardiner Gazette for permitting the printing of their articles for the #GOSTartists blog.

GOSTartist Profile: Alexa Ginsburg: A feltmaker and dyer, she purses her ancient craft with modern lighthearted results.

Alexa Ginsburg - A Feltmaker whose colorful creations are proof that a skilled artist can capture wonder in any medium.

Alexa, a native of NYC, grew up in a highly artistic family surrounded by art supplies from the time she was a youngster taking classes at MOMA and Pratt. She always looked forward to the start of a new school year when she'd get a new box of Crayola crayons. She eventually went to Cooper Union, majored in painting and did large colorful abstract canvases.

In her twenties she spent time in Isfahan, Iran where she taught art at the International School. Side trips to Pakistan and a stint manufacturing hand loomed skirts led to a fascination with hand-dyed and embellished textiles in local markets. A seed was planted from the riotous palette of cotton skeins and tribal embroideries she found in dusty villages. This seed would lie dormant for many years as she returned to the States and settled into domestic life, running a desktop publishing company, working as a graphic designer, illustrating and designing children's books and raising two children.

When she found time to return to her own creative work, it was feltmaking that was the perfect medium for her. She was always in search of a "resonating medium" and felting fulfilled everything she was looking for--it is very hands on, warm, soft and malleable. The vibrant colors appealed to her painting background, and it "felt" responsive to her needs as an artist. By taking workshops and joining a felting guild she gained technical skill that helped her realize her intense interest in color, design, form and craftsmanship. She has been working with felt for the last 15 years and it has taken over her life and house.

Alexa creates gorgeous scarves and wearable accessories as well as artful soft toys which appeal to both the young and young at heart! She works surrounded by a feast of colorful fiber-- mostly wool and silk in brilliant dyed colors. She also does a lot of hand dying and combines different fibers together for textural effects. Alexa sells her work at craft shows, by commission, and online (alexaginsburg.com). She constantly builds her skills through workshops with nationally and internationally known feltmakers. Her designs include felted herons, birds of prey, wolves, foxes, raccoons and other wildlife as well as sweeter domestic animals. Visiting her studio is like being in a candy store. She is surrounded by colors, creatures, and creativity.
Alexa reminisces that as a child she wanted to be Picasso or Geppetto-- but she turned out to be a multi-faceted creator of her own!

GOSTartists Profile: Pam and Craig Booth - Sculptures in Clay of Cars and Whimsy

CRAIG AND PAM BOOTH

Cars!  Cars!  Cars!

Clay sculpture, and painting give an active and dynamic feel.

When your passion becomes your life’s work, you are lucky indeed.  This is the case for ceramic sculptors Craig and Pam Booth, whose artistic creations for the past thirty years have focused on one primary subject – the AUTOMOBILE.   Their business, at 1112 Bruynswick Road in Gardiner, is called Car-Toons by Booth.  

Craig Booth and Pam Booth of Car-Toons by Booth, sculptors
who specialize in cars, and the people who love them.

Invention and whimsy typify a Booth car.  Made to order, each piece is typically about a foot long.  The model and color are shown to perfection, and it may also include a portrait of the owner in the driver’s seat, or a blonde in the rumble seat, or a dog racing alongside.  Or perhaps you’d like a wall piece that shows your car with racing flags or rounding a curve in a Prix de France town.  Or a full set of six-inch cars for your dining table.  The Booths can accommodate your fancy.  

And not only for cars.   A visit to their studio reveals many more ingenious ideas-in-clay on display, at many different scales.  They make fire-breathing aroma dragons (you add the incense smoke) and mugs (double-meaning) of pilots.  In a more serious vein, Pam Booth models 24-inch replicas of brides in their bridal gowns out of clay.   If you can imagine it, they can probably make it for you.  

www.cartoonsbybooth.net

Marilyn Perry

3-23-16

Painter Stacie Flint paints with colors that surprise and delight the viewer!

Stacie Flint's paintings are out in the world!

Stacie has an outdoor mural to her credit in Gardiner, NY and several wonderful #GOSTdoors that were displayed during past Gardiner Open Studio Tours. More of Stacie's cheerful Doors are coming too! Her art has been featured on the Chronogram and other magazine covers, and she has produced many commissions and works for publication. Stacie is dynamic member and recording secretary of #GOSTartists and a very active participant in the local arts scene. She recently joined ROOST GALLERY in New Paltz, a community gallery and non-profit community arts organization that should be opening soon in downtown New Paltz on Main St.

She recently published an article in the Poughkeepsie Journal, this past Feb. which is shown below. Images of her work are available on her website:  http://stacieflint.com

Come out to visit Stacie and all the other GOSTartists on the Gardiner Open Studio Tour this coming April 30 - May 1, 2016, Saturday and Sunday, 10am - 6pm both days.  More info, Artist Guide and Self-Guided Tour Map available for download at: http://www.GOSTartists.org

Also, don't miss this year's Early Bird Raffle, and your chance to win a gift certificate of up to $100 by signing in at any of the GOST studios between 10am  and 11am on either of the two days of tour.

Poughkeepsie Journal, Feb. 26th, 2016 - What Inspires Me by Stacie Flint

GOST Art Exhibit "Creation," in Gardiner, NY at Ulster Savings Bank, Starting April. 1 thru May 12 2016.

Join us for the Opening for this show: Apr. 1st 12pm - 2pm.

This opening is open to the public. Please come in and 

talk with the artists who will be at the opening. All these 

works of art are for sale to the public. 

This is also a great opportunity to pick up an Artist Guide 

and Tour Map for the Gardiner Open Studio Tour which will 

be Apr. 30th - May 1st 2016.

Gardiner Open Studio Tour Art Exhibit at Ulster Savings Bank - Apr. 1 - May 12, 2016.

Artist Profile: CYNTHIA WINIKA - Pyrotechics and Mycology come together to add nature and chaos into a unique kind of mixed media work process.

CYNTHIA WINIKA


Cynthia Winika is a talented mixed-media artist whose life has given her a background in both Western and Eastern traditions.  She is also the best-known teacher of encaustic painting at R & F Paints in Kingston.  Easy, outgoing, imaginative, and very engaged, she has helped many an artist (myself included) master the challenges of painting in molten beeswax.

In her own work, Cynthia is constantly exploring ways to bring life and art together.  One literally explosive example is the use of fireworks, which she lights above a large paper.  As the fireworks die, their afterlife of marks and fired elements become part of collages to which she adds her own drawings and sketches, bits of found objects, colored papers, and transfers.   Anchored in wax, visible from two sides, the works assume a new life in a larger, created whole.  

Similarly, Cynthia brings her adventures as a serious mycologist to bear in her art.  Gathering all manner of fungi from as close by as her backyard, she experiments with making mushroom spore prints in encaustic paintings that illuminate the imagination as the stars illuminate the sky.  These natural and mysterious elements are gathered into beautiful works of art.

Cynthia’s resume is a long and rich list that reflects a life of teaching, creating, and displaying art in institutions around the United States.  Her studies took her to Hawaii and Taiwan, as well as more familiar venues closer to home.  She is a stalwart of the Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale and her work has been collected by several museums, including the Museum of Modern Art.   In 2006, an exhibition of her fungi-based art in New York City was written about in the New York Times.  More recently, the International Encaustic Artists named her the best teacher of 2014.


Marilyn Perry
3/14/16