Many towns along the Hudson River are in varying stages of experiencing a revival, and a large part of that process is due to the influx of artists who want to create their works here, and the galleries that support them by exhibiting their works.  Saugerties is no exception. A fairly recent newcomer to the Saugerties art scene and one of the most outstanding art venues in the village is the Emerge Gallery & Art Space on Main Street (close to the intersection with Partition Street).

Emerge Gallery focuses on emerging artists from the Hudson Valley region and beyond by hosting monthly group exhibitions and other events. Proprietor and curator Robert P. Langdon strives to identify and exhibit the best emerging artists from the Hudson Valley region and beyond. Each month he mounts a new exhibition, and frequently each show includes work of various mediums and styles. The exhibition Equine: A Group Exhibition of Art Celebrating the Horse pays tribute to Saugerties’ tradition of horse shows. With a stunning variety of work by over forty artists, everyone who visits is guaranteed to see something reflecting their particular taste and interests.  The photos I’m including here give some idea of what Equine offers.

This wonderful show closes on October 2 and will be followed by Change: A Group Exhibition of Art by Members of the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA). Running from October 7 to October 30, Change has its opening reception on Saturday, October 7, 2017 from 5-8 PM, with an advance preview on October 6 as part of Saugerties’ First Friday.

Before he opened Emerge Gallery, Robert Langdon was Director at Gallery U in Red Bank and Westfield, NJ, where he played an instrumental role in furthering the art scene in both communities. Then as now, his strength lay in community building and supporting and promoting emerging artists.

Robert has previously been Director of Sales and Marketing at a nonprofit children’s picture book publisher in San Francisco, where he began working one-on-one with fine artists; still-life photographer in Manhattan where he photographed still life for Macy’s and A&S catalogs among others; and teacher in suburban New Jersey. Born and raised in New Jersey, he lived in San Francisco for thirteen years and now calls the beautiful Hudson Valley home.

Emerge Gallery is an open and welcoming environment that is also available to rent for solo and privately curated exhibitions.  Artwork from current and previous exhibitions, along with online exclusives, are available through the gallery’s website at www.emergegalleryny.com.

One of the buildings at the Bronck Museum.

I first “met” Coxsackie seven years ago when photographing for my book Historic Hudson Valley, and my visit back then was limited to the famous Bronck Museum. Pieter Bronck — despite his Dutch-sounding name, he was of Swedish origin — bought property on that site from Mohican Indians in 1662 and, with his Dutch wife Hilletje Jans, built a house there the following year. Over the next several decades many more buildings, including barns and other farm structures, were added.

The settlement of Coxsackie itself predates Bronck’s arrival by some ten years, and although he didn’t give his name to the town — that honor belongs to the Coxsackievirus, which was first isolated here — his name is enshrined farther south in New York State, in the Bronx.

During a recent Open House in which several of Coxsackie’s churches opened their doors to welcome visitors I had the chance to see a bit more of this town. Below are a few of the photos I took that day, along with two from the Bronck Museum taken a few weeks later.

As part of this year’s celebration of Pieter Bronck’s 400th birthday, there will be a guided tour of Coxsackie’s Historic District on Friday September 8 and Saturday September 9 (rain dates the following week). This little jewel in the northern part of Greene County is well worth getting to know. You can find more information by clicking here.

The famous Good Shepherd Window in the Second Reformed Church.

The First United Methodist Church.

The Gospel Community Church, a friendly and musical Pentecostal church.

Impressive organ pipes at St. Mary’s Catholic Church.

An “extract” of a barn building at the Bronck Museum.

From grand resort to beloved ruin — that, in essence, is the story of the Cold Spring Resort Hotel in Tannersville, once one of the many popular vacation spots that dotted the Mountain Top and now — well, those of us who, like me, have been following its gradual deterioration over the past few years, wonder each time we drive down that road, is it still there? or has it finally fallen victim to a combination of meteorological and human (as in wrecking ball) conditions? It was slated for demolition already in February 2015 and yet what’s left of it still stands.

I’ve been using my cameras to document its decline for about four years now, and for those of you who aren’t familiar with this building, I’m posting a couple of my pictures. But even more remarkable is a group of artists who have been making paintings of the Cold Spring Hotel during this period. Beyond the significance of their art as such is the question of whether something beautiful can be made of something that in its essence is not beautiful — in this case decay, ruin. Personally I have no patience with those who maintain a literalist view that to create beauty you must start with a beautiful subject. If anything, Robert Glenn Ketchum’s photographs documenting environmental degradation in the Hudson Valley offer an eloquent denial of that fallacy.

And if you want a further, creative denial of that fallacy, a little exhibit at the Catskill Mountain Foundation’s gallery in Hunter will convince you that beauty can be found in decay, in ruin. Treat yourself to a visit with paintings by Karen F. Rhodes and Sheila Trautman. As a sample I’m posting photos I took — not the most ideal likenesses because it was unavoidable to keep the lights in the room from reflecting into the frames. But they will give you an idea of what’s in store for you.

Kingston’s Stockade and Rondout Districts are familiar to history buffs, but scattered throughout Ulster’s County Town are individual buildings of historic significance. One of these is the Lace Mill, whose existence I learned of when I was recently invited to the opening of a photography show being held there.

Built around 1902–1903 and originally housing United States Lace Curtain Mills, this example of industrial architecture is located in Midtown Kingston, close (very close indeed, as you discover when you drive up Cornell Street, where it is located) to the railroad and thus convenient for the shipping of products to markets outside the area. This was economically important to Kingston as an industrial center, since the decline of the Delaware & Hudson Canal, on which so much commercial traffic had depended.  Later, in the 1940s and by that time a subsidiary of the Scranton Lace Company, the business employed between 250 and 300 people. It ceased operations in 1951, however, and was used as a warehouse for some years after that.

By 2013 the warehouse and thus the building itself was virtually abandoned. At this point the Rural Ulster Preservation Company (RUPCO) stepped in and purchased it with a view to reconstructing and renovating it to provide a variety of facilities for artists: living and studio space as well as venues for exhibitions. This has been a noteworthy step considering Kingston’s growing reputation as a nationally important center for the arts.

Now known as The Lace Mill, this historic building joins many other mills throughout the Northeast—I have personally seen several in southern New Hampshire as well as in Rhode Island—that have been renovated and repurposed and are now enjoying a new existence, usually as living accommodation.

What I found especially interesting was the space on (and under) the ground floor that still housed some of the original machinery from the mill. Several visitors who had come to view one or more of the exhibitions taking place also made a point of photographing the machinery. Here you see two of my photos along with one of the building’s exterior (where you can see the sign proclaiming “United States Lace Curtain Mills”). It’s gratifying to see concerted local efforts succeed in saving a historically significant building from being abandoned and eventually torn down, and instead giving it a chance for new life by linking the past with the present. Thank you, RUPCO.

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Are you looking for some new home decor to brighten your living space? Please take a look at my recent photographs of another local landmark — the Saugerties Lighthouse, in painterly (artistic) and historic sepia versions.

If you were hoping to treat yourself to some of the goodies for sale at the Saugerties Farm Market, you’ll have to wait until next year. This staple of the warmer months of the year wrapped up its 2016 today and, true to the season, had a variety of Halloween-themed products and events for the kids.

The Saugerties Farm Market is held each Saturday at the field next to the Kiersted House on Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm between May and October. (The historic, pre-Revolutionary Kiersted House is now home to the Saugerties Historical Society.) Here are some photos from the final market of this year.

They’re here! Thanks to a generous donation by the Newington-Cropsey Foundation, the 19th-century Hudson River painters are taking up residence at Boscobel House and Gardens in Garrison in the form of a permanent art installation consisting of cast-bronze busts mounted on pedestals. Each bust features a sculptured portrait of one of the artists and, on the back, an informative plaque about that artist.

The Hudson River School Artists Garden, as the project is called, is a work in progress. Thus far Phase 1 is in place with the first four busts, appropriately, of the four best-known artists of the Hudson River School:  Thomas Cole (1801-1848), the founder of the Hudson River School;  Asher B. Durand (1796-1886), who influenced American art through his editorship of the important journal The Crayon as well as through his own paintings; Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), Cole’s pupil, whose magnificent estate, Olana, perches on the heights above the Hudson on the east side of the river, from which he was able to look across to Cole’s house in Catskill; and Jasper Cropsey (1823-1900), a gifted architect as well as painter, who, during his European tour, famously sent back to the States a request for some autumn leaves in order to prove that the fall foliage really is that colorful.

Creator of the installation is sculptor Greg Wyatt, a Hudson Valley native with an international reputation for his work.

When the project is completed, Cole, Durand, Church, and Cropsey (you can tell that they began with the most prominent artists) will be joined by six more, for a total of ten.

In the above photo you can see how the project thus far completed looks in situ. Below are photos of the individual busts. Do you have a favorite? Let me know in the Comments. My personal favorite is Durand; I like the way Greg Wyatt has captured the strength of his personality.

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Special Offer for my blog readers: Three of my photographs printed on canvas are on sale at my Etsy shop at the special price of $35.00 each and Free Shipping. Two of the photographs show Catskills scenes. Each is 8 x 10. This offer expires on December 31. Click here to visit the site and view these special images.

Thomas Cole

Asher B. Durand

Frederic Church

Jasper Cropsey