As Upstate Art Weekend (UAW) kicks off its sixth edition (until 21 July), the event is enticing creatively minded New Yorkers to escape the sweltering city heat and explore the idyllic environs of the Hudson Valley and the Catskill Mountains. This year boasts more than 155 participants spanning galleries, studios, museums and art centres all over the region.
UAW was founded in 2020 by Helen Toomer (a co-founder of both Stoneleaf Retreat and Art Mamas) as a means to interact during the isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is now supported by the team behind Space Design + Production and sponsored by Bloomberg Connects.
Below are some highlights for those heading upstate this weekend.
Army of Frogs Studio, Eclectic Cream
Tucked away in the historic hamlet of High Falls, the eccentric Army of Frogs studio and whimsical sculpture park is hosting Eclectic Cream, an exhibition featuring phantasmagorical works that blend zoomorphic figuration and surrealist abstraction. These range from mailboxes made of bread by Brent Owens to ceramic amphibians by Dasha Bazanova. Curated and helmed by the artist Amelia Biewald, artist talks are scheduled for 18, 19 and 20 July at 4pm.
Mother-in-Law's Gallery, Muskeg and Collateral Magic
This converted carriage house in Germantown is currently home to projects curated by Jacob Rhodes (from Field Projects), Jessica Hargreaves and Elijah Wheat Showroom. Rhodes’s and Hargreaves’s project, Muskeg (until 27 September), is an outdoor group show of more than 60 sculptures. Elijah Wheat Showroom, meanwhile, features an outdoor installation by the artist Johannah Herr alongside her solo show Collateral Magic, on view inside the Mother-in-Law’s Gallery space on site.
Center for Photography at Woodstock, The Rose
On the heels of its grand revamp, the Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW) in Kingston is hosting a group show titled The Rose (until 31 August), organised by the photographer Justine Kurland and the CPW curator Marina Chao. The exhibition explores collage as a feminist form and includes the work of legendary figures like Vija Celmins, Wangechi Mutu, Lee Bontecou and Lorna Simpson.
Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College
On 19 July, the Hessel Museum of Art is offering guided, in-depth tours of its current exhibitions, Stan Douglas: Ghostlight and All Manner of Experiments: Legacies of the Baghdad Modern Art Group, beginning at the top of each hour. The last tour begins at 4pm.
Jesse Bransford House, Peculiar Manufactures
The artist Jesse Bransford owns an octagonal house in Catskill. The oddly shaped home was part of a 19th-century phenomenon and reputed to function as a spiritual portal to the occult. This year, the curator Marie Catalano takes over the property with a Kunstkammer-inspired group show called Peculiar Manufactures. It includes a spooky assortment of objects, like ceramic spiders by Heidi Lau and dynamic mannequins by Anna-Sophie Berger.
