GOSTartists Profile: Marcia Cole - Encaustics and Painting

18 SHOWS IN 18 MONTHS

By Chaya Lakhiani

Marcia has always been an artist, both teaching and working in a wide variety of media. She holds many accolades for her art teaching over the years including an Art Travelship Award to France where she painted in the footsteps of Cezanne. During the past 18 months she has established a studio at Woodrock Studios in Gardiner, N.Y. Since then she's been on a roll with a solo show and work in 18 shows in the Hudson Valley. Her work with encaustic monotype was published in the book Authentic Visual Voices, by Catherine Nash, and last year the Middletown Art Society recognized her Encaustic Monotypes with an Award Of Excellence. This will be her second year as a member of The Gardiner Open Studio Tour, and she is delighted to announce that she has also joined Roost Studios in New Paltz, New York, where she will have a solo show running through August and September of this year.

“Mainly, I just love paint, all kinds of it! I’ve taught nearly every process to students from 3 to 73. I love seeing it, using brushes, pouring and printing with it, dragging paper and cloth through it, additive and subtractive processes, and the brainwork of harnessing it to express a concept that’s important to me.”

Marcia tends to work in series, exploring each media deeply and pushing her materials to achieve the desired effects. Currently, she is working with encaustic paint and watercolor, often incorporating gold and silver leaf into her works as well.

CHANTS 

In this year’s GOST TOUR she is featuring her Chants series. These are distinctive in shape – some are in square format to be arranged - that is hung or stacked, according to the owner’s preference - and some are tall, narrow and intimate pieces. They are spiritually inspired celebrations of color and nuance that vibrate with their own sense of energy. The inspiration for this work came from Marcia’s own more spiritual explorations, and from the sound of a dear friend’s chanting. In reaction to the attention they have received, Marcia has made more Chants in sizes ranging from 24” to 48”. It is her desire to make these works varied and unique, so that they can lend their energy to any setting and any space.

VISITORS AND CHANT OWNERS SAY:

“The colors are earthy, yet they resonate with a deep saturation that is very beautiful to behold. They remind me of buried treasures. Layer upon layer of richly textured civilizations, one builds on the other, creating a rhythm that is meditative. – Marcy Bernstein of Roost Studios

Visitors to the studio have commented:

“The tiny, detailed effects of the paint and trails of molten wax and gold and silver leaf catch the eye, begging you to slow down and linger.”

“They seem to resonate and enrich the space or setting in a personal way over time.” “They are like music for the eyes”.

For more information about the artist:

Marcia Cole

Woodrock Studios

Gardiner, N.Y. 

Marciacoleart@gmail.com

www.Marciacoleart.com

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!!

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

#GOSTDOORS 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"?

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.

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

Fall 2014 GOST - it's this weekend, Oct. 11, 12 & 13, don't miss it.

Artists Gardiner Open Studio Tour, Fall 2014

GARDINER OPEN STUDIO TOUR 

FALL 2014

  The GOST is growing. Each tour we add more Gardiner area residents to our roster: wonderful artists who want to share their enthusiasm. This town is just chock full of creative people, and through the GOST some of them are coming down their long rural driveways to participate in our exciting community of artists.
  New this tour are Ron Schaefer, a painter currently showing work the Mark Gruber Gallery in New Paltz, Lady Pink, a very expressive painter with a background in street graffiti;  Meadow, a multi-talented artist who has worked and taught in many different media, including painting, ceramics and jewelry; and Keri Gould, a photographer also working in fiber arts. These diverse additions to the tour add energy and variety to the kind of work that can be seen here in Gardiner.

Meadow's studio:  paintings, pottery and sculpture

 The studio tour experience is a chance for the community and for out of town visitors to see artists demonstrations, and experience the places where artists work and often also live.
  Artists studios are a reflection of their passions and their inner muse. The studios on the GOST tour are all quite interesting and all very different from one another. The buildings range from the DM Weil Gallery, a super modern gallery and studio space designed to accommodate enormous canvases, to the rambling barn and workshop that Meadow calls home.
  You will see the signs going up now announcing the tour for this weekend. With all that is going on this weekend in our area it may seem hard to choose what to do....

Sculpture at the studio of Gregory Glasson

  GOST is an experience that won't be soon forgotten. Visitor after visitor who have participated in past tours have commented on how exciting the artwork was. But many have said that meeting the artists where they work and live was an even more meaningful experience.
  The GOST is free for one and all. Pick up your Tour Map and Artist Guide at local retailers and restaurants in the New Paltz and Gardiner areas, or DM Weil Gallery or any of the artist locations.


For more information:  www.GOSTartists.org
Also on Facebook:  Facebook.com-Gardiner-Open-Studio-Tour

IT'S GONNA BE SPRING SOMEDAY! Announcing the Gardiner Open Studio Tour - May 3rd & May 4th 2014.

An artist's studio display from the Gardiner Open Studio Tour Fall 2013. 

Interactive Abstract Photography by Jonathan Pazer. 

Copyright © 2013 Jonathan Pazer

The Gardiner Open Studio Tour is on again May 3rd and May 4th 2014.

LINK: www.GOSTartists.org - Lists Artists, Sponsors & Other info

New this Spring 2014! The GOST Tour will have more artist studios, more artists, a new map, and it is sure to be even more fun than last Fall.

It's Free! Exciting! Fun for the whole family.

For those who have never done an Open Studio Tour, this is a wonderful opportunity to get out into the Spring weather and enjoy the Hudson Valley and it's Arts Community. Put us on your calendar for the first weekend in May 2014.

Here's what is great about the Gardiner Open Studio Tour:

• Visit the homes and studios of local Gardiner NY area artists.
• Watch various demonstrations by participating artists as they show how they do their work.
• Ask questions and chat with artists about what makes them so passionate about their art.
• Inspire the budding little artists in your family.
• Drive some little known highways and byways of the beautiful Hudson Valley to places you probably would never find on your own.
• For art lovers, an opportunity to buy art at the source, and know the story and the personalities behind it.

Watch for maps arriving in local stores, restaurants and B&B's this coming April.

SPRING 2014 GOST TOUR - DATES & HOURS
May 3 -- 10am-5pm
May 4 -- 10am-4pm

Tour begins at DM Weil Gallery, just like last time. If you haven't found a map in any of the area stores or restaurants yet,  you can get one at DM Weil and start your tour.

DM Weil Gallery

www.dmweilgallery.com/‎

Exciting original art for your home or business. Commissions available. Affordable reproductions created in house.

208 Bruynswick Rd, New Paltz, NY 12561 (855) 278-5683

The GOST is seen at last - The Columbus Day Weekend, Gardiner Open Studio Tour is a reality at last.

We had a long cold Winter, a hot Summer and it took til this Fall to put our hands on the tiller, but the Gardiner Open Studio Tour [ www.GOSTartists.org ] is a reality and in a few short weeks on October 12, 13, & 14, you and your friends can come and see some of the artists who make the Gardiner NY area their home.

Artists who open their studios to you are doing it because they want to share their work, their interests and their process with you.

When you go to the museum and see things on the wall, do you ever wonder, "what was that about?What was that artist thinking? What did they mean by that?" Have you ever seen a piece of art, been deeply moved, and thought, "I wonder if what I see here is what the artist sees too?" Communicating is not always an easy business, and the form of the message and the content of the message are two separate things. Works of art can combine many layers of information and contain many messages.

As a viewer you are the most important person. You don't need anything but your eyes, ears, and your mind to experience art. Our job as artists is to present experiences to viewers. No viewers? No point in doing art, right? So that's the main reason that the artists of Gardiner are doing this: above all, they want to share. To share their work, their motivations and their time with you. They want to meet you and find out from you what you see, what you like and what moves you. This is a two way street. This is not the kind of gallery experience where the salesperson comes over, looks you up and down and tries to determine whether you are worth talking to; this is the sharing of experiences, yours and the artist's.

When you go to an art gallery, you might be intimidated by the formality of the surroundings, and we all have our own insecurities about what we know and what we think other people know.
That's where the Gardiner Open Studio Tour is a different and wonderful opportunity to talk to the artists behind the work, and engage with them. They are in love with what they do and they could talk about it for hours, days, weeks--this is what sets them on fire. There are no wrong questions, no ill informed inquiries. Ask away! The answers you get will almost certainly give you insights into the work of the artist that you won't get without conversing with them in their own studio, in their home town on a beautiful Fall day.

I look forward to seeing you on the Tour!

Pick up your printed GOST tour maps and directions to participating studios at DM Weil Gallery in New Paltz.

For more information:  Gardiner Open Studio Tour Home Page -- www.GOSTartists.org

Gardiner Open Studio Tour, Columbus Day Weekend 
October 12, 13, & 14. Sat & Sun 10 - 5, Mon 10 - 3