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Masters of Arts
Events in and around the Spa City this summer include big names and small-town fun
One of the surest bets in the Saratoga region this summer isn't a horse. Along with the usual influx of thoroughbred racing fans to the Spa City, count on crowds to stray a few miles to the north, when the Hyde Collection, in Glens Falls, mounts Degas & Music, an exhibition of 25 music-inspired works by the famous French artist Edgar Degas (1834–1917)
"It's probably the single biggest venture the Hyde's ever undertaken," says executive director David Setford. The organization is projecting about 60,000 visitors, three times as many as attended the current record-holder, 2005's Painting Lake George exhibit.
The exclusive event draws on the museum's holdings as well as major works from national and European institutions. It spotlights an under-explored topic in the study of the artist, who is best known for his graceful depictions of ballerinas.
"Most people think of Degas as 'that painter of dancers,'" Setford says. "What has become clear is that, way before he was interested in dancers, he was interested in music…The touchstone of his artistic life was music."
Degas & Music runs July 12–October 18 at the Hyde Collection (518-792-1761, www.hydecollection.org).
In addition to the exhibition, more than 40 arts organizations from Schenectady to Schroon Lake are planning complementary events, many featuring the music of the artist's time, as part of the Season of Degas.
The Seagle Music Colony, in Schroon Lake, performs a popular opera of Degas's day, Gioachino Rossini's La Cenerentola (Cinderella), July 29–August 1 (518-532-7875, www.seaglecolony.com).
The Hubbard Hall Opera Theater, in Cambridge, presents Le Tragédie de Carmen, Peter Brook's 1981 reworking of the Georges Bizet opera, from August 13 through 23 (518-677-2495, www.hubbardhall.org).
A juried exhibition of art, In the Spirit of Degas, will be on display at the Lower Adirondack Regional Art Council's Lapham Gallery, in Glens Falls, from August 14 through–October 4 (518-798-9122, www.larac.org).
During its annual residency the Philadelphia Orchestra, with special guest violinist Gil Shaham, presents An Evening with Degas at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, August 15, at 8:00 p.m. (518-587-3330, www.spac.org).
The Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra's season opener will feature music of Degas's favorite composers at the Glens Falls High School Auditorium, October 4, at 4:00 p.m. (518-793-1348, www.gfso.org).
The Lake George Chamber Orchestra presents a concert and lecture titled Degas' Muses: Considering Music and Poetry in the Artist's Life in the Hyde Collection's Helen Froehlich Auditorium on October 18, at 2:00 p.m.
Degas isn't the only game in town, though. Throughout the region this summer, there are artistic collaborations and combinations that involve all ages and audiences.
Weeklong arts day camps for kids in and around the Spa City draw upon work by da Vinci, Van Gogh, Monet, Man Ray and other painters, sculptors and photographers from July 6 to August 21. Contact the Saratoga County Arts Council (SCAC), at 320 Broadway, for the different sessions of Imagination Rules (ages five to seven) and Camp Creativity (ages eight to 14). The SCAC gallery is also hosting Views From Saratoga Battlefield: Preserving Historic Landscapes, from August 1 to September 25. For a full slate of activities at this bustling downtown center, call (518) 584-4132 or visit www.saratoga-arts.org.
Another example of artistic cross-pollination is the Music from Salem Gala, at Gallery 668 (668 Cambridge-Battenville Road, Greenwich), on July 18, at 4:00 p.m. Forty artists—their muses propelled by Franz Schubert's String Quintet in C Major—supply the festive setting for the organization's benefit at the gallery. The event includes a gourmet buffet, plus open bar. Call (518) 232-2347 or see www.musicfromsalem.org.
If you prefer destination art viewing with no admission charge, the Third Thursdays Downtown Glens Falls Art Walk, through October 15, features open studios and galleries downtown and at the Shirt Factory, on Lawrence Street. The self-guided tours are coordinated by the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council.
In Saratoga Springs, First Saturdays revolve around numerous galleries and downtown businesses that remain open 5:00–8:00 p.m., with free receptions for monthlong exhibits. Pick up a map at SCAC.
Would you rather cover more territory than possible on a sunset stroll? Plenty of artists in Salem, Greenwich and other hill towns—from painters to weavers to woodworkers—offer the chance to see them in their creative habitats, July 18–19. Visit www.openstudioswashingtoncounty.com for profiles of the participants and directions to their studios and shops.
Such a trek leads you deep into farm country, and two new productions take their cues from agriculture. From July 7 to 11 Adirondack Theatre Festival features Goat Show: An Odyssey Behind Barn Doors by Jennifer Fawcett. This original show depicts what happens when a mild-mannered academic turns his talents to animal husbandry; it's a cautionary tale about the risks and rewards of following a dream. Call for show times at Charles R. Wood Theater, 207 Glen Street, in Glens Falls (518-798-7479), or see www.atfestival.org.
Fort Salem Theater, 11 East Broadway in Salem, offers the world premiere of Corn! The Musical by Al Budde and Jay Kerr, from July 10 to 19. The comedy has its roots in local farm life; call for times and tickets for what's bound to be a locavore hit (518-854-9200, www.fortsalemtheater.com).
The biggest agricultural event of the season is the Washington County Fair, on Old Schuylerville Road, in Greenwich, August 24–30, with farm animals, tractor pulls, barbecues, rides and games (518-692-2464, www.washingtoncountyfair.com).
The Chapman Historical Museum's All Cordially Invited: Entertainment in the North Country, 1850–1920 shows that all work and no play was not the case in southern Adirondack towns. Through October 18, the exhibition takes a look at the dances, marching bands, lectures, ice-cream socials, traveling circuses, baseball teams and vaudeville acts that once filled leisure time (518-793-2826, www.chapmanmuseum.org).
Time warp, anyone? Forget battle reenactments and turn to the 1950s in Hometown USA, when Classic Car Night comes to downtown Glens Falls, July 23 and August 27, from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Or go classic country with the Westport-based Depot Theatre, which presents Always, Patsy Cline at the Wood Theater, in Glens Falls, August 6–16. Check for show times (518-874-0800, www.woodtheater.org).
Speaking of the '50s, celebrate Hawaii's 50th anniversary of statehood (and its Glens Falls connection) at a luau with music, dance and food in temporarily tropical City Park, Glens Falls, on August 21, from 3:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Circus Smirkus, America's award-winning youth circus, comes to Saratoga Racetrack, July 5–6. The 2009 Big Top Tour continues the tradition of theme-based shows with Smirkus Ever After: A Big Top Fairytale (www.circussmirkus.org).
The stranger side of the circus arts will be showcased when Roderick Russell, who calls himself one of only 50 sword swallowers left on the planet, performs bizarre acts with consummate skill, engaging wit and bottomless charm at the Wood Theater, August 17, at 7:30 p.m.
Other bodies are in the spotlight as the New York City Ballet takes up its annual residency at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, July 7–18, presenting 20 ballets, from Swan Lake to new works. Check for dates and times.
Of course, no summer in Saratoga Springs would be complete without thoroughbred racing. This year's track season runs from July 29 to September 7, with racing daily (except Tuesdays) starting at 1:00 p.m. On sunset racing days, July 31 and September 4, first post times are at 2:30 p.m. August 29 is Travers Day, bringing the biggest race of the season, and some of the fanciest hats; post time is noon (518-584-6200, www.nyra.com).
Cultivating Creativity
Salem Art Works harvests talent in farm country
By Lisa Bramen
Leif Johnson demonstrates glassblowing.
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Washington County is still farm country, both in appearance and reality. But the number of working farms there has dwindled significantly in the last few decades, with former homesteads transforming into quaint inns or rural homes for urban refugees. Both are preferable to what those who love the area's pastoral landscape fear most—tract homes, condo developments and other markers of suburban sprawl.
A few farms have had more unusual refashionings, including a Twelve Tribes religious commune (some say cult) in Cambridge, which operates a café on Main Street.
A number of artists have also found former farms, with their open space, capacious barns and inspiring views, to be hospitable places for creating and exhibiting everything from woodblock prints to large-scale sculptures. Cambridge and nearby Salem have emerged in recent years as the rural cultural hot spots of the county, with a number of galleries, theaters and art studios.
Those attributes were what attracted sculptor Anthony Cafritz to open Salem Art Works (SAW), a nonprofit art center and sculpture park, on a 120-acre former dairy farm in Salem in 2005.
Throughout the summer SAW hosts artists in residence; offers workshops in glass, iron, clay, wood and other media; and holds open-air community events, including movie screenings, concerts and arts demonstrations.
Last June, on a humid 95-degree day, college students, families and white-haired couples roamed the sculpture park during SAW's season-opening event. Toddlers and adults alike were inspired to touch a pair of 50-ton concrete and steel forms by Peter Lundberg, Odin and Freya, near the front entrance of the center, off Cary Lane.
Cafritz envisions SAW as a community park and creative resource. The grounds are open to the public, and when he has time he likes to take visitors on the bumpy drive to the top of a hill on the back acres, where Mark diSuvero's massive red-orange steel-beam sculpture competes for attention with a vista straight out of a Grandma Moses painting (no coincidence, since the folk artist lived a few miles away).
For Euler, by Mark di Suvero.
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Cafritz appears to be in his 40s but he has the enthusiastic idealism of a college student. He's a good talker. When asked about SAW's relationship with the community, he wended his way through a lengthy reply, touching on civic involvement, business development (Cafritz is president of the village chamber of commerce) and fears of gentrification. When he finished, he laughed at his motormouth tendencies, saying, "How's that for a long answer to a short question? Kind of a diatribe verging on a jeremiad."
But he's not just talk. In only a few years he's realized his longtime dream of creating an "arts farm," a down-home place where artists can work in a supportive, collaborative environment free of commercial pressures. The organization qualified for nonprofit status in 2007. Its college internship program had 30 applicants in 2009, and several visual and performing artists will complete residencies throughout the summer.
For $350 a week, artists in residence are provided studio space, access to workshops, equipment and instruction, meals and their choice of modest accommodation—in the farmhouse, on a tent platform or in a trailer or camper. The artists and interns (who also live on the grounds) engage in weekly discussions and share meals.
This season SAW is launching its Art Exposure program for local teens, with workshops on building homemade musical instruments, theater and visual arts. In July the youths can take part in a collaborative project, working with SAW staff and participants to construct an entirely handmade public sauna using welding, carpentry, glasswork and ceramics.
At last June's event, Leif Johnson demonstrated glassblowing in GLO, the center's breezy, custom-designed workspace. An exhibition of artwork by local students hung in the visitor center.
In the afternoon artist Theresa Smith fired up the cupolette furnace for an iron pour, a collaborative—and visually dazzling—process for casting iron sculpture. Smith and the others donned protective gear, including what looked like silver space suits. After iron coke was heated in the cupolette for several hours, the molten metal was released into a large two-armed ladle, then poured into molds prepared by artists (visitors could also carve their own block molds for a small fee).
Through the afternoon trumpeter Sean Conway played from the basket of a raised cherry picker. Later, he added a dramatic soundtrack to the iron pour with a didgeridoo and makeshift percussion instruments.
In the evening there was a barbecue, a music performance in the barn, and a screening of short children's films in the outdoor dining area. Something for everyone.
IF YOU GO
Salem Art Works (19 Cary Lane, Salem, 518-854-7674) is open to visitors daily between 9:00 a.m. and dusk; tours Wednesday–Sunday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
This season's workshops include glassblowing, blacksmithing, cast-iron sculpting, marble carving, welding, movement, jewelry making, plein-air painting and figure drawing. For details go to www.salemartworks.com.
Some events in 2009 are: The US/UK Iron Symposium, June 12–22, with an iron pour on June 20, offering artist talks, demonstrations and an exhibition of contemporary cast-iron sculpture.
SAW Music Festival, July 25. Local and regional musicians perform from the back of a flatbed truck ($10 donation; free camping).
The Screens, August 15. An early-evening performance of Jean Genet's dramatic epic, where the land of the living breaches the world of the dead ($5; $10 for pre-performance picnic).
SAW Fundraiser, August 25, with contemporary dance performance, artistic demonstrations, displays and gourmet food ($35–$100, on a sliding scale).
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